232 



PHYSIC 



* ' safety valves " may be classed herpetic eruptions on and 

 around the eyes, nose, and mouth, as well as the skin 

 surrounding these parts ; while, along with general dia- 

 phoresis, may be classed eruptions of the same character, 

 which make their appearance on different parts of the 

 general cutaneous surface, as affording additional points 

 of exit to the toxic materials the latter eruptions may 

 occur regularly or symmetrically, unilaterally or generally, 

 over wide areas. 



What, therefore, it seems to us essential to recognise is, 

 that each of these herpetic points, papules, vesicles, or 

 bullae, represents a discharging ' ' nerve terminal," and 

 must be looked upon as a highly beneficent excretory 

 agency under the circumstances. 



In this connection it might be pertinently asked whether, 

 in many cases of cutaneous disease, the pathological pro- 

 cesses may not be initiated in a like beneficent manner by 

 a natural or physiological discharge? the cause of which 

 should be carefully sought for, and the apparent natural 

 intention aided and assisted in order to procure the 

 co-operation of the vis medicatrix nature. 



It may further be noticed that the situation of the 

 prevailing general "pains and aches" of influenza is 

 generally to be found in the track of the great nerve 

 trunks, and at points where it might be supposed that 

 "nervine lymph stasis" and pressure from cerebro-spinal 

 fluid are most liable to occur. Thus frontal and occipital 

 headache, circular or coronal headache, and headache con- 

 fined to the upper regions of the skull, predominate, while 

 face-aches centre in and radiate from the root of the nose, 

 or where the principal frontal exit is provided from the 

 cerebro-spinal cavity. Likewise the area of exit of the 

 brachial plexus from the spinal canal is a favourite locality 

 for the manifestation of the characteristic pains, the dorsal 

 and the lumbar regions follow in proportion until the 

 climax is reached in the sacral, and even coccygeal termina- 

 tion of the cord, where the pains often encircle the pelvis 

 and pass into the lower limbs. 



The same may be said of the great visceral nerve trunks 

 the pneumogastric, for instance entering and dis- 

 tributed throughout the body, the sympathetic, through 



