ABSTRACT
§. I. It not being my Intent to run into philosophical or speculative Disquisitions in a practical Treatise, which I design chiefly for the Use and Benefit of my fellow Sufferers under nervous Distempers; I shall only, with all the Brevity and Perspicuity I am capable of, represent to the curious Reader, what I have found most probable among the Physicians, Philosophers, and Mathematicians, upon this intricate and perplex'd Subject, having, I think, consider'd Impartially, and with some Attention, all those who have offer'd any thing solid upon it; and on this Account chiefly, that the curious Reader may more readily relish some of the Reasons for Advices of less Moment, which I suggest for treating of these Distempers in the best manner my Observation and Experience have taught me. But I lay much greater Stress upon the Experience and Observations themselves, than upon any philosophical Reasons I, or any other, can suggest; tho’, I think, they may not be without their Evidence, when drawn from the real Nature of Things, or from the best Accounts of the Animal OEconomy we have hitherto gain'd, and may sometimes approach near to a Demonstration in Subjects more simple, and more obvious to Sense and Experiment than those I now treat of.
