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The Origin and Nature of Emotions [13]

By Root 781 0
to refer to the exciting cause without exhibiting an exacerbation of the symptoms of the disease. I presume no case should be regarded as cured until reference can be made to its cause without an abnormal reaction. It has been established that in Graves' disease injury to any part of the body, even under inhalation anesthesia, causes an exacerbation of the disease. Fear alone may cause an acute exacerbation. These acute exacerbations are frequently designated "hyperthyroidism" and are the special hazard of operation.

In applying the principle of anoci-association in operations on patients with Graves' disease there is scarcely a change in the pulse, in the respiration, or in the nervous state at the close of the operation. I know no remedy which can obviate the effect of the inflowing stimuli from the wound after the cocain[*] has worn off.[t] It is necessary, therefore,


Beats 70 80 90 100 110 120



Ether ******* ******** ******** ******** ********



N2O ******* ******** ******** ******** *



Anoci. ******* ******** ******** ** not to venture too far in serious cases. Since the adoption of this new method (anoci-association) my operative results have been so vastly improved that I now rarely regard any case of Graves' disease as inoperable, at least to the extent of contraindicating a double ligation (Fig. 17).


[*] See footnote, page 4.@@@

[t] In later papers and in "Anoci-association" (Crile and Lower) methods of combating postoperative hyperthyroidism are fully discussed.


If we believe that, in accordance with the law of phylogenetic association, a continuous stimulation of both the brain and the thyroid gland, accelerated by summation, plays a role in the establishment of the pathologic interaction seen in Graves' disease, then it is but the next step to assume that if the nerve connection between the brain and the thyroid be severed, or if the lobe be excised and the patient reinforced by a sojourn in a sanatorium or in some environment free from former noci-associations, he may be restored to normal health, provided that the brain-cells, the heart, or other essential organs have not suffered irreparable damage. There are still many missing links in the solution of this problem, and the foregoing hypotheses are not offered as final, although from the viewpoint of the surgeon many of the phenomena of this disease are explicable.


Sexual-Neurasthenia


The state of sexual neurasthenia is in many respects analogous to that of Graves' disease. In the sexual reflexes, summation leads to a hyperexcitability by psychic and mechanical stimuli of a specific type which is analogous to the hyperexcitability in Graves' disease under trauma and fear; the explanation of both conditions is based on the laws of the discharge of energy by phylogenetic association and summation. It would be interesting to observe the effect of interrupting the nerve impulses from the field of the sexual receptors by injections of alcohol, or by other agencies, so as to exclude the associational stimuli until the nervous mechanism has again become restored to its normal condition. Interpretation of Some of the Phenomena of Certain Diseases of the Abdomen in Accordance with the Hypothesis of Phylogenetic Association


The law of phylogenetic association seems to explain many of the phenomena of certain lesions in the abdominal cavity. The nociceptors in the abdomen, like nociceptors elsewhere, have been established as a result of some kind of injury to which during vast periods of time this region has been frequently exposed. On this premise, we should at once conclude that there are no nociceptors for heat within the abdomen because, during countless years, the intra-abdominal region never came into contact with heat. That this inference is correct is shown by the fact that the application of a thermocautery to the intestines when completing a colostomy in a conscious patient is absolutely painless. One would conclude also that there are no touch receptors in the abdominal viscera, and therefore no sense
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