Observations on functional affections of the spinal cord and ganglionic system of nerves, in which their identity with sympathetic, nervous, and imitative diseases is illustrated / by William Griffin and by Daniel Griffin.

Date:
1834
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on functional affections of the spinal cord and ganglionic system of nerves, in which their identity with sympathetic, nervous, and imitative diseases is illustrated / by William Griffin and by Daniel Griffin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    resembles; but much more frequently it is accompanied by flushing of the cheeks and brow, with throbbing of the carotid and temporal arteries, and burning heat in the hands and forehead. We have never seen it occasion stertorous breathing; but, when it terminates fatally, it may possibly do so. In short, it seems to be a less intense state of that obscure nervous or vascular derangement to which Dr. Aber- crombie refers cases of simple apoplexy. It may, however, end in death without exhibiting any such symptoms, as it sometimes seems to do in young children; in women with spinal affections subsequent to delivery; and we may per- haps say, in those singular instances in which typhoid pa- tients die suddenly in their convalescence. Cases of this description occur occasionally in the slightest as well as in the most severe instances of spinal iri’itation, and are not commonly dangerous in either, unless alto- gether neglected or mistreated. We have seen a patient remain ten or twelve days in a state of insensibility, only differing from apoplexy in the quiet, almost imperceptible, breathing, and the greater mobility of the iris; and from syncope, in the distinct, full pulse, the temperature of the skin, and the natural expression of countenance. This is very like what has been called trance, but not bearing so perfect a resemblance to death as that state is sometimes said to do. It is not uncommon, however, to see a child so affected during dentition, that it is with difficulty distin- guished from one that is recently dead. The subject of fits affecting infants is one of extreme interest, if only from their frequent occurrence, but still more so from the great and sudden danger with which they are often attended. This fortunately depends not so much on the violence of the exciting cause, as upon the extraordinary sensibility and irri- tability of fibre which exist at that tender age. About their proximate cause there has been some discussion; and very lately a paper has appeared in one of our periodicals, from an American physician, who attributes them in all instances to spasm affecting the intestines. This spasm, he conceives, may be induced by disordered stomach and bowels, the common result of the irritation and feverishness