Volume 1

Clinical lectures on the diseases of the nervous system : delivered at the infirmary of La Saltpêtrière / by J.M. Charcot ; translated by Thomas Savill.

  • Charcot, J. M. (Jean Martin), 1825-1893.
Date:
1889
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Clinical lectures on the diseases of the nervous system : delivered at the infirmary of La Saltpêtrière / by J.M. Charcot ; translated by Thomas Savill. 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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    2>S,is subject to nervous attacks at long intervals; the fifth died at birth. The patient assures us that she has never had any serious illness; never, for instance, was affected by rheumatism or chorea. Although she had been a costermonger for thirteen years, she never gave way to excess in drink. She has always lived in healthy lodgings, well exposed to the sunshine; she was happy in her home, and never suffered from any privations. Invasion of the disease.—Her affection first showed itself in 1868, under the following circumstances. Her third son, of whom she was particularly fond, unexpectedly told her one day that he had enlisted as a soldier. This news greatly afflicted her; she wept much over it, and from the following day was aware of a weakness in her right arm. Soon after, the left arm was taken in the same way, then the right lower extremity was invaded, and (simultaneously) the left. During the night-time she had cramps in her legs which made her cry out. Next she experienced weakness in the loins. At the time of her entrance into hospital (December, 1872), she was not so weak as at present (July 8th, 1874). The trembling began to invade the members, afPecting first the right upper extremity, in the early months of 1873. Lastly, she noticed about the same time that she was affected by retropulsion; one day, having missed her step, she felt herself compelled to walk backwards in spite of herself. Present state (J uly 8th, 1874).—-The general attitude of the patient, when standing, is that described by M. Charcot in Lecture Y, and which is so faithfully depicted on Plate YIII, by M. P. Eicher. The body and head are bent forward; the neck is stretched and the head seems as though fixed on a rigid stem. The features are quite immobile; the brow is but faintly marked with wrinkles; the eye- lids are moderately open; the patient can, however, raise or lower them with ease. The eyes, but shghtly expressive, are directed forward; the patient must turn her whole body in order to look aside. Sometimes the lips adhere, but generally the mouth is half open, the lower lip, relaxed and hanging, allows the dental arch to be seen, the saliva flows involuntarily. The lips and tongue do not tremble. Deglutition, it appears, is almost always laborious. The arms are held slightly apart from the chest; the fore-arms, half flexed, are so placed that the hands rest on the umbilical region, whilst the elbows are somewhat apart from the body. The thumb, slightly inflexed, rests usually on the forefinger; the other fingers