The scientific foundation of water-cure : pamphlet 1 / by C.C. Schieferdecker.

  • Schieferdecker, Chr. Charles (Christian Charles)
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The scientific foundation of water-cure : pamphlet 1 / by C.C. Schieferdecker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

    17/36
    The topical reaction against every diseasing intrusion into our organism is, of course, modified in the details of the exte- rior symptoms, on the one side, by the kind of intruder, which may act mechanically, chemically or dynamically; on the other side, by the affected organic part itself, which must react ac- cording to its specific character, f. i. the muscle by violent con- tractions ; the nerve by sensations, which again are different in the different nerves: in the sensitive nerves by pain; in the oph- thalmic nerves by scintillations; in the auditory nerve by sounds, &c; the lung by difficulty of breathing, the intestines by in- creased motion, &c. The aim and effect of the reaction is this. Every pathic irri- tation, every intrusion of disease-matter into the body is con- nected with a material qualitative change of the affected part, a decomposition, as it were, of its elements; new qualities for- eign to the organism, are formed, which are then the material fundament, the body of the disease. This fundament acts upon the organism with the tendency to change its integrity and nature. For instance, the narcotics affect the body by partially destroying its material quality, by chemical decomposition j we clearly see this in the blood of those who are poisoned ; there are in it quite different affinities and chemical combinations from those in the healthy blood. Blood thus decomposed, cannot serve for the preservation of life, because it acts as de- composing ferment upon all organs alike, and sudden death must follow. The reaction aims at once to remove the intruder from where it intruded, f. i. by suppuration and reproduction of normal elements. A splinter intrudes in to my hand ; the life-power, not discerning whether it is poison or not, but know- ing that it is foreign and not assimilable to the body, sends an abundance of blood to the injured spot, serum is exuded, the splinter surrounded by it, and thus, by what we call suppura- tion, removed; if the intruder is a poisonous mineral, f. i. lead the same serum, extracted from the blood, surrounds it, and pre- vents thus the oxide from being absorbed and poisoning the body.