An osteo aims to do with his hands that which an M.D. does with medicine. Do not forget for one moment that all organic functions are the characteristic work of organs or an organism directed by an intelligence known as spirit. This intellectual being transmits its impulses, its commands, over the nervous system by molecular vibration. Poisons are irritative, cause inflammation, excessive nerve vibration, or they may be sedative or narcotic, produce stupor, reduce vital power, produce slower vibration. Modification of functions are known as disease.
Medical men divide poisons into two classes, organic and inorganic.
The former includes those poisons supposed to be developed within the body and cause disease. The latter includes deleterious substances from minerals, plants and snake venom. Toxine in biology, as understood by medical men, is a poisonous substance produced by microorganisms. Of these, two kinds are recognized, animal toxine excreted by certain animal cells, and the poison produced by bacteria. Toxicosis is a disease caused by poison, an abnormal condition of the nervous system.