Book excerpt: Excerpt from A Manual of the Nervous Diseases of Man, Vol. 2 The diagnosis of spasm of the heart from other conditions, which are associated with irregular movements of the organs, has been rendered much more certain and accurate by the introduction of auscultation and percussion than it used to be. The criteria that have been hitherto considered indicative of spasm, are - the free intervals; the relation borne by the attacks to exercise and rest (whilst palpitations accompanying organic diseases of the heart are increased by exercise, it diminishes those originating in spasm, which is rather likely to commence during rest, and especially after eating and in going to sleep); the combi nation with disturbances of other nervous functions; the relief oh tained on improvement of the digestive organs. These indications, however, except the integrity of the heart during the interval, are unsafe we obtain more satisfactorv evidence from the normal extent of the heart, as shown by percussion, from the cessation of the bellows-murmur when the circulation is calmed, from the co existence of a similar murmur in the large arteries, from its being limited to the aortic orifice, and from the absence of harsh, loud, morbid sounds at this and other parts of the heart. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.