Page:A Handbook of the Theory and Practice of Medicine - Volume I - Frederick T. Roberts.djvu/17



SECTION I.

INTRODUCTION.—OBJECT AND METHODS OF STUDY.

order to acquire a satisfactory knowledge of the Science and Art of Medicine, it is essential that the mental faculties should have been previously cultivated and trained, while at the same time the mind is stored with the requisite information, by an adequate study of the fundamental and more scientific subjects which constitute the earlier portion of the medical curriculum. Above all is it necessary that the student should be thoroughly acquainted with the construction of the human body, and the normal composition, structure, and functions of its various fluids, tissues, and org^ans in health—in short, with Anatomy and Physiology. Having this information, he will be materially aided in his further progress, if, in the first place, he understands definitely what Medicine includes, and what he is required to learn; and secondly, if he sets about acquiring the requisite knowledge and skill according to a systematic, orderly, and scientific method.

It will be expedient at the outset to indicate the general scope of the study of Medicine, and to explain the meaning of its more comprehensive scientific terms which are in common use.

.—The study of Medicine may be said to comprehend the study of disease in all its relationships. Under this term is included every deviation from the normal condition of the body or any portion of it, either as regards its structure, state of nutrition, or the due performance of its functions. It will be readily understood that there is no absolute line of demarcation between health and disease, these being merely relative terms. If a disease is associated with any evident structural change, it is said to be organic; if no such change can be detected by any method of investigation with which we are at present acquainted, it is called functional.

Disease requires to be studied from three main aspects, which may be considered under the heads of:— I. . II. . Ill. .

I.. In its correct and comprehensive sense pathology signifies that branch of Medicine which deals with and explains the origin, causes, clinical history, and nature of the several morbid conditions to which the human frame is liable. It is divided into:— I. General pathology, which treats of what is common to, or