The modern malady

THE MODERN MALADY.



BY CYRIL BENNETT, AUTHOR OF “THE MASSAGE CASE,” ETC. WITH A PREFACE BY HERBERT TIBBITS, M.D., F.R.C.P.E., FOUNDER OF THE WEST END HOSPITAL FOR DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, ETC.
“Absence of knowledge has for its inevitable fruit this result; that the right exercise of our faculties leads, at first, not to true, but to false conclusions. The only means whereby our progress in knowledge can be made harmonious is in frankly recognising and accepting this law of our life.”—James Hinton.


I HAVE been requested to write a Preface to the “Modern Malady,” and I have pleasure in doing so, as it seems to me that the author, with whose views I am in general agreement, has adequately and successfully carried out a work, not over easy, but certainly wanted— i.e. , an introduction to public consideration, from a non-medical point of view, of a condition of ill-health which is increasingly prevalent in all ranks of society; which is as common in the slums of the East End as in the mansions of the West; which incapacitates innumerable people (both men and women) from the efficient discharge of the duties, and from the proper enjoyment of the pleasures, of life; which undoubtedly often owes its origin to injudicious medication; which is quite capable of cure in certain ways which are not those generally adopted; and which is still more capable of prevention.
The condition is technically called “Neurasthenia,” or “nerve-weakness.” This is but a generic word, a convenient designation for a condition of the nervous system, the symptoms of which vary widely; but beneath all these symptoms, various as they may be, there is as their foundation a condition of nerve-prostration and fatigue; and a permanent removal of this condition is only brought about by keeping in mind a recollection of its origin and directing treatment to the fons et origo mali ; by repairing, if only slightly damaged, by building up, if shattered, this unfortunate nervous system. This state of ill-health used to be called “Hysteria,” a name derived from an erroneous idea that there is a special connection between the disease and a particular organ of the body. It was even once thought that this organ moved about to various parts of the body, and so caused the local symptoms; and various nauseous drugs were given for centuries, on the theory that by their offensive taste they would drive the wanderer back to its proper place. It is also popularly supposed that “hysterical” people simulate their symptoms and can control them if they wish. Both of these views are quite wrong. The disease is a real disease, as truly a disease as is a fever or an attack of bronchitis, and it is found in men as well as women. In this connection I would ask, with Cyril Bennett, “Do the majority of people know that they possess a nervous system at all? We still hear educated persons talk of their nerves as if they were something spiritual , as though nervous disorder were not a physical disease.”