A Terrible Spirit Hath Taken Him

摘要

How do we establish the identity, the individuality, of aspecific systemic disease? We gather its outward manifestations suchas fever, weakness, rash or pain, then solemnly declare its separatenessfrom other known diseases. Finally we confer a name upon it.Human progress, though, is glacially slow, measured more in millenniathan in years; and of humanity’s many worthy disciplines,none has progressed more slowly than rational medicine.