Excerpt from Observations on Functional Affections of the Spinal Cord and Ganglionic System of Nerves: In Which Their Identity With Sympathetic, Nervous, and Imitative Diseases Is Illustrated In endeavouring to explain the dependence of hysteric, nervous, and sympathetic disorders in general, on some disturbed state of the spinal cord or ganglionic nerves, we have much pleasure in feeling that we are in some measure offering additional illustrations of a great truth, which the late Mr. Abernethy, in his admirable work "On the Constitutional Origin and Treatment of Local Diseases," placed so fully before the public. He has there pointed out the existence of a wide range of functional affections, simulations of the organic diseases of the system, which owed their origin altogether to what he called constitutional or nervous irritation, or what he would perhaps have called, had he written at a later period of his life, irritation of the brain or spinal cord. In fact, the experiments of the French physiologists were no sooner made known to the world, than Mr. Abernethy at once saw the important inferences they were certain to lead to in pathology, as appears from a note to the chapter on nervous and muscular disorders, in the last edition of his works. "No considerable progress," he says, "could be expected to be made in the study of the origin of sympathetic diseases, whilst the brain was regarded as the sole source or centre of nervous energy. 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.