By means of the nervous system, an intimate relation is maintained between mind and body, for nervous energy superintends the functions of both. The fibres of nervous matter are universally present in the organization, uniting the physical and spiritual elements of man's being. Even the minutest nerve-rootlets convey impressions to the dome of thought and influence the intellectual faculties. We recognize muscular force, the strength of the body, molecular force, molecules in motion, as heat, light, chemical force, electricity, and nervous force, a certain influence which reacts between the animal functions and the cerebrum, thus connecting the conditions of the body with those of the mind. We cannot speak of the effects of mind or body separately, but we must consider their action and reaction upon each other, for they are always associated. There are many difficulties in understanding this relationship, some of which may be obviated by a study of the development of nervous matter, and its functions in the lower orders of organization. Within the plant-cells is found a vital, vegetable substance termed bioplasm, or protoplasm; which furnishes the same nutritive power as the tissues of the polyp and jelly fish. Many families of animals have pulpy bodies, and slight instinctive motion and sensibility, and in proportion as the nervous system is developed, both of these powers are unfolded. Plants have a low degree of sensibility, limited motion, respiratory and circulatory organs. Animals possess quicker perceptions and sensibilities, the power of voluntary motion, and, likewise
A higher grade of organization requires a more complete arrangement of nervous substance. Stimulus applied to one organ is readily communicated to, and excites activity in another.
The nervous system of some insects consists of two long, white cords, which run longitudinally through the abdomen, and are dilated at intervals into knots, consisting of collections of nerve-cells, called ganglia. They are really nerve-centers, which receive and transmit impulses, originate and impart nervous influence according to the nature of their organic surroundings. The ganglia situated over the esophagus of insects correspond to the medulla oblongata in man, in which originate the spinal Man possesses not only a complete sympathetic system, the rudiments of which are found in worms and insects, and a complete spinal system, less perfectly displayed in fishes, birds, and quadrupeds, but, superadded to all these is a magnificent cerebrum, and, as we have seen, all parts of the body are connected by the nervous system. The subtle play of sensory and motor impulses, of sentient and spiritual forces, indicates a perfection of nervous endowments nowhere paralleled, and barely approached by inferior animals. This meager reference to brainless animals, whoso knots of ganglia throughout their bodies act automatically as little brains, shows that instinct arises simultaneously with the development of the functions over which it presides. Here begins rudimentary, unreasoning intelligence. It originates within the body as an inward, vital impulse, is manifested in an undeviating manner, and therefore displays no intention or discretion. While Dr. Carpenter likens the human organism "to a keyed instrument, from which any music it is capable of producing can be called forth at the will of the performer," he compares "a bee or any other insect to a barrel organ, which plays with the greatest exactness a certain number of tunes that are set upon it, but can do nothing else." Instinct cannot learn from experience, or improve by practice; but it seems to be the prophetic germ of a higher intelligence. It is nearly as difficult to draw the dividing line between instinct and a low grade of intelligence, as it is to distinguish The intimate relation of instinct to intelligence is admirably illustrated in the working honey-bee. With forethought it selects a habitation, constructs comb, collects honey, provides a cell for the ova, covers the chrysalis, for which it deposits special nourishment, and is disposed to defend its possessions. It is a social insect, lives in colonies, chastises trespassers, fights its enemies, and defends its home. It manifests a degree of intelligence, but its sagacity is instinctive. Reason, though not so acute as instinct, becomes, by education, discerning and keenly penetrative, and reveals the very secrets of profound thought. We recall the aptness of Prof. Agassiz's remark: "There is even a certain antagonism between instinct and intelligence, so that instinct loses its force and peculiar characteristics, whenever intelligence becomes developed." Animals having larger reasoning powers manifest less instinct, and some, as the leopard, exercise both in a limited degree. This double endowment with instinct and low reasoning intelligence, is indicated by his lying in ambush awaiting his prey, the hiding-place being selected near the haunt of other animals, where nature offers some allurement to gratify the appetite. Simple reflex action is an instinctive expression, manifesting an intuitive perception, almost intelligent, as shown by the contraction of the stomach upon the food, simply because it impinges upon the inner coats, and thus excites them to action. A better illustration, because it displays sympathy, is when the skin, disabled by cold, cannot act, and its duties are largely performed by the kidneys. Though reflex action is easily traced in the lower organic processes, some writers have placed it on a level with rational deliberation. Undoubtedly, all animals having perception have also what perception implies—consciousness—and this indicates the possession, in some The psychical functions connect, not only with animal propensities, but also with the highest psychological faculties. Instinct is the representative of animal conditions, just as the highest spiritual faculties are indicative of qualities and principles. The consistent mean of conduct is an equilibrium between these ultimate tendencies of our being. The psychological functions render the animal nature subservient to the rule of purity and holiness, and deeply influence it by the essential elements of spiritual existence. The psychical organs sustain an intermediate relation, receiving the impressions of the bodily propensities, and, likewise, of the highest emotions. Obviously, these extreme influences, the one growing out of animal conditions, the other, the result of spiritual relations, pass into the psychical medium and are refracted by it, or made equivalent to one force. The body requires the qualifying influences of mind. The tendencies of the animal faculties are selfish and limiting, those of the emotive, general, universal. The propensities, like gravity, expend their force upon matter; the emotions pour forth torrents of feeling, and produce rhapsodies of sentiment. The propensities naturally restrict their expression to a specific object of sense; the emotions respond to immaterial being. The tendencies of the former are acquisitive, selfish, gratifying; of the latter, bestowing, expanding, diffusing. The one class is restricted to the orbits of time and matter, the other flows on through the limitless cycles of infinity and immortality. The former is satiated in animal gratification, the latter in spiritual beatification. The one culminates in animal enjoyment, the other expands to its ultimate conceptions in the perfections of Divine Love. In the present life, mind and body are intimately connected by nervous matter. In this dual constitution, the spiritual mental, and animal functions are made inseparable, and modify Every fact of mind has many aspects. A brain force, which results in thought, is simultaneously a physiological force, if it influences the bodily functions. Likewise, spiritual conceptions take their rise in the same blood that feeds the grosser tissues. This vital fluid is momentarily imparting and receiving elements from all the bodily organs, and these, in turn, must influence the process of thought, and, in a degree, determine its quality. The delicate outline, yea, even the substance of an idea, may depend upon the condition of the animal organs. Thought is subject to the laws of biology, and, therefore, is a symbol of health. Morbid conditions of the system hang out their signs in words and utterances. Words which express fear are as true symptoms of functional difficulty as is excessive palpitation. The organ representing fear sustains a special relation to the functions of the heart both in health and disease. Bright hopes characterize pulmonary complaints as certainly as cough. Exquisite susceptibility of mind indicates equally extreme sensibility of body, and those persons capable of fully expressing the highest emotions are especially susceptible to bodily sensations. Tears are physical emblems of grief, and fellow-feeling calls forth sympathetic tears. Excessive anxiety of mind produces general excitability of body, which soon results in chronic disease. Pleasurable emotions stimulate the processes of nutrition, and are restorative. This concomitance of mental and bodily states is very remarkable. Joy and Love, as well as jealousy and anger, flash in the eye and mould the features to their expression. Grief excites the lachrymal, and rage the salivary glands. Shame reddens the ears, drops the eyelids, and flushes the face; but profligacy destroys these expressions. The blush which suffuses the forehead of the bashful maiden betrays her love, and maternal love, stirred by the appeals of an idolized infant, excites the mammary gland The relationship of mental and physical functions may be illustrated by entirely removing the spleen of an animal, as that of a dog. An invariable result of its extirpation is an unusual increase of the appetite, for at times the animal will eat voraciously any kind of food. The dog will devour, with avidity, the warm entrails of recently killed animals, and thrive in consequence of such an appetite. Another symptom, which usually follows the removal of the spleen, is an unnatural ferocity of disposition. Without any apparent provocation, the animal will attack others of its own, or of a different species. In some instances, these outbursts of irritability and violence are only occasional, but the experiments show quite conclusively that the spleen moderates combativeness, restrains the appetite, and co-operates with the will and judgment in controlling them. We shall briefly consider the practical question whether the elements of mind can be ideally arranged and presented, so as to more completely reveal their relations to, and disclose their effects upon the bodily functions. Modern philosophers conceive that mind consists of a triad of essentials; Intellect, Emotion, and Volition. Physiologists assign to the cerebrum its functions, and neurological, as well as phrenological writers, have located them as represented in Fig. 68. True, there is no structural division between the parts of the cerebrum to indicate this diversity of function, nor is there any perceptible limit between the sensory and motor filaments of the game nerve. As no one has any reason for denying that separate portions of the brain may manifest distinct functions of the mind, we shall assume it as a conceded proposition. The regions of the cerebrum, thus ideally represented, occupy but little more than half of the arc of a circle, whereas it is evident that the base of the nervous mass is not idle, and is equally entitled to our consideration. In the posterior chamber
Nature answers to mind in physical correspondences. The planetary system is fashioned after a circle. Life itself springs from a spherule of forces. The perfection of an idea, or the completeness of a conception may be expressed by a circle. The elements of Science, Astronomy, Geology, and Natural History, are pictorially represented in this manner. How appropriately and logically can a fragment of natural history, this epitome of all nature and science—the mind—be illustrated by a simple circle! Every element must act and react, and be equal and opposite. Thus may the existence of the opposing energies and functions of each faculty be equally represented. The contrast aids us in understanding their ultimate tendencies, and enables us to correctly value and define their nature. Faculties of kindred qualities may be grouped together, and their antagonisms represented in the opposite arc of the circle. Let us employ a circle to represent mind. The conception of the abstract This is not an exceptional, but a common example of classifying Love, the highest and purest of the emotions, with Anger, an animal propensity. Is it not more practical and philosophical to group the emotional faculties together, and upon an opposite arc represent their antagonistic energies, the ultimate tendencies of which are criminal? Both groups are mutually modifying and restraining; the one relates instinctively to the bodily wants, the other to the requirements of mind, and each is essential to a consistent life. Accordingly, we deem it philosophical to consider words as symbols of mental faculties, and to classify together such spiritual unities as joy, hope, faith, and love, the tendencies of which are to quicken and transform the ultimates of carnal life into the rudiments of an immortal one, the beginning of heaven on earth. These restrain those opposites, which lead to crime and death. Love and Hate are as antagonistic as heat and cold, and the usefulness of both depends upon their proper temperament. Fig. 70 represents the antagonism of the Intellectual
REGIONAL DIVISIONS.
