Diseases of the nervous system / by Judson S. Bury.

  • Judson Sykes Bury
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Diseases of the nervous system / by Judson S. Bury. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    68/856 (page 40)
    neuronic as well as of neuronic tissue itself. Obviously tbe pathological problem in any given case may be a difficult one; we have to consider the influence of heredity on many tissues, the influence of impressions from other neurons, whether they be near the neuron under consideration, or situated at some distance from it, and finally the influences depending on changes in the surrounding vascular tissue and in the blood itself. Our knowledge of the etiology of disease is in its infancy; hence it is incumbent on every student to record with care every fact that can be obtained from the patient or his friends regarding his medical history along with that of his parents, and other relations. Heredity. Referring to the subject a little more in detail, it may be pointed out that under the term heredity it is neces¬ sary to include all tendencies derived from the parents which may affect the reproductive cells before conjuga¬ tion, or the organism itself during its intra-uterine development or,at any period after birth. An inherited predisposition is one of the most important factors leading to nervous disease, and is no doubt frequently active even when its influence cannot be directly traced. Thus, in the case of such typically hereditary disorders as insanity and epilepsy, we sometimes meet with isolated cases in families in which no neuropathic tendencies can be discovered; yet it is easier to assume that some instability of cortex has been inherited than that a normal cortex has become deranged by an agent outside it. Such instability of nerve-tissue or con¬ genital deficiency in resisting powder to changes in its environment is seen, not only in epilepsy and insanity, but in migraine, hysteria, and other neuroses, and is particularly apt- to show itself in some form or other in the offspring of alcoholic or syphilitic parents. Some¬ times the vulnerability of the nervous system is shown in families by the appearance of different neuroses in different members; thus one member may suffer from