A further contribution to the subject of vasomotor ataxia / by Solomon Solis Cohen.

  • Solis-Cohen, Solomon, 1857-1948.
Date:
[1902?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A further contribution to the subject of vasomotor ataxia / by Solomon Solis Cohen. 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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    causes differ in degree and in persistence as well as in kind ; the (JecTi-ee of the fundamental disorder differs in different individuals. Thus the possibilities of diverse combinations of factors being great, the possibilities of results diverse in degree, in persistence, and in indi- vidual particulars are equally great; but withal there must be a fun- damental resemblance in results, dependent upon the identity of the fundamental disorder. Considering the continual demands of normal function upon the vasomotor taxic mechanism for accurate adjustment to the instant needs of organs, tissues, cells, as well as to the constant demand of the organism as a whole; taking into account, further, the varying conditions of the environment and the necessity for quick response of the vascular mechanism to the necessities of occasion ; realizing even then very imperfectly how mobile, yet how steady, must be the vasomotor control—it is not difficult to understand either the importance of this control or the numerous symptoms to which defect therein may give origin. Granting such fundamental defect, not only do the diverse mani- festations described as the basis for this paper become understand- able, but also we are able to recognize the origin of many symptoms, otherwise confusing, that may occur in certain individuals during the course of various acute and chronic diseases, and which, without this clue, might lead to serious error in diagnosis or in treatment. As a matter of fact it is not probable that any individual has com- plete automatic vasomotor control; yet, equally as a matter of fact, the vast majority of human beings have control practically adequate to all ordinary occasions. The symptoms occasioned by defective control, or, as I wish to term it, vasomotor ataxia, are, on the whole, phenomena perfectly normal under adequate causation. Their abnor- mity lies in the fact of their occurrence under stimuli normally inadequate, in their undue persistence, or in their excessive degree. They are also characterized by a certain associative character, as in the definite syndromes of Graves and Raynaud ; the number and char- acter of the associated symptoms depending on fiictors and relation- ships that we need not now inquire into. They differ very much in degree, and in character may be either apparently spastic or apparently paretic; that is to say, may indicate either excessive vascular relaxation or excessive vascular constriction. Until the question of dilator and constrictor nerves of the vessels is settled, it