On infantile paralysis and some allied diseases of the spinal cord : their diagnosis and treatment / by Julius Althaus.

  • Althaus, Julius.
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On infantile paralysis and some allied diseases of the spinal cord : their diagnosis and treatment / by Julius Althaus. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    a current of some power is used. Direct muscular faradisation is performed by placing both electrodes on the belly of the muscle which is to be examined and is quite local in its effects. Where infantile paralysis is complete, and has lasted for some time, we find that this faradic re- sponse of the muscles is totally absent, even where a considerable force of current is employed, and whether we use direct or indirect muscular faradi- sation. The muscle appears completely dead and unexcitable to this form of electricity; while in other forms of paralysis, more especially in hemi- plegia from cerebral haemorrhage, or from softening by embolism and thrombosis, the paralysed muscles generally respond equally well to faradisation as the healthy ones, and continue to do so for years after the paralysis has become established. We may, therefore, by this means alone distinguish infantile paralysis from cerebral palsy. Where the loss of power is incomplete, the faradic excitability of the muscles is not entirely gone, but more or less con- siderably diminished; and this can be accurately ascertained by comparing the corresponding muscles of the healthy limb with those of the paralysed one, when it is seen that an electric force which is capable of producing a decided effect on the healthy muscles, will remain ineffectual in the diseased muscles; and that the force must be considerably increased before any effect in the latter is witnessed.