Note 2 — Chapter I · UNCERTAINTY OF MEDICINE.

The terms chronic and acute it may be well to define for the benefit of some of my non-professional readers. An acute disease is one which runs its course in a short time. A chronic disease, on the other hand, is one which has a long duration. For example, pneumonia, (commonly called lung fever,) is an acute disease of the lungs, while consumption is a chronic disease of the same organ. The term, acute, has reference to the violence of the symptoms of the diseases to which it is applied, rather than to their duration; while its opposite term, chronic, has reference to duration only. Use, however, has given them a technical sense which is not liable to be mistaken.