212 PHYSIC 



finds its way into the matrix and parenchyma of organ, of 

 texture, and viscus throughout the entire body, injuring 

 and destroying in its malign progress, and leaving in its 

 wake an amount of wreckage scarcely to be paralleled in 

 the whole category of disease ; here, moreover, we per- 

 ceive the operation of the vis mcdicatrix nature along 

 certain lines indicated and determined by histological and 

 anatomical continuity, as, for instance, in the peripheral 

 eruptive displays manifested at the various stages of the 

 disease, where the terminal arborisations of the cutaneous 

 nerves constitute the scenes of the elimination and exodus 

 of the specific virus on the secondary and tertiary attempts 

 to "clear the system." 



The spots and patches of eruption will be found, 

 primarily, to conform to the arrangement and form of 

 the final distribution of the cutaneous nervature, and to 

 involve, secondarily, the neighbouring cutaneous textures 

 in which pigmentation and perhaps destructive changes 

 may follow, the pigmentation being due, most probably, 

 to the influence of neurolysis on the haemoglobin of the 

 surrounding blood elements. 



In this disease it would seem as if " brood after brood" 

 or "hive after hive," so to speak, of bacterial organisms, 

 as they have become deposited and hatched in the depths 

 of the cerebro-spinal lymph, become released and, over- 

 flowing or breaking their barriers at their weakest points, 

 overwhelm the neighbouring regions of what may be 

 called the neutral structures, infiltrating and leaving de- 

 posits of pathological debris here and there throughout 

 the areas of disturbance, these occurrences synchronising 

 with the secondary and tertiary stages of the disease. 

 Moreover, such outlets from the cerebro-spinal cavity, as 

 the nose and pharynx, represent or coincide with the scenes 

 of the most destructive activity of the secondary and 

 tertiary manifestations of the disease, the determination 

 and incidence of which are due to the anatomical and 

 histological disposition and physiological functions of the 

 parts affected, i.e. being the eliminatory outlets of the 

 antero-central regions of the cerebro-spinal cavity, they 

 are naturally made to bear or feel the full brunt of the 

 destructive changes wrought by the discharging bacterial 



