er provision for asylum care.

The so-called functional diseases have a close relation with diseases
of the nervous system, for they chiefly concern the reactions of nerve
tissue. Disease expressing itself in disturbance of function only,
does not seem to fit in with the conceptions of disease which have
been expressed, nor can we imagine a disturbance of function which
does not depend upon a change of material. Living matter does not
differ intrinsically from any other sort of matter; like other matter
its reactions depend upon its composition structure[1] and the
character of the action exerted upon it. By functional disease there
is expressed merely that no anatomical or chemical change is
discoverable in the material which gives the unusual reaction. The
further our researches into the nature of disease extend, particularly
the researches into the physiology and chemistry of disease, the
smaller is the area of functional disease. In functional disease there
may be either vague discomfort or actual pain under conditions when
usually such would not be experienced, and on examination no condition
is found which in the vast majority of cases would alone give rise to
that impression on the nervous system which is interpreted as pain. In
the production of the sensations of disease there can be change at any
place along the line, in the sense organs, in the conducting paths or
in the central organ. Thus there may be false visual impressions which
may be due to changes in the retina or in the optic nerve or in the
brain matter to which the nerve is distributed. It is perfectly
possible that substances of an unusual character or an excess or
deficiency of usual substances in the fluids around brain cells may so
change them that such unusual reactions appear. There may be, of
course, very marked individual susceptibility, which may be congenital
or acquired. The perception of every stimulus involves activity of the
nerve cells, and it is possible that the constant repetition of
stimuli of an ordinary character may produce sufficient change to give
rise to unusual reactions, and this particularly when there is lack of
the restoration which repose and sleep bring. We know into what a
condition one's nervous system may be thrown by the incessant noise
attending the erection of a building in the vicinity of one's house or
the pounding of a plumber working within the house, this being
accentuated in the latter case by the thought