PERSONAL APPEARANCES IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. 95 



heavy in build ; and the strumous child as frequently fair- 

 haired, oval-faced, and thin-skinned, as coarse-featured, 

 and thick-lipped.* When, again, the term " habit " is 

 applied to such diseases as " apoplexy," the error is very 

 great ; for it is notorious that the prevalent idea that 

 individuals with thick, short necks and sanguine tempera- 

 ment are the more liable to apoplexy is wholly unfounded 

 in fact, that disease depending on causes equally at work 

 among the lean and long-necked as among the former. 

 Far better to erase the word " habit " from the vocabulary 

 than run the risk of such misapplications. 



We have more than once spoken of loss of " tone," 

 and vague as the expression is, it is well to dwell on this 

 as indicating perhaps better than anything else the state 

 or condition which of all others is to be found on the 

 side of unhealthiness. Everyone knows how much dis- 

 comfort and inconvenience to themselves and to others 

 is experienced by those who, suffering from no definite 

 derangement of any organ, are yet in a state of ill health 

 during the greater part of their lives. Unable to resist 

 even the slightest influences, and feeling " well " only at 

 rare intervals, there is something in their constitution 

 which baffles definition. Their aspect is generally more 

 or less pallid; for they take but little exercise, and 



* It is usual to regard the strumous state as comprising these two 

 distinct types. 



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