Page:Transactions of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, volume 1.djvu/65

 exciting cause, than on the deprivation of habit, which unfits the natural powers for resisting the morbific influence.

Health being the standard by which alone disease should, according to the mode of enquiry now advocated, be judged, it is essential that what constitutes health should be clearly understood. In this no ambiguity should be suffered to prevail, nor should appearances be trusted to. Florid looks, energy of frame, buoyancy of spirits, are no criterion, and may be deceptive, for all these may co-exist for a time with a state of constitution, which, if not amounting to disease, is fast approaching it; a deeper scrutiny is necessary for verifying the alleged health which such persons are supposed to enjoy. To substantiate this, every function of the frame should be shewn to be in healthful exercise, neither wanting in power, nor too energetic, and to this end each should be separately examined. A state of health requires a calm pulse, temperate skin, clean and moist tongue, a clear head, tranquil respiration, natural appetite with digestion unconsciously performed, regular bowels, all the several secretions and excretions in adequate quantity and of natural character, and, finally, sound repose. If, in any of these respects, material deviation be discoverable, then, however unconscious the party may be of the existing derangement, health is so far impaired, and more determinate disease will sooner or later be sure to ensue. It may not be amiss to notice here some of the derangements most apt to be misconceived or disregarded. The pulse, which is the principal index of the sufficiency of the nutritive matter imbibed