Some pathological bearings of Darwinism / by D. Astley Gresswell.

  • Gresswell, D. Astley.
Date:
[1886]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Some pathological bearings of Darwinism / by D. Astley Gresswell. 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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    over, -witli the excitement, the anger, or rage it may be, of the fight. In an animal suffering pain there is increased action of the heart and of those muscles which are engaged in fighting (including the retractor muscles of the ears, eyes, and lips) ; there are also perspi- ration, excitement, perhaps screaming. But these associates concur in animals and in man not only when they are consciously directed to the removal of the pain-giving agent, but also when the pain is a result of morbid action. In the former case pain is conservative by directing the animal to defence; in the latter it is by no means always so. In an acute attack of gout the febiule disturbance is supposed to be secondary to the joint affection ; there are acute pain, rapid pulse, some rise of temperature, perspiration, great restlessness with excitement, expression of the emotions, possibly screaming. Let us consider some of these phenomena in greater detail. The pulse of pain is accelerated; the pulse of a horse suffering from pleurisy may fall by even 30 beats per minxite on the appli- cation of a tight bandage to the chest, and the fall of pulse in a horse sufEeiTng from laminitis may be as great when the animal is obliged fi'om exhaustion to lie down. These facts have frequently come under my notice. The pulse of pain is strong ; this is very noticeable in laminitis of the horse. Eestlessness and muscular action are manifested in pain; the horse stamps with energy when a corrosive is applied to a quittor, as the leg of a frog contracts when irritated by an acid; and the like is seen in man. G-roaning, screaming, and other noises are uttered by most of the higher animals suffering pain, even when they cannot be ascribed to any other cause than the fact that they have been associated with pain in the more direct struggle for existence. The temperature frequently rises, measurably, in pain, and faUs when the latter is subdued by morphia. In this relation it may be weU to remember that peripheral increase of heat may occur, though the oral temperature be not altered. Perspiration accompanies pain. The horse suffering from colic or enteritis or laminitis sweats profusely, and the same holds with man. There is additional sensibiHty to cold in pain as also in excitement. There is evidence that pain may result in albuminous metamor- phosis, especially of cardiac muscle.