Illness
Dickens did not reveal what Tiny Tim's illness was. However, renal tubular acidosis (a type of kidney failure causing the blood to become acidic) has been proposed as one possibility (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1340779), another being rickets (caused by a lack of Vitamin D). Either illness was treatable during Dickens' lifetime, thus following in line with the comment of the Ghost of Christmas Present that Tiny Tim would die only if the present remain unchanged.
Read more about this topic: Tiny Tim (A Christmas Carol)
Famous quotes containing the word illness:
“Murderous desire, hatred, distrust are nowadays the accompanying signs of physical illness: so thoroughly have we embodied our moral prejudices.—Perhaps cowardice and pity appear as symptoms of illness in savage ages. Perhaps even virtues might be symptoms.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“All signs of superhuman nature appear in man as illness or insanity.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“One always has the idea of a stupid man as perfectly healthy and ordinary, and of illness as making one refined and clever and unusual.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)