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Medical reform; a treatise on man's physical being and disorders
Medical reform a treatise on man's physical being and disorders Author:Isaac Jennings Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: SECTION HI. THEORY OF DISEASE—GENERAL AND SPECIAL—WITH EXAMPLES IN 1LLUSTRATIOA. The term disease has been used, both by physicians and others, to designat... more »e some apparent deviation from the natural healthy state; and the evidences of such deviation have been called symptoms. For instance, an increased frequency of the pulse, or any deviation of the pulse from its natural motion, or change of temperature, cold chills, pain, andc., have been considered evidence of a disordered and disordering state of the system, or parts so affected; and these symptoms have been arranged by different leading teachers of medicine, according to their respective fancies, into classes, orders, genera, species and varieties. In medical language, this classification is called Nosology, from two greek words, nosos—disease, and logos—treatise or doctrine,—treatise on disease, or doctrine of disease. And, formerly, physician sin their treatment of disease, had respect only to the symptoms; and when by the use of means or otherwise an individual was brought out of or recovered from a fit, fever, pain, spasm or any development of impaired health, and restored to ordinary soundness, it was deemed sufficient—inquiries were pushed no further. The general notion of disease seems to have been something like the following. Certain causes, most of them beyond human control, hring the system into a condition in which some of its elements or component parts become rebellious, and threaten the destruction of themselves and all with which they are connected. But, latterly, physicians, have become divided on the question—"What constitutes disease?" Some contend that the symptoms do not constitute it; that theseare merely effects—consequences that are flowing from something before them; and, that the latter, what...« less