Physiological therapeutics : a new theory / by Thomas W. Poole.

  • Poole, Thomas W.
Date:
1879
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Physiological therapeutics : a new theory / by Thomas W. Poole. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

    23/250 (page 17)
    RELAXATION OF MUSCLE—FLACCIDITV. ly^ out the subsequent pages, ample proofs and illustrations will be furnished of the view here presented.' - ; . r 17. We cannot forbear, however, to make the following quotation from an eminent writer, now deceased, to whose luminous pages we iare frequently indebted, and who has done much by patient re- search and thoughtful study to correct some of the popular medical errors of the day. Dr. Anstie makes the following remarks iii summing up the narcotic effects -of opium; but they are equally applicable to the effects in question, otherwise occurring :— I. To paralysis of the brain may be ascribed delirium, coma, . emotional excitement, involuntary memory, and involuntary fancy. 2. To paralysis of the spinal cord maybe probably ascribecj spasms, tetanic convulsions, paralysis of sensation,, independent of loss of consciousness, tingling and creeping sensations on the surface, and actual pain. 3. To paralysis of the medulla oblongata may be probably referred clonic convulsions, tremor and shudderings, dis- turbancei^ of respiration—vomiting. 4. To paralysis of the organic nerves of the heart may be probably ascribed the irregiilarity or cessation of the co-ordinated movements of that organ.* . Having separately dilated on these several groups, in a subsequent part of his work, he says :—All these convulsive phenomena, which we have mentioned, are constantl)/ associated with more or less co7n- pleteparalysis']' Thus, then, spasms and irregular muscular con- •tractions represent, not excessive nerve-force discharging itself along the motor nerves, but a disturbed condition of the muscle, released only in part from the co-ordinating [nervous] influence which ordinarily governs its movements.^ ' ' 18. Relaxation of muscle, (flaccidity).—y^]xy are the muscles flaccid and relaxed after a blow or a fall, causing syncope ; after two minutes immersion under water ; and after destruction of tlie spinal cord, b^ the process known as pithing .'' In the absence of any discoverable lesion, something has happened, very diftcult to explain, and yet evident in its results. What that something is^ we no more know than we know how a heavy blow on k magnet deprives it of its magnetic pbwe^, arid yet sach is the ca'se.||' ' 19. It is not irnpossible that an alrguirieritagafnst bur theory maj^ be based on the fact in^ questibn'^on ihe ground'thdt the flaccidity follows on the apparent cessatibri bf the stintii^lus of nerve-force, which it is alleged on the thebr^ 6f the day, fs the chief exciting cause of muscular contraction. We have, hoWeVer, in k great degree anticipated this objection, in-the lengthy' quotation mad^ i|i recent pageh (§ 12), froni Drs. Todd and Bowman. If the opiniori of these eminent physiologists be held of value, the relaxation in question cannot fairly be attributed to ?i withdrawal 6i nerve-force from the muscles, fot these gehtlemeri protest against Dr. M. Hall's * Stimulants and Narcotics, p. i68. ■' tibid, p. i^S'. JIbid, p. 199. II Brit, and For. Med.; Ghirur. Rev., Jan., 1876, p. 4.—Braith. Retros., July, 1876, p. 245.