Syphilis of the nervous system : a clinical study chiefly in regard to diagnosis and treatment : founded on the cases of Prof. Wm. H. Van Buren, M.D., and those of the author / by E.L. Keyes.

  • Edward Lawrence Keyes
Date:
1870
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Syphilis of the nervous system : a clinical study chiefly in regard to diagnosis and treatment : founded on the cases of Prof. Wm. H. Van Buren, M.D., and those of the author / by E.L. Keyes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Iii Botal’s case,1 the only nervous symptoms were headache and amaurosis, while the autopsy revealed a disorganization of the brain, “ corruptum et cerebrum et nervi optici.” In the case of Duhamel and Legrand, obs. 97, Lagneau fils, where headache with nocturnal exacerbation was the only nervous symptom, the autopsy showed carious perforation of the eth- moid plate, pachymeningitis over the anterior lobes of the cerebrum with points of calcification in the dura mater, the brain-substance hardened, hypertrophied, changed in color, and adherent in front. But most striking of all is the case of Gama, obs. 87, Lag- neau fils, where, although the syphilis caused fearful ravages in the way of necrosis of the bones of the face and nose, in- cluding the ethmoid, yet severe pain in the head was ab- solutely the only nervous symptom, and the patient died, having “ preserved the use of all his movements and of his in- tellectual faculties.” On post mortem, the frontal bone was found carious in an areolar manner. The most altered points of the bone internally corresponded with little erosions of the dui a mater, from which pus flowed. An incision through the dura mater gave exit to about four ounces of pus, with which fluid the cerebral hemispheres were covered. Of the cerebral arachnoid there were only a few black shreds left, while the cranial reflection formed a sort of black pulp on the surface of the dura mater. The pia mater tore off in pieces, and the w lole surface of the cerebral hemispheres was of a greenish- c? f?Va 1depth °f tW0 0r three ]ines- A portion of the front ° the left hemisphere was putrid, and the cerebral lobes all decree ^ CerebeUum was similarly affected, but to a less For the other side of the question, the syphilitic paralysis ne materia, there are scores of observations. Rodet3 gives v° cases of autopsies made on syphilitic hemiplegics, where found 7 ! 16 feiZ0US CentreS or theil- envelopes could be • Zambacos 73d observation3 is another, where the 1 Obs. 3, Gustave Lagneau tils, nerveux. Paris, I860. ' Gaz. M6d. do Lyon, 1858. A. Zambaco. Des Affections Maladies sypliilitiques du Systeme nerveuses syphilitiques. Paris, 1862.