On some disorders of nutrition related with affections of the nervous system (neurotic dystrophies) / by William M. Ord.

  • Ord, William M. (William Miller), 1834-1902.
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On some disorders of nutrition related with affections of the nervous system (neurotic dystrophies) / by William M. Ord. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    The true function of the thyroid body being undeter- mined, one may hope that the concurrent observations may converge in such a way as to throw light on a very obscure bit of physiology ; but it is hard to resist the con- clusion that, through some nervous channels, the thyroid body influences the nutrition of the connective tissues generally; and may, perhaps, also influence the nutrition of the cerebro-spinal centres. To put the matter in another way, the great tendency of existing observations is to class myxcedema among neurotic dystrophies. I should have liked, if I could have brought them within the compass of this Address, to have said something about the neurotic dystrophies of the skin, but must, however, reluctantly leave them untouched. Many here will think that I should have said something about the dystrophies incited by surgical injuries of nerves. These last, indeed, offer possibilities of more exact treat- ment than any of the dystrophies which have engaged our attention. The observations of Weir Mitchell, Brown-Sequard, Hutchinson, and others, have been, in some unconscious fashion, directing my thoughts to the choice of the subject of to-day's Address. Let me ac- knowledge this fully; and let me ask you to understand that I have to-day merely been putting before you the result of observation and thought, set going by the reading of the works of predecessors and contemporaries. Each succeeding generation in science gathers the lines of older and recent vision into some focus, more or less of its own choosing. The wisdom of the choice is to be judged by the generations still succeeding. What shall be the outcome here ?