DIBEASES OF THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM. 7 
of any, or all portions of the contents of the cranial cavity. 
Various terms are applied to disease of this character, such aa 
“sleepy staggers,” “coma,” “ phrenitis,” cerebritis,” and “ cere- 
bral meningitis,” the latter being formerly recognized as blind or 
sleepy staggers. These several terms merely apply to the various 
stages of the acute disease as it gradually invades the membranes 
covering the brain, or the substance of the brain itself. It some- 
times appears to invade at once the whole of the parts within 
the skull, or, beginning in one part, it extends rapid]+ to all the 
rest, so that tne term encephalitis seems to be more applicable 
than those just enumerated. It is a matter of impossibility for 
us to tell precisely what are the pathological conditions of the parte 
attected. Nor are the symptoms always the same. They may 
range from a state of phrenzy to one of coma. Still, in our treat- 
ment, we shall not be led astray ; for, being an acute affecticn, (or 
affections, as some persons may term it,) we have to treat it on the 
same general principles which obtain in many or all diseases ct’ 
an acute character, viz.: by means of sedatives, laxatives, cold 
water, spare diet, and rest. 
Should the patient die during the acute stage of disease of the 
brain, an autopsy will reveal great vascularity and softening of 
the cerebral mass, and thickening of its membranes; but should 
the disease run on unchecked to a fatal termination, pus aua 
fluid may be found within the lateral ventricles of the brain 
This enables us to explain the difference between the symptoms 
which prevail in the early and latter stages of the malady ; for, 
at the commencement of {he acute stage, the loss of equilibrium 
in the circulation sends the red arterial blood, in undue quanti- 
ties, tc the brain—the part, perhaps, most predisposed to diseased 
action, or, it may be, at the time actually in a pathological con- 
dition ; hence the loss of equilibrium in the circulation—which, 
in consequence of accelerated respiration, becomes highly charged 
with oxygen, acts as a potent stimulus, not only to the nervous 
system, but to the muscular system also, producing those active 
and phrenitic symptoms which have led us to infer that the patient 
is going or is actually mad; hence the name which some per 
sons have applied, “mad staggers.” This activity can not las, 
long; for it is potent to exhaust the vital forces. Organs and 
parts of the body become overworked; then ccmes organi 
rhanges—softening of the brain, effusion, formation of pus. whid 
