"Nature is ever busy, by the silent operations of her own forces,
in curing disease."--_Dixon._
Whenever any irritating substance comes in contact with sensitive
surfaces, nature, or the _vis medicatrix naturae_, goes immediately to
work to remove the offending cause: for example, should any substance
lodge on the mucous surface, within the nostril, although it be
imperceptible, as often happens when the hay is musty, it abounds in
particles whose specific gravity enables them to float in atmospheric
air; they are then inhaled in the act of respiration, and nature, in
order to wash off the offending matter, sends a quantity of fluid to the
part. The same process may be observed when a small piece of hay, or
other foreign matter, shall have fallen into the eye: the tears then
flow in great abundance, to prevent that delicate organ being injured.
"When a blister is applied to the surface, it first excites a genial
warmth, with inflammation of the skin; and nature, distressed, goes
instantly to work, separates the cuticle to form a bag, interposes serum
between the nerves and the offensive matter, then prepares another
cuticle, that, when the former, with the adhering substance, shall fall
off, the nervous papillae may be again provided with a covering.
"The same reasoning will apply to the operation of emetics and
cathartics; for not only is the peristaltic motion either greatly
quickened or inverted, according to the urgency of the distress, but
both the mucous glands and the exhalent arteries pour forth their fluids
in abundance to wash away the offending matter, which at one time acts
chemically, at others mechanically."
If a horse, or an ox, be wounded in the foot with a nail, and a portion
of it is broken off and remains in the wound, inflammation sets in,
producing suppuration, and the nail is discharged.
A few days ago, we were called to see a horse, said to have swelling on
the _tarsus_, (hock.) On an examination, it proved to be an abscess,
well developed; the matter could be distinctly felt at the most
prominent part. We should certainly have been justified (at least in the
eyes of the medical world; and then it would have looked so
"doctor-like"!) in displaying a case of instruments and opening the
tumor. If ulceration, gangrene, &c., set in and the horse ultimately
became lame, no blame could be attached to us, because the practice is
_scientific_!--recognized by the schools as good and efficient
treatment. What was to be done? Why, it was evident that we could not do
better than to aid nature. A relaxing, anti-spasmodic poultice was
confined to the parts, and in six hours after, the sac discharged its
contents, and with it a piece of splinter two inches in length. The pain
immediately ceased, and the animal is now free from lameness. We here
see the design of nature: the consequent inflammation was to produce
suppuration, and make an outlet for the splinter.
Professor Kost says, "The laws of all organic life are remarkably
peculiar; they possess, in an eminent degree, the power of
self-regulation. When interrupted, disease, indeed, supervenes; but
unless the circumstances are particularly unfavorable, the physiological
state will soon be restored. All observation most clearly corroborates
this fact. The healing of wounds, restoration of fractured bones,
expulsion of obtruded substances, and particularly the manner in which
extravasated matter or pus is removed from internal organs, as in case
of abscess in the liver, in which exit may be gained by ulceration
through the parietes, or by an adhesion to and ulceration into the
intestines, or even by the adhesions to the diaphragm and lungs, in such
a manner as, by ulceration into the bronchia, a passage may be gained,
and the pus thus removed by expectoration,--all evince a most singular
conservative power. What is most remarkable in cases like the latter,
is, that the adhesions are so formed as to prevent the escape of the pus
into the peritoneal sac, which accident must inevitably prove fatal.
"Some very interesting experiments have been performed to test the
restorative power of the different tissues of the animal body. If a
portion of the intestines of a dog be taken out, and tied, so as to
obstruct completely the passage, it will be found that the adjacent
portions of the intestine will reunite, the ligature will separate into
the canal and be discharged, and the gut will heal up so as to preserve
its normal continuity, and the animal, in a fortnight, will have
recovered entirely from the effects of this fearful operation.
"When noxious or poisonous substances are thrown into any of the
cavities of the body from which their escape is impracticable, a cyst
will often form around them, and they thus become isolated from
absorption and the circulation, so as to prevent their doing harm.
"The less remarkable instances of this character are of more common
occurrence; and the self-regulating power of the laws of life, alias
_vis conservatrix naturae_, is so universally known and depended on, that
it is rare, indeed, that indisposed persons take medicine, until they
have first waited at least a little, to see what nature would do for
them; and they are seldom disappointed, as it may perhaps be safely
asserted, that nine tenths of all the attacks of disease (taking the
slight indispositions; for such are most of them, as they are checked
before they become severe) are warded off by the vital force,
unassisted. Such, then, are the facts deduced from observing the
operations of nature in disease _unassisted_."
Dr. Beach says, "We are well aware, from what passes in the system
daily, that the Author of nature has wisely provided a principle which
is calculated to remove disease. It is very observable in fevers. No
sooner is noxious or morbid matter retained in the system, than there is
an increased action of the heart and arteries, to eliminate the existing
cause from the skin; or it may pass off by other outlets established
for that purpose. With what propriety, then, can this provision of
nature be denied, as it is by some? A noted professor in Philadelphia or
Baltimore ridicules this power in the constitution; he says to his
class, 'Kick nature out of doors.' It was this man, or a brother
professor, who exclaimed to his class, 'Give me mercury in one hand and
the lancet in the other, and I am prepared to cope with disease in every
shape and form.' I have not time to stop here, and comment upon such
palpable and dangerous doctrine. I have only to say, let the medical
historian record this sentiment, maintained in the highest medical
universities in America in the nineteenth century. I am pleased,
however, to observe, that all physicians do not coincide with such
views."