A treatise on the nature and cure of those diseases, either acute or chronic, which precede change of structure : with a view to the preservation of health, and, particularly, the prevention of organic diseases / by A.P.W. Philip ; with notes and appendices by J.H. Miller.

  • Philip, Alexander Philip Wilson, 1770-1847.
Date:
1831
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the nature and cure of those diseases, either acute or chronic, which precede change of structure : with a view to the preservation of health, and, particularly, the prevention of organic diseases / by A.P.W. Philip ; with notes and appendices by J.H. Miller. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    Although the power of the heart and blood-vessels, we shall find, is independent of the nervous system, it is throughout the whole frame capable of being influ- enced by it.* By it the animal body is formed into a whole, every part of which is under the influence of the central parts of that system, where all its powers, if we except merely the power of conveying its influence, reside; and the causes of deviations from the healthy state often so affect this system, that their influence is felt most in certain parts; and, consequently, the ves- sels of those parts are most affected. Now when the causes of plethora produce too great fulness of the vessels, it is evident that if the action of any particular set, from some peculiarity in the excit- ing causes, or in the habit of the patient, be more de- bilitated than the rest, these will become more distend- ed, and, by their preternatural distention, tend to re- lieve the others. Thus, the morbid distentions sometimes take place chiefly in the external, and sometimes in the internal vessels. When we consider local affections, we shall find that, even with respect to particular parts of the body, this fact is clearly demonstrated. Nay, we have sufficient proof that a weakness of particular sets of vessels is often the sole cause of the partial plethora which attends it; for although the quantity of blood, on the whole, may be no greater or even much less than it ought to be, if any set of vessels be debilitated, they will yield most to the general force of circulation, and thus receive more blood than their due proportion. In most cases, however, in which the external ves- sels are preternaturally and habitually distended, we find symptoms demonstrating the same tendency, in the * See a paper which the Royal Society did me the honour to publish in the Philosophical Transactions of 1815, and my Treatise on the Vita] Func- tions.