The Washington times., 1907-12-28
DISEASE A BENEFIT
NOT A MISFORTUNE
Sir Edward TreveS, King
Edwards Physician, Says
This Is So.

What is disease? Is its only mission
to hurt and destroy? Is IL thing that
nature has put on earth as a curse TO
torment humanity forever. or does the
thing we call disease really serve a
beneficial purpose IN the natural order
OF things? Is II natures means OF warn
ing US that something IS wrong with the
machinery Of our system. and a means
of forcing Us TO undergo restrictions and
adaptations necessary TO eneCting re-
pairs? Is the pain We suffer caused by
the work Of repair and not by the basic
anliction? Is diseass q benefit instead
OF a curse?
We cannot answer these questions
with this days limited knowledge, but
We may be able &c furnish some in
formation that viii throW\a little light
on the subject, and that VIII aid US IN
the ultimate solution OF tbs great prob
lens which have been the subjects Of
my previous articles
A man Is said 10 be Struck down
by disease as by an avenging angel 1t
SeiZes upon him as does a roaring lion. -
1t consumes him" as does a FIRE. The
attitude Of tie medical man toward dis
ease is that OF an opponent 10 deadly
Influences. be has 20 combat an enemy
to mankind. whose every movement is
dark and malicious. There is no symp-
tom OF disease that is not believed to be
noxious, and as such must be stamped
out With relentless determine tion.
II the patient be sick. the sickness
must be stayed II he coughs, the cough
must cease; II he fails 10 take foods. he
must be made TO eat-an6 why2 Be
cause these are manifestations Of dis
ease. and therefore OF III intent, and
must be banished.
Sir Edward Treves, King Edwards s
leading physician, who brought the King
| through dangerous illness lew years
ago. recently discussed the "beneficence
of disease" before the Edinburgh Philo-
sophical Institution, in which he said
( that the prevailing idea Of disease to the
effect that II is something that Is woe
full and malignant, evil in origin. evil IN
take.
He said that what WIS commonly. con-
sidered as the symptoms Of disease are
not signs OF progress OF the ailment. but
proofs that the system is defending It
self. Without these distressing indica-
tiOns Of the nature or the trouble he
said, IL might be impossible to relieve
the sufferer. They are one alarm OF the
sentinel who tells at the same time
where the citadel is invaded and that
the invader Is resisted Peritonitis, for
example, Is an eXceedin gly painful thing,
but II is not dangerous. Nobody dies of
peritonitis, he says. 1t is nothing but q
process of cure. The malady Is amen
secretly that II II were not Aor periton-
tits. the existence Of append icitis would
not be discovered until II was too late
10 DO anything for the patient. The ap-
penuiX itself does not pain any one even
when almost destroyed. But the peri
tOneum is more sensitive. 1t begins at
once to fight the vacteria to which the
appendix Is giving way, and il notifies
the brain, through the medium of pain
messengers, that there is a battle go
ing on.
THE popular view claims that disease
IS a calamity" said Sir Edward, that
its end is destruction, and that IL is pur-
poseiess except in one direction, that Of
doing harm.
Il hope to demonstrate that there is
nothing preternatural in disease and
that its phenomena or symptoms are
marked by a purpose, and that that pur-
pose is beneficent Disease is one Of the
good gifts to man, for it's motive is
benevolent and protective. I can't eX-
press that more precisely than by say
ing that If il were not for disease the
human race would soon be extinct
What to Eat