Letters concerning the internal dropsy of the brain : to Charles William Quin, M.D. ... from William Patterson, M.D. ...

Date:
1794
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Letters concerning the internal dropsy of the brain : to Charles William Quin, M.D. ... from William Patterson, M.D. ... Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    [ ” ] Vert: I only wifli to eftablifh, what you have very properly noticed, that the exiftence of hydrocephalus internus in adults is rather incidental^ and certainly an unfrequent occurrence in the ufual range of me- dical pradice. By adverting to the hiftory of each of the difor- ders, we fhall fee a ftriking contrariety of character. The hydrocephalus is ufhered in with all the fymptoms of pyrexia : Languor, inactivity, diminilhed appetite, naufea, vomiting, hot and dry ikin, quickened pulfe, and difturbed fleep. This ftate having continued fome days, in general five or fix, moderate affeClions of one or both eyes take place, and the other cir- cumftances are exafperated, with delirium, &c. until about the fpace of eight days longer. And, what is very much to my purpofe, the teguments of the cranium are fometimes fore to the touch. I The difeafe then makes that remarkable tranfitlon, wLich denotes the commencement of its fecond fiage; fuch as flow unequal pulfe, lefs fenfibility of pain, lethargick torpor, ftrabifmus, &c. Thefe fymptoms are foon fucceeded by thofe of the third ftage—a regained equality of pulfe, but fo quick and weak, that it is hardly poflible to number It \ often- times a difficulty of breathing, refemhling the ftertor apopleClicus j fometimes red fpots or blotches on the body and limbs; impaired deglutition; and convulfions, which form the catafirophe. Here then we have a deliberate progrefs^ from foge to ftage. But what have we in apoplexy ? Its