"The Automatic Bladder, Excessive Sweating and Some Other Reflex Conditions, in Gross Injuries of the Spinal Cord." Reprinted from Brain, Vol. 40, November 1917, p. 188. SIGNED BY HENRY HEAD

77 pp; 1 text figure. Recent cloth, with original wrappers bound in. Very Good. First Edition. SIGNED BY HENRY HEAD (on the front wrapper): "With best wishes from/ Henry Head/ 4 Montagu Square" (see photo). Garrison-Morton 1376 (citing journal appearance): "Classic studies on 'spinal man'. Republished in book form, 1918 [offered here]." "When the First World War came, Henry Head was appointed as consultant to the Empire Hospital in London for the reception of officers with neurological wounds. Assisted by Capt. George Riddoch, the Medical Officer in charge, he now immersed himself in the physiological problems brought about by transverse lesions of the spinal cord. The phenomenon which interested them most keenly consisted first in the so-called automatic bladder. This may come about even after the spinal cord has been completely divided. When the contents of the bladder reach a certain pressure-level, the wall contracts, the sphincter relaxes and urine is voided involuntarily. The second clinical features which interested Head and Riddoch entailed the excessive sweating, often paroxysmal in appearance, indicating an activity of the nervous system below the level of the lesion. Finally they studied certain reflex phenomena. Thus scratching the sole of the foot may give rise to a flexor spasm, premature evacuation of the bladder, and an outburst of excessive sweating" (Critchley, Black Hole & Other Essays, p. 102). Haymaker & Schiller, Founders of Neurology, p. 452.…