Contributions to the study of shell shock : being an account of certain disorders of cutaneous sensibility / by Charles S. Myers.

  • Myers, Charles S. (Charles Samuel), 1873-1946.
Date:
1916?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Contributions to the study of shell shock : being an account of certain disorders of cutaneous sensibility / by Charles S. Myers. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    later to be as completely mute, dazed, and dismal as on admission. A third mute was so preoccupied with thoughts and hallucinations of the shelling that it was quite impossible to obtain his attention for more than a few seconds continuously. Degrees of mutism.—As I have just said, many of the men, seen soon after onset, were absolutely dumb. Most of those, however, whom I saw later, could be speedily induced to whisper consonantal sounds and sometimes vowels, while a few had so far progressed as to be able, with encouragement, to repeat in a whisper single monosyllabic words or even to reply (almost always monosyllabically) to questions. On the other hand, certain cases, including a few which I believe to have been partially malingering, stolidly main¬ tained an absolute mutism when evacuated to England. I have not seen a case in which meaningless jargon was uttered. With very few exceptions mutes could be induced to cough. Whistling or forcible expiration was often impossible. Deafness.—A considerable number of mutes give a history of initial deafness. Deafness is as common in the A as in the B group. In many cases it is clearly due to inattention, being part of the vacant, semi-stuporose, or pre-occupied condition of the patient. Such men can occasionally be made to hear, but fail to appreciate what is said to them. In others, especially in the A cases, the deafness appears due to diminished sensory acuity ; aud in these there may have ’ been recent aural discharge. Certain deaf-mutes, nearly all of them B cases, can be made to give an in¬ voluntary start on first hearing an unexpected noise, but not again ; or they can be induced to carry out the first order addressed to them (e.g., to put out the tongue), but no subsequent order. This condition is generally associated with one of stolid stupidity, and with complete mutism. Deaf-mutes usually recover their hearing before their speech. Other concomitants of mutism.—Stupor (with the defects which may be considered as part of this condition), amnesia, and deafness are by far the commonest concomitants of mutism. Besides these the following affections may be mentioned, in their order of frequency: muscular tremor, contracted visual fields, unsteady or incoordinated move¬ ments, defective cutaneous sensibility. I have not seen a case of functional hemiplegia or of hyperaasthesia associated with mutism. I have seen several showing choreiform, spasmodic, or “jumpy ” movements at an early stage, in some of which, I believe, mutism developed from a previous stage of dysarthria. A very few cases give a history of vomiting. The pulse, when altered, is usually quickened