2 39 



.and the catarrhal. The two climatic, viz. : the malarial, and 

 the bronchocele. The four dietetic, viz. : the gouty and 

 hsemorrhagic, the leprous, the scorbutic, and the rachitic; 

 .and, after these the diathesis of malignant new growths, the 

 diathesis of senile degeneration, the visceral diathesis, etc. 

 It would be very easy to add to these in every direction, but 

 those referred to suffice to show that my object has been to 

 include diathetic diseases in such groups as bear upon their 

 long descent by heredity, and not the elaboration of a mere 

 detailed classification, which I could have readily supplied 

 by exercising a little ingenuity. Without recapitulating the 

 details of the various diatheses considered, I shall now 

 content myself by repeating that, as the so-called Laws of 

 Nature represent merely the grouping of certain phenomena, 

 so diathesis may be regarded as the grouping of certain 

 constitutional peculiarities, having certain pathological ten- 

 dencies, in certain families or individuals ; and as every 

 individual differs from every other, in every respect, we must 

 naturally be prepared to admit a similar differentiation with 

 regard to his diathetic peculiarities. Diatheses are, in fact, 

 but rough types of constitutional peculiarities, showing a 

 predisposition to certain diseases, which may be variously 

 blended in different individuals, while the original type is 

 more or less preserved. 



It should, however, be remembered that the temperaments, 

 idiosyncrasies, and diatheses, however influential as factors 

 in modifying morbid processes in individuals, receive their 

 force and character from heredity, and may thus be said to 

 be merely effects of hereditary predisposition specialised in 

 certain sets of individuals; but hereditary predisposition 

 means far more than the temperaments, idiosyncrasies, and 

 diatheses, for it not only includes all these, but also implies 



