Pathological inquiries ; or an attempt to explain the phenomena of disease and philosophically to direct the methods of cure / [Sir George Smith Gibbes].

  • Gibbes, George Smith, Sir, 1771-1851
Date:
[1820?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pathological inquiries ; or an attempt to explain the phenomena of disease and philosophically to direct the methods of cure / [Sir George Smith Gibbes]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    attempt at determining the first source from whence this principle was derived ; an attempt which, as it reduced him to the necessity of adopting words to which no defi- nite meaning is annexed, has perplexed the subject, and rendered that unintelligible, vague, and of little value, which would otherwise have been important. 11. —The principle which involves the many healthful operations of nature for the prevention and cure of bodily disease, is one which is so very self-apparent, that to an inconsiderable extent it has not failed to have been obser- ved by every physician of any discernment whatsoever ; it will therefore be understood that in the present investi- gation, the object in view is not so much the developement of a principle before unknown, as to demonstrate to the world the universality of its application, and its extreme utility in indicating to physicians the means to be adopted for the relief of injury in their co-operation with these salutary works of nature. 12. —-The principle now before us, which I purpose to investigate, may be divided into two parts: the first consists of the power with which all animal bodies are endowed of averting, or repelling causes which would be productive of injury ; and the second, of the almost unlimited power with which they have been provided, of repairing injuries by their several processes, when they have been sustained. 13. —I shall consider these distinct modifications of the one principle under different heads, and commence with the provision which has been made to effect the re- moval of all noxious agents from the body. 14. —The more extensively we examine the operations of nature, and extend our view to the several ranges of the created world, the more distinctly do we descry the vast and almost incomprehensible design which has been evinced by the Creator to the single though beneficent purpose of our preservation. 15. —If we confine ourselves simply to the considera- tion of the structure of the organs and their reciprocal adaptations, which enter into the formation of those which we denominate animal bodies, we are struck with admira- tion; but this admiration heightens itself into amazement if we view in combination the animal and the vegetable kingdom. From considering these different departments of