SOLIDISM. 35 



acting upon this very sympathetic membrane create irrita- 

 tion. The different causes of disease — poisons, contagions, 

 excitants, putrescents — are referred to intestinal sources. 

 Worms, even, are ascribed to it. 9th. He who cannot 

 regulate the irritability of the digestive surface, cannot 

 successfully encounter disease. The knowledge of gastro- 

 enteritis constitutes the key to pathology. Vomits, purges, 

 general stimulants, are regarded as generators of disease, 

 and ought to be used only under very rare circumstances. 

 Tonics are only useful in debility or convalescence. This 

 theory has many advocates : among these range Gerard fils, 

 Rodet, Vatel, D^Arboval, Cruzel. 



Solidism is the doctrine which attributes all to the 

 solids : it comprises two theories. While both admit 

 that disease consists in alterations both of function and 

 structure, one insists that the functional disorder is the 

 primary cause of the phenomena that follow ; while the 

 other asserts that, were the nature of disease thoroughly 

 understood, we should probably be able to refer the altered 

 function to some corresponding change of structure: in 

 which case the former would constitute but a symptom of 

 the latter. This is a question far too subtile for me to think 

 of discussing : my object was but to state its existence ; that 

 done, I shall dismiss it, and conclude with observing, that 

 as our views of disease can be only drawn from observations 

 made during life and after death, to such evidences must all 

 our attention be directed. 



A VERY LARGE MAJORITY OF DISEASES CONSIST IN 



Inflammation. — This may be laid down as an axiom in 

 veterinary medicine. In what does inflammation consist ? 

 For, unless we can solve this question, our assertion will 

 amount to little more than shifting the saddle from one 

 horse's back upon that of another. This will form the 

 subject of subsequent inquiry. In the mean time I may 

 observe, that there are some diseases which are nervous^ and 

 others which are spasmodic ; and that both are independent 

 of inflammation. It is these practical facts which make the 

 study of inflammation so important to us. 



