A study of a case of family periodic paralysis / John K. Mitchell.

  • Mitchell, John K. (John Kearsley), 1859-1917.
Date:
1899
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A study of a case of family periodic paralysis / John K. Mitchell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    Extracted from The American Journal of the Medical Sciences. November, 1899. A STUDY OF A CASE OF FAMILY PERIODIC PAEALYSIS.' By John K. Mitchell, M.D., OF PHILADELPHIA. C The curious condition of periodic paralysis is one of the utmost rarity, and in this country but three cases have been seen, with a doubtful fourth, previous to the ones herein reported. I should omit from the consideration the cases of Rich, where the paralysis was directly due to a hereditary susceptibility to cold, and was distinctly spasmodic in character. Gibney's cases, supposed by him malarial in origin, cer- tainly do not belong to this group either. I do not propose to enter into the history of the previous study of this disorder except incidentally. An admirable paper by Dr. E. W. Taylor, in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Dinease for September and October, 1898, contains a very complete bibliography of the pre- vious work, with analyses of all the cases hitherto reported, and to this I am not able to add anything except ray own cases. All the cases observed have presented, with small variations, the same type—a paralysis of the voluntary muscles, usually total except for the head and face muscles, with loss of reflexes, with absence of electrical reaction, with no mental or sensory disturbance, and occurring periodi- cally at somewhat regular intervals. Nearly all of the cases have in- stances in the parents or ancestors of the patient. In the family of ray patient the first one known to have suffered from it was the maternal grandfather of the present victim, a Pennsylvanian by birth, a tinsmith by trade, who had in early life seizures like those from which ray patient has suffered, but much less severe. A first cousin of this sarae grand- father had periodic attacks of paralysis quite as bad as any which have been described. His business kept him travelling much through the rough mountain districts of central Pennsylvania, and he used to say that he was often obliged to get off his horse and have a paralysis. Both these persons, so far as known to their descendants, ceased to have the attacks in middle life. The mother of the patient is one of six children. Of three elder sisters none have ever had any spells of the palsy. An older brother had one attack, brought on by overexertion, but has never had another. > Read before the Association of American Fbystclans, May, 1899.