SCIENCE. 



91 



may be the greater part, has reference to the curing of 

 disease. Important branches of medicine allude to cir- 

 cumstances of sound health supervised by the physician 

 in order to prevent disease. Every year our activity in 

 this respect increases. 



Besides the removal of the various causes of disease 

 there is another cure which we designate as the curaiio 

 catisahs. A foreign body such as a bullet, a glass splinter, 

 etc., penetrates into the organism and remains there. 

 Frequently, if not always, the removal of this bcdy is the 

 proviso of a cure. This of itself, however, is not sufficient, 

 for the cohesion through which the foreign body passed 

 must first be united, and the natural connection re-estab- 

 lished, before the actual restoration can be acknowledged. 



Very often restoration is spoken of when the case in 

 question consists merely of a disturbance or a simple de- 

 ficiency. If a person breaks his leg he is not ill. He 

 cannot walk, of course, and an actual malady can proceed 

 from the fracture if the surrounding parts become in- 

 flamed and the nerves excited. But the fracture itself 

 is no illness, although it may become the cause of one. 

 In spite of this, however, the sufferer always hopes to be 

 " cured " by the physician. 



Now it is unquestionably'true that the same principle of 

 observation cannot be applied to all such cases, other- 

 wise we should become hopelessly embarassed. A broken 

 knee will never set itself ; therefore the physician is not 

 to rely at ail upon nature but simply upon his own skill ; 

 but he does not occupy himself with the phenomena by 

 means of which the fracture will be re-united. That 

 happens by itself. The medical influence in question is 

 certainly technological. It is by means of force that the 

 physician brings the pieces together in a position which 

 as nearly as possible corresponds to the natural one. It 

 is by means of force that he holds them thus. But all 

 that is not a cure, but merely the stipulation for one. 

 The broken part finally grows together in a very bad 

 shape, and the re-establishment of the connecting por- 

 tions occurs only with a very unfavorable position of the 

 fracture. Nature in this case works most powerfully. 



Every restoration of a broken bone is also physiologi- 

 cal, and the physician only endeavors to let it occur un- 

 disturbed and under the most propitious circumstances. 

 This " only " is of very great importance to the patient, 

 for a fractured bone which heals crosswise or crookedly 

 can infringe upon the use of a limb for life. But when we 

 come to investigate all the theories of healing we must re- 

 main firm in stating that recovery from fracture is not 

 caused by the physician. The cause of the wire is due to 

 the surrounditig tissues. They produce a new tissue, 

 which forms over the scar. 



We now come to actual diseases. They are not mere 

 disturbances or yet definite conditions. An actual disease 

 Is an incident, also a succession of conditions, one pre- 

 ceding from the other and affecting vital parts. No life- 

 less object, no dead body ever becomes subject to dis- 

 ease. An animal or a plant can become diseased, but 

 only while they are alive and only in such parts as are 

 endowed with life. Therefore, every disease is a demoli- 

 tion to sound health, for the same part cannot at once 

 be sick and well. Disease is also an incident pertaining 

 to life. We call those incidents disease which deviate 

 from the typical form of life and which are at the same 

 time affected by the danger to which they are exposed, 

 for disease strives towards death, be it local or general, 

 and, consequently, it struggles against health. 



If disease is incidental to life, it must be allied to cer- 

 tain living portions. Therefore we say the disease is 

 " seated," and it is frequently one of the physician's most 

 difficult tasks to discover precisely where this seat may 

 be. But I must correct myself. In many cases the dis- 

 ease is located in several places. If a person has inflam- 

 mation of the lungs, he usually has a violent fever in 

 addition. In this case the inflammation is situated in the 

 lungs and the fever in the centre of the nervous system 



— two entirely different places. Is all this one disease ? 

 Even at the beginning of the present century inflamma- 

 tion of the lungs was put under the category of fevers. 

 Now it is considered as local inflammation. Still, it is 

 the fever principally that is treated, while the inflamma- 

 tion is left to Nature. I will not enter into the fact that 

 among many people who suffer from inflammation of the 

 lungs, the stomach and kidneys also become diseased. 

 What I have already said will suffice to show that the 

 mere investigation made to discover the location of the 

 disease leads us from the idea that it can be a unity. 

 Unity only exists in so-called imaginary maladies. It is 

 entirely figurative, a simple fancy, an abstract. In real- 

 ity, most diseases are distinct pluralities, some existing 

 in which the number of locations is countless. 



It remains further to be sai l that in reference to dis- 

 eases the word " cure " has many significations. If the 

 term in p'ain language means wholeness without injury, 

 it should designate the entire and complete re-establish- 

 ment of the condition. Such an interpretation as this 

 speaks badly for technology. If one has a tumor on the 

 knee and the leg is amputated, curing denotes none the 

 less a complete reestablishment. But it does not always 

 agree with physiology either. 



There is scarcely a single form of inflammation of the 

 kidneys which admits of complete restoration ; hardly 

 one example of inflammation of the brain which does 

 not always leave certain defects. These diseases there- 

 fore, are cured but imperfectly, and yet we may say the 

 patients are quite restored because in spite of the defi- 

 ciencies, new relations and connections take place in the 

 body which cause the equilibrium of the actions per- 

 formed. 



As an example of (he most perfect cure that we know 

 of, I might mention inflammation of the lungs. Al- 

 though it happens that in the course of a few days five, 

 eight or even ten pounds of matter are deposited in the 

 lungs through which the air inhaled should penetrate, we 

 see, nevertheless, that again within a short time the entire 

 mass is loosened and gradually disappears. This is the 

 consequence of mere natural circumstances. But it re- 

 quires only trivial aggravations, insignificant want of fore- 

 sight, slight renewal of deteriorating causes, to interrupt 

 this natural incident ; then no relief can occur. On the 

 contrary, the masses of matter remain firm like dead ma- 

 terial ; they break in pieces; the tissue surrounding them 

 becomes impaired and thus the first step is taken toward 

 ihat insidious occurrence called consumption. Therefore, 

 the timely advice of a careful physican is very important 

 even if he does not cure, and consequently no one should 

 confidently imagine that all can be satisfactorily arranged 

 independently of him. 



Every incident of disease arises either from a defective 

 nutrition or formation, or else from some disturbance of 

 the local actions. A compound disease frequently in- 

 cludes all of these reasons at once. Defects of nutrition 

 and formation are generally classed under the category 

 of organic imperfections, because in both cases local al- 

 terations take place in the organism. For this reason the 

 equalization of the disturbances occurs generally very 

 slowly. The defects can only be removed gradually, and 

 the normal condition established by degrees. Functional 

 imperfections on the other hand can often be removed in 

 a moment, because the inward construction does not 

 change and the local action is altered merely by unusual 

 excitation or oppression. The more the disease is con- 

 fined to functional blemishes, the quicker it can be re- 

 moved. 



In any case whatsoever, the cure is obtained by complete 

 restoration of the bodily harmony. It consists of a bal- 

 ancing and regulation of the disturbed relations, and in- 

 deed, an equalization through inward bodily resources. 

 The healing powers are situated in the vital portions of 

 the organism. These parts nourish themselves, and pro- 

 duce adequate conditions. They bring forth actions 



