Petit, who based his whole conception of enteromesenteric fever on observations of pathological anatomy, did not think that in the intestinal lesions accompanying certain so called adynamic or ataxic fevers he had discovered the very essence of the disease, or its ultimate truth; for him, these lesions were merely die 'seat' of the disease, and this geographical determination was of less importance for medical knowledge than 'the general set of symptoms that distinguish one disease from another and reveal their true character': so much so that therapy goes astray when it seeks to treat intestinal lesions instead of following the indications of symptomatology, which prescribes tonics.'