The anterior portion of the cerebrum is devoted to intellectual processes, which freely expend the vital energies. The Intellectual faculties are classified as represented in Fig. 71. The lower portion of the brain, bounded exteriorly by the superciliary ridge, corresponds to the Perceptive, the middle region to the Recollective, and the upper to the Reflective faculties. (See also Fig. 65, b.) If we divide the forehead by vertical lines, as shown in Fig. 71, the divisions thus formed represent respectively, the Active, Deliberative, and Contemplative departments of the intellect, all the processes of which are sustained by vital changes, the transformation of organized materials. No mental effort can be made without waste of
This kind of waste is best summed up in the words, VITAL EXPENDITURE. Upon the forehead, as represented in Fig. 72, we will therefore inscribe INTELLECT, ACTIVITY, and VITAL EXPENDITURE. Intellectual employment is usually accompanied by sedentary habits, neglect of healthful exercise, and a deprivation of pure air, to all of which ill health may be attributed. Were the intellectual expenditure arrested, and the forces turned into recuperative channels, many a person would become beautiful with the ruddy glow of health. Without health there is no use for thought; cultivation of the mind is just as natural and essential as the culture of the body, and the trained development of both is needed for mutual improvement. EMOTIVE FACULTIES.
What results follow the natural and the excessive exercise of the EMOTIVE FACULTIES? AS distinct organs of the body have diverse functions, so, in like manner, different parts of the brain perform the separate operations of the mind. It is easier to discriminate between the products of these dissimilar endowments than to determine the location of the faculties. The intellect deals with concrete subjects, and the emotions with abstractions; the intellect is exercised with material things, the emotions dwell upon attributes; the intellect considers the forces of matter, the emotions, the powers of The quality of the emotional faculties is represented by Benevolence, Sympathy, Joy, Hope, Confidence, Gratitude, Love, and Devotion, all of which are the very antitheses of the attributes of animal feeling, described as Melancholy, Fear, Anger, Hate, Malevolence, and Despair. To the emotions we refer the highest qualities of character, while their opposites represent the animal or baser impulses. True, the emotions modify the propensities, as sympathy softens grief. They may subdue and refine the animal feelings, and thus veil them with a delicacy characteristic of their own purity; but the unrestrained influences of grief find vent in loud lamentations, and the bitter disappointments of the selfish faculties are passionate and violent. The Emotive Faculties—the organs of spiritual perceptions—are impersonal, outflowing, bestowing. The function represented by Benevolence, is willing, giving. Devotion expresses dedication, consecration; Gratitude manifests a warm and friendly feeling toward a benefactor.
Love flames toward its object, is out-pouring, blessing; indeed, all the emotions are gushing, effusive, impetuous, and profusely flowing; grand, torrent-like, overwhelming; employing ideal, immaterial, spiritual expressions, developing principles and perfections while aspiring to happiness and immortality. Though beginning with humanity, they embody the Divine. They expand to their ultimate conceptions in the sublime attributes: the perfections of the God of Love; associating We may consider their counteracting influences, for, without doubt, by checking the selfish tendencies and restraining the animal propensities, they assist in controlling the sensual passions, and thus balance the mind and body. Such an equilibrium we call happiness. If the emotions be acute and vehement, they will absorb all other impressions and revel in their culminating and delightful experiences. They exhaust all the bodily energies, and a functional suspension, termed ecstasy, follows. It is a swooning, or fainting, a temporary loss of sensation and volition, accompanied by involuntary movements of the arms, smiting of the hands, sighing, and short ejaculatory expressions of rapture. This condition, occasioned by excessive emotion, as in praying, singing, exhortations, and sympathetic appeals, is contagious, often spreading with mysterious rapidity. Its culmination, ecstasy, is popularly termed "the power." When gradually induced, it is called trance, and each state is regarded by many as supernatural, caused by the immediate influence of the Holy Spirit. The explanation is this: when the emotive faculties are suddenly and powerfully excited, they quickly expend the organic forces, so that the individual swoons from sheer exhaustion. Undue expenditure of this class of brain functions not only consumes the bodily powers, but exhausts and prevents other mental operations. The sudden collapse of all voluntary functions resembles the fainting produced by blood-letting. We may sum up this rapid expenditure of energy in one expressive word, EXHAUSTION, which results in Ecstasy, or trance, and which, if carried a degree further, terminates in death. Beginning with the natural exercise of the emotions, we may state the order of sequences thus:
VOLITIVE FACULTIES.What are the physiological and morbid results attending the ordinary and the immoderate exercise of the VOLITIVE FACULTIES? The generic term will, comprehends those faculties, the action of which is termed volition. The faculties of the will are Determination, Firmness, Decision, Ambition, Authority, and Vigilance, all of which indicate strength and continuity of purpose. Bordering upon the emotions are Patience and Perseverance, while adjoining the animal faculties are Power, Coarseness, and Love of Display. The former exhibit moral, the latter animal heroism. A sense of power urges forward, whether it be higher or lower, just as the sense of greatness makes a man great by inspiring him with confidence to put forth exertion. Nature is truthful in her aspirations. We know that courage, assurance, and conscious power are necessary for the fulfillment of purpose, because intention precedes action. Will-power is an indication of HEALTH, and the constant exercise of these mental faculties exerts a steady, regular, and strengthening influence over the bodily functions. We translate mental energies into physiological industry. These faculties impart tone to the system, sustain the processes of nutrition, circulation, assimilation, secretion and excretion, and their distinguishing characteristics are vigor, tension, and elasticity. They temper each element of character, as well as every vital act. They infuse the organism with a resisting power which renders it proof against the influence of miasma and malaria, and overcomes that passivity and impressionability so favorable to disease. Firmness expresses a physiological cohesiveness which strongly binds together the fibers of the tissues, and renders the organization compact and powerful. He, who can skillfully employ these energies, is already master of half of the diseases incident to mankind, and wields an indispensable adjunct to medicine, in the practice of the healing art. It is the key to success, for it unlocks difficulties and opens wide the door which leads to favorable results. Surplus energy sustains the circulation, increases capillary action, as if the excess of nerve-power were discharged from VOLITIVE FACULTIES.The natural effect of FIRMNESS is physiological stability. The exercise of the volitive faculties displays both mental and bodily ENERGY.
ANIMAL FACULTIES.
