On the pathology of the pneumogastric nerve : being the Lumleian lectures delivered at the Royal College of Physicians of London, 1876 / by S. O. Habershon.

Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the pathology of the pneumogastric nerve : being the Lumleian lectures delivered at the Royal College of Physicians of London, 1876 / by S. O. Habershon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    varied character, but we find that, in the interval between the paroxysms, vague sensations are produced, which are evidently traceable to the same cause. An impression is made upon the nervous system of which the patient alone may be conscious, and one or other branch of the pneumogastric may in this way be in- volved : either that of the stomach, the heart, the lungs, or the throat. It may be a sense of choking or of dysp- noea, or more severe spasmodic irritation. If the cause be recognised, treatment will be more successful. The following may serve as an instance of this kind of irritation of the pneumogastric nerve. An officer, aged forty-five, who had served some years ago in India, and afterwards in the West Indies and Canada, whilst in India had a fall from his horse, which was attributed to sun-stroke; there was concussion of the brain, and he lost the sense of hearing on the left side, and also the sense of smell. From that time he had become nervous and dyspeptic; he did not suffer from headache, but slept badly, and had morning cough; his pulse was feeble, but otherwise he seemed in good health ; his chest was strong, abdomen contracted, urine normal; but he had repeated attacks of “sighing,” with sense of choking and distress about the upper part of his chest. He had never contracted any syphilitic disease, and was a water-drinker. In the West Indies he had fever slightly. It was quite evident that this condition was due to functional disturbance of the brain, and the “ choking ” sensation and sighing to the state of the pneumogastric nerve. Bromide of potassium, with