Certain places, at particular times, are
infected with maladies which attack a greater
or less number of those living or visiting
there. Some of these diseases are said to be
endemic ; that is, they are limited to quite
clearly defined places. Thus, ague or ma-
larial fever and autumnal bilious or remit-
tent fever are found to prevail in some
neighborhoods every fall and spring ; while
other places, perhaps not more than a mile
distant, are clear of them. Yclloii) fever is
an endemic disease of the vicinity of the sea-
coast of Cuba, while the higher regions of
the same island are free from it. Cholera is
endemic only in Hindustan, near the banks
of the Ganges River.
When these, or any other diseases, over-
pass limited places, and appear in many
localities, they are said to be epidemic.
Yellow fever is often epidemic. Cholera,
once in several years, starts out from India,
and travels mostly w^estward.
Plague was once universally, and is now
generally, believed to be extremely con-
tagious.
Erysipelas and picerperal fever cannot be
positively said never to be extended from
one person to another. Diphtheria, like-
wise, is sometimes given by one person to an-
other; Usually, however, diphtheria is
either a local endemic or a slowly migrat-
ing epidemic disorder.
Influenza is always an epidemic ; nol)ody
imagines it to be contagious from person to
person. The same rule is also of dengue,
the ' ' breakbone fever ' ' of the Southern
States, and of a form oi dysentery prevalent
during the summer and autumn in some
localities.
469
NATURE OF DISEASES
Children sometimes die of old age. That
is, their oidginal endoivvient of life enci'gy
was so small as to be exhausted during in-
fancy. Others die very soon because of
some defective developvient of a vital organ or
organs.
At any period of life the disorders to
which we are all subject consist in one or
both of the following changes :
1. Disturbance of the action of some
organ or organs by a morbid cause.
2. Alteration of the strnctiire or substance
of one or more organs ; inducing, of course,
change also in its action.
To the first of these the term ' ' functional
disorders ' ' is applied ; those of the second
sort are '* organic diseases." Temporary
changes in the substance or structure of an
organ often occur, as when it is i7iflanied,
from which there may or may not follow
permanent organic alterations.
Only slight affections of even small parts
of the body can take place and last for any
time, without involving the general system
more or less in disturbance. Also, a disorder
beginning in the blood, and thus being a
general malady, nearly if not quite always
puts some of the functions of the organs out
of order. Still some cases do begin in, and
chiefly affect, particular organs ; these we
call local disorders ; others begin in the
blood, and involve the body in many of its
functions ; those are well described as gen-
eral diseases. We will give attention here,
first, to the nature of the disturbances com-
ing under the former of these heads.
Local Disorders.
Medical books speak of irritation, con-
gestion {hypercEmia) , inflammation, mortifi-
cation, and degeneration, as affections of
organs of the body. Atrophy, hypertrophy,
and morbid growths are such also ; and less
purely local, but often more or less restricted,
are dropsical effusions.
Irritation.
Page 125
Presented as published in 1901. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Certain places, at particular times, are infected with maladies which attack a greater or less number of those living or visiting there. Some of these diseases are said to be endemic ; that is, they are limited to quite clearly defined places. Thus, ague or malarial fever and autumnal bilious or remittent fever are found to prevail in some neighborhoods every fall and spring ; while other places, perhaps not more than a mile distant, are clear of them. Yellow fever is an endemic disease of the vicinity of the seacoast of Cuba, while the higher regions of the same island are free from it. Cholera is endemic only in Hindustan, near the banks of the Ganges River.
When these, or any other diseases, overpass limited places, and appear in many localities, they are said to be epidemic. Yellow fever is often epidemic. Cholera, once in several years, starts out from India, and travels mostly westward.
Plague was once universally, and is now generally, believed to be extremely contagious.
Erysipelas and puerperal fever cannot be positively said never to be extended from one person to another. Diphtheria, likewise, is sometimes given by one person to another; Usually, however, diphtheria is either a local endemic or a slowly migrating epidemic disorder.
Influenza is always an epidemic ; nobody imagines it to be contagious from person to person. The same rule is also of dengue, the ' ' breakbone fever ' ' of the Southern States, and of a form oi dysentery prevalent during the summer and autumn in some localities.
NATURE OF DISEASES
Children sometimes die of old age. That is, their original endowment of life energy was so small as to be exhausted during infancy. Others die very soon because of some defective development of a vital organ or organs.
At any period of life the disorders to which we are all subject consist in one or both of the following changes :
1. Disturbance of the action of some organ or organs by a morbid cause.
2. Alteration of the strnctiire or substance of one or more organs ; inducing, of course, change also in its action.
To the first of these the term ' ' functional disorders ' ' is applied ; those of the second sort are '* organic diseases." Temporary changes in the substance or structure of an organ often occur, as when it is inflamed, from which there may or may not follow permanent organic alterations.
Only slight affections of even small parts of the body can take place and last for any time, without involving the general system more or less in disturbance. Also, a disorder beginning in the blood, and thus being a general malady, nearly if not quite always puts some of the functions of the organs out of order. Still some cases do begin in, and chiefly affect, particular organs ; these we call local disorders ; others begin in the blood, and involve the body in many of its functions ; those are well described as general diseases. We will give attention here, first, to the nature of the disturbances coming under the former of these heads.
Local Disorders.
Medical books speak of irritation, congestion {hyperemia) , inflammation, mortification, and degeneration, as affections of organs of the body. Atrophy, hypertrophy, and morbid growths are such also ; and less purely local, but often more or less restricted, are dropsical effusions.
Irritation.