and cold were in the main manifestations of a cure. Without them a common cold might become fatal. The catarrh and persistent sneezing were practical means of dislodging bacteria from the nasal passage, and the cough of removing the bacteria from the windpipe. Again, the whole of the manifestations of tuberculosis were expressions of unflagging efforts on the part of the body to oppose the progress of invading bacterium. (Text.)—New York Sun.
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DISEASE, CAUSES OF
At the present moment there are two
theories in the field to explain the origin of
contagious diseases—the parasitic theory and
the theory of the innate character of diseases.
The parasitic theory assumes that diseases
are originated by microbes first
diffused in the atmosphere, and then taken
into the system by the air we breathe, the
water we drink, the things we touch. The
advocates of the innate character of diseases
hold, on the contrary, that the disease is
spontaneously developed in the patient; the
first cause is in morbid changes which are
purely chemical, changes produced in the
actual substance of the tissues and secretions
without any external intervention of
microbes; the microbes, where they really
exist, being only a secondary phenomenon,
a complication, and not the scientific cause
which actually terminates the disease. Now,
whatever may be the exact truth in this biological
controversy, it is evident that the
first cause of such disease must be sought in
a defect of life, a feebleness, a certain untoward
disposition and receptivity in the
organism itself. The phylloxera devastates
the French vineyards because the vines have
been exhausted by excessive cultivation; tuberculosis
fastens upon man because of obscure
conditions of bodily weakness and
susceptibility; vigorous plants and robust
constitutions defying the foreign destructive
bodies which may fill the air—extrinsic influence
and excitement counting for little
where the intrinsic tendency does not exist.
Revelation assumes that the man
morally occupies much the same position.
Environment brings the opportunity
for evil, the solicitation or provocation
to evil, so far do evil communications
corrupt good manners; but the
first cause of all must be found in the
heart itself, in its lack of right direction,
sympathy, and force; in a word,
the scientific cause of sin is the spiritual
cause—W. L. Watkinson, "The Transfigured
Sackcloth."
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DISEASE, EXEMPTION FROM
Breweries and tanneries and printing-ink
factories confer exemption from tuberculosis,
and employees in turpentine factories never
have rheumatism. Copper-mining excludes
the possibility of typhoid among the workers.
Shepherds enjoy remarkable health. The odd odor of sheep appears to exercise some influence tending to the prevention of disease. Sheep are especially good for whooping-cough, so that in a sheep country, when a child is taken down with that malady, it is the custom for the mother to put it among the sheep to play. The next day, it is said, the child will be well.
Men and women working in lavender, whether gathering or distilling it, are said never to suffer from neuralgia or nervous headache. Lavender, moreover, is as good as a sea voyage for giving tone to the system. Persons suffering from nervous breakdown frequently give their services gratis to lavender plants, in order that they may build up their vitality.
Salt-miners can wear summer clothes in blizzard weather without fear of catching cold, for colds are unknown among these workers.—Harper's Weekly.
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Disease Traveling—See Evil, Virulency of.
Disguise of Temptation—See Imagination,
Lure of.
DISGUISED DANGER
The dangers to moral integrity most to be guarded against are those which come disguised, and are often hard to detect.
D. W. Whittle tells of a soldier who was
posted in a forest to watch the approach of
Indians. It was a position of peculiar danger,
three different men having been surprized
and killed at this post without having
had time to fire a shot. The soldier was left
with strict orders to observe the utmost vigilance.
In a short time an object moving
among the trees at some distance caught his
eye. He watched it, with gun ready; as it
came a little nearer, he saw it to be a wild
