STUDIES IN HUMAN CONSTITUTION

Abstract

Some conception of human constitution and diathesis is found in medical literature from the earliest times. Many attempts have been made to evaluate this important factor in disease production, and through the centuries there has been a rhythmic rise and fall of interest in the elusive subject. Just now we are in a strongly rising wave of enthusiasm for it. Doubtless, various causes combine to produce the wave at this particular epoch in the history of medicine, but a discussion of these influences, interesting though they may be, cannot be made here. However, as part of the present general movement, we have been carrying on for the last five or six years, at the Presbyterian Hospital, a systematic study of human constitution. This paper is the first of a series of articles from the Constitution Clinic of the Presbyterian Hospital, and deals with a method for studying one phase of