On ocular movements, with vertigo, produced by pressure on a diseased ear / by J. Hughlings Jackson.

  • Jackson, J. Hughlings (John Hughlings), 1835-1911.
Date:
[1883]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On ocular movements, with vertigo, produced by pressure on a diseased ear / by J. Hughlings Jackson. 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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    movement of external objects she bad to put tbe finger in tbe ear^ “ the nerve seemed to have gone further in.” I produced no movement by pressing as before, nor by pressing as Mr. Couper did ; but sbe, by putting ber finger in ber ear, produced movements of tbe kind already described but of very slight excursion, about three milli- metres. There was a little apparent displacement of objects. Mr. Purves reported to me that the discharge was almost gone. Tlie remedies used were syringing tbe ear, and quinine in doses of from two to three grains. It is needless with regard to this case to do more than mention the now old, but very important, experiments of Flourens, on the semi-circular canals. The case, like that recorded by Schwalbach illustrates very well Cyon^s experiments on the semicircular canals of rabbits. A summary of Cyon’s researches is given by Ferrier in the second number of ' Brain,’ and by Groom Robertson in ^Mind,’ October, 1878. The researches of Crum-Brown, Mach, and Goltz, are very important in the interpretation of cases of giddiness with ear disease. The observations and conclusions of Meniere are well known. I suppose that in my patient the pressure made on the tragus was transmitted by the chain of bones to the contents of the semicircular canals; probably the contents of one or more of these canals was abnormal also. To reach the ocular muscles there must have been propagation of changes from the canals through some part of the central nervous system, cerebrum or cerebellum, or possibly through both. The case is valuable as giving further evidence, if further evidence be needed, that ear disease is one cause of, or factor in producing, vertigo. If such procedures provoke vertigo in a deaf patient who has quasi-spontaneous attacks of giddiness we may convince him that ear disease is the chief factor in his ailment, and in difficult cases they may make the diagnosis more clear to us. They will, I suppose, give valuable evidence, as to the progress of cases. This case supports the opinion of Dr. James Taylor, of Chester, expressed as regards the parox-