Dyscrasia  is  a  depraved  state  of  the  system,  especially  of  the  blood,
due  to  constitutional  disease.  In  the  words  of  Bristowe  it  is  a  general
deterioration  of  health  and  functional  disturbance  caused  by  the  deflec-
tion of  nutrition.  We  speak  of  a  tuberculous,  malarial,  syphilitic,  or
cancerous  dyscrasia.
FACIES.
The  appearance  of  the  face  is  often  of  diagnostic  importance.  It
frequently  indicates  the  subjective  sensations  and  not  rarely  the  psychical
condition.  To  say  that  a  patient's  expression  is  that  of  suffering,  acute
pain,  anxiety,  overwhelming  illness,  or  that  it  is  excited,  dull  or, stupid,  is
intelligible  without  further  comment.     The  face  is  an  index  of  the  phj^o-


SYMPTOMS  AND  SIGNS:  FACIES.  393

lo^cal  age  of  the  patieot.  The  gray  hair,  wrinkled  brow,  arcus  senilis,  and
han^ng  folds  of  skin  about  the  neck  are  very  suggestive.  They  enable  the
clinician  to  compare  the  apparent  age  of  the  patient  with  his  actual  age  as
measured  by  years.  The  facies  of  fever  patients  is  often  characteristic.
