Clinical lectures on diseases of the nervous system : delivered at the National Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic, London / by W.R. Gowers.

  • Gowers, W. R. (William Richard), 1845-1915.
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Clinical lectures on diseases of the nervous system : delivered at the National Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic, London / by W.R. Gowers. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    of the leg ceased to increase, improved somewhat, and then became stationary, and when he came to this hospital its state was much as it is now, with due allowance for the effect of the fresh trouble which brought him to us. In connection with his case there is a little story which I cannot resist the temptation of telling you, especially since the patient here can correct me if I am wrong. Per- haps it is a little beyond the proper subject of a lecture, but I dare say, gentlemen, you will not be strict. The patient suffered from severe headache, optic neuritis, and signs of a local cerebral lesion in one cerebral hemisphere, of subacute onset. It was certainly a quickly growing tumor, and almost certainly syphilitic. Thus the case was most instructive. In 1870, as you know, not quite so much was known of optic neuritis as is now known, and he was shown to a good many visitors. The interest, too, was not lessened by the indications of argyria—the staining of the face from nitrate of silver for a morbid process in the spinal cord similar to that which in the brain lessened with extreme rapidity under iodide of potassium. Great care and caution were taken in all that was said in his presence. I can even now remember the scrupulous circumlocutory care adopted to guard against any percep- tion, on his part, of what was thought about his previous treatment. But the man possesses a considerable amount of intelligence, and he picked up too much information, although he gave us no indication of the fact. The symp- toms rapidly subsided. On the morning after his discharge he paid a visit to the physician under whose care he had been, and from whom he had received the silver. He obtained an interview with the doctor. The result of that visit was, I am certain, to improve the therapeutical knowl- edge of the physician, and I have also no doubt that the result was very much to the advantage of any other patient who subsequently came under the care of that physician