Epileptic and other convulsive affections of the nervous system, their pathology and treatment.

  • Radcliffe, Charles Bland, 1822-1889.
Date:
1861
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Epileptic and other convulsive affections of the nervous system, their pathology and treatment. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

    199/332 (page 185)
    mortal collapse. Such is the usual course where the dis- ease ends fatally. In some instances, however, the ordi- nary symptoms may change into, or alternate with, those belonging to meningitis, in which case the pulse rallies, the skin and tongue become dry, and, as the headache and other symptoms of inflammation make their appearance, the tremor ceases. The tremors of fever and their accompaniments are familiar to all. The rigors or shudderings at the com- mencement are accompanied by chilliness and paleness of the skin, by blueness of the nails and cutis anserina, by feebleness and frequency of the pulse, by sickness and vomiting, by indescribable feelings of languor, feebleness, oppression, by aching pains in the head, back, and limbs. The subsultus of the final stage is attended by a dusky and cool skin, a fluttering pulse, a fainting and almost silent heart, a short and sighing respiration, and by the utmost exhaustion and prostration both of body and mind. In slow mercurial poisoning the muscles are very dis- obedient to the will, and all co-ordinated movements arc clumsily performed. The skin is gray and dry, the pulse weak and subject to great fluctuation upon change of pos- ture, the appetite capricious or wanting, and the whole mental and bodily strength greatly impaired. Moreover, paralysis and premature old age is the end of the un- checked disorder. 2. The pathology of the convulsive affections which are characterised by tremor. § I- The state of the circulation and respiration in these several affections is sufficiently obvious. In an attack of common trembling there is no doubt that both these functions are