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.
373/488 page 349
![; ?^allvat, airfare of ””P'®“>*MiCBt tiroipli h healthy, Kte^; a 5^ 'H11'anterint part; anil'aenTO •M’’ on tlie tttk anmlare, ivhicli le onpn of ike tifik nerve. Bevoiid lent krcame ajain more deciiltil, es- rata cerebri and cetebelli. and con- rab'tance of tbe brain, at tbe pan Tbe brain, in otberrespttts,™ j joeffaiion in tbevcnA' wis inner a' ]a trac- ■e 2tbebni»-''® nein:ib:''“^^'^jl,aniDto®- , ■j,;idei«'‘^ liftb«P‘'' ■‘'!‘'\': intbe5«“'‘ inibi>=“ .n.rtitier'i V liner 5 b?T e in tbe m' RAMOLLTSSEJUENT OF THE CORD. 349 gan avith numbness of the fore-finger of the left hand, which gradually extended over the hand and arm. After some time the other hand and arm became affected in the same manner, and, after a year, the lower extremi- ties. Ail the limbs then became paralytic, with perma- nent contraction, but without loss of feeling. The legs were bent upon the thighs, and the thighs upon the abdomen, and the arms rigidly fixed across the thorax, with the points of the fingers pressed against the palms of the hands. If attempts were made to move the limbs from these positions, they were thrown into spas- modic contractions with much pain. The patient died in this state at the end of eight years from the com- mencement of the disease. Along nearly the Avhole length of the cord, there was a central cavity full of a soft grey mucus. It was considered as arising from ramollissement of the grey central matter of the cord, and the parietes of the cavity were formed by the white matter in a healthy state. In a case by Ollivier, in which palsy took place in the same gradual manner, but affected only the lower extremities, the patient was confined to bed for seven years. liis legs were drawn up upon his body, and were entirely motionless, but preserved their feeling. There was extensive ramollisse- inent of the 'anterior pillars of the cord ; and a very re- markable circumstance was, that the softening was greatest in the upper parts of the cord, the corpora pyra- midalia, and several parts of the brain, and became less towards the lumbar portion. The intellectual faculties had been almost entirely obliterated, but the motion of his arms continued entire to the last. Such are the dif- ficulties and obscurities of this interesting subject. A different course of symptoms occurs in a remark- able case described by ]\I. liullicr.* A gentleman, aTcd 44, who had slight curvature of the spine at the upper part, was seized with pain in the curved portion, which, after several remissions, increased rapidly, and was fol- lowed by sudden and complete palsy of both his arms They became rigid, contracted, and entirely motionless. ■' • itJ- ¥ Journal dc Pliysiologic, 182:3.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21959432_0373.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
