A treatise on the tonic system of treating affections of the stomach and brain: comprehending an account of the causes and nature of impairment of the constitution, indigestion, determination of blood to the head, impairment and morbid excitation of the brian, paralysis, apoplexy, and insanity / [Henry Searle].

  • Searle, Henry.
Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the tonic system of treating affections of the stomach and brain: comprehending an account of the causes and nature of impairment of the constitution, indigestion, determination of blood to the head, impairment and morbid excitation of the brian, paralysis, apoplexy, and insanity / [Henry Searle]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    but if patients of this description are indulged, soothed, and properly supported, they are tolerably tranquil, a state in which the arteries of the brain are not supposed to be unduly turgid ; but if they are harshly treated or kept in a constant state of irritation and excitement, the arteries of the brain display, in such cases, considerable evidence of morbid turgescence, which is the effect of the ex¬ citement, and does not indicate the cause of the disease, or that it is of an inflammatory nature. It cannot be denied that an inflammatory irritation may, without forming an essential part of the dis¬ ease, supervene at any stage; nor can it be denied that morbid anatomists, in examining the brain, are so zealous in searching for traces of inflammation, that they are very liable to mistake passive for in¬ flammatory congestion. The chief difference between insanity and senile imbecility, both as regards their respective causes and nature, appears to be this : insanity, to speak in general and brief terms, is caused by over-exer¬ tion and perplexity of mind, the brain at the same time not being duly supported ; in consequence of which those parts of the organ most engaged are so far impaired as to be no longer capable of per¬ forming their functions : this partial lesion of the mind may occur at almost any period of life. Im¬ becility is generally caused by disuse of the mind.