New-York tribune., 1901-11-10
TWO FACTORS IN DISEASE.
INFECTION AND PREDIsPOsITION BOTH
PLAY 4 PART.
THr, PENDULUM OF OPINION NOW SWINGING
FROM ONE TO THE OTHER.

From The Hospital.
years swung far in ihe direction OF deprivins
of hs me onse o @ Of heir sgn
cance Much popular teaching. often Of some
mine the importance OF diathesis, faces and pre-
spGsition In regard 10 nfeto f has
been made into a fetch and the faiths nH OF ouT
Nevertheless artists and people OF observation sun
hod T to 59 @ s to e ookas Sa and
those who putting theory on one side are sonte ed
notions turn out 20 be correct The infectionists
have, in fact: overdone II. To thinking men the
widespread diffusion which is claimed for the In.
fecton OF tuberculosis and the multiplicity of the
chances which we all have OF coming across Il al
acknowledging acceptance OF the theories which are
nIa~atfon 6f the pre,aencs Of consumption among
the poor. namely. that in homes of poverty infec.
light and air and cleanliness. the-.sve held that
why Consumption prevails 50 largely among the
poor is that the conditions OF their lives enEran In
turns upon the comparative value Of infection and
| tion set up by the popularizins OF the Infection
| theory. find the pendulum swinging back once
| directiorl Of predisposton. As have Just said
the widespread nature Of the infection Of tq6ersu-
exposure TO 1t is Involved the development OF the
| disease But Inen we find that not only the
| germs Widespread. but tiat a large proportion Of
! fhe population actually infected by them. and
| yet are able 20 throw Of the disease. it becomes
moro evident than e"er that it is the condition Of
the ind-tdual rather than the presence or the germ
which decides whether man shall or shall not be
| come consumptVe.
! At the present day post moTtem eXaminatio
| more complete and perfect manner than in times
lion OF the bodies ere found to show traces OF hav
| ing been at some time or another infected with
case When we hear that in 800 post morten
| a1ninations made the Zurich Pathological In
| cred in e7 per cert Of the bodies examined, and
| when compare with that the comparatively
small proportion OF the population which Is carried
| more neoDle threw of the disease than ultimately
died Of It. we cannot resist the conclusion that
| ios,s must depend far n more u5on the resisting
power OF the patient than on the presence or even
! on the reception of the infective material. Thus
| of predisposition whether inherited as a dathesis
| 4 We may venture once more to use the term, or
developed result Of the condition and acc-
These good peopIs at Zurich did not escape tuber-
across the microbe. for 81 per of them had
such cases has been the result not Of escaping in
fection but OF overmastering II. The vitality Of the
is then the predomnatng influence As Sir william
! Covers has lately said. facts may be differently
knowledge. and although there has be a
strong popular impression that an inherited infu-
proved by the discovery of its dependence on or
ganisms received from without the facts which led
| to the belief in that inherited influence still re
| main. These facts are. he says, equally explained
lively low power OF destroying the tnbercuIesis
organisms which have gained entrance into the
systeni.
| or the same thing holds good in regard to
the arguments which hinge upon the prevalence
itary conditions, 1t is not entirely the abundance
or y!rule1ce Of the germ. but the lack resisnce
| the keynote of much that was said by DR. AIIcbn
last geek in his presidential address to the Med
back again toward its old position. Toward but
eay m to IT. d for & new knowledge must always
| our conception OF things.