If recovery takes place, the foreign matter by which the lung tissue
has been solidified is perfectly absorbed and the diseased portion is
found to be quite uninjured. The only natural method by which the
blood can be freed from the presence of foreign matter is by the
oxidation--the burning--of such impure matters; the results being
carbonic acid gas that escapes by the lungs and certain materials that
are eliminated chiefly by the kidneys. But when these blood impurities
exist in the vital fluid in unusually large quantities, or if the
respiratory capacity be inadequate, the natural internal crematory
operations are a partial failure. But nature will not tolerate the
presence of such impurities in the vital fluid; if they cannot be
eliminated by natural means they must by unnatural means; therefore
such material is very frequently deposited in various parts of the
body, the point of deposit being often determined by some local
disturbance or irritation.
For instance, if a person whose blood is in fairly good condition
takes a cold that settles on his lungs, he either recovers of it
spontaneously or is readily cured by means of some cough mixture; but
if his blood be loaded with tubercular matter, the latter is extremely
liable to be deposited in his lungs; the cough that was excited in the
first place by a simple cold becomes worse and persistent, in a few
months his lungs show signs of disorganization, and he has consumption
of the acute or chronic type, as the case may be.
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