At the present moment there are two theories in the field
to explain the origin of contagious diseases--the parasitic
theory and the theory of the innate character of diseases.
The parasitic theory assumes that diseases are originated by
microbes first diffused in the atmosphere, and then taken into
the system by the air we breathe, the water we drink, the things
we touch. The advocates of the innate character of diseases
hold, on the contrary, that the disease is spontaneously
developed in the patient; the first cause is in morbid changes
which are purely chemical, changes produced in the actual
substance of the tissues and secretions without any external
intervention of microbes; the microbes, where they really
exist, being only a secondary phenomenon, a complication,
and not the scientific cause which actually terminates the
disease. Now, whatever may be the exact truth in this biological
controversy, it is evident that the first cause of such
disease must be sought in a defect of life, a feebleness, a
certain untoward disposition and receptivity in the organism
itself. The phylloxera devastates the French vineyards because
the vines have been exhausted by excessive cultivation;
tuberculosis fastens upon man because of obscure conditions of
bodily weakness and susceptibility; vigorous plants and robust
constitutions defying the foreign destructive bodies which may
fill the air--extrinsic influence and excitement counting for
little where the intrinsic tendency does not exist.
Revelation assumes that the man morally occupies much the same
position. Environment brings the opportunity for evil, the solicitation
or provocation to evil, so far do evil communications corrupt good
manners; but the first cause of all must be found in the heart
itself, in its lack of right direction, sympathy, and force; in a
word, the scientific cause of sin is the spiritual cause--W. L.
WATKINSON, “The Transfigured Sackcloth.”
(792)