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affections in fact, a diathesis, all the individuals who are 

 subject to which are made more or less liable to the protean 

 effects of catarrh, and in very varying degrees. As Mr. 

 Hutchinson, so far as I know, was the first to recognise and 

 describe this diathesis as such, I shall for the most part use 

 his own words in referring to it. Catarrh should be held to 

 imply identity in cause and not similarity in result. By 

 using the word in this sense /.*., by not simply regarding 

 all those forms of inflammation of mucous membranes 

 attended by free discharge, irrespective of their causes, 

 which are often very different, as catarrhal, we shall find it 

 applicable to other forms of inflammation than those merely 

 of mucous tissues. " In so doing," he says, " we shall 

 construct a large and perfectly natural group of maladies. 

 Whatever is the result of catching cold is catarrhal ; con- 

 ditions which follow from other and dissimilar causes, 

 however similar their results, ought to be refused that name. 

 The catarrhal diathesis, using the word in this sense, is one 

 of the three fundamental ones. It is not due to any specific 

 or any specialised cause. Every organisation possessing a 

 nervous system must be supposed to be capable of manifes- 

 ting it, for its essence consists in proneness to inflammatory 

 congestions excited, in a reflex manner, through the influence 

 of cold applied to the surface. The susceptibilities of the 

 nervous system, however, in this respect differ, as we all 

 know well, very greatly in different individuals. These 

 differences are hereditary, and may easily become the 

 possessions of families or of race. Not only do individuals 

 differ in the degree of reflex susceptibility, but they also vary 

 much as to the special tissues or organs which are most 

 prone to suffer under it. Thus, some catch cold, almost 

 solely in the mucous membranes of the nasal passages and 



