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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER I ANESTHESIAS THE insensibilities which we very often observe among hystericals do not at first seem the most important symptom of their malady; other phenomena, apparently more serious, have much more impressed the first observers. Therefore, although this characteristic was known a long time ago, as is proved by the investigation of the devil's sign among witches, it has been omitted in many old descriptions. Sydenham (1681), Louyer Villermay (1816), Georget (1824), Landouzy (1846), make no mention of it. It is only fifty years ago that this essential symptom was pointed out by Piorry (1843), Macario (1844), Gendrin (1846), Henrot (1847), Skokalsky, E. Mesnet, A. Voisin, and especially by Briquet, who, in his beautiful book (1859), nas so carefully described most of the subjective phenomena presented by these patients.1 M. Charcot, in his lectures of 1872, brought out not only the reality and the frequency of this characteristic, but also its extreme importance for the diagnosis and study of hystericals.' 1 R/sumi'historique d'apres Pttres. Lefons cliniques sur I'hyst/rie, 1891, i., p. 59. J. M. Charcot, Ltfons sur let maladies du systeme nerveux, 5C edition, 1884, p. 300. Anaesthesia, in fact, is an excellent symptom for diagnosis ; it is clear, easily appreciable, and very characteristic for the physician; it is little known by the patient and hard to simulate.1 It must also, we think, play a great part in the theory of this malady, for it does not exist to the same degree and under the same form in other disorders of the mind, and it may be considered the typical symptom of hysteria. Lastly, it is very valuable for psychological investigation; sensibility and insensibility, while being psychical, have marked objective manifestations. We can pretty well...
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