_Curtis's Lectures on the Ear._
* * * * *
THE CAUSES OF DISEASE.
Daily observation demonstrates that the human structure, even in its
most perfect formation is liable to lesions of organization and
derangment of function, producing that state of the system in which
its usual actions or perceptions are either interrupted or attended
with pain--this state is called disease. Every animal carries within
itself the germ of its own destruction, or, in other words, it is
formed for a limited existence. Many diseases, therefore arise
spontaneously, or without any assignable external cause; but many more
are produced by causes, over which we have some control, and perhaps
the chief source of the physical ills to which we are liable, is the
deviation we make from the simplicity of nature. The injurious
influence that domestication has upon the health of the lower animals
is very strikingly apparent; and in proportion as their subjugation is
more complete, and their manner of life differs more widely from that
which is natural to them, so are their diseases more numerous and
severe. The diseases of our more valuable domestic animals are
sufficiently numerous and important to employ a particular class of
men; and the horse alone has professional assistance appropriated to
him. Men of education and talent have devoted themselves to the
investigation of the diseases of this noble and useful creature.
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