Under this generic term we will group those cerebral powers which are common to the inferior animals, and closely allied to bodily conditions and necessities. As denoting a group of animal faculties they relate not only to the organic functions and self-preservation, but combat the action of the intellect, The animal faculties are skeptical, stubborn, and dogmatic, readily combining with those of the violent class, the ultimate tendencies of which are criminal. They are likewise conceited, assuming, and clannish. Any person distinguished by them, will cling to old associations, perpetuate the status of existing parties, be a stickler for creed, ceremonies, and stale opinions, and adhere to ancient orthodoxy in medicine and religion. The animal faculties, since they are staid and regular, are naturally
BASILAR FACULTIES.The ultimate tendencies of the faculties, represented by the posterior base of the cerebrum, are violent and criminal. Being contiguous to the junction of the cerebrum and spinal system, they are subject to the influence of animal experiences. A large development of these faculties is indicated by an unusual breadth and depth of the back part of the base of the brain, and a full, thick neck, both of which denote good alimentary and digestive powers. Active nutrition, plethora of the circulation, vigorous secretion, a well developed muscular system, a large heart and lungs, are accessory conditions. We do not associate corpulence or surplus of vitality with a long, slender neck. The character of cerebral manifestations is represented by the baser faculties of mind, such as Combativeness, Destructiveness, Desperation, Turbulence, Hatred, and Revenge. If unrestrained, these culminate in violent and criminal acts; if regulated, they are employed in personal defense. When unduly excited, they lead to dissipation, obscenity, swearing, rowdyism, and licentiousness; when perverted, they are the source of recklessness, quarrels, frauds, falsehoods, robberies, and homicides. They are unlike instinct, inasmuch as they are not self-limiting. The intimate relation which they sustain to the stomach and nutritive functions is strikingly displayed in the habit of alcoholic intoxication. Spirituous drinks deprave the appetite, derange and destroy the stomach, poison the blood, and pervert all the functions of mind and body; and their injurious influence upon the nerves and basilar faculties is equally remarkable. They excite combativeness, selfishness, irritability, and exaggerate the influence of the animal organs. Intemperance results in disputes, fights, brawls, The pangs of hunger cause soldiers to act more like ravenous beasts, than rational beings. It is animal instinct which impels the soldier to seek first for the gratification of his appetite. Some persons, instigated by carnivorous desires, yearn for raw meat, and will not be satisfied unless their food is flavored with the flesh of animals. Their bodies increase and thrive, even to repletion. Contrast these individuals with pale, lean, anÆmic people, who crave innutritious articles of diet, and eat soft stones, slate, chalk, blue clay, and soft coal. Such perversions of the appetite are manifested only when there is either a diminution in the volume of blood, deficient alimentation, defective assimilation, or a general depravity of the nutritive functions. Morbid conditions generate vitiating tendencies and destroy the natural appetite. While alcoholic stimulants affect the medulla oblongata principally, opium acts chiefly on the cerebrum, and excites reverie, dreamy ideality, optical delusions, and the creative powers of the imagination; some of these hallucinations are said to be grotesquely beautiful and enjoyable. The effects of this agent differ from those of alcoholic intoxication by not deadening the moral sensibilities, or arousing the animal propensities. Opium smokers are dreamy and abstracted, not quarrelsome or violent. Those who use ardent spirits lose their moral delicacy, their intellect becomes dull, the reason cloudy, and the judgment is overruled by appetite. It is conceded that the trophic center is principally in the medulla oblongata; the cerebellum and lower cerebral ganglia, however, favorably influence the nutritive functions, and, when these organs are large and active, a plethoric condition is the natural consequence. Redundancy of blood in the body indicates preponderance of the basilar organs. These faculties The Animal Faculties correspond to the lower instinctive manifestations.
These naturally give rise to the following diseases: Inflammation, Rheumatism, Gout, Convulsions, etc., which, in these conditions, pursue a violent course. REGION OF FEEBLENESS.Although the middle lobe of the cerebrum, at the base of the brain, does not denote decided force of character, or energy of constitution, yet it has a certain sphere of normal action which is essential to the harmony of mind and body. If this region is largely developed, the constitution is languid, inefficient, sensitive, and abnormally disposed. But if it be deficient, the volitive energies preponderate, and there is a lack of those susceptibilities of constitution, which prevent excessive waste. The cerebral faculties are Fear, Anxiety, Sensibility, Servility, Relaxation, and Melancholy, and their excessive predominance indicates a weak, vacillating, irresolute character, and the existence of those bodily conditions which produce general excitability and chronic derangement. A full development of this portion of the brain indicates that the person is naturally dependent, inferior, and subservient to stronger characters. Such a one is fearful, fretful, complaining, irritable, dejected, morose,
The organ of alimentiveness, located directly in front of the ear, indicates the functional conditions of the stomach, which, when aroused by excessive hunger, exerts a debasing influence upon this and all of the adjacent organs, and is demoralizing to both body and mind. In obedience to the instinct of hunger, children will slyly plunder gardens and orchards, displaying profligate, if not reckless tendencies in the gratification of the appetite. In this regional division we include the medulla, the posterior and middle portions of which give rise to the pneumogastric nerve. This nerve receives branches from the spinal accessory, facial, hypoglossal, and the anterior trunks of the first and second cervical, and its filaments are distributed to the We have already alluded to the perverting tendencies of alcoholic stimulants. Their peculiar influence upon the cerebellum causes the subject to reel and stagger, as though a portion of that organ were removed; the group of energetic faculties is stupefied, and mental as well as corporeal lethargy is the result. The reaction, which inevitably follows, is almost unbearable, and relief is sought by repeating and increasing the poisonous draughts, the primary influence of which is stimulating, the ulterior, depressing. Alcoholic stimulants unduly excite the nervous centers, the heart, and the arteries, and, consequently, the blood is carried to the surface of the body, where it counteracts the influence of cold and exposure, the frequent attendants upon drunkenness. The use of alcoholic beverages perverts the appetite, interrupts habits of industry and destroys all force of character. Pecuniary, physical, and mental ruin, therefore, are sure to follow as the consequences of habitual, alcoholic intoxication. That ordinary alimentation, which includes the process of digestion, the subsequent vital changes involved in the conversion of food into blood, and its final transformation into tissue, causes mental languor and dullness, as well as bodily exhaustion, is attested by universal experience. A torpid condition of the liver, one of the most inveterate of chronic derangements, is
This classification shows their tendencies to chronic disease, functional derangement, insanity, and suicide. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.Before the structure of the brain was understood, Buffon spoke of it as a "mucous substance of no great importance." Its functional significance was so slightly appreciated that some people hardly suspected they had any brains, until an accident revealed their existence. Latterly, however, it is generally understood that the perfection of an animal depends upon the number and the development of the organs controlled by the nervous system, the sovereign power of which is symbolized by a grand cerebrum, the throne of Reason. That animal which is so low in the scale of organization as to resemble a vegetable, belongs to an ascending series ending in man. The lowest species have no conscious perception, and their movements do not necessarily indicate sensation or volition. Instinct culminates in the Articulates, especially in Insects; while created intelligence reaches its acme in man, the highest representative of the Vertebrates.
