THE CEREBRO-SPINAL FLUID 117 



means of explanation not hitherto available, or possible, and 

 a possible application of therapeutic principles to their 

 prevention, alleviation, and cure not before in our posses- 

 sion. For instance, to take an example, influenza seems 

 to pass, so far as its " materies morbi" is concerned, 

 through the nervous system without necessarily extending 

 outside of it, or into adjacent structures ; thus, the microbe 

 (or its spore) of the disease reaches the cerebro-spinal fluid 

 through the olfactory and other neural channels, and finds 

 the needful medium in the cerebro-spinal lymph in which 

 to develop when the phenomena characterising the attack 

 begin. These " wax and wane," it may be, spontaneously, 

 or it may be by medical help, and convalescence ensues, it 

 may be, without the temperature, pulse, or general health 

 suffering to even a small extent, all this being effected by 

 the excretion of the foreign organisms and their results, or 

 toxins, through the various points of exit afforded in the 

 nasal, pharyngeal, coccygeal, and cutaneous excretory 

 organisms, directly or otherwise by overflowing into the 

 motor or sympathetic areas. 



In further connection with the subject of nervine excre- 

 tion, we might mention some well-marked excretory areas 

 into which the systemic nervine and general lymphatics 

 may have a common point of exit, such as the axillary 

 regions, where the tufts of hair usually grow, the peri- 

 umbilical region, and the inter-digital regions of the hands 

 and feet. 



From this enumeration, and from the description of 

 the naso-pharyngeal and coccygeal points of exit, it will 

 be observed that the excretory organisms connected with 

 the nervous system are usually located in sheltered but 

 abundantly mobile spots, generally at junctures or bifur- 

 cations, with the great exception of the cutaneous sweat 

 glands, in order seemingly to afford the most ready exits 

 as well as the most guarded, the most yielding, and the 

 most elastic. 



Moreover, the local sensations or sensory disturbances, 

 preceding and accompanying the various acts of excretion 

 from these exits seem to be more or less akin in incidence 

 and character, consisting mainly of a disturbance of one 

 or more histologically related sensory nerve fibres of a 



