Pathological and practical researches on diseases of the brain and the spinal cord / by John Abercrombie.
- Date:
- 1845
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Pathological and practical researches on diseases of the brain and the spinal cord / by John Abercrombie. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
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![208 suUation Mith a ver)'^ inlelligent medical man wlio had the charge of her, it was agreed as a last experiment to make trial of the opposite system, nourishing diet and tonics. In a fortnight she was restored to veiy tolera- ble health. Under similar circumstances a friend of mine was called to visit a lady who had suffered from long-con- tinued uterine hsemorrhage. Her general aspect was that of great exhaustion, hut she comjilained so much of throbbing in the head, that her medical attendants were treating her by evacuations and very spare diet. She was restored by nourishment and wine^-<md as she recovered strength, the feelings io'-hrer head entirely disappeared. I have been repeatedly consulted under the following circumstances. A gentleman accustomed to very full living, is seized with an apoplectic attack, or with symp- toms indicating the most urgent danger of apoplexy ; he is saved by bleeding and other free evacuations, and is kept for some time upon a very spare diet. His complaints are relieved, and as long as he keeps quietly at home, he goes on Avitliout any uneasy feeling. But when he begins to go abroad, he becomes liable to at- tacks of giddiness and confusion, generally accompanied by palpitation of the heart and an uneasy feeling about the prsecordia. His pulse is now soft and rather weak, and his general appearance indicates the very reverse of ])lethora ; and these symptoms are i-emoved by a cau- tious improvement of his regimen. This curious fact I have repeatedly had occasion to attend to in the treat- ment of cases of this kind, and it has always appeared to me to be one of very great interest in rel'erence to the pathology of the brain. Various other facts will present themselves to the practical physician, which bear upon this curious sub- ject. In the last stage of diseases of exhaustion, pa- tients frequently fall into a state resembling coma, a considerable time before death, and while the pulse can still be felt distinctly ; and I have many' times seen children lie for a day or two in this kind of stupor, and](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21959432_0332.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
