The progress of the disease may be divided into eight distinct stages—No. 8 being arrived at, by gradations more or less distinct, directly from No. 1.
1. Hysteria (including dyspepsia and menstrual irregularities).
2. Spinal Irritation, with reflex action on uterus, ovaries, &c., and giving rise to uterine displacements, amaurosis, hemiplegia, paraplegia, &c.
3. Epileptoid Fits, or Hysterical Epilepsy.
4. Cataleptic Fits.
5. Epileptic Fits.
6. Idiotcy.
7. Mania.
8. Death.
My statement, that death is indeed the direct climax of the series, might be proved by several cases which have occurred in my own practice, one only of which I shall relate. Before doing so, I may mention that Dr. James Russell, of Birmingham, has recorded a case in the Medical Times and Gazette, Oct. 31, 1863, in which a male patient, æt. 32, died under his care in the Birmingham General Hospital. Complete paralysis both of sensation and motion in the lower part of the body and lower extremities attacked him after an unusually excessive venereal indulgence. There had been gradual exhaustion for the last twelve or fourteen years, from this cause. There was no attempt at recovery, and he died in four months from the date of the attack.