Excerpt from A Manual of the Practice of MedicineA Manual of the Practice of Medicine should deal with diseases, their nature, course and treatment.It has never been very satisfactorily determined what is to be called disease, or what are to be called diseases. TO say that disease is any divergence from health, or anything that is the Opposite of health, opens up the question, What is health? To this the answer is A perfect structure Of all the organs or tissues, with a perfect performance of all their functions and, in the broadest sense, any alteration Of structure or function may be called disease. But some special cases have to be considered.A distinction is commonly drawn between injury and disease; but the inammation which so Often results from injury is disease of structure and function, and although the immediate effects Of injuries are not generally spoken Of as diseases, remote troubles sometimes occur which are so classed.Slight ailments, whether of a structural kind, such as mild catarrhs, or of a functional kind, like headaches - are Often Spoken of not as diseases, but as disorders, or ailments. There is, however, no essential difference, and no broad line Of distinction can be drawn between those which pass Off readily, leaving no trace, and those which persist, or recur frequently, or finally shorten life.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books.

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