The diseases of children : a short introduction to their study / by James Frederic Goodhart.

  • Goodhart, James Frederic, 1845-1916.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The diseases of children : a short introduction to their study / by James Frederic Goodhart. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    544/752 (page 520)
    ufter death, a basal meningitis of a non-tubercular nature was found. Tliese authors note recoveries in a somewhat cau- tious manner, from the known tendency to remission whicli the disease exhibits; but there can be no doubt that retraction of the neck does subside in some cases, and that even a meningitis of the base with retraction occasionally gets well. The case must be gone into comjiletely, as some- times the ojnsthotonos has a^jpeared to me to be like torticollis, either of rheumatic origin, or due to some temporary gastric distuikance. All these three aifections—strabismus, nystagmus, and cervical opisthotonos—are worthy of investiga- tion, from the interest which attaches to them with respect to the observations of recent years as regards the localisation of cerebral function.s. Feirier has shown that retraction of the head is associated with destruction of the posteiior part of the middle lobe of the cerebellum, and tliat disturbed movements of the eyeballs are found, with other cerebellar lesions. It seems, therefore, not at all unlikely that what has been shown to be true for retraction of the head, both experimentally and clinically, may also be sometimes true for nystagmus and some forms of .squint, and that a case may occasionally find its explanation in some bygone basal meningitis. Torticollis, or stiff neck, might perhaps be made the text for dwelling upon the question of the exist- ence of muscular spasm from local cairses. But, of late years, this latter group of cases has been by com- mon consent much reduced by enlarging the area of central or nerve spasm. Wry neck, however, does seem still to remain more local or functional than central. Although in ignorance of its cause, perhaps it may be introduced here, as related, I think, to occasional cases of retracted neck. Torticollis is a frequent affection of childhood, and may be said to represent the lumbago of adults; it