An inquiry into the nature and causes of epilepsy : with the function of the spleen; and the use of the thyroid body ... / John Jackson.

  • Jackson, John, -1855.
Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inquiry into the nature and causes of epilepsy : with the function of the spleen; and the use of the thyroid body ... / John Jackson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    feebled action, and irregularity of the pulse.* In addition to these symptoms there is often expulsion of the urine and feces, and sometimes emissio semi- nis. Such are the ordinary symptoms of an epilep- tic paroxysm, which may endure less than a minute, or may he prolonged to five or six minutes. The mean duration, according to Georget, is from two to three minutes. The muscles then relax, and the convulsive movements are at an end; the lividity and turgescence vanish, and are succeeded by pale- ness ; the patient draws a deep sigh, breaks out into a sweat, is still unconscious, motionless, and appears in a kind of lethargic sleep, or sopor, which may last from five minutes to half an hour. He then regains the power of voluntary motion, and consciousness, but has no recollection of what has passed during the paroxysm. For an indefinite period subsequently, the patient appears drowsy, is averse to moving about, answers questions in a confused manner, feels fatigued, and complains of more or less pain in the head and limbs ; and is perhaps affected with nausea or vo- miting. In some instances, when the paroxysm has been very violent, or there has been a succession of paroxysms with short intervals, a partial and tem- * “It will be found on careful attention, that the first symptom of an attack is the suspension of the action of the heart, and con- sequently an intermission of the pulse, which may continue from a few seconds to about three minutes, which was the longest period of intermission I have as yet known.”—On the Pathology of Epilepsy, by Dr. Reid, p. 361, Vol. iv., of the Transactions of the King and Queen’s College of Physicians, in Ireland.