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pharynx ; in others, the tonsils, throat, and larynx are more 

 prone to suffer ; in others, the bronchial mucous membrane ; 

 and in others, the stomach and bowels, or even the liver." 



I have now briefly sketched the three great universal or 

 fundamental diatheses, to which probably every human 

 being is subject in some degree, and which have been 

 evolved out of the womb of an illimitable past : which 

 have been transmitted from age to age, and from generation 

 to generation, developed and increased, or modified and 

 repressed, to the present, and which will assuredly, to a 

 great extent, control the health-destinies of generations yet 

 unborn, in the future. Each of them involves a specialised 

 constitution, varying as to specificity in every individual, by 

 means of which each living person is more or less pre- 

 disposed to the diseases which these diatheses are, respec- 

 tively, capable of influencing ; and, in the natural history of 

 disease itself, there can be no more interesting or important 

 chapter than that which concerns itself with these diatheses, 

 so curious in their origin, so complicated in their action, 

 and so inevitable in their results. 



The Malarial Diathesis. This diathesis differs from the 

 preceding ones in being generally acquired instead of 

 inherited. At the same time, it may be in some degree 

 hereditary, the transmissible proclivity being in proportion 

 to the severity and duration of the disease in the parent or 

 parents. It is, moreover, difficult to discriminate between 

 what is inherited and what is acquired, as the children of 

 those who have been subjected to malarial influences are 

 generally " born under conditions of continued exposure to 

 its cause." This diathesis may be found associated with any 

 other ; also with syphilis and alcoholism. Of malaria itself 

 we know nothing definitely, as its real nature has hitherto 



