Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: On sea sickness / by J.R. Stocker. 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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![i I toiul to relieve tbe mind oi- to regulate the breathing, as wt'U as the advantage sometimes derived from weight or ])rc'ssure ai)i)liod to the stomach bv elastic and other belts, or bandages. Only the other day a gentleman told me he hud oxptM-ioncjd considerable relief by facing the wind and bowing for-,vard when the vessel pitched ; so many and so various are the methods men resort to in order to accommo- date themselves to the change, as I think, of the rarity of tbe air within the chest. The second, i.e. the movement, is the cause more especially of the irritable condition of the nervous system. The secret of the one is its direct effect upon the pulmonic branches of the pneumogastric nerve, probably the result of a partial paralysis. We kuow that division of the ])neumogastric causes vomiting; the nerve is said to exert an inhibitory effect upon the heart; it has the same effect wpon the stomach. The sensation of pain, oppression, irritation of the air passages, want of air, hunger, thirst, and satiety are dependaiit on this nerve. It has a regulating influence over the functions of deglutition, digestion, circulation, and respiration. (Marshall.) It may, however, be due to stimulation of the pneumogastric, for the diminished resistance of the air, according to Liebig, leads to more active elastic contraction of the lung. The secret of the other is its indirect effect upon the same nerve, through the media of the nerves of feeUng or common sensation, sometimes indeed through the agency of other senses, as e.g. by the sight of undulating movements, and by other unpleasant sensations. In each case, practically, the cause is of an eccentric or peripheral character. I have said that the study of sea sickness is com- phcated ; I may now say that I recognise these two factors in its production, viz. :—Irritation 3f the nervous centres by the cpaseless movement and other disagreeable sensations ; and the sickening sensation of want of air. I did think that my views as to the existence of the sense of passive movement being demonstrated in the case of sea sickness were somewhat original ; I find them expressed, however,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22292573_0015.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
