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

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.

367/430 (page 337)

$337 THE STANDARD PHYSICIAN Consumption Convulsions faint ; he becomes unconscious, grows pale, and vomits. Jn some cases death takes place at once , m otheis, coughing and \’omiting of blood occur, and blood is discharged with the urine. See also P>rain, Conxussion of. Slight contusions are tieated with cold compresses (water or lead-water) which must be frequently renewed ; bruised limbs are placed in an ele\’ated position, and firmly bandaged if necessary. .Massage may be prescribed by the physician. The practice followed by many mothers, when a child injures its head by a fall, of immediately pressing the bruise with a spoon, is very appropriate. The pressure distributes the blood, and facilitates its absorption by the lymphatics, either preventing the discoloration from developing, or causing it to remain small. Hot or cold compresses subserve a similar end. Blood-tumours which suppurate should be opened, as other- wise blood-poisoning may result. For the treatment of wounds caused by contusions, see Wounds. CONVULSIONS.—Localised or generalised spasms of the body, which may or may not be accompanied by loss of consciousness. To the laity a convulsion is a serious affair, and, as a rule, their judgment is justified, for the occurrence of a severe convulsive seizure is always indicative of some profound, if not dangerous, affection of the brain. But there are many causes for convulsions, and some indicate more serious disorders than others. It is not practicable in a work of this kind to outline all the possible forms of convulsions, so only the most important varieties will be discussed in this place. Of the various causes for convulsive seizures, in the yoiing especially, high temperature (fever) due to infectious diseases is one of the most important. The presence of intestinal parasites is also to be reckoned with. The oncoming of infections diseases is often preceded by convulsive seizures. Other causes are tetanus, hydrophobia, poisoning from drugs, poisoning from alcohol, poisoning from kidney-disease, puerperal eclampsia, apoplexy, brain tumour, general paresis of the insane, meningitis, epilepsy, and hysteria. A few words might be said about the characteristic forms of convulsion as present in these various conditions. In high fevers due to acute infectious diseases, such as measles, scarlet fever, typhoid fever, dysentery, etc., the effect of the temperature on the brain-tissue is such that generalised convulsions may occur. They occur practically only in children, and usually only when the tem])erature has been high for a considerable length of time. They are more prevalent in those children who show similar convulsions, or milder convulsive movements, at the beginning of an attack of infectious disease. The correct treatment for these is to reduce the temperature by proper bathing or sponging, and to have the bowels emptied as rapidly as possible. Convulsions due to intestinal disturbances are by no means uncommon, and are often confused with true epilepsy because of theii epileptiform X VOL. I.$