Letters concerning the internal dropsy of the brain, to Charles William Quin / [William Patterson].

  • Patterson, William
Date:
1794
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Letters concerning the internal dropsy of the brain, to Charles William Quin / [William Patterson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    86/98 (page 82)
    C ] With refpcfl to the manner in which convulfive afFedions occafion a watery efFufion in the brain, it may be obferved, that perfons liable to thofe affec¬ tions exhibit a confiderable degree of excitability, and that the principle of irritability is quickly accu¬ mulated and quickly diminilhed in their conftitu- tions. Hence are derived the periodical or repeated paroxyfms of thofe diforders, which, the innate ner¬ vous ftimulus on the one hand, and the prompt re¬ novation of the irritable principle on the other, will naturally conftitute. This habit is remarkably prevalent in childhood and in youth; periods which compofe the fpring- time of life. And, as in the vernal feafon, the ve¬ getation of plants, which alfo depends on the mutual effects of ftimulus and irritability, is in the greateft vigour; fo in young perfons, the fame principles have their higheft power, and are the agents of growth which condudl the fpecies to its ftate of ma¬ turity. The principle of irritability is not confined to the fibre, or fimple folid ; but is alfo poffeffed by the fluids of the body, particularly by the blood. The heart, which contains fo much of the fibre and / is the fountain of the fluid, muft be the centre of the principle; and the influence of this organ on the contents of the cranium is well known. As in thofe ages, in which this conftitution pre¬ vails, convulfions likewife prevail, the increafed adion which they produce will augment the impetus. of the circulation, efpecially in the veflels of the