ABSTRACT
Certain pathological processes of obscure causation have been attributed to a peculiar diathesis of the persons affected. In fact, many disease proclivities which have previously been considered as racial, or as due to somatic characteristics, have been proven to have their origin in certain habits of life, diet, climate, or the social environment. French medical writers, like Charcot, Lancereaux, Fere, and others, have stated that the rheumatic and gouty diathesis is widespread among Jews than among people of any other European race. The group of diseases, called by French medical men by the terms arthritisms and herpetisms, are also said to be common among Jews. Many reasons have been assigned for the excessive prevalence of diabetes among the German Jews. The acute respiratory diseases appear to be less often a cause of death among Jews than among the Christians around them. Nervous dyspepsia is a common disease among Jews, and acid dyspepsia is also more frequently met with among them.
