Cases of neuralgia and of other diseases of the nervous system : preceded by an analytical exposition of them, exemplifying the principles and practice of neuro-dynamic medicine / by John Chapman.

  • Chapman, John, 1821-1894.
Date:
1873
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cases of neuralgia and of other diseases of the nervous system : preceded by an analytical exposition of them, exemplifying the principles and practice of neuro-dynamic medicine / by John Chapman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    INTRODUCTION. GENERAL PRINCIPLES. The last three Chapters of my work on Neuralgia consist almost exclusively of reports of carefully observed facts, proving at once the truth of the principles, and the remarkably great success of the practice of that system of Medicine which I have designated Neuro-Dynamic; and as it seems to me expedient to place that part of the work within reach of those who may not wish to read the pathological exposition and discussions which occupy a large proportion of its pages, I am induced to reprint those chapters as a separate book. Those who have read the Chapter on Treatment, contained in that work, or the Introduction to my work on Sea-Sick- ness, are so far acquainted with the general principles underlying the practice of Neuro-Dynamic Medicine as to be in a position to understand and appreciate the reports of cases here given ; those who have not read either the one or the other may obtain a general idea of the principles in question from the following summary statement of them :— 1. That the chief function of the sympathetic nervous system consists in regulating the diameters of the blood-vessels through- out the body. 2. That when the sympathetic ganglia are in a state of maxi- mum hypersemia the nervous efiluence from them to the muscular coats of the arteries to which they are severally related, stimu- lates them so excessively as to induce in them a condition of tonic spasm—a spasm so intense as to result in shutting off the blood altogether from a large proportion of the peripheral arteries. 3. That when the sympathetic ganglia are in a state of maxi- mum anaemia the nervous effluence from them to the muscular coats of the arteries to which they are severally related becomes so extremely feeble that a condition resembling paralysis is in- duced ; the muscular coats of the arteries become consequently