On the influence of mechanical and physiological rest in the treatment of accidents and surgical diseases, and the diagnostic value of pain : a course of lectures delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, in the years 1860, 1861, and 1862 / by John Hilton.

Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the influence of mechanical and physiological rest in the treatment of accidents and surgical diseases, and the diagnostic value of pain : a course of lectures delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, in the years 1860, 1861, and 1862 / by John Hilton. 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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    in temper. As a man, lie was very spare and delicate- looking. [All indications of a something which impeded healthy development.] He had always some colour in his cheeks, which he retained till within a year of his death. He had a fondness for intellectual pursuits ; also for turn- ing light fancy work, and gardening; and a great dislike to the excitement, and especially the noise, of London. Indeed, at the age of sixteen he had a severe nervous illness, with great depression, brought on by application to business in the City; it ought, however, to be mentioned that his business was not at all intense, and nothing would have been thought of it by ordinary men.” Now this is worthy of note, because in this instance there was no possibility of the cerebro-spinal fluid escaping from the interior of the brain. Whatever pressure might be made, by mental occupation or physical exertion, upon the internal parts of the brain or the medulla oblongata, would be morbidly manifested, in consequence of there being no possibility of escape for the cerebro-spinal fluid. Or to put it in another way: Suppose over-exertion or any moral influence to produce an excessive accumulation of blood in the head, there was no possibility, in this instance, of insuring a proportionate escape of cerebro-spinal fluid, because there was no aperture to allow of it. “ His food was always of the simplest kind. Even tea, coffee, and cocoa seemed to affect his head and derange his stomach ; and he had an instinctive dislike to alcoholic stimulants of every kind. Though subject to coldness of the extremities he could not bear a warm room, as it made him feel faint. Both winter and cold always affected him injuriously. He said himself he only half lived in the winter; he seemed torpid, and would drop into a deep sleep after a meal, from which it was often difficult to rouse him at bed-time, when he seemed scarcely to know where he was. Excitement frequently brought on an impediment in his speech. For many years he was subject to headache, derangement of stomach, and occasional deafness.” We have here, if we may so term it, a most important and valuable living experiment. Here is a man who can- not bear any accumulation of blood in his brain, because there is no possibility for the compensatory fluid to escape
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