A treatise on gout, apoplexy, paralysis, and disorders of the nervous system / by A. Rennie.

  • Rennie, A. (Alexander)
Date:
1828
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on gout, apoplexy, paralysis, and disorders of the nervous system / by A. Rennie. 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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    machs, who never dare venture on such liquids without inducing these attacks. They feel no inconvenience per- haps at the moment, but a slight sense of coldness at sto- mach ; but towards evening, or in bed, when reaction is excited, the torpor of the stomach changes into reactive sensibility, and then the spasmodic effort ensues. If along with a cold acid drink, the person has been exposed in wet or cold, or has stood on the damp ground, or on a wet day has stood in a cold current, the sympathetic torpor and congestion of the stomach thereby occasioned, tends greatly to increase the hurtful effects of the cold liquids directly applied. Along with the reactive sensi- bility of (he stomach which succeeds, there is a general reaction of the whole circulation, the heart and arteries pulsate vigorously, the feet continue cold and numb, the descending circulation is impeded; and in these cir- cumstances the spasm at stomach, which is similar to an abortive effort at retching, forcibly impedes the descent of the blood by the aorta, and it is projected often with great violence upwards on the brain. Spasm therefore at stomach, from a previous torpor of the stomachic nerves, either by cold and acids directly ap- plied to them, or indirectly by sympathy with the surface and extremities when exposed to cold and wet, is one frequent cause of determination of blood to the head, so soon as in process of reaction the sensibility of the stomachic coats returns in excess. There are, however, other ways in which a sudden im- pulse of blood to the head takes place. Sometimes while the stomach contracts in spasm, the heart undergoes a similar spasmodic contraction by sympathy ; a violent con- vulsive throb is felt there, and the head at the moment feels stunned by the forcible impetus of the ascending blood. Sometimes a large meal of indigested food oppresses the stomach, while the individual, wrapped up in warm blankets in an airless apartment, with curtains closely drawn, feels