Man, in the faculties of mind, possesses more than a complement for instinct; some of the lower animals, however, seem to share his rational nature, and to a certain degree become responsible to him. Finally, the manifestations of mind bear a relation to the development of cerebral substance, and to the bodily organization which supplies the brain with blood. Fig. 76 shows the relative amount of brain matter in the lower animals, compared with
There is no ill to which flesh is heir that is the source of a greater degree of discomfort to the human race than headache. The farmer, housewife, banker, merchant and laborer seem to be equally prone to the affliction and all who suffer have a great number of days rendered uncomfortable and unhappy by the presence of this most unpleasant affection. Pain is the warning finger of disease—the threatening indication of coming trouble. In headache, we have an indication that the system is subjected to some strain or injurious impression. It may be that the eyes have been overworked or the brain unnaturally taxed; or that the nervous and physical systems have not been properly refreshed by sufficient sleep, and have used up the residue of reserve power. Many suffer from headache only after they have been subjected to sudden changes of temperature and have taken cold; others only when the bowels have become inactive, the liver torpid and the blood vitiated with retained poisons. All appreciate the discomfort that results from this malady and earnestly seek for permanent relief. Headaches may be divided in two classes: (1) those due to the presence of poisons in the blood, and (2) those due to irritation of various organs, as of the eyes, stomach, liver, and intestines. Of the first form, or variety, of headache, influenza, or grip, and acute "cold in the head," are the most common causes. These give rise to most excruciating pain. There is congestion, followed by inflammation in the nasal passages and cavities communicating therewith. The membranes of these passages throw out a thin, watery, irritating discharge, which gradually thickens and becomes pus-like and offensive in character, if the disease continues. Poisonous matters are absorbed from the affected surfaces into the blood. These poisons, circulating in the blood, produce great irritation of the nerve cells, so much so, that the severity of the attack is felt in the nervous centres, the brain and spinal cord, with pain varying from the most acute and sharp, to a dull, numb ache. The temples, eyes, neck and small of the back, are in their order, the usual locations of greatest pain. Such attacks vary in frequency and severity. One attack is usually followed by an early recurrence, which may be more or less severe, while the period of active pain varies from a few hours to several days. Such attacks leave an exhausted state of the nerve centres and general weakness of the system that often lasts for weeks and may permanently impair the system, except such results be prevented by appropriate treatment. Every recurrence of the attack leaves the system in a worse condition, until profound nervous prostration; ensues. Other forms are rheumatic and gouty headache; usually a heavy aching pain appearing on the approach of storms, but at times almost continuous, made worse by improper diet. UrÆmic headache is due to kidney disease, and alcoholic to direct irritation of the brain membranes from the use of alcoholic beverages. The latter is accompanied with much irritation of the stomach and intestines. Headaches of a similar character result from the presence in the blood of an excess of the active principles of coffee and tea. Overindulgence in these agents, as with alcohol, affects the nerve cells and membranes, often causing severe attacks of headache. Nervous headache is another common affliction. This seems to arise from several causes, such as impoverished blood and exhaustion from overwork of the brain. Hysterical headache is not uncommon. There is a severe kind of headache, the attacks of which appear first at early puberty and continue at intervals more or less frequent in women up to the change of life and in men to about the fortieth year. The periodical headache is usually preceded by yawning, chilliness, languid, exhausted feelings, in others by peculiar emotional or mental activity. This is followed by unusual drowsiness, in which the night's rest is broken by dreams, and from which the patient awakes tired. Gradually, during the day, the headache develops, beginning in the eyes or bones over them. It gets more and more severe, shooting into the jaws and neck or extending to the back of the head and spine. As the pains get most severe, nausea or vomiting, often repeated, follow, in which the contents of the stomach, with mucus and bile, is ejected. The whole paroxysm lasts from five hours to two or even three days. Neuralgic headache is a common variety; often the pain is not confined to the head, in fact neuralgia may affect almost any part of the system. NEURALGIA.Neuralgia is an affection of the nerves, of which the chief symptom is pain. This is of variable intensity and character. It follows the course of the affected nerve and its branches, and occurs in paroxysms, of agonizing pain with periods of intermission during which the pain may be very slight, and cause but little discomfort. The severe pain is described as lancinating, cutting, tearing, burning, boring and pressing. Patients use different words in describing the attacks, and there is probably a difference in the character of the pain, though in a severe paroxysm one is scarcely able to make a very nice distinction. We have known cases in which the pain occurred suddenly and overwhelmed the patient's fortitude by its severity and unexpected Treatment. Contrary to opinions frequently expressed by members of the medical profession, we find that most cases present some removable, or remediable, cause for attacks of headache and neuralgia. The temporary relief that is obtained by the use of "headache powders," various bromide combinations, caffeine and other anodyne and narcotic medicines, is sometimes necessary in order that the excruciating sufferings may be borne for the time, but as a rule such remedies only react unfavorably by interfering still further with the natural restoration of the affected organs, or protract the removal of the cause of the disease. Hence, the next attack is usually earlier in its appearance and more severe and lasting when such agents are employed. The great majority of headaches and neuralgias are due to the presence of poisons in the blood. This may be due to affections of the blood-making, or blood-purifying organs. For the correction of inactive blood-making glands, or a lack of purification of the blood, due to such cause, the use of Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery is particularly beneficial. It has no equal in its direct effect upon the liver, the great purifying organ of the body. Through this natural gateway, it removes from the system poisonous materials which are the waste from the nerve cells. The accumulation of these waste materials irritates the cells and causes them to cry out with pain. The blood, being properly purified by the use of "Golden Medical Discovery" supplies to the nerves, and to the nerve cells, what they crave—a healthy and rich blood that furnishes When the liver is engorged and torpid, the intestines become overloaded with fecal matters that putrefy and give rise to gases and consequent distention. Deleterious poisons are formed and absorbed by the blood from such hardened and irritating lumps in the intestines. When the bowels are thus constipated, Dr. Pierce's Pleasant Pellets are necessary as an adjunct to the "Golden Medical Discovery." The "Pellets" remove from the intestinal canal all irritating materials and thus enhance the alterative, or blood-cleansing, action of the "Golden Medical Discovery." In women, when there is a nervous affection, dependent upon some unnatural state of the ovaries or uterus, and complicated with an imperfect or unnatural circulation in those parts, we have noted that most satisfactory results invariably follow the use of Dr. Pierce's Favorite Prescription. This agent improves the tone of the nervous system, and by its direct restorative tonic effects, lessens, or overcomes, any congestion of the womb or its appendages, regulates menstruation and promotes a condition of health and vigor. In a vast experience, our specialists have thoroughly tested a great many specific remedies which we prescribe for home-treatment, sending the necessary remedies to our patients by express or mail, carefully adapting them to each individual case. Many sufferers have been, by a brief course of our home-treatment, relieved permanently from excruciating sufferings that had been a source of annoyance and loss of time for many years prior to the use of our remedies. Our treatment is intended to effect permanent cures. We do not use those narcotics and compounds of antipyrine and other similar agents which are very depressing in their effects, and, like morphine and other preparations of opium, give only temporary relief, and interfere with the action of the heart, but we use treatment that builds up the system, removes the cause of the difficulty and restores the nervous system and all the organs of the body to a normal and healthful condition. In some cases we advise treatment in our Institution, where we have every facility in the way of electrical appliances and many other aids that can only be employed by the personal attention of a skillful physician. These aids are more fully described under the head of nervous exhaustion and a reference is also suggested to what we have to say under the heads of paralysis and locomotor ataxia. Headaches or neuralgic pains, due to local irritations, as uterine disease, stricture, neurotic or nerve tumors, pressure of trusses, eye strain from weakened eye muscles, or lenses that need the help of proper spectacles, require for a permanent cure the removal of the cause. Sciatic neuralgia, one of the most common and painful forms of nerve irritation, is particularly amenable to treatment by the modern means of cure used in our practice at the Invalids' Hotel. PARALYSIS OR PALSY;sor J. Hughes Bennett, of Edinburgh, has thoroughly investigated the subject, and adds his testimony to that of others, citing numerous cases that have resulted in perfect recovery. If such testimony is not sufficient, we may mention the following, whose names are well known and respected in professional circles, and all of whom declare that consumption is a curable disease. The list includes Laennec, Andral, Cruveilhier, Kingston, Presat, RogÉe, Boudet, and a host of others.No farther back than 1866, on page 145, of the proceedings of the Connecticut Medical Society, we find "Observations, Ante-mortem and Post-mortem, upon the case of the late President Day by Prof. S.G. Statistics show that under the improved methods of treating this disease, the mortality, as compared with previous years, has been greatly reduced. Clinical observation proves that injuries to the lungs are not so fatal as was once supposed. Treatment. The earlier the treatment of this disease is undertaken, the greater is the probability of success. The reason of this is obvious; at first the disease is general or constitutional, but as it advances, by the deposit of tubercular matter, it becomes both constitutional and local. Hence the treatment must be both general and local. The occurrence of certain prominent and distressing symptoms, either from the natural progress of the disease, or from complications with other affections, often renders it difficult, even for physicians, to determine how far their treatment should be general and how far local. Treating the symptoms instead of the general disease, or treating the constitutional disease without regard to the symptoms which arise from it, is an error into which many physicians have fallen. The constitutional affection, the local manifestations and complications, and the circumstances and individual peculiarities of the