12 PHYSIC 



within the area of ingestion, then the curative agencies to 

 be adopted under the particular circumstances must be 

 chosen, accordingly as the traffic superintendent of a rail- 

 way system finds out and prescribes the required emerg- 

 ency means in case of disaster in the area under his charge, 

 and if, on the other hand, the "breakdown" be dis- 

 covered in the latter half of the circulatory area the 

 egestive then the curative agencies to be adopted to 

 rectify that circulatory calamity must be chosen from the 

 appropriate category of means adapted to secure its 

 rectification. A true apprehension, therefore, of the 

 general physiological circumstances comprising the whole 

 phenomena involved in and constituting the processes of 

 ingestion and egestion, as well as of the particular circum- 

 stances of the cases in question, thus become absolutely 

 necessary, if the means directed to the removal of the 

 primary cause and the rectification of the deranged organic 

 traffic which here means disease are to be accomplished 

 with any degree of technical precision or certainty and 

 scientific accuracy. 



Although the principles involved in the classification of 

 therapeutic agencies have not been directed on such lines 

 hitherto, we are convinced that the remedial classifications, 

 which have from time to time been adopted, have con- 

 formed more and more to circumstances emanating from 

 the grafting of physiological methods and requirements 

 on the parent stem of empiricism and folk medicine, with 

 the growing result that the ultimate goal of scientific 

 accuracy becomes more and more apparent, and its final 

 attainment more and more absolutely possible. Accord- 

 ing, therefore, to physiological and implied pathological 

 law and necessity, we would primarily thus divide all 

 therapeutic or ameliorative and curative agencies accord- 

 ing as they are adapted for use in either ingestion or 

 egestion, or partially in both, and so simplify our still 

 somewhat cumbrous and miscellaneous "materia medica" 

 and associated surgical procedure. This would necessi- 

 tate the employment of two suitable descriptive terms, 

 for which we would consequently suggest ingestive, or 

 ingesto-provocative, and egestive, or egesto-provocative, 

 as likely to be more applicable, more easily understood, 



