On hypertrophy of the brain in imbeciles / by Fletcher Beach.

  • Fletcher Beach
Date:
[1881]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On hypertrophy of the brain in imbeciles / by Fletcher Beach. 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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    two cases of hypertrophy of the brain without sclerosis which he has seen in idiots. Both d’Espine and Picot and Brunet describe two forms of the disease ; in the one the hypertrophy is simple, in the other accompanied by sclerosis. The principal symptoms are headache, at times intensified, excite- ment followed by coma, blunting or arrest of development of the intelligence, difficulty in walking, and convulsions. The symptoms are said to be less marked in children than adults, because the brain is less compressed, the cranial cavity in- creasing in size as the brain enlarges. I proceed to relate particulars of some cases which have come under my observa- tion. Case I. A. H., aged 15 years, was admitted into Clapton Asylum June 19th, 1875, and died April 20th, 1876. There sas no history of neuroses or of hereditary disease in the family. His parents were of temperate habits, sound, physically and mentally, and were not connected by consanguinity. His mental deficiency is said to have been noticed after a series of convulsions with which he was seized while teething, at the age of nine months. They soon ceased, and he had none afterwards. There were two other children, one older and one younger than this one, whose mental condition was unaffected. A. H. on admission was a well-nourished boy, of dark complexion, ■with a large head, square in shape, and with well-marked frontal prominences. Circumference 23 inches, transverse diameter 12^ j inches, antero-posterior 13 inches. He was bright-looking, good- tempered, and willing to work. There was no loss of sensation or ; motion. No sign of rickets. Mental capacity fair for an imbecile. He could use many words, but his articulation was defective. He went to school in the Asylum, worked as a tailor, and assisted in j, household work. During the ten months that he was under training he made good progress in school and shop. He was an imbecile who, had he lived, would have made good progress. His general health was good, and until the illness, from which he died, he was only under treatment for minor ailments. About a week before his death he j took to his bed, complaining of pain in his right shoulder and arm. Two days afterwards he was seized with a convulsive tremor, his j limbs at the same time being rigid. From this he recovered, but four j days afterwards I was called to him, and found hint breathing i| stertorously with his tongue half protruded. His breathing, while I j| was with him, became laboured, and in about five minutes he died. At the post-mortem, 32 hours after death, on removing the calvaria the cranium was found to be increased in size anteriorly and posteriorly, and there were well-marked frontal prominences. The dura mater was congested, and very adherent to the skull cap over the greater part of its | surface. The sinuses were very full of blood. The brain
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