Observations on the casual and periodical influence of particular states of the atmosphere on human health and diseases, particularly insanity : with a table of reference to altitudes / by Thomas Forster.

  • Thomas Ignatius Maria Forster
Date:
1819
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the casual and periodical influence of particular states of the atmosphere on human health and diseases, particularly insanity : with a table of reference to altitudes / by Thomas Forster. 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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    of atmosphere, liable to interruption from occasional disturbing forces.1 6 The worst of these interesting investigations is the obscurity which overhangs them. The known instruments of meteorology do not demonstrate these periodical changes. We seem to be groping in the dark after their causes. We must however collect and accurately compare their effects ; not omitting, at the same time, the observance of the daily variation of the magnetic needle, and of the atmospherical electrometer. SECTION VIII. The Atmospherical Influence is overlooked from its Obscure Manner of Operation on the Nervous System. All the phaenomena of the animal machine, the various functions of automatic life, of sensation, &c. depend ultimately on the nervous system. So do the diseases. No error is more common, or more dangerous to right practice, than that of confounding the va- rious symptoms of disease with the morbid state of, or influence on, the nervous system, wherein the real disease consists. Even cancer, for instance, may be regarded as the consequence of a morbid diathe- sis. The various symptoms of head-ache, vertigo, cutaneous eruptions, and local diseases in general, mark a disordered state of the nervous system, and of the digestive organs. By curing the latter by medi- cines and diet, and the former by exercise, the symptoms frequent- ly subside. And the exacerbations and Periods of them are often regular. The question is, How far is the influence of atmosphe- rical causes periodical with respect to the peculiarities of the symp- toms ? I have noticed, and firmly believe, that there are Periods of general Irritability, and that at these periods those symptoms may be excited, to which, from other causes, the body be fore- inclined. But I cannot discover that those peculiarities of atmo- sphere, which seem to vary the symptoms, like the local influence noted in the second section, have any regular periods observable in the term of human life •, we may regard it, therefore, as casual. Still, even in epidemical diseases of this sort, the daily and monthly Periodicity is not to be overlooked. This peculiar influence on our bodies from without, acts in an ] With a view to know whether there be any circumstances com- mon to plants which open their flowers at the same time, we should accu- rately compare their mode of generation, form, colors, and other attendant circumstances.