A practical treatise on nervous exhaustion (neurasthenia) : its symptoms, nature, sequences, treatment / by George M. Beard ; edited, with notes and additions, by A.D. Rockwell.

  • Beard, George M. (George Miller), 1839-1883.
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A practical treatise on nervous exhaustion (neurasthenia) : its symptoms, nature, sequences, treatment / by George M. Beard ; edited, with notes and additions, by A.D. Rockwell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    That electricity does possess, aside from its psy- chic influence, very positive physical effects over diseased conditions will be readily admitted by every unprejudiced mind. Even Moebius, whose dest uc- tive criticism has in reality done much to clear the atmosphere of electrotherapeutics, practically admits that a very respectable proportion of the cures ef- fected by electricity are due to actual physical in- fluences. The mechanical, chemical, cataphoric and electro- tonic action of electricity are far more in evidence than its psychic or suggestive action. Much of this physical energy is, in truth, mathematically demon- strable, while psychical effects are more a matter of observation and deduction. The influence of electricity on the neuron must be in the main mechanical, or electrotonic, for the action of any of its manifestations upon the nerve tissue excites in that nerve a condition of electro- tonos, or, in other words, a change in its excita- bility. To thus influence the protoplasmic portion of the neuron, to heighten its activity and hasten the development of new paths for the transmission of nervous impulses, the surging, vibratory effects of currents of high potential and frequency seem par- ticularly adapted. The greater the number of ties or connections developing out of the protoplasmic body, the richer and more substantial becomes the mentality of the individual. These ties or connec- tions are multiplied and strengthened through emo-