New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-03-25
NRRVE DERANGEMENTS.


MENTs ON DEcAPrrATED MEN-MovENENTs OF
THR BODY HOURS AFTER DEATH-A CASE OF
ECSTASY.
tyRou AN OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE rRrBUNE'
BosroN. March S-ThOse who braved last
nights violent storm to hear DR. Brown-Sequard were
disappointed II they expected dry season at the Lowe
Institute The lecture instructive ana as ehef
tanning as those that preceded it,
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: tried last wednesday hlsh'
20 show that a good many disorders our system
may result from the soppase arrest OF the activity OF
certain cells gray matter shall now conclude 'hls
part Of my subject Tetanus or lockJaw Ia one OF tue
eonvusive affections which can be stopped Immediately
BY certain coming from certain parts OF the
system The kind of tetanus that stryehnine will
produce can be stopped NJ once, as Rosen'
Thai has discovered. by insulating air into the
lungs He thought that was the oxygen that stopped
the attack but have ssesrtaned that earoonic acid
will also stop the commissions. In the same way o'nef
psychologists ascertained that current q
ism applied in q peculiar manner will, in many in
ances stop the teanus excited by strychnine Dol al
WAYS saving the animal, but frightening the life ana
ewing chance OF recovery. Tetanus, which comes
Som wounds OF injuries nerves, may also be stopped
Choroform either applied along the spine or taken IN
tsrnaly in both cases may Produce an irritation OF
nerves and act on the cells of gray matter In the
spinal cord 50 that the mechanism OF the arrest
Of commissions in tetanus is just the same
as the mechanism OF the arrest Of the heart
IN the ease the galvaDzaton OF the par vag"m IN the
neck / have already mentioned that epilepsy can dc
stopped by a mechanism of that kind. And may auu
that when attack Of epilepsy to begp wheh tnere
are certain symptoms indicating IT. great many means
indeed, can be used 10 prevent It, An irritation OF
almost any part OF skin may be sufficient to stop an
attack and the irritation itself be OF great many
different kinds Yet in each individual case IL is lhpos
sbe to say riori that method that has succeeded
many times with other patients will succeed with the
enc you have 10 deal with.
TRUE THEORY OF LIGATURE IN EPILEPSY.
There are cases in which there is what is called an
aura starting from limb. From the time OF Galen TO
our own IL has been shown great many times that
hgature bound around the limb in which THE influence
takes place will stop the IT. The supposed philosophy
Of these that something started from the limb
that the BRAIN and that the hgature being APP
pied prevented that something from passing have
shown that by which the attack prevented
f. Just the opposite Of that Instead Of preventing
something passing the gaure rritates the nerves
On the skin and sends current toward the brain
changing the of the cells there and preventing an
attack. This has been shown very clearly indeed in
great many that have especially since
1900 when connected with the Hospital for Epep-
ny. In London. AT that hospital had a very intei-
gent nurse, to whom had given the proper directions
There three four patients there who had TINS
particular kind of symptom In these cases, when the
nurse not far from the patient or when she had
time 70 called them, she invariably prevented the
attack. In Of those cases. that OF a olergyman'
daughter, there paralysis one side OF the body
and commissions chiefly in the paralyzed limbs, extend
ing 70 the feet; always beginning by the contract
the foot thai side AS as the nurse heard thai
an attack was pending, sue rushed to her patient
and Immediately pinehed her first on the foot o.
leg Of the side which To be cOnvused and aferwar'
Oh the healthy side. In every the patient wal
sti It is rule that the t will he stopped
when there such Sometimes the ligaturt
oh foH 9TH mn no
instance patients having trouble internally
relief is found in giving something which
will irritate the Of the stomach powerfully
either brandy gnu. rum, ammonia or some Sim
liar medicine And II the stomach be empty the chance
Of preventing an attack is greater An immense num-
Der Of facts II ia almost always possible TO
opepuc patients from an attack If there is time
enough TO apply the proper means. There are
other facts which show that an attack may
not only be prevented but that epilepsy may
be cured by of irritation OF certain in the
periphery of the BODY Unfortunately, however. the
means that mention, though they have been acct
denaly employed with great too hazardous
~ be generally employed. There are many cases of
epilepsy that have been cured by mere accidental
burning. by fracture Of the hmb or by the wOundns
Of limb part OF the trunk In fact an irritation in
part OF the system may sometimes be the means of
curing. Unfortunately, we do not know when We deal
with epileptc patients what chance there will be in rri
tatng part rather than another, and cannot tor
ment our poor patient death by trying the whole
OF the body which will best TO irtae
the nervous centers.
CURING INSANITY BY IRRITATING THE SKIM
Another KIND OF stOppage arrest OF the activity of
cells in the OF the morbid activity of the
brain. In treating OF epilepsy have spoken partly OF
this subject, but what have say distinct from
what have previously said. Take patient who is
insane. There many published in the medical
journals relating insanity showing that large
Der Of patients have been cured suddenly by Of
Irritation of the SKIN, that either accidental
pOyed tby a physician. There other means more
curious and equally effective, ia the about
o. mention. patient in unatic asylum met another
one who struck his head and broke the Uranium
on tho right side. The brain oOzed out;
good deal Of il was lost, and the patient
was cured OF his insanity and epilepsy.
fLsugherl This is rather dangerous OF treat
men however and Of course speak OF II only TO show
that an irritation brought TO the brain may Often cure
IL Is in that way that bold surgeOnsas many there
in this country IN the period from 1925 TO lS59-who
have brought their instruments TO the Uranium and
made opening there In of epilepsy in search Of
disease at that place that dd NOT exist nave very ire
quenty cured their patients. But not because they
have TAKE away the disease that they supposed existed
there, but because they have produced an irritation
which has done it. may add that not neces-
ssry open the cranum though II has been done, to
my own knowledge more than fifty times in this cOun-
try All that Is called for is irritation Of the skin OF
the and OF the brOus band that the bone
between the SKIN and brain. Irritation there has very
good chance OF curing epilepsy In many very obstinate
cases There many cases record showing that
Inflammation in almost any Of the organs of the body
sufficient 10 check insanity In the same way other az
sections OF The brain. such amaurOsis paralysis,
may be cured suddenly sometimes without any cause
that We can bnd but wth good ground certainly to be-
Eeye that irritation has acted which has produced
change the cells the brain and diminished their
those affections have been cured by irritation.
Those alterations of cells that producing
OF ue power Ot slglt or paralysis have been sub
United TO an irritation OF parts OF the
st,aoT ,o,r "a , some v ns o ana TN,
change In the activity Of those cells has cured the dis