Nerve prostration and other functional disorders of daily life / by Robson Roose.

  • Roose, Edward Charles Robson.
Date:
1891
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Nerve prostration and other functional disorders of daily life / by Robson Roose. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

    116/734 (page 90)
    As to the condition of the cord in these cases, we can only hazard a guess that there is either some derangement in the nervous mechanism, some change in its molecular state and action, or some disorder of the circulation due to abnormal vaso-motor action, and interfering with nutrition. A persistent condition of anaemia is scarcely probable. Some authorities have supposed that the symptoms of spinal neurasthenia might possibly be due to functional dis- order of the cerebellum. Whatever may be the actual condition of the implicated parts, the symptoms require careful study, inasmuch as they are liable to be attributed to the presence of grave lesions. The symptoms in these cases of functional disorder of the spine may be classified under two heads: (i) Those in which debility is the prominent feature, and (2) those in which the sensory nerves of the spine are in a state of morbid excitability indicated by severe pain and tenderness. To the former group the term spinal neurasthenia may be conveniently applied, while the latter constitutes the disorder known as spinal irritation. It is impossible, however, to draw a very strict line of demarcation between the two classes, as cases often occur in which weakness and pain are combined in varying proportions. In the description which follows an attempt will be made to point out the similarities and the differences that exist between the two conditions ; they will first be described separately and then compared.