A treatise on the symptoms and cure of cholera / by Thomas Molison.
- Molison, Thomas, -1835 or 1836.
- Date:
- 1832
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A treatise on the symptoms and cure of cholera / by Thomas Molison. 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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![or, it may be, the mouth is widely distended, according! the different classes of muscles happen to be affected, if whole frame is forced into a constrained and most fright} position ; and after being, for a short time, riveted, a feart spectacle of horror, the patient sinks down exhausted, wf complete relaxation of the whole muscular system, as if* were to rise no more. To all appearance he is dead. ] has no consciousness, no sensation, no breathing. He} truly in a state of suspended animation, which may contin for a minute or two, when he begins slowly and gradua to revive. I am of opinion, that the patient sometimes suddenly dill of cramp in the heart. Accompanying these symptoms there is a most alanni; and determined sinking of the vital powers, which cods ■ tutes the peculiar characteristic of the disease. The action of the heart and arteries appears to be diminish almost to total suspension. The extremities and the surfa are exsanguined, as in a person who has been long de£ No pulse can be felt at the wrist, or ankles ; sometimes no part of the upper extremity; frequently the heart itsi cannot be felt to beat. No doubt, the blood must still co tinue to flow, notwithstanding all these appearances; an to ascertain the fact, I have sometimes narrowly examim the state of the veins on the back of the patient’s hand, have insulated a portion of the superficial vessel ly» between two of the metacarpal bones, and then emptied by gentle friction in the course of the circulation. So lor as I retained my finger on the distal part of the vein remained empty, but on my removing my finger, it instant filled with blood. I was even struck with the swiftness its course. The loiv temperature of the body may be the consequent of the peculiar state of the circulation. The whole frair appears cold to the very core. The extremities especially are cold as in death, and the skin of the fingers is corrugate* The entire surface is often clammy, or bedewed widT copious sweat, apparently exceeding in quantity the larg secretions from the bowels. Even the tongue feels coldan flaccid ; at an early period of this stage it is often covere with a slimy secretion. I have never found it dry at an period of the complaint. My impression is, though I di](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22384820_0006.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
