A treatise on tetanus : being the essay for which the Jacksonian Prize, for the year 1834, was awarded, by the Royal College of Surgeons, in London / by Thomas Blizard Curling.

Date:
1836
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on tetanus : being the essay for which the Jacksonian Prize, for the year 1834, was awarded, by the Royal College of Surgeons, in London / by Thomas Blizard Curling. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    muscles which raise the lower Jaw are in a state of spasm, keeping the teeth nearly or completely in contact. EjivpvostlLotoTios^ from BjUTTpocrOev, y^ovwQ/i'ds^ and ravfu, is used when the body is bent forwards, by contraction of the abdominal muscles, and the head drawn towards the breast by the muscles of the neck. Opisthotonos, from oTriaOev, backwards, and T6£vtt), expresses that the body is drawn backwards by the influence of the muscles at the posterior part of the neck and along the spine. PleurostJiotonos, from irXsvpoaOev, sidcways, or pleurotonos, from TrXsupov, the side, and re/vw, first described by Fernelius, and called by Sauvages Tetanus lateralis, are applied when the muscles situated on one side are more affected than those on the other, so that the body is bent laterally. The term Tetanus is sometimes •/ restricted by authors to those cases in which the spasms are general. These appellations, expressive only of certain variations in the symptoms, depending, for the most part, upon the partial or unequal operation of the disease upon the muscles moving and supporting the body, in a practical view are of little value, since the condition of the muscles often varies, at different periods, in the same case. For in- stance, at the commencement, trismus may be the only symptom, but, as the disease advances, o])isthotonos or emprosthotonos may ensue. Be- sides, in acute and aggravated cases, nearly all B 2