552 THE DISEASES AND DISORDERS OE THE OX. 



upon the allied disorders of higher animals, it would scarcely 

 seem worth while to treat of them at all. 



It is incumbent upon us to remember that the nervous system 

 of man is so complex a mechanism that even the smallest help 

 in unravelling any of its mysteries is to be always eagerly sought 

 after. The disorders of the nervous system to which we our- 

 selves are liable are certainly among the most important of all 

 the afflictions which beset mankind. Indeed, we have very good 

 reasons for believing that, as our knowledge of pathology 

 advances, we shall find that the nervous system plays a very 

 potent part in regard to many diseases of which at present we 

 can hardly lay claim to any understanding of the causation and 

 progress. In lower animals the normal structure and the healthy 

 functions of the nervous system are more simple, more readily 

 intelligible, less complicated, less numerous, and less varied in 

 their nature than is the case among ourselves. Hence, as might 

 be expected, the diseases affecting this system are also more 

 simple, and consequently more easily understood. Thus it 

 happens that a knowledge of them does most certainly clear up 

 some points of difficulty in regard to the disturbances of the 

 equilibrium effected by the nerves and nerve-centres of higher 

 animals. 



We must not forget that human beings are endowed with the 

 most highly developed nervous systems, and that the stress which 

 is put upon the mental organization of man in these days is often 

 enough, and still more frequently nearly enough, to upset the 

 normal balance. Hence result many and various forms of mad- 

 ness and insanity, and misery and troubles and horrors of all 

 kinds and degrees. There are many persons who are being 

 daily and even hourly subjected to an immense strain, and there 

 are many who show the results of this strain in one way or 

 another, many who suffer severe mental pressure owing to the 

 great amount of brain-work which they have set themselves to 

 do. The fact is, that it seems to be one of the conditions of 

 progress that there should be just a little more strain pat upon 

 the average members of a community than they cau easily bear 

 up against. By this means those persons who are provided 

 with powers above the average are always getting a little 

 higher, and still a little higher, until the maximum point is 

 reached at which the strain is just sufficient to be, so to speak. 



