Nervous diseases : their description and treatment / by Allan McLane Hamilton.

  • Allan McLane Hamilton
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Nervous diseases : their description and treatment / by Allan McLane Hamilton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    39/540 (page 39)
    As a result of c-ontiiiiicHl congestion we may liave a form of ]-)acliy- nieniiigitis sueli lis follows chronic mania. I have seen tliis change rejicat- edlv lis a seconilary condition, but it must be confessed that the other meninges were as well affected. Causes.—They may bo brietiy enumerated as external injury, otitis, >\ [iliilis. alcoiiolism, and various acute diseases, among them rheumatism. Morbid Anatomy and Pathology.—In the majority of cases the intiammation is transmitted to one or more of the important sinuses. The most favorable points for the extension of disease of the temporal bone are the narrow space between the mastoid cells of this bone and the transverse sinus, and that between the cavity of the tympanum and the jugulai* fossa; and the proximity of the auditory meatus to the petrosal sinus, and the different cauiUs which contain the nerves, to adjacent intra-cranial parts. The bony walls between these locations are of a perforated and lamellar character, and when attacked by cai'ies are very apt to be destroyed. If the disease be of a syphilitic nature there is generally a gummatous deposit scattered through the tissues, and the under surface of the dura mater is often covered by a syphilitic exudation which can rarely be mis- taken. If the disease be the result of a traumatism, the membrane is seen to be thickened, opalescent, and congested. In old cases it is found to be closely adherent to the cranial bones, or it may contain long plates. Fig. 9. 0*<«>7nao/2>«ra 3fa/«r (Lanccreaax).—a. Bony Plate. &. Perforation, c. Falx. d. Dura Slater, e. Parietal Bone. /. Scalp. In this form of inflammation the morbid changes may be seen best at the convexity. Prognosis—The outlook is invariably bad, for in one variety tlie patient is carried off in a few day.s, or, should the disease become chronic, its progre.ssive nature mu.st lead us to expect an idlimate implication of other parts, and cortical softening or sclerosis and atrophy are probable terminations.