The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1875-04-08
Sleeping, Painting, Apoplexy.

When man is asleep his pulse beats and
his lungs play he is without sense, and
can be easily awakened.
If person faints he, too, is without
sense, but he has no pulse, and does not
breathe. Apoplexy is between the two !;
the heart 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 is natural
In a fainting fit it has the pallor of DEATH
In appoplexy it is swollen, turpid, and
fairly ivid.
If a man is asleep, let him alone nature
will wake him up as soon as he has got
sleep enough.
When a person faints, all that is necess-
airy is to lay him down on the floor, and he
will ''come to- in double time He faint
ed because the heart missed beat, failed
for an instant, failed for only once to send
the proper amount of blood to the BRAIN
If you place the patient in horizontal posi-
ton, lay him on his back. 1t does not re-
quire much force of the heart to send the
blood on level to the head but, if you
set man up, the blood has to be shot up
ward to the head, and this requires much
more force yet in nine cases out of ten, if
a person faints and falls to the floor, the
fi1.St iC 70 i
him up, or place him on the chair.
In apoplexy, as there is too much blood
in the head, every one can see that the pos
ition is to set a man up, and the blood nat
urally tends downward-as much so as wa
ter will come out of bottle when it is tur-
ed upside down if the cork is out.
If then, man is merely asleep, let him
alone, for the face is natural.
If a man has tainted, lay him fat on his
back, for his face is deadly pale.
If a man is apopoletic, set him in chair,
because the face is swollen, and liyid with
its excess Of blood.
What is apoplexy? From the sudden
ness Of the attack and the apparent cause
lessness Of it, the Greeks connected it in
their own minds with the idea of stroke
Of lighting as coming from the almighty
hand: it literally means "a stroke from
above" As in Simultaneous as the hurting
of thunderbolt in clear sky, there comes
a loss of sense, and feeling, and thought,
and motion the heart beats, the lungs play,
but that is all-they soon cease forever
The Romans considered the person to be
thunder struck" or planet struck, as if it
were of unearthly origin.
The esential nature of apoplexy is an un-
natural amount Of blood to the brain. What
ever sends too much to the brain may cause
apoplexy. WateVer keeps the blood coming
from the brain-dams it up-may cause
apoplexy. This is the kind of apoplexy
which seems to come without any appar-
ent adequate cause. Tying cord around
the neck, or holding the head downward
too long, can bring on an attack of apoplex-
ey, by damming up the blood in the brain,
and keeping it from returning to the body
A sudden mental, emotion can send too
much blood to the brain, or too great men
tai excitement does the same thing.
1t is the nature of all wines and spirits to
send an increased amount of blood to the
brain hence alcohol is said stimulates the
brain. The first effect of taking glass of
wine or stronger form of alcohol, is to send
the blood there faster than common, hence