NEUROMATA 



569 1 



NFUSS 



(inn.- for a year <>r even 

 Alcoholic iicui itis in the moat fre- 

 '.-ini <>f multiple neuritis. 



In neuritis due to acute poison- 

 ing tin- outlook for recovery is 

 u-iiall\ rood. I'tit the prognosis 

 in in in it is due to long-standing 

 i limnir 1, ul poisoning is not hope- 

 ful, ll.-t i- an essential feature of 

 treatment, and in acute cases the 

 patient should remain in be<l. H"t 

 applications may be used to re- 

 lie\e IMIM. and painting the part 

 with menthol is often helpful. 

 Stm -Inline, imlide of potassium, 

 and salieylates have been recom- 

 iiieiuled as internal medicines. 



Neuromata. Tumours \\hi<-h 

 drvel<i]i nn nerve fibres. True neu- 

 romata consist of nerve tissue ; 

 false neuromata of fibrous tissue. 

 >' Tumour. 



Neuron. Xervo cell. A typical 

 iieiimn consists of a cell body con- 

 taining a nucleus, and various fine 

 processes which break up into 

 smaller branches called dendrona. 

 In many cells one of the processes 

 is of great length and forms a nerve 

 fibre, which, with other fibres, con- 

 stitutes a nerve. The nerve fibre 

 itself ultimately breaks up into 

 small branches which are distribu- 

 ted to muscle, skin, or other tissues. 



Neuroptera (Gr. neuron, nerve ; 

 /iti nn, \\ in.n). Order of carnivorous 

 insects. They have biting jaws, 

 four stiff and unfoldable, net- 

 v fined wings, more or less trans- 

 parent, and long antennae. The 

 genus Boreus is wingless. They 

 undergo complete metamorphosis 

 in their development from the larva 

 to the adult state. The British 

 representatives include seven fami- 

 lies and fewer than 60 species, of 

 which familiar examples are the 

 alder-flies, the snake-flies, the lace- 

 wings, and the scorpion-flies. Not 

 one of them is injurious to man or 

 his property. 



Neurosis. Disorder of the mind 

 not associated with any recogniz- 

 able organic changes, and distin- 

 guished from insanity by the fact 

 that it affects chiefly the emotions, 

 and leaves the reasoning powers 

 relatively unimpaired. There are, 

 however, borderline cases in which 

 it is difficult to diagnose between 

 a neurosis and the early stage of 

 some forms of insanity. Know- 

 ledge of these disorders has been ad- 

 vanced during recent years, owing 

 mainly to the work of the Viennese 

 physician, Sigmund Freud. 



Psychopathologists now classify 

 neurotic disorders into two main 

 groups, according to their mode of 

 origin, namely the " actual " or 

 " true " neuroses, and the psycho- 

 neuroses. The essential difference 

 between these sub-groups is that 

 the cause of the actual neuroses 



can he traced ultimately to some 

 physical disturbance, whereas the 

 psychoneuroM* have a purely 

 mental origin and are the hint links 

 in a chain of mental processes. The 

 actual neuroses are three innumli-T, 

 namely neurasthenia, anxiety 

 neurosis, and hypochondriacs. 

 Anxiety neurosis is characterised 

 by sudden attacks of acute fear 

 which occur without any cause, and 

 which the patient himself recog- 

 nizes as being entirely unreason- 

 able. Those who suffer from this 

 disorder have frequently not been 

 able to find a satisfactory outlet for 

 their emotions, either as a result of 

 social circumstances or deliberate 

 .suppression. An understanding of 

 the cause of the condition is very 

 helpful to them. 



Tho psychoneuroses are hys- 

 teria, psychasthenia, and obses- 

 sional neurosis. These conditions 

 are caused by a conflict between 

 the conscious and subconscious 

 parts of the mind. Despite his civi- 

 lization, man still shares with the 

 lower animals many fundamental 

 biological tendencies and desires. 

 The gratification of these desires is 

 often in direct conflict with the 

 social teaching and the moral and 

 ethical code to which the individual 

 has been obliged to conform from 

 early childhood. The result is 

 that these wishes are either never 

 allowed to reach consciousness or, 

 if they do, are at once repressed by 

 the individual. Freud has shown 

 that in the development of the in- 

 stincts, the child passes through a 

 series of phases before the normal 

 condition of maturity is reached. 



