Excerpt from The Study of Medicine, Vol. 3
The numerous and complicated train of diseases, we are now entering upon, appertains to the highest function of visible beings: the possession of which emphatically distinguishes animals from plants, and the perfection of which as emphatically distinguishes man from all other animals: these are the diseases of the nervous function; - which, in the sphere of its activity, embraces the powers of intellect, sensation, and muscular motion. Each of these powers evinces diseases of its own, and will consequently lay a foundation for a distinct order, under the class before us. While, as there are also other diseases that affect several of them simultaneously, we become furnished with a fourth order, which will complete the series.
All these diversities of vital energy are now well known to be dependent on the organ of the brain, as the instrument of the intellectual powers, and the source of the sensific and motory. Though, from the close connection and synchronous action of various other organs with the brain, and especially the thoracic and abdominal viscera, such diversities were often referred to several of the latter in earlier ages, and before anatomy had traced them satisfactorily to the brain as their fountain-head. And of so high an antiquity is this erroneous hypothesis, that it has not only spread itself through every climate on the globe, but still keeps a hold on the colloquial language of every people; and hence the heart, the liver, the spleen, the reins, and the bowels, generally, are, among all nations, regarded, either literally or figuratively, as so many seats of mental faculties or moral feeling.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге The Study of Medicine, Vol. 3 (Classic Reprint) (John Mason Good)