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5 . Finally , ifc is the same ignorance of Nature and . her proceedings that often forces medical men to multiply their visits and their prescriptions , to an extent not simply unnecessary , but really injurious to the patient ,, as could be easily shown . The work Is characterized by moderation and good sense . Its opinions are urged with the warmth of conviction , but -without the heat of polemics . After explaining what are the general notions of Disease he touches on the causes and nature of Disease , adding : — It will be thus seen that disease , contrary to th . e vulgar notion of it , is no new thing superadded to the living body and constituting a special entity in rerum natura , but is a mere group or collection of modifications of structures already existing , and of actions always going on in a living system . Whatever be the remote or exciting cause of the morbid state or disease , whether external to the body or originating in the body , the morbid state itself is always the product of the body itself , that is , of the vital actions always taking place within it , and of the materials of which it is normally composed .
Neither is disease , as others believe , a distinct iviperium in imperio , independent of , and setting at defiance the legitimate laws of the organism in which it is developed , and acting in accordance -with laws of its own . It is rather , if we may carry on this analogy , like a constitutional Opposition in a free government , organized in accordance with the existing laws , and still submitting—reluctantly it may be—to their sway . .. ' .. ' ¦ ¦ ' . ¦ ¦ ' ¦' . ¦ ¦ ¦¦ ' ¦ : . This brings the question within the ' scops of Physiology and Pathology ; and leads to the investigation of the laws of the organic processes , which , when fully ascertained , will enable us to appreciate the disturbances we name disease , and the means possessed of arresting them . Sir John Forbes , in speaking of the ordinary division into Structural and Functional diseases , says , " It may even be questioned whether there is not
of necessity some degree of structural change , whether discoverable or not , in every instance of disease . " We cannot think it questionable at all , but certain . Functional disease means disturbance of some function ; function is the activity of an organ ; but this activity is no independent entity capable of being affected in itself ; and to suppose a function can be disturbed without an equivalent cause in the disturbance of the organ , is like supposing that the motio ? i of a billiard ball could be changed in its direction ¦ without any alteration in the direction of the ball . The equivoque lies in men habitually regarding the solids of the tiody as alone constituting the structure ; -whereas the fluids not only constitute part of the structure—the blood being-, as Bordeu finely called it , fluent flesh , la chair' coulante— -but almost all the so called solids of the body are semi-iluid .
Sir John believes , as we said , in the curative powers of Nature . He does not seem to have very clearly settled with himself what precise meaning ; should be attached to such a statement ; at times he seems to favour the idea of a vis medicatrix , at times he seems more philosophically to believe that the natural organic processes tend in their undisturbed influence to rid the body of all noxious influences , and restore the healthy activity of the organs : — - Among the numerous and manifold misconceptions respecting the natural history of diseases prevalent in the public mind , and , I may add , in the mind of professional men also , there is none greater than that which regards the termination of diseases , especially acute diseases . In the case of chronic diseases , and of slight diseases of all kinds , most persons are prepared to admit that a certain proportion of cases may end
favourably—in other words , may terminate in health—when abandoned entirely to Nature . In the case of severe diseases , however , more especially acute diseases , and most of all in inflammatory and febrile diseases , the predominant opinion is that , if left to Nature , the great majority of cases would prove fatal , the recoveries witnessed being regarded as almost entirely the consequence of the interference of Art . That such should be the opinion of non-professional persons is not at all surprising , when we consider what is the ordinary source of lay notions respecting diseases and their treatment . It may seem , however , somewhat strange that , with their opportunities of judging , such an opinion should be also that of the professors of the medical art . Yet that it is so , is not only to be inferred from the extreme reluctance , universally evinced to trust the event of such cases to Nature , hut from the recorded opinions of practical authorities . And yet the facts of the case are entirely at variance -with such a statement .
