It would be tedious to the reader, and useless for our present
purpose, to detail the history and describe the protean shapes of her
sufferings. With the exception of small breasts, the reproductive
system was well developed. Repeated and careful examinations failed to
detect any derangement of the uterine mechanism. Her symptoms all
pointed to the nervous system as the _fons et origo mali_. First
general debility, that concealed but ubiquitous leader of innumerable
armies of weakness and ill, laid siege to her, and captured her. Then
came insomnia, that worried her nights for month after month, and made
her beg for opium, alcohol, chloral, bromides, any thing that would
bring sleep. Neuralgia in every conceivable form tormented her, most
frequently in her back, but often, also, in her head, sometimes in her
sciatic nerves, sometimes setting up a tic douloureux, sometimes
causing a fearful dysmenorrhoea and frequently making her head ache
for days together. At other times hysteria got hold of her, and made
her fancy herself the victim of strange diseases. Mental effort of the
slightest character distressed her, and she could not bear physical
exercise of any amount.
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