34 INFECTIOUS AND PARASITIC DISEASES. 



In the course of all chronic diseases of 

 Terminal v/hatever nature, the sufferer is particularly 

 Infections, prone to have his original disease com- 

 plicated by some infection. Indeed, it is 

 the latter that is the common cause of death. Pneu- 

 monia heads the list as a secondary invader, and also 

 in bringing about a termination of life. Next in point 

 of frequency is tuberculosis, and third, are pyogenic 

 infections. When secondary infections, or complica- 

 tions, kill, they are spoken of as terminal injections. 

 Whether the body ever returns to a normal 

 Evolution state after having recovered from an infec 

 OF Disease, tious disease is still an open question. In 

 the large majority of cases, it apparently 

 does, but we must always remember that time, only, 

 can answer this question in any individual case. 

 Certainly a "spell" of any one of the infectious diseases 

 is not regarded by the profession as interfering with 

 the usual expectancy.* Nevertheless, as the years go 

 by, we are laying more and more stress upon past 

 illness as a factor in present disorders. 



For the most part, "diseases that owe their origin 

 to past illness are affections of organs," e.g., Bright's 

 disease, chronic heart disease, locomotor ataxia, the 

 organs being involved in the infectious process at the 

 time of the acute infection, and apparently subsiding 



♦Expectancy — the mean or average duration of life of individuals 

 after any specified age. 



