Among the large number of so-called neurasthenics, there is a group in whom symptoms relating to the digestive apparatus largely dominate the clinical picture. This group has been classified by a number of writers as "abdominal neurasthenics" and the digestive troubles have been attributed, very properly in most cases, to the loss of tone in the muscular and chemical activities of the digestive apparatus secondary to the neurasthenia. As a result, treatment of the abdominal disturbances has been largely symptomatic, and investigation has usually stopped short after the examination of one or two test meals and stools have revealed nothing of marked significance.
With the aid of stomachics, sedatives, cathartics, irrigations, and other procedures, the digestive tube has been used merely as a machine for forced feeding in the attempt to regain the general strength and, in conjunction with the various other therapeutic measures, to restore the nervous balance.
A