Cheyne-Stokes respiration / by George Alexander Gibson.

  • Gibson, George Alexander, 1854-1913.
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cheyne-Stokes respiration / by George Alexander Gibson. 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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    nctcr nl tlic lutMtliiiiL,' wliicli existccl throughout tli<! Hital iUuess of IMiihsfus. Purely it is inatLer of interest iind for rcth-'ctinii that the ri'S|)ii:itioii (h'sfiihctl hy llippocrutus as apuiov fxtya, 'rare iind liuuc,' ,111(1 In wliicli (lah'ii has attached the lueanin^', ' like a persoji wlio IniLfot for a time the need of lireathint:, and then suddenly rcn)end)er6d,' or 'the respiration throu^diout, like tiiat of a person recollecting himself, was rare and large,' has attracted great attention in quite recent times. The expression used by French writers, ' besoin de respirer,' corresponds in some measure to the meaning wliich is sought to be conveyed by the Greek words. In Latin the rendering is, ' Spiratio huic perpetuo rara et magna fuit.' Daremberg, the learned French editor of Hippocrates, thus translates the i)assage: 'La respiration filt constamment grande, rare coinme chez quel(|u'un qui ne respire que par souvenir.' Attention has recently been called by Gallois^ to the fact that the type of respiratory rhythm about to be considered was observed towards the close of last century. In a work by Nicolas, a physi- cian of distinction at Grenoble, entitled, Histoire dcs maladies epiddmiques qui ont regne dans la province de Dovj^hivy dejniis I'dnnee 1780, and published at Grenoble in 1786, there is a description of a respiratory phenomenon which appears to be identical with Cheyne-Stokes breathing. Narrating the case of a general ofhcer, aged 81, suffering tVom a complication of senile affections, he describes the respiratory ]>hen(inienon, after re- ferring to the .state of the pulse which was extremely irregular, in the following manner:—Mais ce qui etait bien plus extraor- dinaire que cette irregularite, c'etait une suspension absolue, uue f^riation des mouvements du poumon pendant vingt-cinq ou trente secondes, a chaque trente-cinquieme ou trente-sixifeme respiration ; alors le jeu de I'organe se retablissait pen i\ pen, et ])ar uue gradation trfes sensible, il reprenait son energie oidiuaire, pour cesser de nouveau t\ pen prtis ;\ I'instant marqud. It will be ol)Served that the a.scending phase of C'heyne-Stokes respiration is accurately described in the quotation just given, although there is no mention of a period of descending respiratit^n, and it is impossible to avoid coming to the conclusion that ' Journal de In Svci^t^f de M^decine r( de PhcniiKtrie de PI.<rrf, 8 aiuioo, 1>. 267, lfS84.