wonderful mechanism.

SYMPTOMS. It is well nigh impossible to give the symptoms of this
disease in an orderly manner, as the affection gives rise to a thousand
and one varying and ofttimes vague symptoms. The particular part of the
nervous system affected, and also the cause and character of the attacks
modify the symptoms. The eminent Dr. Wood says: "Nervous exhaustion may,
in the beginning, affect the whole of the nervous system, or it may be
at first purely local, and co-exist with lack of general nervous
strength."

SPERMATORRHEA furnishes many examples of the local form of neurasthenia,
or exhaustion, the sexual centres being primarily affected. In these
cases, however, sooner or later, the whole nervous system becomes
Involved. So in other forms of the disorder, the exhaustion at first
local, finally, if neglected, implicates the whole organism. Often, in
brain exhaustion, the symptoms are at first purely local. Almost always
the cause of a local neurasthenia, or exhaustion, is excessive use of
the part. Thus, cerebral or brain exhaustion, or debility, is usually
the result of mental overwork, while sexual asthenia, or weakness is
generally due to abuse of the sexual organs or to sexual excesses. When
to the brain fatigue, or exhaustion, are added the depressing effects of
excessive anxiety, or allied emotions, the symptoms from the first are
more general, and the exhaustion may effect chiefly a single function of
the brain. In pure brain exhaustion, the loss of a disposition to work,
is usually the first symptom, the sufferer finding that it constantly
requires a more and more painful effort of the will to perform the
allotted task. At first, there is loss of the power of fixing the
attention, and this, by and by, is accompanied by a weakness of the
memory; disturbances of sleep are frequent; various abnormal sensations
in the head are complained of. In most cases there is not absolute
headache, but a feeling of weight or fullness, or an indescribable
distress, usually aggravated by mental effort. It is true that in some
cases of very dangerous brain tire, mental labor is performed with
extraordinary vigor and ease; the power of work, is, for the time,
markedly increased, and even the quality of the product may be raised.
The patient may glory in a wild intellectual exaltation, a sense of
mental power, with an almost uncontrollable brain activity. It is
probable, however, that these cases are not instances of