Mind and its disorders : a text-book for students and practitioners / by W.H.B. Stoddart.

  • W.H.B. Stoddart
Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Mind and its disorders : a text-book for students and practitioners / by W.H.B. Stoddart. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    escaped being hanged in the streets. Her terror caused a gradual black discoloration of the whole body, and this remained with her until her death, thirty-five years afterwards.' The name insane Angers has been applied to a low form of whitlow to which the insane, especially general paralytics, are liable. The condition appears to be less common than former]}^ probably on account of improved hygienic surroundings and greater cleanliness on the part of the attendants. Pellagra and Pseudo-pellagra.—Pellagra is a disease unknown in this country. It occurs in Northern Italy and other countries in that region and its incidence has been definitely traced to eating bread made from diseased maize. The disease affects the skin, nervous system and intestinal tract. The skin affection shows itself during the hot months of the year, when those parts exposed to the rays of the sun (face, arms, and sometimes feet) become first congested, then pigmented and thickened. Desquamation takes place during the later months. These pro- cesses occur for four or five successive years; ultimately the skin becomes dry, wrinkled and atrophied. At the same time, cerebral degeneration takes place in many of the patients. They suffer from attacks of mental depression or, less commonly, excitement or stupor. There is also degenera- tion of the lateral and postero-median columns of the spinal cord, giving rise to the clinical picture of postero-lateral sclerosis. Certain associated gastric disturbances have been ascertained by Agostini to be due to hypopepsia. In fully-developed cases the disease is almost invariably fatal. Cases of mental disorder in which the skin undergoes changes somewhat analogous to those of pellagra occur sporadically among patients who have never been exposed to the evil influences of diseased maize. To this condition Roussel gave the name of Pseudo-pellagra. He found the condition in association with the alcoholic polyneuritic psychosis, general paralysis and secondary dementia. In the few cases of pseudo-pellagra occurring within the author's experience the mental disorder proved intractable. Adenoma Sebaceum.—Patients suffering from this disorder are almost invariably of feeble intellect and the majority are to be found in institutions for imbeciles. The patients are usually subject to epileptic fits. We should also gather from a paper by Dr. Sherlock, now Superintendent of the Belmont