Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Annals of Chemical Medicine, Including the Application of Chemistry to Physiology, Pathology, Therapeutics, Pharmacy, and Hygiene, 1879
I have the honour of laying before the Medical Profession and the general scientific public the first volume of a new periodical, the principal object of which will be the advancement of the sciences named on its title by means more especially of the chemical method. The several means by which it is hoped to contribute to the attainment of this object will be the publica tion of original researches to be carried out in physiological, pathological, chemical, and pharmaceutical laboratories in Great Britain and abroad, and the communication and diffusion of the results of the progress of chemistry as far as it relates to medical objects which has been made on fields, and communi cated through channels, not commonly accessible to medical readers. In this endeavour it had to be borne in mind that some of these results might in their original form be too tech nical to be readily appreciated, and might therefore admit of some interpretation and adaptation to particular wants. On the other hand it was felt that the lasting value of the publi cation would be increased by a thoroughly practical treatment of the principal scientific questions of our time, including the communication of technical details which may be necessary to enable the reader to control, or the student and inquirer to repeat and extend, the operations of which the data furnished are the result. Medical science is at present more particularly interested in the solution of the problems concerning the nature of the causes of infectious diseases, and the nature of the processes of diseases engendered in the organism by these causes. These latter act after the manner of ferments, and while some of them are undoubtedly organised self-reproducing parasitical beings, others are supposed to be unorganised or shapeless, and in this respect to resemble the normal ferments of par ticular organs of living beings. The proximate and final effects of both kinds of disease-causes upon the body are always massively chemical; the ferments decompose materials of the body into substances which either engender increased consumption of oxygen and excessive production of organic heat, or act as poisons upon the nervous and muscular systems; some are eliminated, causing loss of power and material, others are left as useless or hurtful hindrances in organs and tissues. All infectious diseases have therefore at one period or another chemical results, and these are amongst the principal objects of the inquiries proposed to'be expounded in these pages. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
