A letter to Sir Benjamin C. Brodie ... containing a critical inquiry into his "Lectures illustrative of certain local nervous affections" / by William Goodlad.

Date:
1840
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to Sir Benjamin C. Brodie ... containing a critical inquiry into his "Lectures illustrative of certain local nervous affections" / by William Goodlad. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    same cause?* and you refer to Sydenham's Observations on Hysteria, in which he has en- deavoured to point out the symptoms which may mislead the medical, as you, following his ex- ample, endeavour to point out those which may mislead the surgical reader.f If science rested on authority, it would be difficult to mention any name which could com- mand greater attention. No one who considers the incalculable benefit arising from his treat- ment of small pox, will hesitate to give to Sydenham, and to his name, every respect and consideration. But it is not certain that the revival of his opinions on hysterical disorders will add to this feeling; and it will, I apprehend, be admitted by all who examine his treatise on that subject, that he has confounded diseases which have a ten- dency to produce morbid change of structure, with those which have not: and that the theory which appeared to him to justify such a combination, is now, and I must add, justly exploded. Indeed, he no where confines the diseases wJiich he calls hysterical within these limits, if loss of function be the precursor to loss of structure. For after attributing hysteria to irregular motions of the animal spirits, he adds, whence they are hurried with violence, and too copiously to a particular part, occasioning convulsions and pain, and des- troying the functions of the respective organs