Notes on the application of the trephine to the treatment of insanity, the result of injury to the head / by C. Lockhart Robinson, M.D.

  • C. Lockhart Robertson
Date:
1847
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes on the application of the trephine to the treatment of insanity, the result of injury to the head / by C. Lockhart Robinson, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    the performance of the operation, shewn no symptom of his previous malady. Sir A. Cooper, in commenting on a case of Mr Cline's, in which, by the operation of trephine, a man had been restored to health, who had passed thirteen months in a a state of perfect oblivion, deprived of all powers of mind, volition, or sensation, in consequence of a fall from the yard-arm, which had caused a slight depression on the head, says,-* it appears therefore, that in cases of depression we should not be prevented from trephining, however distant the period may be at which the accident occurred ; and the patient may, after any interval, be restored to the powers of body and mind. The case I have re- lated corroborates this opinion of Cooper, as likewise does another case of Mr Cline's, referred to by Dr Wigan,t in which, the result of a blow with the end of a round ruler,—a reprimand from a schoolmaster, —a state of hopeless idiocy had been induced. The trephine was ap- plied as a last resource in a place where there appeared to be a slight depression. We cannot do any harm, said Mr Cline ; he must otherwise soon fall a sacrifice. From the under surface of the por- tion of bone removed, projected a long spicula piercing the brain. The boy entirely recovered the use of his intellect. It would appear that injuries to the head, instead of producing in- sanity, may even occasionally improve the mental powers. It is re- lated by Dr Cox,J that a son of the late Dr Priestly was restored to reason from idiocy by a fall from a window. A patient lately discharged cured from the Military Lunatic Asylum, had been admitted in a state of chronic mania (of some stand- ing), his ideas being incoherent, his conversation rambling and un- connected, his memory, particularly of recent events, deficient. One morning he ran his head with such violence against the wall as to pro- duce concussion of the brain. On recovering from this state, his ideas became gradually collected, his conversation coherent, and his memory returned. So entirely did he recover from his mental aberration as to be enabled to resume military duty, and to rejoin his regiment. Dr Cheyne states§ that, in consequence of external injuries of the head, the recollection of a language long forgotten has been restored. In other instances, says Dr Prichard,|| there has been, after injury to the head, greater energy and activity, more of excitement in the general character, which has been thought a change for the better, ratlier than a morbid alteration. Cases of this description are sometimes very remarkable. I have been informed on good authority, that there was, some time since, a family, not far from this city, consisting of three boys who were all * Lectures on the Principles and Practice of Surgery, p. 135. London, 1835. t The Duality of tlic Mind, &c., p. 194. London, 1844. J On Insanity, &c., p. 104. § Essays on Partial Dernngemeut of the Mind in supposed connection with Religion, p. 72. Dublin, 1843. II Op. cit., p. 20l'.