The relation of alimentation and disease / by J.H. Salisbury.

  • James H. Salisbury
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The relation of alimentation and disease / by J.H. Salisbury. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    more the will-power, pure and simple, is brought to bear as a controlling and checking means, the greater the expenditure of nerve force. This tendency and condition is always the outward expression of diseased states of the body. To control and check this waste we must get away from its cause, as far as is possible, and bring into operation healthy mental efforts. If these are per- sisted in, those faculties which are wildly working soon quiet down and the whole mental sphere becomes passive : this al- lows the nerve force to pass to the cerebellum and spinal gan- glia — the nerve system of organic life. Then the machine, which before was either almost at a standstill or all out of bal- ance, begins to run in a more normal manner, and a feeling of comfort and composure thrills through the entire mental and physical man. The nerves of the senses of sight, hearing and touch, all have their origin in and near the cerebellum. By bringing these senses, or any one of them, into persistent operation for ten or more minutes, we can direct the nerve force to the cere- bellum and establish it there. Then the stomach, bowels, dia- phragm, heart, lungs and urinary and portal systems begin to receive sufficient vitality (through the distribution of the cere- bellum) to set them in healthy action, and ere we are aware of it, the entire organism is calmly and passively working. A variety of simple means may be resorted to in order to bring about this desirable change in the direction of expenditure of nerve force. All such means tend to calm the distracted, wildly acting faculties, and to set in motion healthy operations. One easy and effectual plan is to get off alone, in a quiet room, where there is no noise nor other disturbing influence. The patient should be seated in an easy-chair, or lie upon a bed or lounge. The right hand should be placed with the palm on the forehead, and the palm of the left hand over the cerebellum and back of the neck. The eyes should be fixed upon some small object and persistently kept there: the breathings, which
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