Hysteria : the history of a disease / by Ilza Veith.

  • Veith, Ilza.
Date:
1970, ©1965
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hysteria : the history of a disease / by Ilza Veith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    37/128 (page 31)
    this information, and in the delight he felt at the termination of his long and severe confinement, he stuck his thigh a smart blow with his open hand, to prove to me how free his limb was from pain. This occurred late in the afternoon. At half-past ten he had some difficulty of breathing, and he broke out in a profuse perspiration. Stimulants availed him not, and at half-past eleven he was dead. Here is physical exhaustion as the cause, acting on a sys- tem characterized by an unusually low circulation—phlebitis the effect, and sudden death by embolism. Inflammation of the uterus, or of the venous system below it, follows haemorrhage in parturition. Accoucheurs with large experience will confirm this fact. Many years ago I was present at the attempt to reduce a dislocation of the femur in a London hospital. The man, who was to all appearance in perfect health, was bled largely from both arms and from the temporal artery. He also took tartar emetic to the extent of some fifteen grains or more. The quantity of blood abstracted from his circula- tion must have rendered the functions of the heart a Sinecure, for it amounted to 120 ounces. He survived a week, and died of phlebitis, as I had predicted. I might multiply these examples, but it is unnecessary if you comprehend the force of the few cases I have quoted. The causes of disease I refer to above may be classed as follows: 1. Loss of blood, whether accidental or effected ^//Z>^ hands of science^ catamenial, haemorrhoidal, etc. 2. Loss of food, or failure of the material of blood-making. 3. Excessive purgation, whether natural and spontaneous.