lilM) TIIK XKKVOIS SVSTKM AND ITS CONSERVATION 



its normal environment its central nervous sy.-tem must 

 have a nieilinni decree of resistance to the transmission 

 <.f impulses. If the resistance is raised, as by anesthesia, 

 the result is too great inertia; if the resistance is unduly 

 lowered, there are wasteful and exhausting reactions in 

 response to stimuli which might as well have failed to 

 produce any discharge of energy. 



1. In the realm of the skeletal muscles nervous fatigue 

 expresses itself in the familiar form of restlessness. The 

 victim has less than his usual endurance and may lie con- 

 sciously tired by his own unprofitable activity, but he 

 cannot keep still. He crosses and uncrosses his legs, 

 fumbles with his watch-chain, twirls his moustache, walk- 

 about aimlessly, and tries one chair after another. Court- 

 ney has acutely noted the predilection of the neurasthenic 

 for rockers, which give an outlet to his uneasiness. In 

 some sanitariums the trouble is attacked along this line; 

 hard and simple manual work is prescribed and pushed to 

 the point of weariness, that primitive exhaustion which 

 is pleasant by contrast with the other and which brings 

 sleep as its reward. 



2. The sensory symptoms ;i iv just what we might expect 

 if the central characteristic is one of lowered resistance. 

 Stimuli which are not noticed by one in health are felt 

 unpleasantly, and sensations readily ignored by the normal 

 man become torment. This is true for the cutaneous sen- 

 sations; the neurasthenic is dissatisfied with the feeling 

 of his clothes and his bed. He is morbidly sensitive t<> 

 changes of temperature. When others would say merely 

 that the room had iii-own a trifle warm, he says that it is 

 unbearably hot. When it is really a little cooler than is 

 ideal, he feels thoroughly chilled. He is much affected 

 by all changes of weather and may conceive an aversion 

 for certain winds proving his keenness of judgment by 

 announcing each change. 



The eye- share I he general super-cunt iveness. Strong 

 light is objectionable and the shrinking from it may grow 

 into photophobia. The after-imai:e-. iho-e -pots of cum- 



