Volume 2

Elements of surgery / by Robert Liston.

  • Liston, Robert, 1794-1847.
Date:
1831
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Elements of surgery / by Robert Liston. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    The muscles are either much relaxed, or spasmodi- cally contracted. After a time, the circulation is re- stored, and the heat of the surface returns, with more or less of regained sensibility. The pulse either be- comes altogether natural, or else more slow or more rapid than in health. The circulation is then easily excited ; by even raising the patient in bed, the pul- sations of the carotids are increased, in some cases, by fifteen or twenty beats. Sensibility returns, always very gradually, and in some cases more slowly than in others ; frequently the patient becomes quite col- lected after the lapse of some hours or a few days, but in other instances a degree of mental confusion remains for many weeks ; occasionally the intellect cdUfcinues weak for the remainder of life. When the insensibility has begun to diminish, the patient can be roused with less difficulty ; if pinched, he complains of it by uttering some inarticulate sounds, or by attempting to move himself further from the quarter whence he supposes the injury to come ; he answers loud questions, though with unwillingness, regarding the pain which lie suffers, and points to the part where it is chiefly felt. As the stupor goes off, symptoms of inflammatory action, or a threatening of it in a greater or less degree, mani- fest themselves. The pulse becomes more rapid and sharp, the skin is hot and dry, the face is flushed, the conjunctiva is redder than usual, and the pupils are often much contracted : the patient is restless, and tosses about in bed ; mutters confusedly to himself; often attempts to enact a part in some fanciful scene which he supposes to be passing around him, or talks