patient, must all be carefully considered; bearing in mind all the while, that tubercular matter is the product of a morbid action, which, in every case, must exist before its deposition in the lungs, or any other tissue, can take place. In every case in which curative treatment is to be instituted, the hearty and persistent co-operation of both patient and friends is absolutely necessary; and the treatment, which is both hygienic and medical in character, should have in view the following aims: (1.) The avoidance of the causes concerned in the production and perpetuation of the disease. (2.) The restoration of healthy nutrition, in order to stop the formation of tuberculous matter. (3.) The arrest of the abnormal breaking down of the tissues, and the prevention of emaciation. The fulfillment of the first indication, the avoidance of causes, is of the utmost importance, for if they have been sufficient to produce the disease, their continued operation must certainly be sufficient to perpetuate it. A single individual is very often subjected to the operation of several of the causes already enumerated, some of which, in consequence of circumstances and surroundings, are unavoidable. Of these, the one most difficult to overcome is climate; i.e. the frequent variations of temperature. Upon the subject of climate much has been written. But that which is best adapted to the cure of consumption, is that which will enable the patient to pass a certain number of hours every day in the pure open air, without exposure to sudden alterations of temperature. There are very few persons who change their place of residence, except as a last resort, when the disease is in the last stage. It is then productive of little or no good. This is one reason why so many people having consumption die in Florida, and other warm countries. If a change of climate is to be effected at all, it should be made early. The most powerful stimulant to health is well-regulated exercise. It assists the performance of every function, and is of paramount importance to promote good digestion and proper assimilation, conditions essential for recovery. It should not, however, be carried beyond the powers of endurance of the individual, so as to exhaust or fatigue. Everything that can invigorate should be adopted; everything that exhausts should be shunned. To fulfill the second indication, to restore healthy nutrition, requires not only a proper diet, both as regards quantity and quality, but demands that the integrity of the organs concerned in the process of digestion and assimilation, shall be maintained at the highest standard of perfection possible. That the diet be sufficient in quantity should be obvious to all. It is also necessary that it be nutritious, and that it should contain carbonaceous elements. Food of a starchy or saccharine character is apt to increase acidity, and interfere with the assimilation of other elements, therefore, articles, rich in fatty matters, should enter largely into the diet. The articles of food best adapted to the consumptive invalid are milk, rich cream, eggs, bread made from unbolted wheat-flour, and raised with yeast, cracked wheat, oatmeal, good butter, beef, game, and fowls. These contain the necessary elements for assimilation. Oily food is of great importance, and the beef eaten should contain a good proportion of fat. Plenty of salt should always be eaten with the food, and a desire for it is often experienced. Over-eating should be avoided, lest the stomach be induced to rebel against articles of diet rich in important elements. Derangement of the process of nutrition requires careful attention, The "Golden Medical Discovery" is adapted to fulfill the third indication in the management of this disease, which is to check the abnormal breaking down and waste of tissues, which constitute such a prominent feature in this malady. The antiseptic properties of the "Discovery" are unmistakably manifested in preventing such abnormal decomposition. The emaciation, excessive expectoration, profuse perspiration, diarrhea, and hectic fever, common to consumption, are all due to a too rapid disintegration and waste of the tissues. It is in this condition of the system that this medicine, by its powerful antiseptic properties, manifests its most wonderful curative ability. When, as in this disease, the vital forces of the system have, in a degree, lost their restraining influence over the processes of disintegration, waste, and decay, which goes on so rapidly that nutrition cannot compensate for the loss to the system, then it is that the "Golden Medical Discovery," by its antiseptic influence, checks this rapid waste of the tissues, and thus arrests the disease. To the lack of employment of such a remedy in the treatment of consumption, the unparalleled fatality of the disease is largely due. In their anxiety to improve digestion and nutrition, and thus build up the tissues, physicians often lose sight of the no less important indication of restraining the destructive waste going on in the system, which overbalances the supplies furnished by absorption. The gradually increasing emaciation and loss of strength render perpetuity of the organism impossible. The fulfillment of the fourth indication, to relieve local symptoms, and the complications with other diseases, is often attended with no little difficulty. The Cough is a secondary symptom, arising from the irritation caused by the tubercular deposits. Medicated inhalations may give temporary relief, but cannot cure it. They strike at the branches of the disease, while the root is left to flourish and develop new branches. Expectorants have been employed to a great extent, and the theories, which have been advanced in favor of their use, are sometimes very ingenious. That they modify the cough, we do not attempt to deny; but it is usually at a great expense, for they derange the stomach and interfere with digestion and assimilation. Improvement of the general health is always attended with amelioration of the cough. If the patient did not cough at all, the lungs would soon fill up with broken-down tissue, and death from suffocation would result. Irritation of the nerves supplying the lungs sometimes occurs, and causes the patient to cough immoderately, when it is Hoemoptysis. Hemorrhage from the lungs is generally sudden and unexpected in its attack, though sometimes preceded by difficulty of breathing, and a salty taste in the mouth. Although it very rarely destroys life, it often occasions alarm. Common table salt, given in one-fourth to one-half teaspoonful doses, repeated every ten or fifteen minutes, is generally sufficient to control it. Ligatures applied to the thighs and arms, sufficiently tight to arrest the circulation of blood in the veins, but not tight enough to impede it in the arteries, is a useful proceeding. Ergot, in teaspoonful doses of the fluid extract, hamamelis, and gallic acid, all are valuable for this purpose. Night-sweats can only be regarded as a symptom of weakness, and are to be remedied by an improvement of the general health. Bathing in salt water is sometimes attended with good results. The practice of giving acids for this symptom can only be regarded as irrational. It may arrest the sweating, but it will do harm in other ways. Belladonna, given at bed-time, is an effectual remedy. Frequency of the pulse is generally a prominent symptom in this disease. It sometimes points to a condition of sufficient importance to require a remedy. Although the "Golden Medical Discovery" is combined to meet this condition, its value may be greatly enhanced by adding one-half to one teaspoonful, according to the urgency of the case and the frequency of the pulse, of the fluid extract of Veratrum Viride to each bottle. The benefit of this, when persisted in, will be apparent in the amelioration of all the symptoms, and in the general improvement. This fluid extract can be had at any drug store. Diarrhea is sometimes a troublesome symptom, and particularly so in the latter stages of the disease. It is generally due to acidity of the alimentary canal, to which the treatment must be directed. Great care should be taken in the selection of the diet to improve the quality and avoid everything which disagrees with the patient. Improve digestion by every possible means. Carbonate of soda and rhubarb, in the form of a syrup, are sometimes excellent. The Compound Extract of Smart-weed, in small doses, will generally diminish the frequency of the discharges. Derangement of the Liver is often a complication requiring attention, and the timely relief of which goes very far in ameliorating the general condition of the patient. The "Golden Medical Discovery" is generally sufficient to relieve this complication. Its influence, however, may be considerably increased in this direction by the use of Dr. Pierce's Pleasant Pellets, according to the directions which accompany Uterine Derangements. In the female, derangement of the menstrual function is generally an early complication of consumption, if indeed it does not occur at the outset. It deserves early attention, and, in addition to the remedies already advised, Dr. Pierce's Favorite Prescription is so compounded as to meet the requirements of this condition, and at the same time exert a favorable influence upon the constitutional disease. The numerous reports of cures of well-developed cases of Consumption to be found in the back portion of this little treatise must be sufficient, it seems to us, to convince the most skeptical of the wonderful power which Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery exercises over this terribly fatal malady. As will be noted, many of the cases there reported had long been unsuccessfully treated with cod liver oil emulsion and all the other usual remedies employed by the profession and were fast running down. "Golden Medical Discovery" aroused the stomach and liver, and started all the nutritive functions into action, whereby digestion and nutrition were promoted and both the strength and flesh steadily built up. The reader will bear in mind, that most of the cases hereinafter reported, were pronounced Consumption by their attending physicians as well as by us. It cannot be said, therefore, that we exaggerate the malady and that the cases were merely bad, lingering coughs. Thousands, whose maladies have been pronounced genuine Tubercular Pulmonary Consumption, (Phthisis Pulmonalis) by eminent physicians have been perfectly and permanently cured by the use of Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery. It can, therefore, no longer be doubted that this wonderful compound is far superior as a remedy for Consumption to cod liver oil, compound Hypophosphites, and the many other agents so highly extolled, and so generally prescribed for this fatal malady by even the more progressive and advanced of the medical profession of our day. Read the letters received from grateful patients who have been cured and note how many commend the use of "Golden Medical Discovery," as a "last resort," after their home physicians had exhausted all their skill and resources in vain. CONSTANT SUFFERER FOR MANY YEARS.WORLD'S DISPENSARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, Buffalo, N.Y.:
Gentlemen—For many years my wife has been a constant sufferer from indigestion, sick headache, nervous prostration and all other complaints that the female sex is heir to, and, after trying many remedies and doctors with but little or no relief, I persuaded her to try Dr. Pierce's Favorite Prescription and "Golden Medical Discovery." She was so out of heart, she returned the answer that it would be like all the rest—of no good; but on my account, she said she would try it, so I got one bottle each; and before she had used half of a bottle she felt that it was benefiting her, and she has continued to improve ever since, and now thinks it the most wonderful remedy on earth for her sex, and recommends it to all suffering females. She has not been so well in ten years. I write this without any solicitation and with a free, good will, so that you may let all who may suffer know what it has done for her.
