“If we take the character of the spasm in respect of permanency,
rigidity, relaxation, and recurrence as a basis of arrangement of
all the diseases attended by abnormal action of voluntary muscles,
we shall have every grade, passing imperceptibly from the most
acute form of tetanus through cramp, epilepsy, eclampsia,
convulsions, &c., down to the most atonic states of chorea and
tremor.”