Even in the instance of the most fatal of acute diseases , as in Asiatic cholera , plague , and yellow fever , we find a considerable proportion of the sick recover , under every variety of treatment , and alike under nominal as real treatment . The half , tho third , or fourth part , of those attacked by such diseases , who recover , are , generally speaking , restored by the powers of Nature alone . In less fatal diseases , as in ordinary inflam mations of the viscera or membranes , as in inflammations of the lungs , liver , pleura , peritoneum , &c , whether left entirely to Nature or treated by means incapable of controlling them in any way , wo find a still larger proportion of cases terminating in recovery , more or less perfect . In the zymotic or poisonous eruptive fevers , as in smallpox , measles , scarlatina , &c , it is now universally admitted to be impossible to check their course ; and all our most experienced and moat enlightened practitioners agree that the terminations , whether favourable or unfavourable , are only very slightly modifiable by treatment ; and yet we find a largo proportion of such diseases always terminating in restoration or health .
For the carrying out of his views into detail Sir John declares' that health and years are wanting to him ; but he points out the direction which Young Physic should take .
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THE PARIS UNIVERSAL EXHIBITION . Reports out kc . Purh Univarml Exhibition . Presented , to both Houses of Parliament by conmmml of He / Majesty . 1800 . Spotti « wo « Jo . The Paris Universal Exhibition lias passed away ; not bo its results . The lalucc of Industry has been emptied of that gorgeous collection of tho
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Ivors is the seat of Sir Henry Clare , a good and kind-hearted man , too much interested in political affairs to give due attention to those of his family . Having lost an excellent wife , and having two young children , a son and a daughter , he seeks a head for his household ; and he offers his hand to Lady Augusta Mordaunt , " a cold , hard , harsh-mannered woman . " The lady accepts him , not from any affection , but " because she wanted occupation , independence , and the excitement of a new-made life , " because " it was an opportunity for testing her theories , " for she is a Maria Edgeworth of forty-tutor power . She enters her married life with the determination to be an exemplary stepmother ; but as she was actuated by no feelings of tenderness towards the child , no earnest desire to ensure her future happiness ; as every thought , word , and action had reference to herself , and the triumphant success which she anticipated ; so the child becomes at first a slave , and then a renegade . In her childhood , " playfellows were forbidden , walks were limited to the precincts of the park ; the contaminating influence of the world was the subject continually discussed in Helen's presence . ' '
In the neighbourhood of Ivors resides the sister of Helen ' s own mother , a widow with a large family , brought up in an unpretending , practical way . Mrs . Graham is the contrast with Lady Augusta . She is always doing good , always sensible ; a genuine Maria Edgeworth , at the head of a cheerful household , only inspired with evangelical principles . Her circumstances being by no means equal to those of the Baronet , she necessarily cultivates a plainer mode of life , and her daughters , to use Lady Augusta ' s expression , are allowed to associate Avith people " whom , of course , we could never visit . " She addresses the remark to another neighbour of Sir Henry , his uncle , old Admiral Clare . " People you can ' t visit ! " muttered the Admiral , "I shall talk to Frances Graham , about it . " " Oh ! my dear sir , pray—I entreat you—not for the world . She would never forgive me ! " Lady Augusta seized the Admiral ' s hand in her alarm .
