The pulse / by W.H. Broadbent ; illustrated with 59 ophygmographic tracings.

  • Broadbent, W. H. (William Henry), Sir, 1835-1907.
Date:
[1899?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The pulse / by W.H. Broadbent ; illustrated with 59 ophygmographic tracings. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    Cases of this kind, many of wliicli liave cohk' under my notice, do not lend themselves to narra- tion, especially when seen in consultation only once or twice, and I shall not, therefore, attempt to give examples. I may, however, relate an occurrence with regard to one such—a most distressing case of religious melancholia in a lady of about sixty —with extreme high tension in the pulse, I had explained my views to Dr. Baines, with whom I saw the patient, and had recommended, among other measures, a series of mild calomel purges, when the sister of the patient joined us in order to learn our opinion. Before hearing this, however, she said there was one more fact which she ought to have told us, namely, that their mother, at very nearly the same age, had suffered in exactly the same way. It seemed as if my hypothesis of the relation of the melancholia to the state of the circulation was at once overthrown, and with it my favourable prognosis. But, she continued, in those days they gave calomel for everything, and it was prescribed for her, and she got quite well. Our patient also recovered, only, however, to relapse some time later. Melancholia, associated with low—extremely low —pulse-tension, has, in my experience, usually proved incurable, and has in several instances gone steadily from bad to worse to a fatal termination. The case related a few pages back is the only instance of re- covery I have met with. The pulse and coiiiuioii parapleg^ia.—The subject may be brought to a conclusion by a brief notice of an affection of the lower end of the spinal cord, especially as it furnishes a sort of parallel to the pro- duction of melancholia by derangement of the circula- tion. The late Dr. Moxon, whose loss those who knew him well will never cease to deplore, pointed out in his brilliant and original Croonian Lectures that