Mental affections : an introduction to the study of insanity / by John Macpherson.

  • Macpherson, John, 1857-1942.
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Mental affections : an introduction to the study of insanity / by John Macpherson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.

    29/400 (page 13)
    Charcot, Crocq (Fils)/ Sakorrhaphos, look upon the tubercular diathesis as an advanced degeneration of the species on the same lines as the other constitutional diatheses, but indicative of a lower stage of degeneration. The extraordinary preva- lence of tubercle which affects all races of men and most of the lower animals, does not militate against the belief which has always been held that there is a diathesis which is peculiarly liable to the ravages of the bacillus. The outward physical manifestations of the diathesis lend countenance to the belief that it exists in two forms—(1) in the liability to pulmonary phthisis alone; and (2) in the more advanced and more degenerative form, known as the scrofulous diathesis, in which other manifestations of the disease, such as glandular and bone affections, and general tuberculosis, are common, and which is most frequently associated with idiocy, and with physical and mental malformations which are indicative of the decay of the species, 6. Infectious and Miasmatic Diseases.—While the liability to ready infection by morbid micro-organisms and toxins is one of the signs of degeneration, there can be no doubt that these infections predispose their subjects to nervous degeneracy. Eecent investigations into the tetiology of endemic cretinism have tended to show that this disease is caused by miasmatic influences interfering with the growth and functions of the thyroid gland. Malaria exercises a detrimental effect upon the individual constitution, and even in persons who live in a malarial district, but who have never suffered from fever, the distinct cachexia may not un- frequently be observed. Pellagra is a disease of the nervous system accompanied by mental symptoms and followed often by degeneracy in the descendants. This transmitted degeneracy is characterised by mental and physical feebleness and a marked predisposi- tion to the recurrence of the affection in the predisposed offspring. The disease is common in the southern parts of Europe, especially in Italy, and has Ijeen indubitably traced to the eating of immature and otherwise unwholesome maize. ^ Crocq (Fils), Revue de Medccine (1896), p. 373.