Essays chiefly on the theory of paroxysmal diseases of the nervous system / by Marshall Hall.

  • Hall, Marshall, 1790-1857.
Date:
[1849]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Essays chiefly on the theory of paroxysmal diseases of the nervous system / by Marshall Hall. 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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    of the circulation through the cerebrum or medulla oblongata, through compression of the jugular or vertebral veins, and consequent cerebral or spinal irritation or congestion, and their effects. Many are at this moment paralytic, or subject to seizures of epilepsy, or are immured in an asylum for the insane, whose dire misfortune might have been prevented by due and timely, and sufficient and sufficiently sustained atten- tion to avoid or avert the causes of their calamity, when it wore the treacherous aspect of an insignificant malady, as sick- headache. The slightest symptom or symptoms should be instantly and strictly attended to. One patient may be affected with a rigid temporal artery, another with superficial veins of the neck “ as large as the finger,” a third with a sense of tension of the integument of the head, a fourth with a livid flushing, a fifth with the sense as of a tight cravat round the neck; others have headache, vertigo, momentary confusion or oblivion, or sickishness, or faintishness, or a sense of numb- ness, or spasmodic affection, as warnings, before the more formidable paroxysm of apoplexy, or epilepsy, or mania occurs. Amongst the premonitory symptoms, none is more frequent than numbness in the ring and little fingers. The physician should carefully and habitually examine the condition of the temporal artery, of the conjunctiva, and of the veins of the neck, in all these cases. § 7. Extract from Dr. Abercrombie. We are now prepared, I believe, to understand the fol- lowing remarks of Dr. Abercrombie, which, though rather long for a quotation, I must, from their importance, give entire: “ The most simple illustration of the apoplectic state is derived from those cases in which it is distinctly traced to an external cause, and ceases when that cause is removed. A boy, mentioned by Zitzilius, had drawn his neckcloth re- markably tight, and was whipping his top, stooping and rising alternately, when, after a short time, he fell down apoplectic. The neckcloth being unloosed, and blood being drawn from the jugular vein, he speedily recovered. Strangulation, when the neck is not dislocated, appears to be simple apoplexy. A