398 THE LAWS OF ORGANIC 



CHAP. XVII. 



On Sympathy. 



CCCCLXXIII. There are few subjects in me- 

 dicine that have occupied, equally with Sympa- 

 thy, the attention of the physician and physio- 

 logist. Whether the human frame be regarded 

 in the state of health or disease, certain indefinite 

 links of association seem to connect the various 

 organs of the constitution ; and the phenomena 

 which arise from the reciprocal action of these 

 organs, in their different states, are frequently, 

 to the physician, indications of practice. It is 

 scarcely necessary to enumerate the divisions 

 and subdivisions of sympathy which have been 

 proposed. Some men of eminence have endea- 

 voured to point out certain intimate relations ex- 

 isting between individual membranes of the same 

 or of a dissimilar description, between internal 

 organs and the mucous or cellular membrane, 

 or between parts that are continuous, contiguous, 

 or remote. By some the nerves and the brain 

 are regarded as the only efficient agents in trans- 

 mitting, influencing, or in maintaining every 

 species of irritation or disorder. 



