On a remarkable diminution of the medulla oblongata and adjacent portion of the spinal marrow : consequent upon gradual spontaneous luxation of the Processus dentatus and ankylosis at the upper part of the spine, yet unattended by any sympton of paralysis / by P.D. Handyside.

  • Handyside, P. D. (Peter David), 1808-1881
Date:
[1840]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On a remarkable diminution of the medulla oblongata and adjacent portion of the spinal marrow : consequent upon gradual spontaneous luxation of the Processus dentatus and ankylosis at the upper part of the spine, yet unattended by any sympton of paralysis / by P.D. Handyside. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Mr Lawrence, in liis very valuable paper on Dislocations of the Vertebra?,* narrates a case in many respects very similar to that which I have described. The processus dentatus was so com¬ pletely dislocated from the atlas and occiput, as to intercept about one-third of the spinal canal, yet without producing any paralytic affection. Mr Lawrence adduces from ReiFs Archivesf a parallel instance, in which the vertebral canal at i\ie foramen magnum was diminished by one-half, and that too without a paralytic symptom. Caries of the atlas and axis, accompanied by gradual spontaneous dislocation of the processus dentatus^ is, among other pathogno¬ monic signs, characterized by the entire absence of paralysis, which, according to Professor Syme, f is a very constant mark of the existence of this very interesting and important disease. The case which I have here detailed is worthy of notice, as presenting the peculiarity just noticed; while, at the same time, the history, symp¬ toms, and necroscopic appearances of caries fail to be traced in it. In the museum at Guy’s Hospital, London, are some prepara¬ tions illustrative of ankylosis and exostosis of the cervical ver¬ tebrae. But in all of these cases, as well as in many others which are recorded, paralysis had resulted. Dr Hodgkin, the au¬ thor of the catalogue of that valuable collection, describes the pre¬ parations marked Nos. 3011 and 1012, as exhibiting the processus dentatus so much enlarged as to have occasioned paralysis. In No. 1032, a preparation taken from the body of a patient who had been under the care of Dr Bright, partial paralysis, both of the upper and lower extremities, had been produced by an exostosis arising from the processus dentatus. * London Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, Vol. xiii. p. 400. t Archiv fiir die Physiologie, Vol. iv. p. 407. t Vol. xlv. of this Journal, pp. 8 and 9. Edinburgh, 10, Shandwick Place, February 20, 1840. EDINBURGH: I'RINTED BY JOHN STARK, OLD ASSEMBLY CLOSE.
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