On the cerebro-spinal origin and the diagnosis of the protrusion of the eyeballs termed anaemic / by Thomas Laycock.

  • Laycock, Thomas, 1812-1876.
Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the cerebro-spinal origin and the diagnosis of the protrusion of the eyeballs termed anaemic / by Thomas Laycock. 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.

    9/20 (page 687)
    who saw this ancl felt her pulse invariably diagnosed the case as one of intense fever. Hamiatemesis, apparently vicarious, fre- quently occurred, and pain in the region of the spleen; loss of appetite was strongly marked, with a most unconquerable dislike to animal food,—a symptom noted by Dr Begbie as characteristic of the cases generally. Although the perspirations were so profuse and continuous, and the appetite bad, she was not at all emaciated. The head symptoms were like those in other cases—extreme wake- fulness, vertigo, and the like, but no mental disturbance. The face was pallid when not suffused paroxysm ally, which was often the case, when the perspiration would stand upon it in large beads. The sequel was never published, but she recovered a moderate share of health (having only a small bronchocele), married, and had children. The other case of paroxysmal exophthalmos that came under my notice was that of a respectable youth aged sixteen, who was extremely pallid, and had a small enlargement of the thyroid body. He was very nervous and excitable, and troubled with severe palpitation, which from time to time was so aggravated as to threaten suffocation. At this time the swelling in front of the throat became much larger, and the eyes, which always had a wild expression, became prominent and staring. The nervous and cardiac symptoms were attributed to anamiia and hysteria, and the exophthalmos and thyroideal enlargement to congestion, the result of dyspnoea. The patient recovered under change of air and tonics. Emotional Exophthalmos.—The exophthalmos may be caused by emotion. A third case that came under my notice was pointed out to me in the street by a non-professional friend as a great curiosity ; it was a woman, aged about forty, who was passing with large goggle eyes, which, he said, u had been forced out of her head by a fright.” I afterwards took the opportunity of seeing her, and found that she had experienced a fright when pregnant, and that the eyes became prominent shortly after. She had also a large bronchocele, which, she alleged, also came on during preg- nancy. She was anasmic-looking; her pulse very quick, her manner exceedingly nervous. Her case was of long duration, but how it ended I know not. The difference of age and of physiologi- cal condition due to married life and childbearing are important elements in a comparison of this case with the others. A fourth example may perhaps be referred to this head, which came under my notice, in the case of a young gentleman, aged twenty-three a student of the university, who was in a state of great anxiety about his success at his examinations. He complained of extreme ner- vousness and violent palpitation. His face was suffused, his eyes had a peculiar glitter and stare, and on baring his throat I found a bronchocele the size of a St .Michael orange. Bulsations were felt in the tumour, as well as in the carotids,in which strong vascular action was observable. He had tinnitus aurium, vertiginous sen-