CHAPTER VIII 

 CONQUEST OF DISEASE 



Nowadays the serpent that bites man's heel is in nine cases 

 out of ten microscopic. Prof. J. A. Thomson. 



Every disease has its own particular mode of production 

 from natural causes. Hippocrates. 



Like other natural laws, the laws of health are inexorable 

 . . . Ignorance of the laws is not admitted as an excuse 

 any more than motive ; and the sentence for breaches 

 is true now as it was ages ago : "The soul that sinneth 

 it shall die" Sir Lander Brunton. 



Just as the mechanical sciences, when viewed from a broad 

 standpoint, represent man's struggles for the control 

 of the energies available in his environment, so the 

 medical sciences have, as their ultimate aim, the 

 acquisition of control over the functions of man's body. 

 Prof. E. H. Starling. 



THOSE who transgress the laws of man sometimes 

 escape punishment ; but the laws of Nature can never 

 be broken without paying the penalty. The man who 

 steps over the side of a cliff, consciously or unconsciously, 

 meets the consequences of his action swiftly, whether 

 he be sinner or saint ; and the laws of health can no 

 more be broken with impunity than can the law of 

 gravitation. When effects follow quickly upon causes, 

 we learn the relationship between them readily, and 

 from our childhood avoid actions which produce pain, 

 as a burnt child dreads the fire. Science has shown 



