Nervous affections of the hand and other clinical studies / by George Vivian Poore.

  • George Vivian Poore
Date:
1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Nervous affections of the hand and other clinical studies / by George Vivian Poore. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    an exaggerated local chorea ; it was always jerking about, and at times would bounce out of the side pocket of his coat as he was walking in the streets. These strange antics naturally attracted attention, and immediately the patient saw that he was observed the spasms became doubly severe. In January of this year he came under my notice at the out-patient department of the Charing Cross Hospital, and the following account of his then condition is taken verbatim from my note- book : On asking him to strip him.self to the waist, he does so without difficulty. There is no evident impairment of the nutrition of the muscles of his right arm. The right arm hangs by his side and is subject to constant twitchings. The deltoid, the pectoralis major, the scapular muscles, as well as the biceps and triceps, are all affected ; but the last-named muscle is the worst offender, and in it the cramps are more constant and more severe than elsewhere. While I am talking to him the arm is forcibly extended, and the triceps is as tense and hard as a board. The fingers and wrist are often flexed, but never extended. The thumb and fingers do not seem liable to spasms individually. At times the spasms subside for a few moments, but any allusion to them seems to bring them back. [This apparently was due to nervousness, and was exactly analogous to the extra difficulties experienced by a stammerer when attention is called to his defective speech.] On being requested to perform any act, the right arm 'jibs,' as it were, like a stubborn mule, and it is only by main force and by the greatest concentration of thought and determination that the most simple things can be accomplished. Everything is done with the arm extended. On being asked to unlock a box which lay on the table the arm was stiffly extended, and the patient, standing of course at arm's length from the box, managed with great difficulty to unlock it. 'Of all acts, writing occasions the greatest amount of spasm. On asking him to write his name, he takes the pen in hand, and immediately he does so there is a violent cramp of the triceps ; the arm is forcibly extended, and with great difficulty he manages to write ' Geor ' in a manner scarcely legible, when the hand is twisted off the paper by a violent rotation of the
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