A treatise on apoplexy, cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral embolism, cerebral gout, cerebral rheumatism, and epidemic cerebro-spinal meningitis / By John A. Lidell.

  • Lidell, John A.
Date:
1873
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on apoplexy, cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral embolism, cerebral gout, cerebral rheumatism, and epidemic cerebro-spinal meningitis / By John A. Lidell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    SOME GENBKAL CONSIDERATIONS EELATING TO APOPLEXY. Synonyms and Etymology of Apoplexy.—It is a distinct Disease.—Definition; that of Aretjens, Celsus, Paulus ^gineta, Sydenham, Boerhaave, and the Author.—Sundry ahuses of the term enumerated.—It is not synonymous with cerebral hemorrhage.— Trousseau's views and cases pertaining to this point.—Abercromhie's do.—Mushet's cases of cerebral hemorrhage analyzed.—Conclusions on the point above mentioned.— Apoplexy quite distinct from cerebral hemorrhage.—Objections to the mode in which Cruveilhier uses the term apoplexy.—The remedy.—Dignity of the subject.—Importance of the disease.—Varieties of apoplexy enumerated : 1. Congestive; 3. Serous; 3. Hem- orrhagic ; 4. Embolic; 5. Nervous. Synonyms.—Greek, aTVo-rcXri^ia ; Latin, Apoplexia, Attonitus Morbus^ ResohUio Nervorum; French, Apoplexie; German, Apoplexie, Hirn- schlag ; Italian, Apoplessia ; Spanish, Apoplegia. This term is derived from tlie Greek word dno7TX7]aG(o, wMcli sig- nifies to strike to earth, to knock down; hence the word stroke is sometimes used as expressing the same idea. From time immemorial it has been applied to a remarkable group of cerebral symptoms ; that is, it has been used to represent a peculiar morbid state or condition of the brain, whereof these symptoms are the expoaent; and since they (the symptoms) are of the kind called characteristic, it (the disease) is easily recognized by the clinical observer. Thus, in a clinical point of view, this term stands for a well-defined morbid state of the brain, and in that sense it represents a distinct disease according to the ordinary mean- ing of the word. Thus, apoplexy has the same right to be considered a separate disease as neuralgia, chorea, epilepsy, tetanus, and several other important affections of the nervous system, whose right to a place in no- sography is unquestioned. For what is each of these disorders but a pe- culiar morbid state of the cerebro-spinal nervous system, or of some part of it, that is characterized, in clinical language, by certain well-defined symptoms or functional disturbances ? The expressions clinical observer, clinical point of view, and clinical language are designedly used above