The inborn factors in disease : an essay / by Archibald E. Garrod.

  • Garrod, Archibald E. (Archibald Edward), Sir, 1857-1936.
Date:
1931
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: The inborn factors in disease : an essay / by Archibald E. Garrod. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    THE DOCTRINES OF DIATHESIS 21 that of the naturalist who studies man and his disorders from the point of view of biology. This one-sided approach has coloured all the ideas which were advanced, from time to time, concerning constitutional tendencies, temperaments, and diatheses. The ideas which under¬ lay those terms originated, for the most part, in times when many of the concepts of modern science were as yet unformed, when little was known of the laws of heredity, when the theory of evolution had not yet taken form, and when such entities as chromosomes, hor¬ mones, vitamins, and antitoxins were not yet dreamed of. In order that we may get further it will be necessary to re-lay all the foundations of our subject by the light of the newer knowledge. When so doing many cherished notions and some time-honoured terms will have to be discarded, whilst many new facts will need to be taken into account. This is what is being attempted in the constitutional clinics and elsewhere, and it is the pur¬ pose of this essay to try to sketch the useful lines of approach to a better understanding of the parts played by inborn factors in connexion with morbid states. The essay is divided into two parts. In the first section the fundamental studies upon which the recon¬ structed edifice will need to be built up will be reviewed briefly. Firstly, the meaning of the terms health and disease need to be considered. Next, the bearing upon medical problems of recent advances of biochemistry will be discussed, and after that the influence of the theory of evolution upon