Rheumatism, rheumatoid arthritis and subcutaneous nodules / by C.O. Hawthorne.

  • Hawthorne, C. O. (Charles Oliver), 1858-1949.
Date:
1900
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Rheumatism, rheumatoid arthritis and subcutaneous nodules / by C.O. Hawthorne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    PREFATORY NOTE. The term rheumatism, though widely employed, and pro- vided with the justification of practical utility, by no means possesses a definite and precise significance. Among the several definitions that have been attached to it, there is not one which has been received with anything like a unanimous welcome. It is perhaps not unreasonable to anticipate that a definition commanding general assent is hardly likely to be produced until the etiology of the disease is placed on a satisfactory scientific basis. Then, and pro- bably only then, will it be competent to determine what, if any, relationship exists between the various events that are more or less commonly designated “ rheumatic.” The discussion whether the phenomena forming the clinical condition known as rheumatoid arthritis are, or are not, to be included under the term rheumatism, can at present, therefore, hardly be pressed to a definite issue. In essence the question may be presumed to mean : Is the deformed condition of the joints in rheumatoid arthritis due to the same agency as that which produces the acute polyarthritis of rheumatic fever. When that agency is known, but hardly before, the problem may be within measurable distance of solution. In the meantime, the careful collection of clinical facts, if insufficient to establish a generalisation embodying a well-defined scientific doctrine,