[Footnote 6: Of physical symptoms, namely, the rapid heart, the prominent eyes, and the enlargement of the thyroid gland in the neck.] Dr. Church considers, then, that the mental symptoms of the disease are as important a concomitant, and as little likely to be absent in any given case, as are any of the three or four well-known physical symptoms characteristic of the disease. Under these circumstances the necessity for the exercise of care in permitting such a patient to continue in the office of Superior must be manifest. It is a question not for religious authorities to decide but for physicians, and they are to be experts in mental diseases. There are many physicians who have had experience with cases in which Graves' disease has been a source of unfortunate conditions in religious life, owing to the failure to understand the relations of the physical affection to mental disturbances. At times unfortunate consequences follow that are irretrievable in the destruction of vocations and the impairment of the religious spirit in communities. As a rule it may be said that the development of serious disease is almost sure to incapacitate a Superior from fulfilling the functions of office. This is true, however, not only for physical disease but for the so-called neuroses. These are maladies which have their basis in some disturbance of the physical constitution, though this is not always easy to find. We prefer to speak of them as neuroses rather than neurasthenia, because this latter name has somehow come to have an unwelcome sound and to carry with it the idea of imaginary rather than real ailments. A true neurasthenic, however, is supremely to be pitied. It has often been noticed that such individuals, while perfectly capable of judging properly for others, are not able to form right judgments with regard to their own conditions. This principle, however, should not be taken as a rule, and it must not be forgotten that neurasthenics are often the subjects of compulsory ideas--so-called obsessions, in which they are not entirely responsible for actions performed. At such {249} times they are prone to be irritated by very trivial faults, and what is worse, to exaggerate slight defects into serious infractions of rule or of obedience. With regard to such persons, therefore, constant care has to be exercised to control their statements by those of others and not to take them at their full value without due substantiation. In this matter the subject is quite as likely to suffer as the Superior, and information obtained from them should not be acted upon without consultation with others who know the details of the case.