The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1870-11-26

Sleep, Painting, ApepHexy.
When q man is asleep, bis pulse beats
and his lungs play, but he is without
sense, and you can easily wake him up.
If person 'sfaints,H he too is without
sense. but he has no pulse and does moi
breathe.
Appoplexy is between the two the herr,
beats, the lungs play as in sleep, and
there Is no sense, as in fainting, but you
can't shake the man back to life. =
In sleep the face In natural.
Ina fainting fit, it has the pal1or of death.
In appeplexy, it is swollen, turgid, and
fairly liVid.
fa q an is asleep let him alone, nature
will wake him up as ssoon as he has got
sleep enough.
When a person faints, all that is needed
is to lay him down fiat on the floor and
be will come to" in double quick time.
He tainted because the heart missed q
beat, failed for a n instant, failed for only
once to send the proper amount of blood
to the brain. Ifyou place the patient in a
horizontal position, lay him on his back,
it does not require much force of the heart
to send the blood on d level to the head
but III ron set d man up, the blood has to
be shot upward to the head, and this re-
quires much more force yet in nine cas-
es out of ten if a person faints and falls
10 the floor, the first thing done is run to
him and set him up, or place him on a
chair.
In apoplexy, as there is too much blood
in the head, every one can see that the
best position is to set a man up, and the
blood naturally tends downward, as much
SO as water will come out ola bottle when
turned upside down, if the cork is out.
II, then, a man is asleep, let him alone,
for the face is natural. ~s@
If a man has tainted lay him fat on bis
back, for his face is deadly pale.
M a mar is apoplectic, set him in a chair,
because the face is turgid, swollen, livid,
with its excess of blood.
What is a~poplexy? From the sudden
ness OF the attack and the apparent cause.
lessness of ii, the Greeks connected it in
their own minds with the idea of q stroke
of lightning as coming from the Almighty
hand; it literally means, "A stroke from
above" As instantaneous rs the hurting
OF a thunderbolt in a clear sky, there comes
a loss Of sense, and feeling, and thou.ht,
and motion; the heart beats, the lungs
play, but that is all, and soon they cease
forever. The Romans considered the
person to be "thunder struck or " planet
struck" as if it were Of an unearthly ORR
gin.
The essential nature of ~apoplexy is an
unnatural amount of blood in the BRAIN:
whatever sends to much blood to the brain.
may cause ap0plexy; whatever keeps the
blood coming from, the brain, dams it Tn.
may cause a~ppoplexy : that is the kind oil
apoplexy which seems to come without
any apparent adequate cause. TYING a
cord tightly around the neck, or holding
the head downwards too long, can bring on
an attack Of apoplexy, by damming up
the blood IN the brain, and keeping it
from returning to the body.
"a sudden mental emotion car send too
much blood to the brain; or too great
mental excitement does the same thing.
1t is the essential nature Of all wines and
spirits to send an increased amount of
blood to the brain; hence alcohol is said
to stimulate the brain@s
The first effect of taking d glass of wine
or stronger form Of alcohol, is to send the
blood there faster than common. hence It
enickens the circulation; that gives the
red face ;it increases the activity of the
brain, and it works faster, and so does the
But as the blood goes to- the
brain faster than common, it returns faster,
and NO permanent harm results. But sup.
pose Q man Keeps on drinking, the blood
rs sent to- the brain so much faster. in
such larger quantities, that in order to
make room for it the arteries have to en-
themselves; they increase in size.
iR doing 50, press against the more
and faced veins which carry the
blood out of the brain, and thus diminish
their size, their bpres ; the result being
that the blood is not only carried to the
arteries o fthe brain faster than is natural
Or healthful, but it is prevented from
leayingit as fast as usual hence a double
'et OF causes Of death are set in operation.
Hence. q man may drink enough brandy
'r other spirits in j few hours or even
minutes to bring on a fatal attack of apop.
exy this j. literally being dead drunk. .
Halls journal of Health.
=E& ~ N@& - E44. n