Select discourses on the functions of the nervous system : in opposition to phrenology, materialism, and atheism : to which is prefixed a lecture on the diversities of the human character arising from physiological peculiarities / by John Augustine Smith.

  • Smith, John Augustine, 1782-1865.
Date:
1840
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Select discourses on the functions of the nervous system : in opposition to phrenology, materialism, and atheism : to which is prefixed a lecture on the diversities of the human character arising from physiological peculiarities / by John Augustine Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    and if agriculturists, one year they are to make a for- tune by turnips, another by potatoes, a third by clover, and so on. If at any time you tax them with these inconsistencies, they will tell you it is very true, all their lives they have been mistaken until now—but at last they are right. Should they become devoted to one object, and should this be, as it usually is, unattainable, such as perpetual motion, transmutation of metals, &c, they frequently fall into mental derangement. To this, indeed, the ex- cessive action in their lungs always predisposes them, and should this action be from any cause much aug- mented, fatuity at least, upon certain subjects, is the inevitable consequence. This unfortunately, too fre- quently happens, even in those who have not had the original predisposition. Such is the condition of persons affected with consumption, whose hopes of recovery are always in proportion to the ravages of the disease. When the determination of blood to the lungs is slight, that is, at the commencement of the complaint, phthisical patients judge rightly of their situation, and are aware of their danger. But let the disease become fixed, and as it advances, that is, in proportion to the intensity of the action of the lungs, do their fears diminish, and convic- tion of ultimate recovery increases, until the very day which, in their estimation, is to restore their health, puts a period to their existence !* * In most cases of consumption, the liver partakes somewhat of the disease, and hence, we generally have alternations of slight despondency and undoubting confidence. But there is one