UNITY OF DISEASES. 1071 



several hundred specific maladies, exclusive of 

 varieties and combinations, it is highly probable 

 that they are all modifications of one and the same 

 disease, diversified by the parts affected, the na- 

 ture, intensity, or duration of the causes which 

 produce them, and by varieties of constitution. 



This much is absolutely certain, that all the car- 

 dinal symptoms of every constitutional fever may be 

 traced to a loss or deficient supply of the animating 

 principle, and a vitiated state of the blood.* For 



But the practice of remaining for hours, every day, in a sitting 

 bath at 64, and drinking from ten to twenty or thirty glasses of 

 cold water, is so extremely painful to endure, and is so com- 

 pletely at war with the natural instinct of self-preservation, that it 

 is not likely to become general, nor continue long, except among 

 fanatics, who in all ages have been the willing victims of self- 

 torture. It must, however, be admitted, that when patients do 

 survive this treatment, their general vigour is augmented. For 

 I have proved that a rapid loss of caloric, whether caused by 

 exposure to cold, or by over exertion, is attended with a propor- 

 tionally rapid waste of the solids, and creates the necessity for a 

 large amount of food to supply the waste, and support the pro- 

 cess of respiration, which, like sanguification, secretion, and 

 nutrition, is so far augmented as to produce a rapid renewal of 

 the whole body, as during the period of growth in young animals, 

 and convalescence after emaciation from illness. (See pp. 713. 

 881.941.) 



* So long as there is a free circulation of good arterial blood 

 through the lungs, pleurae, trachea, larynx, and schneiderian 

 membrane, there can be no phthisis, pneumonia, pleurisy, croup, 

 laryngitis, influenza, nor even the slightest catarrh. So long as 

 the abdominal viscera are supplied with an abundance of rich 

 arterial blood, there can be no torpor of the stomach, bowels, and 

 liver, no loss of appetite, dyspepsia, cardialgia, colic, gastritis, 

 hepatitis, dysentery, dianhoea, constipation, nor any serious 



