606 THEORY OF SPASMS AND 



not to the " influx of a nervous fluid into the 

 muscles," as supposed by Boerhaave, nor to " a 

 preternatural energy of the cerebral functions," 

 as maintained by Bichat, nor to some peculiar 

 condition of the ganglionic nerves, as imagined 

 by others. 



The true theory of all spasmodic diseases must 

 be sought in a vitiated condition of the blood, or 

 some deranged condition of the system, by which 

 the brain and nerves are prevented from guiding 

 and restraining the actions of the voluntary mus- 

 cles, as in the convulsions of hysteria, the con- 

 tortions of chorea, the^nore obstinate spasms of 

 tetanus, hydrophobia, epilepsy, and cholera, or 

 the cramps that often follow immersion in cold 

 water, and the universal tremors which attend 

 the cold stage of fever. When I come to treat 

 of these maladies in detail, it will be seen that 

 the immediate exciting cause of all such actions, 

 is deficient vitality of the blood, which in all the 

 worst forms of cholera, epilepsy, apoplexy, and 

 even ague, presents the dark venous hue in the 

 arteries. And although still adequate to main- 

 tain the contractile power of the muscles, it can 

 no longer endow the brain with sensorial energy 

 to control their movements. So greatly are the 

 vital properties of the blood deranged in the latter 

 stages of tetanus and hydrophobia, that when 

 drawn from the body it refuses to coagulate, as 

 we are informed by Cullen, Magendie, and other 



