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.” We should remember that the nervous system is one continuous structure, and it is only the necessities of nomenclature and the ingenuity of anatomists that have divided it into so many parts. It is as continuous as is an oak tree with its various branches. The spinal cord and the nerves are composed in varying proportions of the same materials as is that part of the system which we call the brain: injury and disease with them give rise to symptoms analogous to similar injury or disease to the brain. Indeed, there are several brains,--some in the cord itself, one in relation with the stomach and called the “abdominal brain,”--but the intellect and perception reside only in that portion of nervous material which is confined within the skull; injury there--in addition to the symptoms common to injury in other parts--influencing intellect, perception, and memory; and this is the only distinction.