Lectures on diseases of children ... / by Edward Henoch.

  • Henoch, Eduard Heinrich, 1820-1900.
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lectures on diseases of children ... / by Edward Henoch. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

    94/374 (page 82)
    therefore merely empirical. In one case, bromide of potassium had a de- cided effect; in all the otiiers the remedies employed (arsenic, atropia, hypodermic injections of strychnia, ext. calabar) proved useless. 1 would chiefly advise the persistent employment of the galvanic current, as this was undoubtedly serviceable in a few cases, and once indeed produced complete recovery, though I cannot vouch for its persistence. VI. Hysterical Affections of Childhood, The age of childhood is by no means exempt from hysterical affec- tions. I cannot, indeed, maintain with certainty the identity of hysteria in adults with that in children, but I know of no name which will better designate the, in part, wonderful symptoms in question; I can present, as an excuse, the fact that we know almost nothing concerning the nature of hysteria in adults, and that we must be satisfied in regarding it as a complex of the most varied motor, sensory, psychical, and even trophic, symptoms. The starting-point and the intimate connection between the symptoms are entirely unknown. Similar symptoms are observed in children, in boys as well as in girls, though more frequently among the latter. I expect that the fol- lowing description will be opposed from many quarters, because it groups togetlier a series of diseased conditions which are usually treated of sep- arately, such as chorea magna, catalepsy, etc. I will acknowledge that this may be wrong, but it may be claimed in my defence that transitions from one form to the other, and combinations, not infrequently occur in practice, so that we may be embarrassed as to the name to apply to any individual case. It is impossible to give a complete general description of the hysterical conditions of childhood, on account of the great variety of the symptoms and their numerous changes. I will therefore only at- tem]^t to concisely discuss certain categories of such cases. The first category includes those cases in which the psychical symp- toms, viz., complete or incomplete loss of consciousness, hallucinations, delirium, predominate. Almost all the symptoms described under the name catalepsy or eklipsis, belong to this class. Consciousness is sud- denly lost, the children remain standing or sitting with a fixed stare; oc- casionally they fall if not supported; more rarely they are able to go around in a semi-conscious state, as if in a dream, at times muttering unintelligible words. In other cases the eyes are closed, the expression of the face unchanged, the color pale, but the normal character of the pulse and the unchanged temperature distinguish this condition from fainting. After a few seconds, at the most several minutes, everything is over and the patient is entirely restored. Many are unaware that they have had an attack; others remember the beginning of it or had only lost consciousness in part, but were unable to speak, so that they saw and heard everything going on around them as if they were half asleep. After the attack they usually continue their interrupted occupation as if notliing had happened. In exceptional instances I noticed during the at- tack increase of muscular tonus, which is known in the catalepsy of adults as waxen flexibility of the limbs, the latter remaining in any position in which they are placed. The spells almost always occur very irregu- larly, occasionally five to six times or even more in a day, at other times every few days or weeks. It is especially painful to the physician that he can never be certain that the attacks will not degenerate into epilepsy,