A parasitic or germ theory of disease : the skin, the eye, and other affections / by Jabez Hogg.

  • Jabez Hogg
Date:
1876
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A parasitic or germ theory of disease : the skin, the eye, and other affections / by Jabez Hogg. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    The disease occurs at an early period of life, is sel- dom seon after teething is completed, and the child is able to partake of other food than milk; it is therefore believed to be produced by the unhealthy condition of this fluid; or, if the child is brought up by hand, to an improper diet of some sort. In all cases, acidity of the stomach is present; and this points to the necessity for attention to diet in attempting a cure of the disorder. When thrush occurs in the adult, it denotes a con- siderable amount of debility, and requires the aid of tonics, bark and ammonia, with wine and a nourishing diet, to sustain the strength and restore the health. Aplithse are formed on surfaces that are provided with a continuous epidermis, and especially indicate a low condition of the system; at such a time the fungus, which is the o'idium albicans, finds a suitable soil to feed upon, and soon becomes a destructive agent de- manding attention. All disease is simply a disturbance of the con- structive and assimilative processes whereby the normal integrity of the animal body is maintained. The cause of jungle-malaria, and fen-ague, may be traced to ac- cumulated and decaying organic matter. By breathing for a given time an atmosphere loaded with sewer and other gases, typhoid fever is produced; other fevers can be traced to similar causes. Indeed, many diseases classed among zymotic can be accounted for without assuming the existence of germs or spores. The blood in all cases is primarily affected, and when a disinte- grating action is set up in any part of the animal economy, its tendency is downward; the effect that fol- lows varies only with the histological anatomy of the part. The action is a nearly uniform process of irrita- tion, inflammation, and disintegration, tending towards death. I do not therefore deny the probable influence exer- cised by minute organic particles mixing in the air we