A contribution to the theory of diathesis / by David J. Brakenridge.

  • Brakenridge, David J. (David James), 1839-1895.
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A contribution to the theory of diathesis / by David J. Brakenridge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ID organ—as is probably the case in temperate climates—the balance of development will be preserved. In extreme climates it will not be so. Under the inflnence of such, a maximum pressure will be exerted on one set of organs, a minimum on the remainder, and the corresponding develop¬ ment and functional powers will be unequal. Hence the organs and functions most perfect under a cold climate, wil] be least advanced under a hot one, and vice versa. Each variety of climate will give rise to an answering modification of the constitution. That other circumstances than climate influence the type of constitution is unquestionable. Man's body is not merely a machine regulated by the physiological necessities imposed upon it by a surrounding atmosphere, but is, besides, the habitation of a governing mind not less per¬ emptory in its demands. He has, moreover, in his position and surroundings in the social world, another series of influencing circumstances to which he must become adapted. A powerful effect is thus produced upon the constitution by the restraints of poverty and the license of riches, by occupation and its accompanying conditions, by social customs, and by the self-imposed restrictions and indulgences of religious or other belief. In our own land a marked difference of configuration and constitution is observable between the extreme ranks of society. But the striking influence of even purely self-imposed condi¬ tions in antagonism to that of climate is well seen in the two following opposite examples. On the one hand, strictly different habits of thought and diet have, notwith¬ standing the influence of the same climate, for several thousand years maintained a striking difference of general appearance between the different castes in India. On the other hand, uniformity of customs and creed, dating from an even more remote period, has preserved the