Spastic paralysis : being the introductory remarks to a discussion on the subject at the Medical Society of London, March 1st, 1886, given at the special invitation of the President / by A. Hughes Bennett.

  • Bennett, A. Hughes (Alexander Hughes), 1848-1901.
Date:
1886
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Spastic paralysis : being the introductory remarks to a discussion on the subject at the Medical Society of London, March 1st, 1886, given at the special invitation of the President / by A. Hughes Bennett. 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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    [Reprinted from the ' Medical Society's Proceedings,' Vol. IX] SPASTIC PAEALYSIS. By A. Hughes Bennett, M.D., F.E.C.P. Me. President,—At your invitation I attempt to bring before the Society a subject of great importance. It concerns a morbid state of widely-spread occurrence, and one wMcli must therefore frequently come under the notice of every medical man. It is, notwithstanding, a condition very obscure in nature, causation, prognosis, and treatment. In consenting to open a conference on spastic paralysis, I do not anticipate that the darkness which surrounds the question will be illuminated by any original revela- tions of my own. I am, however, encouraged to venture the undertaking by the belief that directing attention to the leading problems to be solved will, without effort on my part, supply a text which the learned may expound, and thus initiate a discussion which may prove of scientific and practical value. Spastic or spasmodic paralysis is the name which has been given by Professors Erb and Charcot, not to a disease, but to a group of symptoms—to a clinical picture—which must be familiar to every- one. It essentially consists of a morbid condition in which motor weakness, exaggeration of the tendon phenomena, and rigidity of muscles are the prominent and characteristic features. Owing to the existence of these physical states the patient afflicted suffers from certain symptoms which as a consequence ensue—namely, h