A treatise on neuralgic diseases, dependent upon irritation of the spinal marrow and ganglia of the sympathetic nerve / By Thomas Pridgin Teale.

  • Teale, Thomas Pridgin, 1801?-1867.
Date:
1829
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on neuralgic diseases, dependent upon irritation of the spinal marrow and ganglia of the sympathetic nerve / By Thomas Pridgin Teale. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    I will, however, add to them the stethoscopic distinc- tions enumerated by Laennec: 1. The heart is found to be of natural size; the sound, though clear, is not strongly heard over a great extent. 2. The shock, although apparently strong at first, has, in reality, but little impulse, for it does not sensibly elevate the head of the observer. The last sign he regards as most im- portant, when, in addition to it, we consider the fre- quency of the pulsations, which is always greater than iatural. The nervous affection of the heart may also exist in conjunction with organic disease, and is a frequent, though by no means universal cause of the paroxysmal exacerbations in diseases of the heart. I have seen several instances of organic disease of the heart, connected with tenderness in the cervical portion of the spine, in which the paroxysms have been greatly relieved by means di- rected to the neighbourhood of the cervical ganglia. It is an interesting subject for inquiry, how far nervous affections of the heart predispose to or excite organic diseases of this part. I confess myself unable to speak decidedly upon this pot. Dr. Darwall seems to favour the supposition. Laennec, however, remarks, ‘‘ It is commonly supposed, that nervous palpitations, (suppos- ing the action of the heart to be habitually in excess,) will at length produce hypertrophy of this organ. I do not deny the possibility of it, but I must say that I have never seen any thing which proves this opinion to be well-founded. I know some persons who have suf- fered from habitual palpitations more than ten years without there being any real sign of hypertrophy or of dilatation.”’* * Traité de l’Auscultation, &c. vol. ii. p. 753.