NEURASTHENIA

It was a common saying of Myson that men ought not to investigate things
from words, but words from things; for that things are not made for the
sake of words, but words for things.

_Diogenes Laertius_.





This term (properly, though not commonly, accented upon the penult), was
introduced by Beard to designate the large class of over-worked and worried
who crowded his consulting room. The word is derived from the Greek
_neuron_ nerve, and _astheneia_ weakness.

Among the symptoms of this disorder have been included disorders of
digestion and circulation, muscular weakness, pains, flushes and chills,
and anomalous sensations of every variety. It has been especially applied
to cases showing such mental peculiarities as morbid self-study, fear of
insanity and the various other phobias, scruples, and doubts with which we
have become familiar.

The "American Disease" has been adopted abroad, and volumes have been
devoted to it. Neurasthenia has been divided into cerebral, spinal, and
otherwise, according as the fears and sensations of the patient are
referred to one or another part of his body. While the term neurasthenia
is becoming daily more familiar to the general public, it is being, on the