The treatment of wounds as based on evolutionary laws / by C. Pitfield Mitchell.

  • Mitchell, Charles Pitfield.
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The treatment of wounds as based on evolutionary laws / by C. Pitfield Mitchell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    evolution, the constancy of pus as a product of dissimilar mor- bific conditions becomes much less incomprehensible. In a forthcoming paper I hope to look more narrowly into the nature of this phenomenon. We have now to sustain the second proposition, which purports that a normal atmosphere cannot overthrow in the absence of other efficient forces the physiological changes sequential to traumatic injury. Proof of two kinds is availa- ble. It is a necessary inference from the conditions of exist- ence, and is placed beyond the pale of questionable fact by published records of surgical experience and experimental investigation. If we know the uniformities in the environment of any species, we can infer the corresponding adaptations of func- tion and structure in that species ; life being possible for the individual and the race only by the continuous adjustment of internal forces (functions) to external forces. Comprehending the succession of individuals forming man’s ancestry, the at- mosphere being an absolutely constant element of the con- ditions of external wounds, it becomes self-evident that without the organization of a functional harmony between the exposed structures and the medium in contact with them, the functional and structural variations which constitute reparative pro- cesses could never have become established. While the air was competent to break down tissues unprotected by the skin, the evolution of constructive changes was manifestly impossible. As I have already pointed out, “ natural selection would take a large share in this evolutionary process. Animals whose wounds were not repaired would strive in the struggle for existence under a heavy disability. The non-union of muscles torn and limbs broken during encounters with prey and ene- mies would lead to incapacity for further encounters, and a dying off without issue ; while others whose injuries were re- paired would escape the direct hinderances and indirect dan- gers to life entailed by unhealed wounds, and would reproduce their kind.” Therefore, by selective action, by the immediate adjustment