Medicine in Practice: Knowledge, Diagnosis and Therapy.

Not just in the writings of physicians but in the real world also, pathologies always conformed to the foremost and generally accepted system... At the time of the Stahlians haemorrhoids were everywhere; when the theory of gastric and bilious conditions prevailed, gastric and bilious illnesses were ubiquitous; as soon as neuropathology gained the upper hand and people had reached a greater degree of luxury there was nothing but nervous disease and ailments arising from weakness; and thus parasites, concealed venereal diseases and many others came to play their part, depending on the prevailing theory of any given time.1