The doctor at home and nurse's guidebook / edited by George Black.

Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The doctor at home and nurse's guidebook / edited by George Black. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    640/684 (page 588)
    VENTRAL HERNIA See Hernia, Ventral. VENTRICLE The name given to various cavi- ties of the body, as of the brain or larynx, but especially to the two muscular sacs or cavities situated at the apex or lower extremity of the heart, one on each side, each being in communication with the auricle above it and affording by contraction the means of forcing and propelling the blood into and through the arteries. The ven- tricles are distinguished as right and left, from their position, one being on the right side and the other on the left side of this organ. VERTEBRAE The vertebrae are firmly bound to each other in such a way as to admit of flexion and extension and a certain degree of rotation, while by their solidity and firm attachment to each other great strength is secured. Some conception of this strength may be formed when we consider the enormous loads which some athletic men are able to carry on their shoulders, or raise in their hands ; the whole weight of which is necessarily borne by the vertebrae of the loins. As the space occupied by the abdomen gives large out- ward dimensions to this region of the body, it is only upon reflection that we perceive that the whole force exerted by the human frame in its most strenuous efforts centres in the bony column. The vertebral or spinal column or backbone is divided into the seven cervical or neck vertebrae, the twelve dorsal or back vertebrae, the five lumbar or loins vertebrae, the sacrum and the coccyx. The sacrum originally comprised five and the coccyx four distinct bones, but these are now fused in each case into one. The column therefore consists of twenty- six (originally thirty-three) bones. VERTIGO (Latin, verto, “ I turn ”). Vertigo, or giddiness, is a pecu- liar sensation in which we seem to be standing quite still and objects running round us. This commonly causes loss of balance and the patient may fall down. In a good many cases he is able to recover himself without falling, especially if he can lay hold of anything to steady himself with. In most cases giddiness depends on an insufficient or improper supply of blood to the brain. Giddiness after a severe ill- ness, in attempting to stand upright, is probably due to impure blood supply. In other instances, the blood supply is impure from con- taining too much alcohol, or the product of imperfect food metamor- phosis. In old people, when the vessels become hardened and un- yielding, we often find giddiness a permanent symptom. Thus it is seen that vertigo is rather a symp- tom than a malady and a symptom, too, of very varying significance ; for, sometimes, apparently over- fulness of the vessels gives rise to a kind of giddiness. If, for instance, the face is flushed and the head hot, it may be desirable to give some purgative medicine ; whereas, the kind referred to first of all as occur- ring in convalescence is best relieved by a tonic. The subsequent man- agement depends on the same prin- ciple. Where there is weakness, good food and exercise are the best remedies, but saline purgatives, with some diuretic, may also be given. Not infrequently vertigo depends on or indicates brain disease, and such brain trouble may be very intract- able in character. Headache is