Principles of pathology and practice of physic (Volume 2).

  • Mackintosh, John, -1837.
Date:
1837
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Principles of pathology and practice of physic (Volume 2). Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    CHAPTER II. PALPITATION, AND ANGINA PECTORIS. PALPITATION. By this term I mean the occurrence of an unusually strong and frequent pulsation of the heart, without any organic lesion; the palpitations produced by disease of the heart itself, are to be con- sidered afterwards.* The affection now under consideration, is to be regarded as purely nervous, occasioned by excessive indulgence in various passions, by mental emotions, and very frequently, by a disordered state of the stomach and bowels. Stimulants of all kinds, violent exercise, excessive depletion, occasionally produce it. Palpitation is more readily excited in persons of a nervous and sanguine temperament; when first observed, the affection is generally slight and transient, but by frequent repetition, the organ at last becomes so irritable, that the least circumstance repro- duces it. Nervous palpitations are frequently very distressing, even when the body is in a perfect state of repose; particularly during the first part of the night, and often prevent sleep for many hours. The action of the heart is not only accelerated, but increased in impulse and sound; sometimes the action is tumultuous, and occa- sionally so strong, that the person afiected feels it painfully. There is sometimes a sensation of internal agitation, particularly in the head and abdomen, and, as happens in hysteria, the urine is co- pious and limpid. [The pulse is extremely irregular, and often intermittent: there [* Mr. Teale calls this affection Neuralgia of the Heart; but adds, that he nses the term neuralgia in an extended signification, so as to embrace not only those conditions which are accompanied with pain, but various other morbid stales of the functions of nerves. On Neuralgic Diseases, Sfc. p. 42.] Vol. II.—2