Beri-beri : researches concerning its nature and cause and the means of its arrest, made by order of the Netherlands government / by C.A. Pekelharing ... and C. Winkler ... Tr. by James Cantlie.
- Cornelis Adrianus Pekelharing
- Date:
- [1893]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Beri-beri : researches concerning its nature and cause and the means of its arrest, made by order of the Netherlands government / by C.A. Pekelharing ... and C. Winkler ... Tr. by James Cantlie. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.
45/214 page 25
![notices a great diminution in the rapidity of the transmission. This anaesthetic area spreads over the posterior surface of the calf as far as the tendo Achillis. In the hand also, over the thenar and the hypothenar eminences, it frequently happens that the touch of the quill is not felt, whereas at the finger ends it is appreciated readily. Along the back, on the chest, and on the face, the least touch is felt. Diameter of the Tactile Zones. Eight. Left. Index finger, ..... 2 mm. 2 mm. Palm of the hand, . . . . 20 20 Chest, 30 25 ',] Along the calf, . . . . 100 ,, 75 The patient localises well. He readily recognises what part of his body is touched. The feeling of pain is quite intact. Pricking and pinching are always painful. A tube containing water heated to 50° C. is recognised as hot to the touch, except upon anaesthetic areas. A tube filled with melting ice elicits the sensation of cold everywhere. It is remarkable that the patient says that the hot tube feels cold when applied to the calf. The patient's muscular sense is intact, and he can imitate with one leg all the movements that are passively made for him with the other. Some nerves, especially the anterior crural, are very painful when touched; a hyperalgesia of the skin, which almost corresponds to the superficial ramifications of this nerve, would appear to depend upon it. Abdominal and scrotal reflexes are, on the other hand, readily excited. Westphal's symptom (also in conformity with Jen- drassik's method) is present. One could not succeed in produc- ing any reflex movements by tickling the soles of the feet. The patient has no fever. The temperature this mornino- was 37.2°, and in the evening 37.6°. Nothing indicated that hfs life was in danger. He remained in the same state until the 2nd of January, but during the night between the 2nd and 3rd of January, he began to vomit, and died in a few hours. In the report on the autopsy we find among other things, 100 grammes of a pale yellow serous fluid in the pericardium, enormous dilatation of the right heart, and hypertrophy more especially of the wall of the right ventricle.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21008541_0045.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
