virus

[Lat.=slime, poison.] 1. Lit. & Pathol .: (1) Any organic poison; any contagious or noxious matter, as the pus from an ulcer, the venom of a snake or scorpion. (2) The matter, unappreciable by the senses, which, introduced into the system, generates a specific disease; as, the variolous or the syphilitic virus . In this second sense it does not include the poison of a ser pent, which is a natural secretion, while a virus is the result of some morbid action on the system. 2. Fig .: Virulence; extreme acrimony or malig nity. IMG:content-0534.jpg:[blocks in formation] (1) Lit .: The resistance of matter, as when a body at rest is set in motion, or a body in motion is brought to rest, or has its motion changed either in direction or velocity. (2) Fig .: The resistance offered by the innate inertne of persons, or their unwillingne to alter habits, or that which is established. 4. Vis medicatrix naturæ : Therapeutics: The power which nature has (un aided by a physician) of effecting cures. "The body po e es a perfectly marvelous power whereby it protects itself against diseases, wards off some, cures in the best and speediest way many of those that have set in, and by a proce of its own brings others more slowly to a favorable i ue. This innate power is called the vis naturæmedicatrix ."-Gregory: Consp. Medic inæ Theoreticæ (ed. 5th), § 65. 5. Vis mortua : Dead force; force doing no work, but merely producing pre ure, as a body at rest. 6. Vis nervosa: The property of nerves by which they convey stimuli to muscles. (Quain . ) 7. Vis viva : Living force; the force of a body moving against resistance, or doing work. It is expre ed by the product of the ma of a body multiplied by the square of its velocity.