IV. CONCEPTIONS OF HEALTH AND DISEASE

 

The study of defensive hygiene will be rendered more effective
if we have a definite cmception of the terms “health” and "disease,"
Both are relative terms. The history of the human organism reveals
that life is a contimous emflict between tvo sets of tendencies--
one mking for life; the other making for death.

Health

Health is a positive, not a negative thing. It is that ouality
of our physiology that gives us normal growth, normal development and
normal function. It has been defined in many ways. “Complete health
is mental, physical and spiritual. It is the product of the team work
of cells and organs." (Storey) “The maintenance of physiological
normals at their highest potency is health." (MacKenzie).

 

Objective signs of Health.

(a) Readiness to act without external stimulus.
(b) Capacity to act for long periods without undue fatigue.
(c) Regularity in daily physiological cycles of:

1. Appetite

2. Muscular activities

36 Excretion

4, Sleep

5. Rest

Subjective Signs of Health.

 

(a) Feeling of satisfaction ani ease in activities.
(b) Freedom from sense of environmental oppression.
(c) Freedom from feeling of being obsessed by work.
(a) Freedom from inner uncontrollable moods and temperse

Disease

Our conceptions of disease have undergone many changes during the
ages. These conceptions have controlled the easures for defensive
hygiene which were in use at the time of the acceptance of the particular
conc eptions.

The modern conception may be summed in the words of White-~"Disease
is a failure of adaptation both to conditions without the organism and
to conditions within. It is a form of partial activity," or in state-
ment of MacKenzie as--“Any departure from the normal that destroys the
structure of an organ or impairs its capacity to repeat its function is
disease."

Theories of Disease

 

A cursory review of the evolution of the various theories of di-
sease will form an excellent background for an understanding and eval-
uation of the present status of our efforts in the field of defensive

hygiene.