On the curative effects of baths and waters : being a handbook to the spas of Europe / Including a chapter on the treatment of phthisis by baths and climate, by Rohden. An abridged translation, with notes, ed. by Hermann Weber.

  • Braun, Julius, 1821-1878.
Date:
1875
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the curative effects of baths and waters : being a handbook to the spas of Europe / Including a chapter on the treatment of phthisis by baths and climate, by Rohden. An abridged translation, with notes, ed. by Hermann Weber. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    on the loss of heat; and nevertheless, if no extreme influences are in operation for any length of time, the temperature of the blood and of the cavities of the body maintains itself at a standard, which, under ordinary cir- cumstances, differs only some tenths of a degree both in the single individual and in different men and races, i.e., the heat produced by irritation and reaction accurately corresponds with that lost each moment under the indivi- vidual circumstances. The irritations, constantly demand- ing the compensation of the organism, are not always external in the mechanical sense of the word, but often consist in internal morbid conditions of the organs. Disease acts always as a disturbing influence, calling- for the compensating powers of the organism, and modifying the reaction on the properly external necessary or accus- tomed influences. In the treatment of chronic diseases we require not only the lessons of general pathology, but also, and even much more, those of general and practical physiolofjy, and the position of the physician is essentially different in acute and in chronic diseases. In the former we have to do predominantly with the distinctly characterized species of illness, powerfully overruling all accompanying conditions ; the individuality of the sick person more or less recedes before it, especially when the disease has the character of an infection, and belongs to those specific processes often designated as cosmical. The critical examination and treatment of such cases consists, therefore, far more in the practical application to the case of the best established experiences and theories of the species of illness, than in the special consideration of the sick individual; and industry and attention are sufficient to make a man even without genius a successful physician in acute diseases. It is otherwise with chronic maladies. Even when these manifest specific indications arising from the noso- logical species, the special condition and the possible power of compensation of the individual are additional and essential points, and we are very often thrown upon the latter alone; either because the indistinct diagnosis does not furnish specific indications, or because these have