Medical evidence in railway accidents / by John Charles Hall.

  • Hall, John Charles, 1816-1876.
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medical evidence in railway accidents / by John Charles Hall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    fuller, and he could answer questions, but still with difficulty. He had pain in the head, and great intolerance of light, and the pupils were contracted. In a day or two, he complained of pain at the upper portion of the lumbar region of the spine, which, he said, had been struck when he fell. There was a considerable bruise at this point; partial loss of sensa- tion and motion in both legs; they were described as feeling numb, and he moved them with difficulty. He had perfect command over the sphincters. The urine was of the specific gravity of 1018, and slightly acid; there was no marked change of temperature in the affected parts. Leeches and hot linseed poultices were applied over the tender portions of the spine; the patient was kept in bed and perfectly quiet. In two months he was well, and able to resume his usual employment—that of a clerk in a warehouse in the City. Had this man not gone on favourably, my present ex- perience would lead me to anticipate that such a patient would soon exhibit symptoms of lowered vitality, and a gradual declining of the bodily powers—falling into a low cachectic condition of health. There is generally a marked loss of power in the legs, a shuffling walk, an inability to stand, and, if an attempt be made to rest the weight of the body on the toes, he falls forward. One foot is trailed along the ground; the sphincters lose their power; the desire to void the urine is constant, and both it and the faeces pass involuntarily, and beyond the control of the patient. The sexual power is frequently lost; there is great irritability of temper; muscular twitchings on falling asleep ; severe neuralgic pains; in one, impairment of the natural sensibility of the limbs; in another, an exalted degree of sensibility painful to witness. But in all such injuries, as a rule, this state of things is continuous from the date of the accident, increasing or diminishing in severity. We have not months of perfect health, and then the first commencement of disease of the spinal chord.