400 PRACTICE OF PHYSIC. 



comprehended many more diseases than Sauvages and Sagar 

 have comprehended under the title of Spasmi, or than Linnaeus 

 has done under the title of Motorii. But I expect it will be 

 obvious, that, upon this occasion, it would not be proper to con- 

 fine our view to the affections of voluntary motion only ; and, 

 if those Nosologists have introduced into the class of Spasmi, 

 Palpitatio, and Hysteria, it will be with equal propriety that 

 Asthma, Colica, and many other diseases, are admitted. 



MCCLIII. It has been hitherto the method of our Nosolo- 

 gists to divide the Spasmi into the two orders of Tonici and 

 Clonici, Spastici and Agitatorii ; or, as many at present use the 

 terms, into Spasms strictly so called, and Convulsions. I find, 

 however, that many, and indeed most of the diseases to be con- 

 sidered under our title of Spasmodic Affections, in respect of 

 Tonic or Clonic contractions, are of a mixed kind ; and, there- 

 fore, I cannot follow the usual general division ; but have at- 

 tempted another, by arranging the several Spasmodic Diseases 

 according as they affect the several functions, Animal, Vital, or 

 Natural. 



SECT. IOF THE SPASMODIC AFFECTIONS OF 

 THE ANIMAL FUNCTIONS. 



MCCLIV. Agreeable to the language of the ancients, the 

 whole of the diseases to be treated of in this section might be 

 termed Spasmi ; and many of the moderns continue to apply 

 the term in the same manner : but I think it convenient to dis- 

 tinguish the terms of Spasm and Convulsion, by applying the 

 former strictly to what has been called the Tonic, and the lat- 

 ter to what has been called the Clonic Spasm. There is certain- 

 ly a foundation for the use of those different terms, as there is 

 a remarkable difference in the state of contraction of moving 

 fibres upon different occasions. This I have indeed pointed 

 out before in my treatise of Physiology (CX. CXI I.), but 

 must also repeat it here. 



MCCLV. In the exercise of the several functions of the ani- 

 mal economy, the contractions of the moving fibres are excited 



