Neurologic progress and prospects : chairman's address, delivered before the Section on Nervous and Mental Diseases of the American Medical Association, at the Fifty-fourth Annual Session, held at New Orleans, May 5-8, 1903 / F.W. Langdon.

  • Langdon, Frank Warren, 1852-1933.
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Neurologic progress and prospects : chairman's address, delivered before the Section on Nervous and Mental Diseases of the American Medical Association, at the Fifty-fourth Annual Session, held at New Orleans, May 5-8, 1903 / F.W. Langdon. 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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    feet of drugs on the alkalinity is transient, and it is im- possible to elevate and maintain the alkalinity within physiological limits for any appreciable length of time. The bromides elevate the alkalinity even to the normal of the control cases for a certain time, but on continued administration, and even when the dose is increased, the alkalinity fails. The best results were obtained from strontii bromid, sodi bicarb, aa: gr. 15 ter in die; for some time the alkalinity was maintained at a high value, but only to fall again. Suprarenal extract has appar- ently little effect on the alkalinity. The effect on the mental state was good, and all the patients subjected to the treatment recovered from their mental confusion much sooner.” One case escaped the headache usually following the fits. “In all the cases the number and frequency of the fits were much increased, and on this account the supra- renal treatment was stopped. These results are very dif- ferent from those obtained by Dr. Hill,”1®, who reports improvement from the use of suprarenal therapy, both as regards the mental state and the frequency of the attacks. SYMPTOMATOLOGY—CEREBRAL LOCALIZATION. Phelps,17 from a study of brain injury and disease, reinforces the view of Bianchi,18 that the frontal lobes are the seat of the “psychic” functions proper, and par- ticularly advocates that the left prefrontal region is especially concerned in mental processes. X-RAY LOCALIZATION. Charles K. Mills19 reports a case of brain tumor localized by the x-ray, which confirmed the clinical diag- nosis, being the second instance of this nature, the first being by Church.20 Gould21 contributes a critical study of DeQuineey, Carlyle, Darwin, Huxley and Browning, as regards the cause of their chronic ill health. His conclusions, sup- ported by arguments that are well worth consideration by the neurologist, are, that the opium habit of De Quincey, the ill-temper and dyspepsia of Carlyle, the neurasthenia of Darwin and the headaches of Huxley and Browning were all due to eyestrain, and could have been avoided by resort to modern methods for the de- tection and correction of errors of refraction.