Volume 1

A clinical treatise on the diseases of the nervous system / by M. Rosenthal ; with a preface by Professor Charcot ; translated from the author's revised and enlarged edition by L. Putzel.

  • Rosenthal, Moriz, 1833-1889.
Date:
1881
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A clinical treatise on the diseases of the nervous system / by M. Rosenthal ; with a preface by Professor Charcot ; translated from the author's revised and enlarged edition by L. Putzel. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    PREFACE I WAS acquainted with the present treatise long before a French translation was contemplated, and, mindful of the services it has ren- dered me in my teachings, I have accepted, with pleasure, the task of presenting it to its new circle of readers. In any work of recent date upon the pathology of the nervous system we expect to find, in ac- cordance with a very widespread penchant, theories regarding physio- logical mechanism predominate over the descriptive portions, and even dilated upon at the expense of clinical and anatomo-pathological details—those true foundations of all solid work in this department. But the Vienna School is not open to the reproach of having suc- cumbed to these tendencies; and, as far as concerns Dr. Rosenthal's work more particularly, it appears to us to justify, in great part at least, its title of Clinical Treatise. It is very certain that the mate- rials placed before us, as well as the spirit of the work, have been derived by the author from a long career devoted to the study of dis- ease ; the care bestowed upon the symptomatic descriptions is suffi- cient testimony to this fact. It is undoubtedly true that the sub- ject could hardly have been arranged more harmoniously, nor could the pathological descriptions appear in more vivid and striking colors ; but it would be difficult to push further, than has been done in this work, the constant habit of examining questions from all points of view. This is not done by departing from the clinical spirit but by appealing to information furnished by experiments upon ani- mals, when they are legitimately applicable to man; or, still further.^ by invoking at each step the revelations of pathological anatomy. We need not be surprised that the latter study is an object of special at- tention in a work written in Vienna and dedicated by the author to Prof. Hokitansky.