On the neck as a medical region, and on trachelismus : on hidden seizures; on paroxysmal apoplexy, paralysis, mania, syncope, &c. / by Marshall Hall.

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

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the neck as a medical region, and on trachelismus : on hidden seizures; on paroxysmal apoplexy, paralysis, mania, syncope, &c. / by Marshall Hall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

    29/69 (page 27)
    ON HIDDEN SEIZURES; &c. ESSAY THIRD. I confess I was a little surprised in perusing the following note and confirmation of the views which have been laid before the reader. It is at once apt and very original, and denotes great talent in the writer. 59, Burton-crescent, March 23, 1849. Dear Sir,—A few phenomena that have presented them- selves, in a case in University College Hospital, during the last week or two, have so interested me, inasmuch as they hear upon your explanation of the second and third links in the chain of causes and effects, or symptoms of epilepsy, that I have taken the liberty of sending you an account of them. A nineteen years of age, was admitted (under Dr. M illiams) for aphonia; and, amongst other things in the treat- ment, she was ordered to have galvanism applied to the larynx, daily, by the electro-magnetic machine. Whilst using this machine, I tried the effect upon the muscles of the neck, and observed, that when the wheel was turned slowly, and the superficial muscles were alternately contracted and relaxed, the colour of the face was heightened, and was of a florid hue, and no unpleasant feelings (farther than those arising from the shocks) were experienced; but when the wheel was turned rapidly, with a less powerful current, and the muscles were maintained, during the rapidly intermitting action, in a state of almost permanent contraction, the face became of a deeper colour, the lips and angles of the mouth livid, the eyes suffused, and some feelings of confusion of thought, headach, and dimness of sight, alternating with flashing of light, were induced. The latter effects remained, after the cessation of the current, for a few minutes, and then disappeared.