Volume 2

Clinical treatises on the symptomatology and diagnosis of disorders of respiration and circulation / by Edmund von Neusser ; authorized translation by Andrew MacFarlane.

  • Neusser, Edmund von, 1852-1912.
Date:
1907-1909
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Clinical treatises on the symptomatology and diagnosis of disorders of respiration and circulation / by Edmund von Neusser ; authorized translation by Andrew MacFarlane. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    17/152 (page 15)
    result is generally small and soft. Retardation of the pulse appears as a symptom of those forms of tobacco poisoning which run the course of stenocardia, most probably caused by a spasm of the coronary arteries, and accompanied by retrosternal pain, dyspnoea, tremor of the extremities, together with vertigo and fainting spells. The long continued misuse of tobacco may also lead to organic changes in the heart and vascular system. I have observed a case of myocarditis in an inveterate smoker characterized during life by irregularity and inefficiency of cardiac action, while the autopsy dis¬ closed an enormous dilatation of the heart and atrophy of the papillary muscles, especially of the auricles, with fatty degeneration and atrophy of the musculature. Another large consumer of tobacco manifested, in addition to cyanosis and congested liver, a markedly visible swelling of the jugular veins, which did not pulsate. Simultaneous derangement of vision—sco¬ toma for red and green, and considerable impairment of vision—were interpreted by Professor Bergmeister as a consequence of the overindulgence in tobacco. It was a striking fact in this case that, in spite of cyanosis and congestive manifestations, the second pulmonic sound was accentuated, although neither the left ven¬ tricle nor the lungs indicated any cause for the in¬ creased pressure. The conclusion readily suggests it¬ self that the cardiac affection was here chieflv localized **■ in the auricles, manifesting itself in their dilatation and diminished contractile power. The absence of