Sumncfs Sufferings Dr. >rown-Sequard. 



20 



most unpleasant things for people to bear: "You are 

 very stupid:" or, "Ibis is a madness in you." And sho 

 said those things to the Queen or to anybody else, and 

 that quite suddenly, frequently interrupting a conversa- 

 tion for the purpose. In two of thoso eases, that of the 

 mathematician and the lady, both of whom I have seen, 

 I have ascertained that the aff.iotion was dependent on 

 the irritation of ccrtaiu parts of ttio stomach, and 

 bowels. 



Ouco a paiient, a young lady, was brought to me by 

 her father. My office was up stairs at tuo time. I hap- 

 pened to bo down stairs -when the gentleman caine. I 

 asked him to go up, and told him I would follow in a few 

 minutes. The father turned to me and said, "Please pay 

 attention." I did not know what ho meant, but I said, 

 "Is your daughter so very ill?" "Oh, no, but just 

 listen." I listened, and just then the lady called out, 

 "Hoo! lioo! hoo! boo!" (imitating a peculiar unrc- 

 portablo tone, in which tbe sound was uttered.) His 

 daughter was afflicted with that peculiar trouble which 

 has no name in science, which, consists in the ejacula- 

 tion of the sound of a word. Some of those patients, 

 especially those who are hysterical, bark like dogs ; 

 which has given rise to the name hysterical barking. 



There are many other facts which show that even 

 attacks of the greet convulsive affections may be 

 brought on by a mere touch, or mere tickling. When I 

 was lecturing in St. Bartholomew's Hospital in 1858, a 

 youne patient came to consult me, who was an epilep- 

 tic, and who could not be touched in tbe back part of his 

 head without having an attack. Ho committed suicide 

 soon after. His fellow-students there had the cruelty to 

 press on the back of his head fvery frequently. As he 

 had no chance in life, he thought, except in the study of 

 uudk'ine, and as he could not endure the treatment he 

 received there, he was thrown into despair, and so com- 

 mitted suicide. 



CONVULSIONS AT A TOUCH NERVES GOVERNING BLOOD- 

 VESSELS. 



My very ablo friend, Prof. Edward H. Clarke, has 

 found in one of his patients that the touching of the 

 breast brings on a fit of epilepsy. I have seen a number 

 of cases in practice, in which the irritation of one part of 

 the skin produced an attack immediately. In Guinea 

 pigs, as I have said, it is quite enough to tickle the neck, 

 or sometimes it is apparent to blow upon the neck to 

 have an attack appear. Tetanus may be excited in the 

 game way. It is so frequently in hydrophobia, the 

 touch of the wound produced by the bite of the dog 

 being enouffh to occasion an attack. 



A friend of mine, Dr. Bastiau of Paris, has seen a case 

 of hysteria in a man who had a tumor in the ear which 

 could hardly bo touched without soaio convulsive phe- 

 nomena occurring. The tumor was removed and the 

 patient recovered. Catalepsy is of the same category. 

 It can be produced in some persons by merely striking 

 the body. I had one case of that kind in London. The 

 patient was the daughter of a physician there. A simple 

 touch of a part of the spine was sufficient to produce an 

 attack. Chorea and a good many other affections may 

 be thus produced. In one case, sneezing was performed 

 60,000 times, according to the record of a physician, in 

 82 hours, owing to the simple irritation of the auditory 

 nerve. Wiieii that was cured, the patient ceasud to 

 sneeze. 



The next series of facts I have to sponk of consists of 

 alterations of nutrition excited by nerve force. For 

 many years, before a great discovery was made as re- 

 gards the action of a certain class of nerves on blood- 

 vessels, there were physiologists wuo admitted that 



blood-vessels were controlled by nerves; but facts bad 

 not been brought forward proving it positively. I had 

 an opportunity with a friend of mine, Dr. Tholozan, who 

 is now the eminent physician of the Shah of Persia, to 

 see how nervous influences can bo exerted on blood-ves- 

 sels from dipping one hand into cold wat. r. If one hand 

 is dipped into water at nearly freezing point, we find that 

 the blood-vessels of the other hand are contracted, and 

 as a consequence of that, there is a diminution of tem- 

 perature. In one case this diminution of temperature 

 was 60 great, owing to the lack of circulation there, that 

 my friend lost 21 Fall, in ten minutes, the temperature 

 of the air being very low that day. Wo found that on 

 certain days wo were more excitable than others. Tlio 

 mechanism was simply this : The irritation of nerves in 

 one arm, when dipped into water, is propagated by the 

 spinal cord and goes to the blood-vessels in the other 

 hand and produces a contraction there, which re- 

 mains, so that no blood reaches the part. Such an effect 

 we sometimes see in people from an exposure to cold 

 air, which may produce what Marshall Hall calls diyillt 

 semi mortuis ; that is, fingers half (lead. The fingers 

 seem to be dead, and really there is no circulation in the 

 part. How life can be maintained there is a mystery. 

 It may last sometimes for days without gangrene. Most 

 likely there is some serum there which receives oxygen, 

 just as the serum m the cornea receives oxygen when 

 that part is wounded. But at any rate it seems mysterious 

 that there is no decay when there is such an absence 

 of circulation. When we galvanize the cervical sym- 

 pathetic in the back of the neck we produce a contraction 

 of the blood-vessels of the face immediately, and all 

 the consequences that I have noted as following such 

 a contraction. There is a diminution of the tempera- 

 ature, a diminution of the sensibility, a diminution also 

 of the vital property. If the reverse is done, if the 

 nerve is divided instead of galvanised, then we have 

 an opposite effect. The blood-vessels are paralyzed ; 

 they dilate considerably. There is more blood becausa 

 the channel is more open. The heart sends blood witk 

 tbe same force everywhere; but if one part of the sys- 

 tem is more free it receives more blood, and in conse- 

 quence of the greater iuSux. of blood there is an in- 

 creased temperature, au increased sentlbdity, and an 

 increase in the vital property of the part. 



When I made my first experiments on th<> galvaniza- 

 tion of the sympathetic, I came to the conclusion atouco 

 that those nerves most likely came in a measure at least 

 from the cerebro-spiaal system, although they belong to 

 what we call the sympathetic nerve. I was led to 

 this conclusion by facts which I have no time to men- 

 tion. But the great point is this : I ascertained by a few 

 experiments that it is chiefly from some nerves there, 

 the first, second, and third dorsal nerves in the spine, 

 that the sympathetic receive those branches. This fact 

 was put in a more clear and forcible way by two otJier 

 physiologists, Dr. Budge and Dr. Waller. 



THE TREATMENT OF CHARLES SUMNER. 



When, in 1857, I saw Mr. Charles Sumuer for the first 

 time, he presented to me at once symptoms which I 

 could not but recognize as dependent upon au irritation 

 of sonle fibers of that sympathetic nerve, and a paralysis 

 of others. As you know, ho received a terrible blow 

 upon the head. His spine as he was sitting had been 

 bent in two places, the cranium fortunately resisting. 

 This bending of tbe spine in two places had produced 

 there the effects of a sprain. When I saw him in 1'aria 

 he had recovered altogether from the first effects of 

 the blow. He suffered only from the two spraius 

 of the epiue and perhaps a sliglit irriition of 



