On the nature, pathology and treatment of puerperal convulsions / by Richard Hodges.

  • Hodges, Richard, 1820-1895.
Date:
1864
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the nature, pathology and treatment of puerperal convulsions / by Richard Hodges. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    existing, or brought about by tbe spinal pathological states already noticed: the altered state of the blood V effected by agencies which interfere with the proper depuration of this fluid, when it becomes a morbid stimulant to the spinal nervous centre, and this morbid condition may be produced in many ways, and espe- cially by insufficient secretion from the bowels, by renal disease accumulating noxious elements in the blood in consequence of diminished function, by imperfect oxy- genation of the blood either by the excessive encroach- ment of the abdomen upon the thorax preventing the due performance of the respiratory movements, or by a partial closure of the glottis—a state often present during the severe propulsive pains of labour—as evi- denced by the lividity of countenance, and the distended state of the veins of the head and neck. The Influence of Emotion.—There can be no doubt that violent mental emotion, intelligence, whether of joy or sorrow, suddenly communicated, or the dread of the pains of parturition, may, either separately or com- bined, prove an occasional exciting cause of puerperal convulsions. In the course of my practice, I have noticed that convulsions now and then occur through the influence of fear. In the autumn of 1857, one of my patients was seized with a severe attack of puer- peral convulsions—and this was indeed a severe case, where paroxysm after paroxysm succeeded each other with terrific violence, and where there was complete insensibility from the very commencement of the attack to the last convulsive struggle, and for four days subse- quently, but from which, under appropriate treatment.