Notes on the diagnosis of the various forms of paralysis of the muscles of external relation / by James Ross.

  • James Ross
Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes on the diagnosis of the various forms of paralysis of the muscles of external relation / by James Ross. 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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    a single nerve or plexus of nerves may be implicated; when all or almost all the muscles of a single extremity are paralysed, the condition is called a monoplegia. In other cases the para- lysis affects both halves of the body symmetrically, and then it generally begins in the lower extremities, and spreads to the trunk and upper extremities. This is the usual form of para- lysis which results from disease of the spinal cord, and is termed paraplegia. In other cases the paralysis affects the lateral half of the body, implicating the face, arm, and leg of the same side, and it is then termed hemiplegia. The lesion which causes this form of paralysis is usually situated in the opposite hemisphere of the brain hemiplegia of spinal origin is named hemipara- plegia. When the upper and lower extremities on both sides are paralysed the condition, when due to spinal disease, has been named paraplegia cervicalis, and when caused by cerebral disease, bilateral hemiplegia, or panplegia. When the ocular or facial muscles on one side, and the limbs on the opposite side, are paralysed, the condition is called crossed or alternate hemi- plegia. V. THE PHYSIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION. A much more important distinction than those depending upon the extent and distribution of the affection is that which divides the various forms into (1) atrophic, and (2) spastic or spasmodic paralysis. This division does not embrace every form of paralysis, inasmuch as in some paralytic affections the muscles neither undergo active wasting nor are affected by spasm. This distinction is, nevertheless, a very important one, and ought to be kept in view in the clinical examination of every case of paralysis. Both atrophic and spasmodic paralyses embrace some forms of myopathic paralysis, but when these are due to an organic disease of some part of the nervous system they correspond respectively to the spino-neural and cerebro- spinal paralyses of the topographical classification. The different methods of classification are combined into one scheme in the followmg tables:—