THEORY OF DISEASE. 259 



carriers of oxygen (the globules), and by this means 

 the conditions of change of matter; he excludes 

 from the food all such matters as are capable of 

 conversion into blood ; he gives chiefly or entirely 

 non-azotised food, which supports the respiratory 

 process, as well as fruit and vegetables, which con- 

 tain the alkalies necessary for the secretions. 



If he succeed, by these means, in diminishing the 

 action of the oxygen in the blood on the diseased 

 part, so far that the vital force of the latter, its 

 resistance, in the smallest degree overcomes the 

 chemical action ; and if he accomplish this, with- 

 out arresting the functions of the other organs, then 

 restoration to health is certain. 



To the method of cure adopted in such cases, if 

 employed with sagacity and acute observation, there 

 is added, as we may call it, an ally on the side of 

 the diseased organ, and this is the vital force of the 

 healthy parts. For, when blood is abstracted, the 

 external causes of change are diminished also in 

 them, and their vital force, formerly neutralized by 

 these causes, now obtains the preponderance. The 

 change of matter, indeed, is diminished throughout 

 the body, and with it the phenomena of motion ; 

 but the sum of all resisting powers, taken together, 

 increases in proportion as the amount of the oxygen 

 acting on them in the blood is diminished. In the 

 sensation of hunger, this resistance, in a certain 

 sense, makes itself known ; and the preponderat- 

 ing vital force exhibits itself, in many patients, 

 s 2 



