Observations relative to the state of the skull and of the brain in congenital chronic hydrocephalus, and to idiocy and paralysis attending it : with cases / by Francis Battersby, M.B.

  • Battersby, Francis.
Date:
1851
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations relative to the state of the skull and of the brain in congenital chronic hydrocephalus, and to idiocy and paralysis attending it : with cases / by Francis Battersby, M.B. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    alone excepted. He was never able to quit his cradle unless assisted by three or four people. As he never made use of his feet, they remained extremely small, and looked like those of a boy of twelve years, forming an odd contrast with the rest of his body, which was as large as that of a full-grown person. His appetite and hearing were both good. His sight was imperfect, and he squinted. His mental faculties were not contemptible, though he was generally considered an idiot on account of his looking so very stupid. His spirits were always good, and he was glad to see^ people. His smiles were hideous, and his shrill voice the most disagreeable I ever heard, says Michaelis. The circumfe- rence of his head was thirty-two inches. His monstrous head he was unable to move, unless assisted by others. His limbs were neither rickety nor deformed, except his left hand, which had lately become distorted, from its having constantly remained unmoved in a bent position. A man used to show himself ai fairs, says Van Swieten,* who, from the beginning of life, had laboured under an hydrocephalus, and he was very languid, but, however, was above thirty years old. His head was of a prodigious size, though the rest of his body was not bigger than that of a boy ten years old. He had his senses, but was of dull intellect, nor could he move about much; and indeed the great weight of his head hindered him from sitting upright any long time unless he was supported by pillows placed behind. Perfect idiocy results from congenital hydrocephalus. Dr Schmittf says individuals affected by it have been seen to live to the age of forty years and upwards, with a more or less free exercise of their intellectual faculties. Examples of this are nevertheless rare, and they are even cited as objects of curiosity. He gives an instance of a man, aged twenty-four years, the volume of whose head was enormous, being twenty-five inches in circumference. One could not raise it without being astonished at its weight. The rest of his body was very small in comparison with the head. Its length, with the head, was forty-one inches, and thirty-one not including it. His extremities were extremely feeble and reduced, the upper principally were paralysed and con- tracted. The hands rested against the external part of the forearm, the consequence, apparently, of convulsions, to which he had been daily subject for years, and the attacks of which continued about a quarter of an hour. His language was very imperfect, it only consisted of some demiarticulated sounds, only intelligible to those constantly with him. His tongue was well formed. His eyes were large and awry, and were fixed upwards. His sight very good. His mouth was of a deformed size. His physiognomy announced idiocy the most profound, and all his manner corresponded to the ex- • Commentaries, Vol. xii., p. 241. f Biblloth. Germaiiique, T. vi., p. 234.