What is Pathology?

pathology n
1: the branch of medical science that studies the causes and nature and effects of diseases
2: any deviation from a healthy or normal condition

Pathology
Pa*thol"o*gy (?), n.; pl. Pathologies (#). [Gr. a suffering, disease + -logy: cf. F. pathologie.] (Med.) The science which treats of diseases, their nature, causes, progress, symptoms, etc.; Pathology is general or special, according as it treats of disease or morbid processes in general, or of particular diseases; it is also subdivided into internal and external, or medical and surgical pathology. Its departments are nosology, ætiology, morbid anatomy, symptomatology, and therapeutics, which treat respectively of the classification, causation, organic changes, symptoms, and cure of diseases. Celluar pathology, a theory that gives prominence to the vital action of cells in the healthy and diseased function of the body. Virchow.

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