Paralyses.—Prognosis decidedly variable. Apoplectic hemorrhage recovers in about 50 per cent of all cases. Paralyses from central lesions require much more time than peripheral palsies because of the necessity for rebuilding degenerated nerve cells as well as fibres. The paralyses following anterior poliomyelitis are almost certain to be cured if sufficient time is allowed. Most peripheral palsies, except in the very aged, are curable. Any other paralysis but a purely functional one recovers slowly, but this form may yield almost in a day.
Parotitis.—Mumps respond immediately and may be checked at any stage.
Pericarditis.—Usually recovers. Effusions are stubborn and may become purulent, in which case the prognosis is grave.
Peritonitis.—Prognosis grave, but some cases have been reported as cured under adjustment. These are probably localized rather than diffuse inflammations, usually pelvic.
Pertussis, or Whooping-Cough.—Tends to run its course despite adjustments, though some aborted cases are reported. All cases mild under adjustment, with small liability of complications. A nervous cough is likely to persist for months after the infection has passed. Adjustments seem seldom to prevent contagion.
Pharyngitis.—Acute form yields readily. Chronic pharyngitis is more stubborn, but usually curable.
Pleurisy.—Pleurisy, unless purulent or tubercular, yields well in varying periods. Purulent and tubercular pleurisy are stubborn and may not recover.
Pneumonia.—The author has had a wide and gratifying experience with pneumonia. At every stage it seems amenable to adjustment, and the usual effect of the first adjustment is a drop of from one to two degrees in the temperature with immediate softening of the consolidated area. Specific adjustments get best and quickest results. Pneumonia should always recover, unless it occurs as an intercurrent event in some chronic and wasting disease, as Bright’s Disease.
Potts’ Disease.—Tubercular caries of the bodies of the vertebrae is curable, within limits. Occasional cases are seen in which Nature has stopped the spread of the disease by walling off the morbid area with exostosis. Such cases should not be adjusted, and the disease may remain latent through a long life. When active the disease proves fatal unless checked, which is possible in the earlier stages, and becomes impossible when the vertebral bodies are too fragile to stand strong adjustments. Discernment in case-taking will avoid any fatalities under adjustment, but by no means all cases of Potts’ Disease are curable.