He drew it away . " Your Ladyship-will excuse me . Frances Graham was my ward ; 5 f she is bringing up her children wrongly , it is my duty to warn her . ' People you could never visit !' " he muttered again In an under tone . " You are so exact , Admiral , " and Lady Augusta laughed rather nervously . ' There is no physical nor moral responsibility . They may be very good people , but unrefined , homely—not at all what Helen has been accustomed to . " The Admiral is a formidable test for the didactic Lady Augusta \ lie is a man of strong sense , excellent good heart , and merciless tongue . His house becomes the residence of Claude Egerton , a pattern man , whom the fair authoress endeavours to endow only with , so much imperfection , as shall make Km human and " real , "— -shall throw a little salt into the otherwise unvarying sweetness and wisdom of his composition . Susan Graham , the most perfect daughter of Mrs . Graham ' s household , and Helen Clare , the imperfect manufacture of Lady Augusta out of an admirable raw material
unconsciously become rivals . Susan is painted the very type of gentleness and self-sacrifice ; Helen is more beautiful , but far more imperfect . Inheriting a fierce and wayward disposition , she has been left practically untaught by the systematic Lady Augusta ; whose education , has slipped oif her like water off a duck ' s back . She has to learn her discipline in actual life , and this appears to be the object of the book . It is intended to compare the natural result of an education in which the heart has been cultivated , and practical goodness made the object of all labour , with one hi which the intellectual faculties alone are aimed at . The dry Lady Augusta thinks to produce a pattern lady out of Helen Clare , and the result is something of a Di Vernon with a Spanish impetuosity . To apply such a test as the author would use , the distinction between her and Susan Is shown in the exercise of their charity . One gives time and kindness ; the other sends money , of which she knows neither the value nox the want , aad which will be supplied to her on demand , too readily for her to be subjected to the slightest privation by the bestowal . This lesson is well taught .
But also the author teaches another lesson , still more striking , and still more forcibly made out . She is to her book what Lady Augusta is to Helen ; she produces a moral of which she is unconscious , —one as much to astonish herself as the ducklings astonished the hen , as Hercules astonished Alcmena ; and we are perplexed to know by what Jovial inspiration so stout a moral has been given to the world through so sectarian a , channel . The engaging , gentle , self-sacrificing Susan Graham is not successful as a working model . Evidently she might if sho pleased , at more than one point of the story , take to herself the pattern hero , with whom both the heroines arc as much in love us the authoress is . lie is an intellectual , moral man ; no one can more justly rate at its minimum the beauty of Helen Clare , or more accurately probe her imperfections and morbid fancies . She hates the persecutors who would compel her to do right , and he is the very slave of conscience . Yet he is also the slave of Helen ; her beauty , the
IVORS . Ivors . By the Author of " Amy Herbert , " " Clcve Hall , " &c . 2 vols . Longman and Co , We have had those two thick volumes in hand too long , perplexed to know how < o dual with them . We have seldom met with more pleasant reading and yet the construction of the work is huli ill-runt . There arc some excellent developments of character and good situations , but no story . What perplexes us the moat is , that tho book is a totalTailurc for the object of the writer , if we guess thiit aright ; but it is eminently successful in refuting her positions , bo that ivc shouWi condemn it probably lor what tlio lady desires to enforce , and our condemnation would l > e clinched by the hearty praise ^ vhich we must bestow . 1 ' erhaps we may guess at the duplex causes which liave produced this unequal result : wo should say that tho wrilcr hiis a hearty , clear , healthy , and animated intellect , but has been brought up in a sectarian training , the habits of which she docs not know what to do with .
vivacity of her spirits , the power of her will , all hold him captive . Even her infidelity , her perverse flirting with an unworthy rival , cannot estrange him . At last lies wins the lovely tyrnnt , and receives her with as much gratitude as agift from Heaven . Undoubtedly she has become improved under the discipline of sorrow , and she is to be made yet better when they live happy ever after ; hut ^ vhilo the Spanish-faced Di vernon carries oil" the prize hero , the gentle , Christian , self-sacrificing Susan Graham nearly dies of unknown love , and finds an ultimate consolation in becoming a species of lodger in the hoiuool the other two—a spectator of the happiness which she lias deserved and the sinner has attained . This is an odd moral to find in tho book of a writer who condemns novels , and intends to develop a tract into an evsuigdicol copy of , b'ir Charles drundison . The characters are excellently drawn , and the moral stands out , as Stewart Rose ' * servant said , sculptured . l
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March 7 , 1857 . ] THE LEADER , 233
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Leader (1850-1860), March 7, 1857, page 233, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2183/page/17/
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