326 ADVANCED PHYSIOLOGY 



person is born with the skull or some other part so improperly 

 shaped, that the brain does not have the chance to develop 

 rightly, a peculiar disposition may result. The person may 

 be excessively irritable, he may be subject to fits, or quite 

 lacking in any ideas of right and wrong, and thus apt to be- 

 come a criminal. In some instances a slight operation has 

 completely relieved these conditions, and a decided change 

 in the person been produced. 



Paralysis, or Shock. The breaking of a blood vessel is one 

 of the most serious accidents which may occur in the nervous 

 system. It rarely happens in young people, although it 

 occurs frequently in older ones. The breaking of a vessel 

 usually produces a clot which may then press upon nerves 

 and cause the trouble commonly called nervous shock. The 

 kind of trouble produced, however, varies with the location 

 of the clot. If this should be in the spinal cord, it may more 

 pr less completely cut off communication between the brain 

 and the parts of the body below it. This of course would 

 mean that both sensation and power of movement might be 

 lost in these lower organs, i.e. the person would be paralyzed. 

 If the clot is in the brain, and that organ is hindered in its 

 functions, this also may produce paralysis. In sensory 

 paralysis, only sensations are lost, the person can move the 

 body but cannot feel; in motor paralysis he retains the power 

 of sensation, but cannot move; in complete paralysis, both 

 movement and sensation are wanting. 



Recovery from this trouble is not very common. If it is 

 due to a broken blood vessel and the clot is not too large, it 

 may be dissolved and more or less completely disappear. If 

 it is on the surface of the brain it may be removed by a surgi- 

 cal operation, but another break of the same kind is always 

 apt to occur. Paralysis is an indication of the weaken- 

 ing of bodily vigor, and usually a sign of approaching 

 old age. 



"Nervous Prostration. Nervous prostration is the common 



