On injuries of the head affecting the brain / By G. J. Guthrie.

  • George James Guthrie
Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On injuries of the head affecting the brain / By G. J. Guthrie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    161/174 (page 149)
    When a person has received a serious blow on the head, which has given rise to an exfoliation of the bone, or to a very slight depression of the skull, he is rarely restored to his previous healthy and natural state. The scalp adheres firmly to the bone beneath instead of sliding loosely over it, and a deep hollow is formed, which would imply that greater mischief had been done and a greater loss of bone had been sustained than actually took place; and this is the more remarkable when pieces of bone have been removed. I have now under my care, for disease in other parts. Major D. of the Indian army, who was wounded on the left side of the forehead at its upper part by a musket-ball at the assault of Mahidpoore. Several pieces of bone were removed, and the pulsation of the brain was evident in the discharge. I can push the point of my little finger into the hole left by the cicatrization of the wound, to an extent I should not have suspected if I had not been aware of the fact. This officer suffers from headaches, augmented or brought on by any exertion of body or mind. He cannot bear exposure to the heat of the sun. He can scarcely drink three glasses of wdne without feeling its effect. In all these cases, and I could relate many, of persons of education, they can bear no great exertion of any kind. They fall down under exposure to heat. They are easily inebriated, rendered furious by a small quan- tity of liquor, and often become stupefied, comatose, or even die suddenly. In addition to these evils, which may be avoided by care, many are subjected to fits, which are apparently epileptic ; and others suffer from such intolerable pain in the part injured, as well as in the head generally, as to be rendered miserable and desirous of seeking relief at any risk. These injuries are often accompanied during their progress by mental defects which time does not always remove. The memory is very often much impaired. It is frequently defective as to things as well as to persons. The sight of one or both eyes may be impaired, or even lost. Ptosis, or a falling of the upper lid, is not an uncommon although a more curable defect. Speech is not only difficult, but the power of uttering certain words is often lost; a language is occasionally for a time forgotten, and a sort of conventional one has even been adopted, in the manner mentioned by Sir A. Cooper, the Baron Larrey, Sir B. Brodie, and in the case related by Dr. Hennen, which was under my own observation. The more serious evils which befall these unfortunate sufferers are aberrations of mind, rendering some degree of restraint necessary, or a state