238 GENERAL DISEASES. 



or systemic diseases inclndecl in Class A, in that tlie in- 

 fluences which seem to operate in their production are not 

 found extensivel}', if at all, gendered without the animal itself, 

 but are the result of changes or influences originating or ope- 

 rating from within. 



From the circumstance that this class of the general 

 diseases has been chiefly regarded as of endogenous growth, 

 and inseparably connected with specialities and individualities 

 of form and temperaments, they have come to be spoken of as 

 conditidional diseases. 



These diseases differ from others with which they are grouped, 

 as general or systemic affections, by such features as the 

 tendency which they possess to appear in continuous succes- 

 sion, or at uncertain intervals, in individuals of the same 

 family ; by the fact that the local lesions, however pronounced 

 they may be, are only understood when regarded as the 

 circumscribed manifestation of an indwelling disposition or 

 bad habit of body, usually spoken of as a dyscrasia ; and that 

 this disposition we find acts as a modifying influence on the 

 development and course of many processes, healthy as well as 

 abnormal. Also that the diagnostic, anatomical features of 

 these affections are chiefly those of the local lesions, which are 

 usually specific for the several diseases. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



RHEUMATISMUS — RHEUjVIATISM — ACUTE RHEUMATISM — CHRONIC 

 RHEUMATISM. 



Under the term of Rheumatism are included several rather 

 different diseases, some of which seem more properly regarded 

 as local affections, but which for various reasons it is proposed 

 to consider together. 



I. Acute Rheumatism. 



Definition. — A specific febrile disturbance, most po'obabbj 

 oiviny its origin to a morbid, inbred, or constitutional state 

 of the system, and characterized by the manifestation of much 

 pain, and a specicd tendency to the involvement of certain 



