84 HORSE-BACK RIDING. 



of others, and an over-activity of the powers of 

 imagination and observation. 



As hysteria is almost peculiar to women, so Jiypo- 

 chorldriasis is confined almost exclusively to men. 



We are prone to confound the seat of disease and 

 the cause ; the cause of hypochondria may be in 

 the region which has given it its name, or it may be 

 in any other part of the body ; the seat of the disease 

 is always the brain. 



We know that epilepsy is sometimes caused by 

 intestinal worms, and that its seat is a determined 

 region of the cerebro-spinal axis. Is it not as great an 

 error to confound the cause and seat of the disease in 

 the one case as in the other ? 



Hypochondria is, then, a cerebral neurosis, deter- 

 mined by an alteration in the tissue of the brain, 

 and characterized by an excessive over-excitability 

 of certain nervous elements. The mental disorders 

 resulting from it are only reflex results of disturbances 

 taking place in other parts of the body, and are 

 usually objective ; though sometimes they are purely 

 subjective, and are consequently entirely beyond 

 recognition. 



The sick man alone, owing to his mental condition, 

 is capable of recognizing and appreciating them ; and 

 it is this morbidly sensitive acuteness which consti- 

 tutes the disease. 



It must be understood, however, that a mental 

 predisposition to this state is necessary in order to 



