310 INFECTIONS OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT 



constitute only a small part of the nervous manifesta- 

 tions of this pathological process. Almost every known 

 expression of functional disorder of the nervous system 

 is noted in some of the subjects of this variety of intestinal 

 putrefaction. But it would confuse rather than help 

 us to make a list of these derangements, including as 

 they do almost all the symptoms encountered in the pot- 

 pourri of neurasthenia . If we could distribute these 

 symptoms with confidence into those that are clearly 

 the result of intestinal intoxication and those that are 

 due to derangements of circulation or other mechanical or 

 dynamic departures from normal function, it would 

 repay us to attempt their classification. At present 

 such an attempt would be foolhardy and futile. Only 

 the most thoughtfully and carefully conducted clinical 

 and experimental studies can help us to determine the 

 influence of enterogenic poisons on the protoplasm of 

 nervous structures, and the opportunities for serious 

 studies of this kind do not now exist anywhere in the 

 world. Among the problems which must sooner or later 

 be approached by modern methods are the action of 

 enterogenic poisons on the motor structures of the central 

 nervous system, on the sensory paths (both peripheral 

 and central), on the sympathetic nervous system, and 

 on the peripheral and central mechanisms that subserve 

 the special senses. To what extent these various struc- 

 tures maybe damaged hi consequence of chronic excessive 

 intestinal putrefaction is uncertain. There are instances 

 of typical progressive muscular atrophy (due to lesions 

 of the ganglion cells of the anterior horns) in which there 



