Volume 1

The standard physician : a new and practical encyclopaedia of medicine and hygiene especially prepared for the household / edited by Sir James Crichton-Browne [and others].

Date:
1908-1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The standard physician : a new and practical encyclopaedia of medicine and hygiene especially prepared for the household / edited by Sir James Crichton-Browne [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Castration Catarrh THE STANDARD PHYSICIAN 304 intestinal contents. It is used in doses of from half a teaspoonful to a table- spoonful, depending on the size and age of the patient. Very small doses of castor-oil are of service also in the treatment of chronic diarrhcea. The after-tendency to constipation following the use of castor-oil should be borne in mind. It has little food value when rubbed on the skin. CASTRATION, FEMALE.—An operation consisting in the removal of the healthy ovaries. During the “ seventies ” of the nineteenth century it was frecpiently ])erformed to treat certain nervous or mental disorders in which attacks of excitement or convulsions occurred, especially during the time of menstruation, which is an ovarian function. Owing to the un- certainty of the result, however, this operation has been abandoned except in extreme cases. It is now rarely resorted to even in cases of fibroid tumours of the wound ; instead, the tumour itself is removed, as occasionally the “ shrinking ” of hbroid tumours fails to take place after castration. Castration is, however, sometimes considered in cases of absence of the womb, when the ovaries give rise to violent pains at the time of menstrua- tion. See Ovaries, Diseases of ; Ovariotomy. CATALEPSY.—A condition occurring in nervous and in mentally deranged persons, and characterised by a peculiar straining of the muscles with the assumption of striking attitudes. There are two main forms of this disease, known respectively as catalepsy proper and katatonia. In catalepsy the muscular rigidity appears generally without warning. The patient remains in the position in which he happens to be wlien the attack seizes him. This is accompanied by the remarkable symptom called flexihilitas cerea (wax-like flexibility), described below, and by decreased consciousness. The attack disappears after a time, but it may, under some circumstances, recur. Cataleptic rigidity of the limbs is most frequently observed in hysterical conditions, and also in certain mental derangements. In suggestible individuals it can be produced by hypnotism. The treatment varies with the cause. Stress should be laid on the fact that there is never any immediate danger to the patient, and therefore little cause for alarm. Cataleptic states are found very frequently in patients suffering from a form of mental disease called katatonia (Dementia proecox). The position and movements of the patient become stiff and rigid, as though he were bound. The entire behaviour suggests a wooden and automatic image. At times patients will remain in certain positions for weeks, months, and even for years, lying in bed with the head bent, face contorted, the lij)s drawn together, the eyes closed, arms bent, and the legs outstretched or drawn up to the body. They neither eat nor speak, and they soil their bedding, and strongly resist any outside influence. Their muscles feel hard as iron, and their limbs cannot be moved without using great force ; when left alone they relax into the old position. There are some patients who allow their limbs to be moved, and these let them remain like soft lead in any given position,