EXTRACT XXIV. 



NEURITIS. 



NEURITIS, or nerve inflammation, is commonly regarded 

 as a distinct disease of the nerves, and in systematic 

 treatises on the practice of medicine is defined as such. 



To this we would take exception, and would state 

 broadly that there is no such disease as neuritis, and that, 

 from the anatomical composition of the structures in 

 question, its occurrence as a primary disease is impossible, 

 inasmuch as the purely nerve structures, i.e. the axis 

 cylinders and white substance of Schwann, with their con- 

 taining sheaths, are devoid of blood vessels, and, conse- 

 quently, cannot suffer primarily from the inflammatory 

 process. 



We, therefore, think that the term neuritis is applicable 

 only, strictly speaking, to the secondary effects of the 

 inflammatory process initiated, it may be, in and spreading 

 from the outer envelopes of the nerve structures, and 

 that it is, or can be, consequently only secondary ; because 

 purely nerve structures must be regarded when considered 

 in relationship to diseases of the blood circulatory system, 

 such as inflammation, in the light of being non-haemo- 

 vascular tissues, such as, for instance, the keratinous, as 

 well as the proper nervine elements hair, nail, epidermis, 

 and epithelium. 



Neuritis must, therefore, so far as the nerve substance 

 is concerned, be looked upon as entirely a secondary 

 morbid process or disease, and a change of the involved 

 nerve substance, due to the existence of a previous disease, 

 interfering in some way with its peri-neural sheaths and 



