Preliminary observations on the pathology of sea-sickness / by J.A. Irwin.
- Irwin, J. A. (John Arthur), 1853-1912.
- Date:
- 1881
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Preliminary observations on the pathology of sea-sickness / by J.A. Irwin. 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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![ment, if not in the theory on which it was founded ? My own experience on this point is at present worthless, as although I gave quinine in my early empirical experimentation on sea-sickness it was not in such doses as would be likely to exercise any influence upon the labyrinth. Wollaston from observing: the sudden rises and falls in the mercury of a ship's barometer during a storm, started the theory that the blood behaved in a similar manner, and that resulting mechanical congestion of the brain was the cause of sea-sick- ness. In Buck's Hygiene, &c, .1879,1 find this remark from the pen of Dr. Turner :— Sea-sick- ness [which] appears to be the result of very small oscillations in the column of the blood, induced by the minute changes in the aerial pressure, from the rising and falling of the ship, &c. We know that pressure upon the membrana tympani, whether mechanical or aerial, may be transmitted through the ossicles to the internal ear, causing symptoms of labyrinthine pressure. Can these aerial changes spoken of by Dr. Turner be ever sufficient to affect in this way a person whose tympani are insuffi- ciently ventilated ? I have in project certain direct experiments on the semicircular canals during artificially induced motion sickness, the result of which will be put before the profession as soon as circumstances permit; meantime I shall welcome criticism.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22292615_0015.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
