THEORY OF DISEASE. 



75 



It is evident that 3ue and the same cause 

 of disease will produce in the organism very 

 different effects, according to the period of 

 life ; and that a certain amount of disturb- 

 ance, which produces disease in the adult 

 state, may be without influence in childhood 

 or in old age. A cause of disease may, 

 when it is added to the cause of waste in old 

 age, produce death (annihilate all resistance 

 on the part of the vital force ;) while in the 

 adult slate it may produce only a dispropor- 

 tion between supply and waste ; and in in- 

 fancy, only an equilibrium between supply 

 and waste (the abstract state of health.) 



A cause of disease which strengthens the 

 causes of supply, either directly or indirectly 

 by weakening trie action of the causes of 

 waste, destroys, in the child and in the 

 adult, the relative normal state of health ; 

 while in old age it merely brings the waste 

 and supply into equilibrium. 



A child, lightly clothed, can bear cooling 

 by a low external temperature without in- 

 jury to health ; the force available for me- 

 chanical purposes and the temperature of 

 its body increases with the change of matter 

 which follows the cooling ; while a higher 

 temperature, which impedes the change of 

 matter, is followed by disease. 



On the other hand, we see, in hospitals 

 and charitable institutions (in Brussels, for 

 example) in which old people spend the last 

 years of life, when the temperature of the dor- 

 mitory in winter sinks 2 or 3 degrees below 

 the usual point, that by this slight degree of 

 cooling the death of trie oldest and weakest 

 males as well as females is brought about. 

 They are found lying tranquilly in bed, 

 without the slightest symptoms of disease, 

 or of the usual recognizable causes of death. 



A deficiency of resistance, in a living 

 part, to the cause of waste is, obviously, a 

 deficiency of resistance to the action of the 

 oxygen of the atmosphere. 



When, from any cause whatever, this re- 

 sistance diminishes in a living part, the 

 change of matter increases in an equal de- 

 gree. 



Now, since the phenomena of motion in 

 the animal body are dependent on the 

 change of matter, the increase of the change 

 of matter in any part is followed by an in- 

 crease of all motions. According to the con- 

 ducting power of the nerves, the available 

 force is carried away by the nerves of invo- 

 luntary motion alone, or by all the nerves 

 together. 



Consequently, if, in consequence of a dis- 

 eased transformation of living tissues, a 

 greater amount of force be generated than is 

 required for the production of the normal 

 motions, it is seen in an acceleration of all or 

 some of the involuntary motions, as well as 

 in a higher temperature of the diseased part. 



This condition is called fever. 



When a great excess of force is produced 

 bv change of matter, the force, since it can 

 only be consumed by motion, extends itself 

 to the apparatus of voluntary rnctioa. 



This state is called a febrile paroxysm. 



In consequence of the acceleration of the 

 circulation in the state of fever, a greater 

 amount of arterial blood, and, consequently 

 of oxygen, is conveyed to the diseased part, 

 as well as to all other parts ; and if the ac- 

 tive force in the healthy parts continue uni- 

 form, the whole action of the excess of oxy- 

 gen must be exerted on the diseased part 

 alone. 



According as a single organ, or a system 

 of organs, is affected, the change of matter 

 extends to one part alone, or to the whole 

 affected system. 



Should there be formed, in the diseased 

 parts, in consequence of the change of mat- 

 ter, from the elements of the blood or of the 

 tissue, new products, which the neighbour- 

 ing parts cannot employ for their own vital 

 functions; should the surrounding parts, 

 moreover, be unable to convey these pro- 

 ducts to other parts, where they may un- 

 dergo transformation, then these new pro- 

 ducts will suffer, at the place where they 

 have been formed, a process of decomposi- 

 tion analogous to fermentation or putre- 

 faction. 



In certain cases, medicine removes these 

 diseased conditions, by exciting in the vi- 

 cinity of the diseased part, or in any con- 

 venient situation, an artificial diseased state 

 (as by blisters, sinapisms, or setons) ; thus 

 aiminishing, by means of artificial distur- 

 bance, the resistance offered to the external 

 causes of change in these parts by the vital 

 force. The physician succeeds in putting 

 an end to the original diseased condition, 

 when the disturbance artificially excited (or 

 the diminution of resistance in another part) 

 exceeds in amount the diseased state to be 

 overcome. 



The accelerated change of matter and the 

 elevated temperature in the diseased part 

 show, that the resistance offered by the vital 

 force to the action of oxygen is feebler than 

 in the healthy state. But this resistance 

 only ceases entirely when death takes place. 

 By the artificial diminution of resistance in 

 another part, the resistance in the diseased 

 organ is not indeed directly strengthened j 

 but the chemical action (the cause of the 

 change of matter) is diminished in the 

 diseased part, being directed to another part, 

 where the physician has succeeded in pro- 

 ducing a still more feeble resistance to the 

 change of matter (to the action of oxygen). 



A complete cure of the original disease 

 occurs, when external action and resistance, 

 in the diseased part, are brought into equili- 

 brium. Health and the restoration of the 

 diseased tissue to its original condition fol- 

 low, when we are able so far to weaken the 

 disturbing action of oxygen, by any means, 

 that it becomes inferior to the resistance of- 

 fered by the vital force, which, although 

 enfeebled, has never ceased to act j for this ' 

 proportion between these causes of change 

 is the uniform and necessary conditicn of 

 increase of mass in the living organism. 