A MOTHERS' FRIEND.Tanks, Cottle Co., Texas. DR. R.V. PIERCE, Buffalo, N.Y.: Dear Sir—I took your "Favorite Prescription" previous to confinement and never did so well in my life. It is only two weeks since my confinement and I am able to do my work. I feel stronger than I ever did in six weeks before.
BED FAST.WORLD'S DISPENSARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, 663 Main St., Buffalo, N.Y.:
Gentlemen—For about two years I was a constant sufferer from diseases peculiar to my sex. I had to be carried from my bed, had horrible dreams, sinking sensations, was very nervous and had little or no appetite. In short, my whole body was racked with pain. I had frequent attacks of hysteria, and was completely discouraged, for I found no medicine did me any good. At last I determined to give your "Favorite Prescription" a trial. I had taken but two bottles before I felt so much better! I took eleven bottles. To-day I am well. I have never felt the least trace of my old complaint in the last six years. We use the "Golden Medical Discovery" whenever we need a blood-purifier. By its use, eruptions of all kinds vanish and the skin is rendered clear and soft, almost as an infants.
AT DEATH'S DOOR.Abita Springs, La. DR. R.V. PIERCE, Buffalo, N.Y.: Dear Sir—My wife suffered from laceration of the womb and inflammation—she was completely bed-ridden and lingered about one year at death's door. Local applications were given her and Dr. Pierce's Favorite Prescription; she gradually regained strength and continued to do so until she recovered. I am convinced that any case of womb disease can be certainly and permanently cured by the use of your remedies.
HEART, LIVER, AND STOMACH DISEASE.WORLD'S DISPENSARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, Buffalo, N.Y.:
Gentlemen—About nine years ago my health began to fail; had a continual pain and aching under my right shoulder and in or under my right breast; I could not eat anything but a little milk or bread, and even that made my stomach pain and hurt me so I could not rest; I kept getting weaker all the time and I could no longer sit up; I sent for our family physician; he said I had dyspepsia and inflammation of the liver, and gave me medicine two or three months, but I kept getting weaker all the time; it seemed to me that I was diseased all over; thought I had heart disease; had the doctor examine my heart several times. I became so discouraged that I gave up all hope of ever getting well, but consented to send to Dr. Pierce for medicine. I commenced taking it and in a short time I was able to sit up; continued to take his medicine three months and felt like a new person—didn't need any more medicine and have not yet. I can eat anything I wish; am sixty-three years old; can walk a mile without any trouble, and I can truly say that I believe it was Dr. Pierce's medicines that saved my life.
UTERINE DISEASE.Creston, Iowa. DR. R.V. PIERCE, Buffalo, N.Y.: Sir—My wife improved in health gradually from the time she commenced taking "Favorite Prescription" until now. She has been doing her own housework for the past four months. When she began taking it, she was scarcely able to be on her feet, she suffered so from uterine debility. I can heartily recommend it for such cases.
THE PICTURE OF HEALTH.DR. R.V. PIERCE, Buffalo, N.Y.:
Dear Sir—My daughter, Miss MEEKER, was sick and we called in one of the best doctors here. She got so weak that I had to help her out of bed and draw her in a chair. She then tried some of Dr. Pierce's Favorite Prescription. In less than a week she was out of bed and has been working about five weeks now, and looks the picture of health. As for myself I am much better of my female complaint. Before taking the "Favorite Prescription," I suffered most of the time from catarrhal inflammation.
LIFTED THE BURDEN.Nye, Putnam Co., W. Va. DR. R.V. PIERCE, Buffalo, N.Y.: Dear Sir—Mine is a case of eleven years' standing, which baffled the skill of the best medical aid procurable. I obtained no good effect, until I began the use of the "Favorite Prescription," which lifted the burden which was seeking my life. My gratitude I owe to the "Prescription." I hope that all suffering humanity (as in my case) may profit by the result of my experience.
es the blood, exhausts the vital forces, weakens the organic functions, while pallor covers the face, and the eyes sparkle with a hectic radiance. The family physician pronounces the condition AnÆmia (a deficiency of red corpuscles in the blood), and this change in the quality of the blood is owing to the undue appropriation by the brain. Conversely, if the blood be destroyed, or its vitality reduced, in the same proportion will the mental energies be weakened and all the functional powers of the physical system enfeebled. In brief, if the intellect be unduly exercised, the red corpuscles of the sanguine fluid will be gradually destroyed, and the serum allowed to predominate. The blood becomes weak and watery, the subject is nervous, dropsical, consumptive and derangement of the important functions follows almost invariably. Excessive intellectual activity often produces weak state of the system, and the person thus affected becomes languid, spiritless, and an easy prey to disease. This mental cause and its bodily results may be classified in the following order. Mental Cause: EXCESSIVE MENTAL EXERTION, which produces waste of the brain substance and blood.
This kind of waste is best summed up in the words, VITAL EXPENDITURE. Upon the forehead, as represented in Fig. 72, we will therefore inscribe INTELLECT, ACTIVITY, and VITAL EXPENDITURE. Intellectual employment is usually accompanied by sedentary habits, neglect of healthful exercise, and a deprivation of pure air, to all of which ill health may be attributed. Were the intellectual expenditure arrested, and the forces turned into recuperative channels, many a person would become beautiful with the ruddy glow of health. Without health there is no use for thought; cultivation of the mind is just as natural and essential as the culture of the body, and the trained development of both is needed for mutual improvement. EMOTIVE FACULTIES.
What results follow the natural and the excessive exercise of the EMOTIVE FACULTIES? AS distinct organs of the body have diverse functions, so, in like manner, different parts of the brain perform the separate operations of the mind. It is easier to discriminate between the products of these dissimilar endowments than to determine the location of the faculties. The intellect deals with concrete subjects, and the emotions with abstractions; the intellect is exercised with material things, the emotions dwell upon attributes; the intellect considers the forces of matter, the emotions, the powers of The quality of the emotional faculties is represented by Benevolence, Sympathy, Joy, Hope, Confidence, Gratitude, Love, and Devotion, all of which are the very antitheses of the attributes of animal feeling, described as Melancholy, Fear, Anger, Hate, Malevolence, and Despair. To the emotions we refer the highest qualities of character, while their opposites represent the animal or baser impulses. True, the emotions modify the propensities, as sympathy softens grief. They may subdue and refine the animal feelings, and thus veil them with a delicacy characteristic of their own purity; but the unrestrained influences of grief find vent in loud lamentations, and the bitter disappointments of the selfish faculties are passionate and violent. The Emotive Faculties—the organs of spiritual perceptions—are impersonal, outflowing, bestowing. The function represented by Benevolence, is willing, giving. Devotion expresses dedication, consecration; Gratitude manifests a warm and friendly feeling toward a benefactor.
