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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    34 HEALTH AND DISEASE common experience, whereas other infants appear to be relatively immune. McCarrison,^ who bases his opinion mainly upon experimental feeding of animals, speaks confidently of the existence of individual predisposi¬ tions to deficiency diseases. He holds that 'the quanti¬ ties of vitamins necessary for the harmonious regula¬ tion of the metabolic processes vary with the individual and his rate of metabolism'. Moreover, he found that different organs of the body have their individual liabilities, as also has the same organ in different in¬ dividuals, and concluded that 'idiosyncrasy, whether of individual subjects or of individual organs, is an im¬ portant factor in determining the onset and the mani¬ festations of deficiency disease'. That the stage of de¬ velopment of the patient's tissues plays an important part in shaping the clinical picture, is evidenced by the difference between infantile scurvy with its subperio¬ steal haemorrhages, and the same malady as met with in adults. In a third group might be included what may be called the allergic diseases, such as asthma, at least in some of its forms, and angio-neurotic oedema ; but this group is not clearly defined, for allergic phenomena play conspicuous parts in a variety of maladies, including the exanthemata. The external cause often appears quite inadequate to bring about such striking results as are seen, in not a few cases, to follow the inhalation of the pollen of grass or the exhalation of a particular kind of ^ Studies in Deficiency Disease^ 1921, p. 40.