Case of acute dementia treated by heat and electricity applied to the head / by Alexander Robertson.

  • Robertson, Alexander.
Date:
[1890?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Case of acute dementia treated by heat and electricity applied to the head / by Alexander Robertson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    ance might be due to her natural diffidence. She had gained 2 stones, 4 lbs. in weight. Dr. Robertson said that there was no distinct improvement under general stimulation of the system, and this did not clearly begin till after the local applications to the head. The case, he said, so far as treatment and its results were con- cerned, corresponded with one of catalepsy which had been shown to the Medico-Chirurgical Society some years since. Heat and cold, followed by electricity, had been used in that case. Dr. Robertson also said there was a special interest in the treatment of a patient with mental disease in a general hospital at present, owing to the late discussion in the London County Council on the projected hospital for the treatment of acute insanity in London. v.—Professor Gairdner showed specimens from a case of cystic transformation of the kidneys and liver. The report of this case, and description of the specimens, will appear in an early number of the Glasgow Medical Journal. ABSTRACTS FROM CURRENT MEDICAL LITERATURE. / PHYSIOLOGY. By WILLIAM SNODGRASS, M.A., M.B. Biliary Secretion.—Mr. A. W. Robson has published “ Observations on the Secretion of Bile in a Case of Biliary Fistula ” in Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol. xlvii, No. 291. His general conclusions are— 1. The bile is chiefly excrementitious, and, like the urine, is constantly being formed and cast out. 2. Though the bile probably assists in the absorption of fats, its presence in the intestine is not necessary for the digestion of such an amount of fat as is .capable of supporting life and keeping up nutrition. 3. Increase in body weight and good health are quite compatible with the entire absence of bile from the intestines. 4. The antiseptic properties of the bile are unimportant. 5. Whatever little antiseptic quality bile may have is probably derived from its admixture with the gall-bladder fluid. 6. The supposed stimulating effect of the bile on the intestinal wall is not necessary for a regular action of the bowels. 7. The quantity of bile excreted in the 24 hours during health in a person of average weight may vary between 39 oz. 4 drs. and 25 oz. 6 drs., with an average of 30 oz. less the 24 oz. of fluid secreted by the gall-bladder. 8. More bile is excreted’ during the day than at night, the exces varying between 5 oz. and 3 drs.