The exigencies of civilization de- 

 mand that everyone must experi- 

 ence this process, and most people 

 go through it successfully, i.e. they 

 make the suppressions and re- 

 pressions which are necessary to fit 

 them to their environment. Some- 

 times, however, the suppression is 

 not complete, or the subconscious 

 desire tends to become too strong 

 for the inhibiting forces. The result 

 is that symptoms appear which 

 represent a compromise, and it is 

 these which constitute the psycho- 

 neuroses. Treatment consists in 

 investigating the patient's mind 

 and ascertaining the fundamental 

 nature of the conflict which, un- 

 known to himself, is occurring. 

 This process is called by Freud 

 psychoanalysis. 



Additional light on the causation 

 of the psychoneuroses has resulted 

 from an investigation of the symp- 

 toms, often spoken of as " shell 

 shock," which were displayed by a 

 large number of men following ex- 

 posure to danger or subjection to 

 terrifying experiences during the 

 Great War. The view has been put 



forward that these symptom* 

 arose M a result of the conflict 

 between fear and tin- obligations 

 imposed by duty. When under fire 

 tin- iiiitur.-il impulse urges flight. 

 me and social training pre- 

 clude thin, and the result is a con- 

 flict between the social instinct, <>r 

 instinct of the herd, and the in- 

 simrt of tx;|f. preservation. Btt 

 Dream ; Freud ; Hysteria ; Psycho- 

 analysis. W. A. Br.nd.'n.D 

 Neuruppin OK RUPPI.V Town 

 of Prussia, in the pro v. of Branden- 

 burg. It is on the lake of Huppin, 

 by whieh it is connected with the 

 KH>--. Laid out by Frederick 

 William II after the great fire of 

 1787, it has a synagogue and a 

 13th century church, once that of 

 an abbey, which was restored in 

 the 19th century. Its chief in- 

 dustries are the manufacture of 

 cloth, brushes, and machinery. 

 Pop. 19,000. 



Neusalz. Town of Prussia. It is 

 in the prov. of Silesia, on the Oder, 

 75 m. N.W. of Breslau. It has two 

 Protestant churches, two private 

 schools, and a district court. It has 

 a trade in flax, enamel, cartons, 

 glue, and machinery, etc., and 

 there are saw mills, breweries, and 

 boatbuilding yards. Pop. 13,000. 

 Neusatz OB Novi SAD. Town of 

 Yugo-Slavia, formerly in Hungary 

 and known as Ujvidek. It stands 

 on the Danube, opposite Peter- 

 varad, and is 175 m. by rly. S. from 

 Budapest on the main line to Bel- 

 grade. It is the seat of a bishop 

 of the Greek Church, and is the 

 centre of a rich farming district. 

 Here the Franz-Joseph Canal joins 

 the Danube. There is considerable 

 river traffic. Pop. 33,600. 



Neuse. River of North Caro- 

 lina, U.S.A. Rising in the N. 

 portion of the state, it flows 300 m. 

 S.E. to Pamlico Sound, which it 

 enters on the W. side by a wide 

 estuary about 35 m. long. It is 

 navigable for vessels of light 

 draught for nearly 70 of its 300 m. 

 Neusiedler See. Lake of Cen- 

 tral Europe. It is crossed by the 

 new frontier between Austria and 

 Hungary, and is known to the 

 Magyars as Ferto. The lake is so 

 shallow that its size fluctuates, 

 and in 1865 it dried up completely. 

 The E. side is low ana marshy and 

 surplus waters flow away here by 

 the Rabnitz to the Raab and 

 Danube. When the bed is exposed 

 remnants of lake dwellings are 

 visible. The swamps at the S.E. 

 end have been partially reclaimed. 

 Neusohl. German name of the 

 Hungarian town of Besztercze- 

 banya (q.v.). 



Neuss. Town of Prussia. It is 

 near the left bank of the Rhine, with 

 which it is connected by the Erft 



