Volume 1
A system of practical medicine / by American authors ; edited by William Pepper ; assisted by Louis Starr.
- Date:
- 1885-1886
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A system of practical medicine / by American authors ; edited by William Pepper ; assisted by Louis Starr. Source: Wellcome Collection.
19/1084
![GENERAL MOEBID PROCESSES/ INFLAI^OIATION; THROMBOSIS AND EMBOLISM; EFFUSIONS; DEGENEBATIONS; TUBERCULOSIS; MORBID GROWTHS. By REGINALD H. FITZ, M. D. GENERAL MORBID PROCESSES. Disease is to be regarded as represeutiug the result of a series of pro- cesses called morbid or pathological, from the fact that they are man- ifested by disturbances in the organism. The processes concerned are the same in kind as those essential to health, but they are modified in time, place, or quantity. Morbid processes, therefore, are to be considered as modified physio- logical processes tending to cause disease. All physiological processes are subject to certain variations Avhich tend to produce disturbances in the functions of the body In the healthy organism this tendency is checked by the automatic regulators of the functional activity of the various organs, to the imi)ortance of which Yirchow^ long ago called attention. By their action the mflu- ence of external agents is controlled Avithin certain limits. The lids close and prevent injury to the eye. Sneezing, coughing, and vomit- ing bring about the expulsion of noxious irritants. Sweating aids in neutralizing the injurious effects of exposure to high temperatures, liapid respiration permits a sufficient cleansing of the blood in rarefied atmospheres. When the limits, Avithin which tlie regulation of physio- logical ])roce,sses is possible, are exceeded, such ])rocesses become ]iatho- logical and disease begins. A morbid jjrocess, tlierefore, is usually inca- pable of recognition till disease is ])resent. It may exist and disease be unsuspected and denied. A diminished blood-supi)ly may be one link i the process Avhich eventually leads to the i)roduction of disturbances, in > In tlie preparation of this subject fnll anrl free use has been made of the fo lowing works: Die Cdlnlnr Palholowe., Virchow, 4to Authige, Berlin, 1871; mmdmch div>- A <i,'.mcmcn raiholo<,ie, Uhle und'Wagner, 7te Aufinfre, Leipzig, Handlmoh der Al cjcvieinen Palholoqie ah PcUholorjMe Fliy.vdoqie, tiiimud, Stuttgart, Vodcmycn uber Allge. meine Palholoc/ie, Cohniieini, 2te Aulhige, Berlin, 1882; Lr.hrbach der Pu holoiii^^che.n Analn. ie, Birch-Hirschfeid, 2te Auflage, ler Band, Leipzig, ISS2 ■ LehUch der Allmnen und leclellen PallioloniHckcn AncUomie, Ziegler, ler luid 2er Iheil, Jena, 1882 iind lhS.l ' llandbuch der Specicllen Palhologie und Therapie, Virchow, ler Band, p. lo, I'.rlangen, vue Specicllen Falliolocj 1854.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b20415023_001_0019.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
