Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/19

RELAPSING FEVER. attacked. The jieiiiliar nature of the malady was pointed out l>_v Uendeison in 1S42 and l)y!Sir W. Jenner, lS-l!t to 18")!. Tlieir views have since been confiinieil by the discovery of the specific micro-organism by Obcrnicier.

Tlie period of imiibatiou of rehipsing fever averages from 4 to 10 day-^. Tlie fever begins suddenly with a cliill or rigor, accompanied by frontal headache, and pains in the back and limbs. The temperature may be 103" or 104° F., and mounts on the succeeding days to 105° or even 108°. The general condition remains much the same for about a week, except that the .symptoms increase in severity. Little sleep is obtained, but the mind remains clear until near the end of the jiaro.xysm, when delirium su])ervenes. When all the symptoms are at the height, crisis suddenly occurs in 5 to 7 days, with jirofuse perspiration and a rapid abatement of sutTcring. Convalescence now sets in and is permanent in many cases. In others the patiertt feels comparatively well, but very weak until about fourteen days from the initial attack or seven days after the crisis, when he is again seized with chills and fever, and the «hole series of phenomena is repeated. This relapse is usually shorter than the first paroxysm, and permanent recovery follows it in the majority of cases.

The spirilla are always present in the blood during the paroxysms and increase in number as the fever progresses. They disappear at the crisis and remain absent until near the advent of the relapse. During this period they may he found in the spleen and bone marrow (as proved by experiments on monkeys), where they probably break down and leave spores which germinate and thus produce the organisms which determine the relapse.

No treatment has succeeded in shortening the paroxysms or jireventing the recurrence of a relapse; and although certain drugs, such as quinine,' carbolic acid, and iodine, arrest the movements of the spirillum outside the body, they have no influence when given as remedies. Treatment must be symptomatic. S])onging with tepid ^^■ater or ])acking in wet sheets ill give temporary relief when the fever is very high, and headache may be relieved by cold applications. During the severe perspiration of the crisis the patient must be kept as dry as possible, and the tendency to collapse must be met by additional coverings, hot bottles, and dift'nsible stimulants. For the severe pains opium or morphine is given. Cooling drinks and gentle saline laxatives increase the comfort of the patient. During convalescence, fresh air, good food, and tonic medicines are indicated. The disease is rare in this country, no epidemics having appeared since 1869. when it prevailed extensively in New York and Philadelphia. It is common in India, where favorable conditions for its development seem always to be present.  RELATIONS (Lat. relatio, relation, reference, report, restoration, from re-, back again, anew -|- latus. p.p. assigned to ferrc. to bear, carry). In law, technically, such kindred of a person as may be entitled to share in his personal estate under the statute of distributions in force in the jurisdiction in which the meaning of the word is called in question. The word, therefore, is employed in a wider sense in some jurisdictions than in others, and the classes of persons included vary according to the jurisdiction. It is jiopularly employed to describe all family eon nections by lilood or marriage, and the law will recognize this use of the woiil where it is evident a person so intended to employ it. .See .Vitlmty; CoNSANGii.NiTY; LlKEAL. See also Blackstone's Cj)inicnt(iiifs.  RELATIONSHIP. The exact degree of affinity existing between keys, chords, and tones. Se.  RELATIVITY (from Lat. relulinis, having rifereiue or nlalion), [>.v OF. In its most general form, the law, as given by Stunipf, is that the relation of sensations to one another is essential to their very existence; so that black, e.g. can be senseil only in opposition to white, or at least only in distinction from a grayer or blacker Idack; a tone or noise only as alternating with other tones or noises, or with complete silence, and so on—while every sensation will disajipear under the operation of uniform and continuous stimnlalion. Simple as this statement looks, it is capable of many interpretations, none of which can be regarded as unexceptionable.

The grain of truth which Stumjif finds in the doctrine is that the ]ircsence of sensation in the adult consciousness is almost without exception connected with certain judgments of its relation to other ideas. And these judgments (apprehensions, apperceptions), if they cannot alter the content of sensation, can at least render it confusable with other contents not now sensed. Wundt, on the other hand, has consistently maintained that our mental life is governed by a law of relativity, such that every phase of present experience is conditioned not only by other phases of the same experience, but also by the whole past history of consciousness. The laws of mind at large are of two classes: laws of relativity and laws of development. Under the heading of relativity we have ( 1 ) the law of psychical resultants, which affirms that every mental comjilex shows properties which, once given, can be understood from the attributes of its elements, but which cannot be regarded as a mere sum of those attributes. (2) The law of relations asserts that every dissection of a conscious whole into its constituent terms is an act of relating analysis. Finally, (3) the law of psychical contrasts maintains that mental processes of opposed direction mutually reinfcnce one another. The laws of mental development are (1) the law of mental growth, the application of the law of resultants: (2) the law of helerogony of ends, based upon the laws of resultants and of relations: and (3) the law of development by opposites, which applies the law of contrasts. Consult: Stumpf,?'o)i./)S//c/io(o(7i> ( Leipzig, 1883); Rielil. Der philosophischc Krilicistnus. vol. ii. (ib., 1879-87); Preyer, Elemente der rcinen Empfindimgslehrn (1877): Wundt, Outlines of Psychology (trans. Leipzig. 1807); id.. Physiolofllsch-e' Psi/cholopie (4th ed., ib.. 181)3): Hiiffding, Outllncs of Psi/choloijn; Spencer, Priiieiples of Pstichology (London, 1881): Hain. 77ic tSenscs and the Intellect (ib., 18G8).  RELEASE. In the most general sense, any act. event, or instrument by which a legal right is discharged. In this sense of the term a right of action based upon a personal tort may be re-