Love flames toward its object, is out-pouring, blessing; indeed, all the emotions are gushing, effusive, impetuous, and profusely flowing; grand, torrent-like, overwhelming; employing ideal, immaterial, spiritual expressions, developing principles and perfections while aspiring to happiness and immortality. Though beginning with humanity, they embody the Divine. They expand to their ultimate conceptions in the sublime attributes: the perfections of the God of Love; associating We may consider their counteracting influences, for, without doubt, by checking the selfish tendencies and restraining the animal propensities, they assist in controlling the sensual passions, and thus balance the mind and body. Such an equilibrium we call happiness. If the emotions be acute and vehement, they will absorb all other impressions and revel in their culminating and delightful experiences. They exhaust all the bodily energies, and a functional suspension, termed ecstasy, follows. It is a swooning, or fainting, a temporary loss of sensation and volition, accompanied by involuntary movements of the arms, smiting of the hands, sighing, and short ejaculatory expressions of rapture. This condition, occasioned by excessive emotion, as in praying, singing, exhortations, and sympathetic appeals, is contagious, often spreading with mysterious rapidity. Its culmination, ecstasy, is popularly termed "the power." When gradually induced, it is called trance, and each state is regarded by many as supernatural, caused by the immediate influence of the Holy Spirit. The explanation is this: when the emotive faculties are suddenly and powerfully excited, they quickly expend the organic forces, so that the individual swoons from sheer exhaustion. Undue expenditure of this class of brain functions not only consumes the bodily powers, but exhausts and prevents other mental operations. The sudden collapse of all voluntary functions resembles the fainting produced by blood-letting. We may sum up this rapid expenditure of energy in one expressive word, EXHAUSTION, which results in Ecstasy, or trance, and which, if carried a degree further, terminates in death. Beginning with the natural exercise of the emotions, we may state the order of sequences thus:
VOLITIVE FACULTIES.What are the physiological and morbid results attending the ordinary and the immoderate exercise of the VOLITIVE FACULTIES? The generic term will, comprehends those faculties, the action of which is termed volition. The faculties of the will are Determination, Firmness, Decision, Ambition, Authority, and Vigilance, all of which indicate strength and continuity of purpose. Bordering upon the emotions are Patience and Perseverance, while adjoining the animal faculties are Power, Coarseness, and Love of Display. The former exhibit moral, the latter animal heroism. A sense of power urges forward, whether it be higher or lower, just as the sense of greatness makes a man great by inspiring him with confidence to put forth exertion. Nature is truthful in her aspirations. We know that courage, assurance, and conscious power are necessary for the fulfillment of purpose, because intention precedes action. Will-power is an indication of HEALTH, and the constant exercise of these mental faculties exerts a steady, regular, and strengthening influence over the bodily functions. We translate mental energies into physiological industry. These faculties impart tone to the system, sustain the processes of nutrition, circulation, assimilation, secretion and excretion, and their distinguishing characteristics are vigor, tension, and elasticity. They temper each element of character, as well as every vital act. They infuse the organism with a resisting power which renders it proof against the influence of miasma and malaria, and overcomes that passivity and impressionability so favorable to disease. Firmness expresses a physiological cohesiveness which strongly binds together the fibers of the tissues, and renders the organization compact and powerful. He, who can skillfully employ these energies, is already master of half of the diseases incident to mankind, and wields an indispensable adjunct to medicine, in the practice of the healing art. It is the key to success, for it unlocks difficulties and opens wide the door which leads to favorable results. Surplus energy sustains the circulation, increases capillary action, as if the excess of nerve-power were discharged from VOLITIVE FACULTIES.The natural effect of FIRMNESS is physiological stability. The exercise of the volitive faculties displays both mental and bodily ENERGY.
ANIMAL FACULTIES.
Under this generic term we will group those cerebral powers which are common to the inferior animals, and closely allied to bodily conditions and necessities. As denoting a group of animal faculties they relate not only to the organic functions and self-preservation, but combat the action of the intellect, The animal faculties are skeptical, stubborn, and dogmatic, readily combining with those of the violent class, the ultimate tendencies of which are criminal. They are likewise conceited, assuming, and clannish. Any person distinguished by them, will cling to old associations, perpetuate the status of existing parties, be a stickler for creed, ceremonies, and stale opinions, and adhere to ancient orthodoxy in medicine and religion. The animal faculties, since they are staid and regular, are naturally
BASILAR FACULTIES.The ultimate tendencies of the faculties, represented by the posterior base of the cerebrum, are violent and criminal. Being contiguous to the junction of the cerebrum and spinal system, they are subject to the influence of animal experiences. A large development of these faculties is indicated by an unusual breadth and depth of the back part of the base of the brain, and a full, thick neck, both of which denote good alimentary and digestive powers. Active nutrition, plethora of the circulation, vigorous secretion, a well developed muscular system, a large heart and lungs, are accessory conditions. We do not associate corpulence or surplus of vitality with a long, slender neck. The character of cerebral manifestations is represented by the baser faculties of mind, such as Combativeness, Destructiveness, Desperation, Turbulence, Hatred, and Revenge. If unrestrained, these culminate in violent and criminal acts; if regulated, they are employed in personal defense. When unduly excited, they lead to dissipation, obscenity, swearing, rowdyism, and licentiousness; when perverted, they are the source of recklessness, quarrels, frauds, falsehoods, robberies, and homicides. They are unlike instinct, inasmuch as they are not self-limiting. The intimate relation which they sustain to the stomach and nutritive functions is strikingly displayed in the habit of alcoholic intoxication. Spirituous drinks deprave the appetite, derange and destroy the stomach, poison the blood, and pervert all the functions of mind and body; and their injurious influence upon the nerves and basilar faculties is equally remarkable. They excite combativeness, selfishness, irritability, and exaggerate the influence of the animal organs. Intemperance results in disputes, fights, brawls, The pangs of hunger cause soldiers to act more like ravenous beasts, than rational beings. It is animal instinct which impels the soldier to seek first for the gratification of his appetite. Some persons, instigated by carnivorous desires, yearn for raw meat, and will not be satisfied unless their food is flavored with the flesh of animals. Their bodies increase and thrive, even to repletion. Contrast these individuals with pale, lean, anÆmic people, who crave innutritious articles of diet, and eat soft stones, slate, chalk, blue clay, and soft coal. Such perversions of the appetite are manifested only when there is either a diminution in the volume of blood, deficient alimentation, defective assimilation, or a general depravity of the nutritive functions. Morbid conditions generate vitiating tendencies and destroy the natural appetite. While alcoholic stimulants affect the medulla oblongata principally, opium acts chiefly on the cerebrum, and excites reverie, dreamy ideality, optical delusions, and the creative powers of the imagination; some of these hallucinations are said to be grotesquely beautiful and enjoyable. The effects of this agent differ from those of alcoholic intoxication by not deadening the moral sensibilities, or arousing the animal propensities. Opium smokers are dreamy and abstracted, not quarrelsome or violent. Those who use ardent spirits lose their moral delicacy, their intellect becomes dull, the reason cloudy, and the judgment is overruled by appetite. It is conceded that the trophic center is principally in the medulla oblongata; the cerebellum and lower cerebral ganglia, however, favorably influence the nutritive functions, and, when these organs are large and active, a plethoric condition is the natural consequence. Redundancy of blood in the body indicates preponderance of the basilar organs. These faculties The Animal Faculties correspond to the lower instinctive manifestations.
These naturally give rise to the following diseases: Inflammation, Rheumatism, Gout, Convulsions, etc., which, in these conditions, pursue a violent course. REGION OF FEEBLENESS.Although the middle lobe of the cerebrum, at the base of the brain, does not denote decided force of character, or energy of constitution, yet it has a certain sphere of normal action which is essential to the harmony of mind and body. If this region is largely developed, the constitution is languid, inefficient, sensitive, and abnormally disposed. But if it be deficient, the volitive energies preponderate, and there is a lack of those susceptibilities of constitution, which prevent excessive waste. The cerebral faculties are Fear, Anxiety, Sensibility, Servility, Relaxation, and Melancholy, and their excessive predominance indicates a weak, vacillating, irresolute character, and the existence of those bodily conditions which produce general excitability and chronic derangement. A full development of this portion of the brain indicates that the person is naturally dependent, inferior, and subservient to stronger characters. Such a one is fearful, fretful, complaining, irritable, dejected, morose,
The organ of alimentiveness, located directly in front of the ear, indicates the functional conditions of the stomach, which, when aroused by excessive hunger, exerts a debasing influence upon this and all of the adjacent organs, and is demoralizing to both body and mind. In obedience to the instinct of hunger, children will slyly plunder gardens and orchards, displaying profligate, if not reckless tendencies in the gratification of the appetite. In this regional division we include the medulla, the posterior and middle portions of which give rise to the pneumogastric nerve. This nerve receives branches from the spinal accessory, facial, hypoglossal, and the anterior trunks of the first and second cervical, and its filaments are distributed to the We have already alluded to the perverting tendencies of alcoholic stimulants. Their peculiar influence upon the cerebellum causes the subject to reel and stagger, as though a portion of that organ were removed; the group of energetic faculties is stupefied, and mental as well as corporeal lethargy is the result. The reaction, which inevitably follows, is almost unbearable, and relief is sought by repeating and increasing the poisonous draughts, the primary influence of which is stimulating, the ulterior, depressing. Alcoholic stimulants unduly excite the nervous centers, the heart, and the arteries, and, consequently, the blood is carried to the surface of the body, where it counteracts the influence of cold and exposure, the frequent attendants upon drunkenness. The use of alcoholic beverages perverts the appetite, interrupts habits of industry and destroys all force of character. Pecuniary, physical, and mental ruin, therefore, are sure to follow as the consequences of habitual, alcoholic intoxication. That ordinary alimentation, which includes the process of digestion, the subsequent vital changes involved in the conversion of food into blood, and its final transformation into tissue, causes mental languor and dullness, as well as bodily exhaustion, is attested by universal experience. A torpid condition of the liver, one of the most inveterate of chronic derangements, is
This classification shows their tendencies to chronic disease, functional derangement, insanity, and suicide. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.Before the structure of the brain was understood, Buffon spoke of it as a "mucous substance of no great importance." Its functional significance was so slightly appreciated that some people hardly suspected they had any brains, until an accident revealed their existence. Latterly, however, it is generally understood that the perfection of an animal depends upon the number and the development of the organs controlled by the nervous system, the sovereign power of which is symbolized by a grand cerebrum, the throne of Reason. That animal which is so low in the scale of organization as to resemble a vegetable, belongs to an ascending series ending in man. The lowest species have no conscious perception, and their movements do not necessarily indicate sensation or volition. Instinct culminates in the Articulates, especially in Insects; while created intelligence reaches its acme in man, the highest representative of the Vertebrates.
