DISEASE, 
of motion, or of apparent ae &e. are indications of va- 
rious fiates of difea and 
gree, increafe, ee decreafe of the difeafe, as they remain 
ftationary, or become more or lefs obvious. he peculiar 
betes, of the cman pa aes of the body 
may be cee by the touch ; eat, cold, dry- 
nefs or moifture of the fin, which are Sea apse 
in the fe ‘bril e fate; the hardnefs, rigidity, foftnefs, 
thicknefs, Fwelling or emaciation of different parts of the 
body, or , in various other difeaf Thefe 
eo enae 
under various combinations, as to number and degr He. con- 
ienting the characters of the diffcrent difenfes of oe human 
frame. Each of = Kesumrapensig or groups of fymp- 
toms, has a few permanent ones, which mark - effential 
nature. Thefe are ale its diagnoftic, or diftinguifhing 
fymptoms, pe phyficians have Jong ago pointed thele 
out in mo the forms of difeafe. 
back, th have been claffed and arranged, after the mzn- 
er of the natural hiftorians, into a regular fyftem, each 
form being ca fhed by its generic and [pecific charac- 
ters. soLocy. At prefent we treat of difeafe in 
a 
The cau/es of . are confidered by phyficians, as 
three-fold ; firft, the proximate caufes, which fignify the 
morbid condition ‘ttelf, fecondly, the remote caufes, whic 
are either predifpofing, or se caufes, as already ex- 
lai See Cause in Medt 
A pre- -difpohag caufe, or pre-dilpofition to difeafe, is in» 
herent in the body, although it may often originate from 
external circumftances; but the occafional, or exciting 
caufe, may be either internal or external. hen they 
concur in their lade! —— is produced, which neither 
could occafion alone. Fore to whom an excit- 
di feafe ; nor 
Fa Hines it, nace an canes! caufe acts se em. 
pre-dilpofitions are obvious to our obferv ; fuch a aie 
neral or pal aren . che folids, a morbid irritability of 
the fame parts, a fulne habit, with great ftrength, 
in the latter of which (lates a mane are oat 
nervous and chronic diforders of 
¢ fome scting cutee of difeafe, 
owever 
o 2 
3 and cold an 
area exciting aul 
do not immediately occafion di afe, he conti 
their influence, gradually corrupt the moft hea conte 
tution, and induce a pre-difpofition to enone diforders, 
For the fame agent may be at one time an exciting, and at 
fa) 
FS) 
et 
28 
another an occafional St ; as may be illuftrated in the ine 
the weather, in intemperance 
“It | is of confiderable importance 
in the praétice of medicine to.afcertain thefe remote caufes 
of difeafes, both with a view to o prevent ana ill effe&s, and 
to anticipate their agency ; and experience has done much 
in the Cae as will be feen ace the articles of Dif- 
eafe oe 
remote ies of difeafes in the human body operate 
tures, extraneous oat a air coh &c. wh 
mes, fraGtures, diflo- 
ce, which 
eee the ean of thebioad in its paflage through the 
But the great majority of caufes of difeafe — upon the 
living folid, ae irritable fibre, or the nervous 
what other name the anim 
mulus 
Q 
eae 
L ad 
ry 
“t 
cf 
‘Ss 
= 
4 
we 
feo] 
oq 
Go 
ee) 
o 
o 
mn 
operation, from its excefs or defect of exertion, from 
excefs or beiete of the ftimulation applied to it, &c. 
Excite erhaps the moft common exciting ~ 
of difeate, aurogh the medium of the nervous power, are 
heat and cold, their sean vee aod saree as with 
dryn nefs, moifture, &c. r Sanétoriu us bad dr rawn the 
of the pe ean ance 
the fyftem, and to fall u is pene organs, there pro- 
ut we have no evidence o 
: th re) 
arn ation, confequent on the great variations in 
ftimuli applied to the body, appears to ba more — 
with the general laws of animal econ Se 
Cararru 5 3 &e. From the operation of heat pa cold 
fy, &c. 3 hence alfo many difcafes of the flomach, the 
bowels, ae a fkin ; and hence various idiopathic fevers 
in all clim 
Next to ese and cold, .the influence of food and drink, 
as exciting caufes of difeate, acting on the nervous fibre, ma 
be confidered as moft general. iia sad uaa ges indeed, 
influence the body in a double m ey tend, in many 
inftances, firft to induce a pre-difpofition to difeates, fo that 
y aét both as nredipehe 
bring on a paroxy{m: and the fame may be faid with a 
