Syphilis of the nervous system / by H.C. Wood.

  • Wood, H. C., Jr. (Horatio C.), 1841-1920.
Date:
1889
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Syphilis of the nervous system / by H.C. Wood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    which the head, shoulders, and back became stiff, and arched backward, like, said the nurse, I have seen in hysterical people. Consciousness appeared, however, to be entirely absent. In a few minutes consciousness returned, and the patient spoke a few words, complaining greatly of pain in the head. In a quarter of an hour another seizure occurred, longer and more severe than the first; the head being jerked violently backward. When it had been subdued, the patient could not be roused; she was dead. Post jnortem.—Scalp normal; shows slight ecchyrcosis over vertex (caused, probably, by head striking top of bed). Calva- rium normal. Dura not adherent; inner surface smooth, but very dry. Brain bulging, pale and tolerably firm. Surface of pia very dry. Very little blood in veins. Base of brain: Meshes of pia and arachnoid cedematous with excessive gelatinous infiltration over pons, crura, and medulla, especially of all portions lying in the posterior cranial fossa. Infundibulum excessively distended and giving the appearance of a thin walled cyst. Third ventricle ex- tremely dilated; lateral ventricles somewhat villous. Choroid plexuses very cystic. White matter of brain and cortex reveal nothing abnormal. Base of skull reveals a healthy dura, except perhaps in the posterior cranial fossa, where it seems thicker and softer than normal. Unfortunately no microscopic examination was made because the family objected so strenuously to its being done, and would not allow the cutting of any portions of the cere- brum. A very careful macroscopic survey of the membranes and brain vessels was, however, made, to determine the pres- ence of tubercles, but none were found. The father had been very dissipated, and the gross character of the lesions was dis- tinctly syphilitic. The fact that the cerebral symptoms lasted for over a year before the fatal result, is a strong argumen, against there having been tubercle.