A contribution to our knowledge of the polioencephalitis superior (Wernicke type) / by J. Ramsay Hunt.

  • Hunt, James Ramsay, 1872-1937.
Date:
1906
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A contribution to our knowledge of the polioencephalitis superior (Wernicke type) / by J. Ramsay Hunt. 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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    A CONTRIBUTION TO OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE POLIOENCEPHALITIS SU- PERIOR (WERNICKE TYPE) * By J. RAMSAY HUNT, M. D., NEW YORK, CHIEF OF THE CLINIC FOR NERVOUS DISEASES AND IN- STRUCTOR IN NERVOUS DISEASES IN THE CORNELL UNIVERSITY MEDICAL COLLEGE. (From the Pathological Laboratory of the Cornell University Medical College.) In the year 1881, Wernicke, on the basis of three cases, described a clinical picture running a very acute course, characterized by the development of associated ocular palsies, a staggering gait, optic neuritis and an agitated delirium, similar to delir- ium tremens. Ptosis was absent in these cases and the intrinsic muscles of the eyes were spared; all terminated fatally in from io to 14 days. Alcohol- ism was regarded as the chief setiological factor. Post* mortem a haemorrhagic inflammation limited to the central gray matter of the third and fourth ventricles and aqueduct of Sylvius was found, and the affection was called “ Polioencephalitis acuta haemorrhagica superior.” The syndrome as originally depicted by Wern- icke, while still retaining its general and very char- acteristic features, has undergone certain changes and modifications. Subsequent observations show that the levator palpebrae superioris is not always spared, and ptosis often only partial has occurred in one half the cases. The intrinsic muscles of the * Read at the meeting of the American Neurological Associa- tion in Philadelphia. Copyright, 1906, by A. R. Elliott Publishing Co.