Studies on functional nervous disorders.

  • Jones, C. Handfield (Charles Handfield), 1819-1890.
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Studies on functional nervous disorders. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    time. Tlie sliots were removed by operation, were flattened and im- bedded a little in tlie bone. After tlieir removal the pain ceased. Cold, however, when excessive relatively to the power of the system, acts paralysingly like-many other influences. The imminent peril which Alexander incurred by an unseasonable-plunge into the cold Cydnus is well known, and affords a good example of inhibitory depression of the heart's action. A similar act caused the death of 3 out of 4 young men mentioned in Curriers work (Yol. I, p. i^o). Sir R. Martin says the cold bath is death in the collapse which follows a debauch, or, indeed, any other great fatigue of mind or body. Still we need not be over cautious. I have several times, when pretty well fatigued, bathed in the glacier tarns of Switzer- land without injury. It is very remarkable and interesting that the efi'ects of heat are in some measure identical with those of cold. Hot water, as hot as can be borne, has been found a most powerful styptic in bleeding occurring after extraction of a tooth (v. ' Dublin Med. J.,^ May, 1859, p. 487). Trousseau states that in the epistaxis of measles hot water thrown into the nasal cavities is even more effectual than cold. Dr. Druitt also recommends the same remedy in cases of profuse sweating, where the flux is localised, and not preceded by regular febrile paroxysms. The rationale of the effect is probably that the stimulus of the heat applied to sensory nerves produces energetic contraction of the vaso-motor. In some experiments I have performed, holding a thermometer in one hand and immersing the other in very hot water, the first effect of the high temperature was to cause a slight fall of the mercury, which subsequently rose much more as the water became cooler. The action of moist Warmth, whether applied by warm baths or in any other way, is worth considering. It may be stated (i) that it is generally soothing and comforting to sensory nerves in a state of neuralgic suffering, as, for instance, in the headache of influenza, in the suffering produced by gall stones, and in the case of tic douloureux recorded at page 504, but not so constantly in the pain of inflammatory congestion, which, as in the case of a burn, is often arrested by cold. However, there is good evidence that in these same affections, even when very severe, moist warmth may be one of the best means that can be employed. Mr. Windsor^ ^ Syd. Soc. * Year-Book,' 1863, p. 205.