88 
The Rot in Sliccp. 
Wo are not insensible of the injurious results which spring- 
from the partaking of improper food, knowing full well that the 
due luitrition and integrity of every organ will d(>pcnd very much 
upon this alone. We do not lose sight of the ertects of a long- 
continued elevation or oven diminution of temperature, a humid 
or dry atmosphere, on the qualiU/ as well as the quantity of the 
food itself. Neither are we unmindful of the consequences of a 
long exposure of the bodies of animals to the vicissitudes of 
weather ; nor of the impaired function of respiration over the 
oxidation and decarbonization of the blood when the air is 
both warm and humid. The blood, we know, will be rich or 
poor, pure or impure, in proportion to the completeness of the 
change it undergoes by the process of respiration, and to the 
amount of albuminous and saline materials which enters it in a 
given space of time from the assimilation of the food. And 
.further we are aware that it is by these means that it can alone 
maintain — assisted by the secretory and excretory organs — that 
purity of composition and proper specific gravity necessary for 
its free circulation, and the yielding up of its nutritive and vital 
properties to every tissue of the body. 
But we object that many persons both write and speak about 
animals, and endeavour to explain the normal and abnormal func- 
tions of their several organs — particularly those employed in the 
digestion and assimilation of the food — entirely on chemical prin- 
ciples ; as if an animal were merely a chemical laboratory. This 
we conceive to be an error. We admit the influence of chemistry 
— few perhaps more so — in many of the changes which are wrought 
in the animal organism ; but we believe that this is controlled, kept 
in order, and, so to speak, even directed, by a far higher power, 
nameh/, vitality. Vital force, however, we do not hold to be 
antagonistic to chemical action, but to be in harmony therewith. 
Nevertheless, it is often diminished, without losing its supremacy, 
by many internal as well as other causes, especially if these should 
be of a persistent irritative character, as, for examjde, the pre- 
sence of flukes in the liver. Under such circumstances a con- 
tinued alteration of the function of one organ will exert a 
baneful influence to a greater or less degree upon all the others, 
and thus lead ultimately to the death of the animal by simply 
exhausting the vital force. 
Pathology. — Rot an Entozoic Disease. 
When we reflect that the pathology of a disease is to a con- 
sideraljle extent elucidated by studying the lesions which are 
observed post mortem^ it seems difficult to account for the differ- 
ences of opinion which have prevailed with regard to the nature 
of rot. It cannot be denied that every investigator of this disease 
