PROCATARC'TIC, adjective [Gr. to begin.] In medicine, pre-existing or predisposing; remote; as procatarctic causes of a disease, in distinction from immediate or exciting causes. Thus heat may be the procatarctic and extreme fatigue the immediate or exciting cause of a fever.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI