People have considered every symptom of disease noxious, and
that it ought to be stamped out with relentless determination;
but, according to Sir Frederick Treves, the motive of disease is
benevolent and protective. If it were not for disease, he said,
the human race would soon be extinct.
Sir Frederick took examples, such as a wound and the supervening
inflammation, which is a process of cure to be imitated rather
than hindered. Peritonitis, he said, was an operating surgeon’s
best friend; without it every example of appendicitis would
be fatal. The phenomena of a cough and cold were in the main
manifestations of a cure. Without them a common cold might
become fatal. The catarrh and persistent sneezing were practical
means of dislodging bacteria from the nasal passage, and the
cough of removing the bacteria from the windpipe. Again, the
whole of the manifestations of tuberculosis were expressions
of unflagging efforts on the part of the body to oppose the
progress of invading bacterium. (Text.)--New York _Sun_.
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