Man, in the faculties of mind, possesses more than a complement for instinct; some of the lower animals, however, seem to share his rational nature, and to a certain degree become responsible to him. Finally, the manifestations of mind bear a relation to the development of cerebral substance, and to the bodily organization which supplies the brain with blood. Fig. 76 shows the relative amount of brain matter in the lower animals, compared with
There is no ill to which flesh is heir that is the source of a greater degree of discomfort to the human race than headache. The farmer, housewife, banker, merchant and laborer seem to be equally prone to the affliction and all who suffer have a great number of days rendered uncomfortable and unhappy by the presence of this most unpleasant affection. Pain is the warning finger of disease—the threatening indication of coming trouble. In headache, we have an indication that the system is subjected to some strain or injurious impression. It may be that the eyes have been overworked or the brain unnaturally taxed; or that the nervous and physical systems have not been properly refreshed by sufficient sleep, and have used up the residue of reserve power. Many suffer from headache only after they have been subjected to sudden changes of temperature and have taken cold; others only when the bowels have become inactive, the liver torpid and the blood vitiated with retained poisons. All appreciate the discomfort that results from this malady and earnestly seek for permanent relief. Headaches may be divided in two classes: (1) those due to the presence of poisons in the blood, and (2) those due to irritation of various organs, as of the eyes, stomach, liver, and intestines. Of the first form, or variety, of headache, influenza, or grip, and acute "cold in the head," are the most common causes. These give rise to most excruciating pain. There is congestion, followed by inflammation in the nasal passages and cavities communicating therewith. The membranes of these passages throw out a thin, watery, irritating discharge, which gradually thickens and becomes pus-like and offensive in character, if the disease continues. Poisonous matters are absorbed from the affected surfaces into the blood. These poisons, circulating in the blood, produce great irritation of the nerve cells, so much so, that the severity of the attack is felt in the nervous centres, the brain and spinal cord, with pain varying from the most acute and sharp, to a dull, numb ache. The temples, eyes, neck and small of the back, are in their order, the usual locations of greatest pain. Such attacks vary in frequency and severity. One attack is usually followed by an early recurrence, which may be more or less severe, while the period of active pain varies from a few hours to several days. Such attacks leave an exhausted state of the nerve centres and general weakness of the system that often lasts for weeks and may permanently impair the system, except such results be prevented by appropriate treatment. Every recurrence of the attack leaves the system in a worse condition, until profound nervous prostration; ensues. Other forms are rheumatic and gouty headache; usually a heavy aching pain appearing on the approach of storms, but at times almost continuous, made worse by improper diet. UrÆmic headache is due to kidney disease, and alcoholic to direct irritation of the brain membranes from the use of alcoholic beverages. The latter is accompanied with much irritation of the stomach and intestines. Headaches of a similar character result from the presence in the blood of an excess of the active principles of coffee and tea. Overindulgence in these agents, as with alcohol, affects the nerve cells and membranes, often causing severe attacks of headache. Nervous headache is another common affliction. This seems to arise from several causes, such as impoverished blood and exhaustion from overwork of the brain. Hysterical headache is not uncommon. There is a severe kind of headache, the attacks of which appear first at early puberty and continue at intervals more or less frequent in women up to the change of life and in men to about the fortieth year. The periodical headache is usually preceded by yawning, chilliness, languid, exhausted feelings, in others by peculiar emotional or mental activity. This is followed by unusual drowsiness, in which the night's rest is broken by dreams, and from which the patient awakes tired. Gradually, during the day, the headache develops, beginning in the eyes or bones over them. It gets more and more severe, shooting into the jaws and neck or extending to the back of the head and spine. As the pains get most severe, nausea or vomiting, often repeated, follow, in which the contents of the stomach, with mucus and bile, is ejected. The whole paroxysm lasts from five hours to two or even three days. Neuralgic headache is a common variety; often the pain is not confined to the head, in fact neuralgia may affect almost any part of the system. NEURALGIA.Neuralgia is an affection of the nerves, of which the chief symptom is pain. This is of variable intensity and character. It follows the course of the affected nerve and its branches, and occurs in paroxysms, of agonizing pain with periods of intermission during which the pain may be very slight, and cause but little discomfort. The severe pain is described as lancinating, cutting, tearing, burning, boring and pressing. Patients use different words in describing the attacks, and there is probably a difference in the character of the pain, though in a severe paroxysm one is scarcely able to make a very nice distinction. We have known cases in which the pain occurred suddenly and overwhelmed the patient's fortitude by its severity and unexpected Treatment. Contrary to opinions frequently expressed by members of the medical profession, we find that most cases present some removable, or remediable, cause for attacks of headache and neuralgia. The temporary relief that is obtained by the use of "headache powders," various bromide combinations, caffeine and other anodyne and narcotic medicines, is sometimes necessary in order that the excruciating sufferings may be borne for the time, but as a rule such remedies only react unfavorably by interfering still further with the natural restoration of the affected organs, or protract the removal of the cause of the disease. Hence, the next attack is usually earlier in its appearance and more severe and lasting when such agents are employed. The great majority of headaches and neuralgias are due to the presence of poisons in the blood. This may be due to affections of the blood-making, or blood-purifying organs. For the correction of inactive blood-making glands, or a lack of purification of the blood, due to such cause, the use of Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery is particularly beneficial. It has no equal in its direct effect upon the liver, the great purifying organ of the body. Through this natural gateway, it removes from the system poisonous materials which are the waste from the nerve cells. The accumulation of these waste materials irritates the cells and causes them to cry out with pain. The blood, being properly purified by the use of "Golden Medical Discovery" supplies to the nerves, and to the nerve cells, what they crave—a healthy and rich blood that furnishes When the liver is engorged and torpid, the intestines become overloaded with fecal matters that putrefy and give rise to gases and consequent distention. Deleterious poisons are formed and absorbed by the blood from such hardened and irritating lumps in the intestines. When the bowels are thus constipated, Dr. Pierce's Pleasant Pellets are necessary as an adjunct to the "Golden Medical Discovery." The "Pellets" remove from the intestinal canal all irritating materials and thus enhance the alterative, or blood-cleansing, action of the "Golden Medical Discovery." In women, when there is a nervous affection, dependent upon some unnatural state of the ovaries or uterus, and complicated with an imperfect or unnatural circulation in those parts, we have noted that most satisfactory results invariably follow the use of Dr. Pierce's Favorite Prescription. This agent improves the tone of the nervous system, and by its direct restorative tonic effects, lessens, or overcomes, any congestion of the womb or its appendages, regulates menstruation and promotes a condition of health and vigor. In a vast experience, our specialists have thoroughly tested a great many specific remedies which we prescribe for home-treatment, sending the necessary remedies to our patients by express or mail, carefully adapting them to each individual case. Many sufferers have been, by a brief course of our home-treatment, relieved permanently from excruciating sufferings that had been a source of annoyance and loss of time for many years prior to the use of our remedies. Our treatment is intended to effect permanent cures. We do not use those narcotics and compounds of antipyrine and other similar agents which are very depressing in their effects, and, like morphine and other preparations of opium, give only temporary relief, and interfere with the action of the heart, but we use treatment that builds up the system, removes the cause of the difficulty and restores the nervous system and all the organs of the body to a normal and healthful condition. In some cases we advise treatment in our Institution, where we have every facility in the way of electrical appliances and many other aids that can only be employed by the personal attention of a skillful physician. These aids are more fully described under the head of nervous exhaustion and a reference is also suggested to what we have to say under the heads of paralysis and locomotor ataxia. Headaches or neuralgic pains, due to local irritations, as uterine disease, stricture, neurotic or nerve tumors, pressure of trusses, eye strain from weakened eye muscles, or lenses that need the help of proper spectacles, require for a permanent cure the removal of the cause. Sciatic neuralgia, one of the most common and painful forms of nerve irritation, is particularly amenable to treatment by the modern means of cure used in our practice at the Invalids' Hotel. PARALYSIS OR PALSY;???^??? |