A manual of clinical medicine and physical diagnosis / by Thomas Hawkes Tanner.

  • Tanner, Thomas Hawkes, 1824-1871.
Date:
1876
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of clinical medicine and physical diagnosis / by Thomas Hawkes Tanner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    creasing loss of motor power. Tlie disease nearly always attacks men about mid age. The premonitory symptoms are those of gradually enfeebling intellect, with or without delirious symptoms, and extravagances of self-importance relative to mental capabilities or wealth. Some symptoms of paralysis show themselves. They may be slight at first, and are referable to the lips and tongue, changing articula- tion. The walk now becomes affected and unsteady, or otherwise impaired, and the symptoms of general mania follow in varying degrees of severity in different cases. The disease is incurable, and patients die in a year or two, life ebbing gradually but surely away. Znvestigration of the Pbysiogrnomy.—To appreciate correctly the inferences to be drawn from this examination, the eye must be practised by long-continued observation not only of the insane, but of the varieties of expression which indicate the growth, normal state, and decline of mental vigour. We should be familiar with the cheerful open countenance of the man in the enjoyment of mental and bodily health and ease, with the vacant stare of the thoughtless, the melancholy visage of the disappointed, the dreamy look of the absent man, and with the wildness of the expression of the maniac; we shall then be able justly to estimate the evidence written upon the forehead, the expressive language spoken by the eyes—the mirror of the mind, and the inward restlessness betokened by the constant play of the muscles around the mouth. Xnvestigration of tbe Actions.—From examining the face, we shall proceed naturally to observe the attitudes, gestures, movements, and general conduct. The facility, suppleness, and co-ordination of the movements must be noticed. The attitude of the old man with his head in- clined to his chest, his back bent, and his knees giving way under him, is not more characteristic of a state of senility and exhaustion, than is the position of an unfor- tunate human being seated on the floor, with his chin resting on his knees, motionless for hours, and entirely unmindful of all that is passing around, indicative of in- curable dementia. The gestures alone often indicate the passion which predominates. In insanity from disap- pointed love, airs of languor are often affected; in that from religion, great humility and attention; in that from sexual excesses, a downcast appearance, an evident desire to avoid notice, and an inability to look one in the face.