Text-book of nervous diseases for physicians and students / by Professor H. Oppenheim.

  • Oppenheim, Hermann, 1858-1919.
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Text-book of nervous diseases for physicians and students / by Professor H. Oppenheim. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    In submitting this “ Textbook of Nervous Diseases ” to my colleagues, present and future, I am deeply conscious of the responsibility which the step involves. I have tried as far as possible to choose from the great store of literature at my disposal only that which seems to be definitely established by investigation. But in addition to the inadequacy and imperfection of much of the matter which I have had to admit into the work, the limitations of my own experience have restricted me in regard to many points. I have made it my chief aim to consider the requirements of the practitioner. For this reason I have devoted most of the space to symp- tomatology, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment, giving to pathological anatomy only so much as is necessary to throw light upon the nature of the symptoms and to afford an aid to diagnosis. The account of the normal anatomy and physiology of the nervous system is perhaps somewhat con- cise, but at the same time it covers all the essential points and is illustrated by descriptive figures. I have decided to omit references to the literature, as had I given these the work would have extended beyond the desired limits. As a rule I have mentioned only the authors of the more important investigations, but I am well aware that I have not carried this out with absolute consistency. The specialist will at once perceive that I have freely availed myself of the text-books and handbooks on neurology already published, and especially of the monographs which form the most valuable source of our knowledge, and that I have made use of many of the illustrations which they contain, but at the same time he will not fail to recognize the modest service rendered by my own experience and observation. The most difficult point has been to deal with the therapy of nervous diseases and to find a firm footing on this uncertain ground. I have endeavoured to include in the sections on treatment all that has been recommended by our recognised specialists, as well as the methods which I have tried myself, and I hope I have succeeded in avoiding both excessive scepticism and the much more dangerous error of want of discrimination. I cannot bring my work before the public without expressing my gratitude to those whom I must, in a certain sense, regard as its collabora- tors. When shortly after the death of my master, Westphal, I had to leave the congenial sphere of many years' work and to confine myself to the