So many vague notions are entertained upon this subject, that it will be necessary for me to define the latitude in which the term is to be received. Dyspepsia, depending upon peculiarity of stomach, is certainly hereditary, but it is only hereditary in predisposition, always requiring the influence of some cause to produce it, and consequently always to be prevented, and often relieved, by avoiding such exciting cause. In cases of great obscurity, a knowledge of the disease to which the patient's parent is particularly obnoxious, must, for reasons sufficiently obvious, assist our judgment.

329. Having acquired all the information which is to be obtained by questioning the patient upon the subject of his "specific symptoms," we are next to investigate the "general symptoms," connected with the animal, vital, and natural functions. In this line of inquiry, the judgment which we have been able to form will be confirmed or modified; we shall, at the same time, be enabled to discover the influence which the local affection has produced upon the general system.

330. It has been observed that the strength of the patient, both as it regards the voluntary motions, and intellectual operations, does not suffer until the dyspeptic disease has acquired a considerable influence over the system. The condition, therefore, of these functions will serve as a measure of the severity of the complaint; but in forming such an estimate, we must be careful to avoid the fallacies with which it is surrounded.

331. The pulse only affords indications of questionable value; when taken in conjunction with other symptoms it may serve to fortify our conclusions; but I am anxious to impress my strong conviction upon the mind of the practitioner, that when received as an isolated testimony, it will be liable to lead him into error. Its strength, when other evidences concur, will undoubtedly throw some light upon the general state of the vital powers; its frequency may indicate a state of morbid excitement, its hardness must excite the suspicion of organic mischief, and its irregularity will denote a disturbed state of the circulation, the cause of which must be deduced from other symptoms.

332. The state of the respiration is a circumstance worthy of attention: for it may concur, with other symptoms, to indicate a state of congestion in the abdominal viscera, by which the descent of the diaphragm is impeded. It will also suggest other states of primary or secondary disease, the nature of which the reader will easily understand from the various observations which are interspersed through the preceding pages of this work.