CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



occurred ? Lift the person carefully to a cool airy 

 room, elevate the head, take off the cravat or neck- 

 tie, loosen the shirt-collar, and send for a medical 

 man. Persons who, from hereditary constitution, 

 or from fulness of body, are liable to apoplectic 

 attacks, should lead quiet and regular lives, avoid 

 stimulants, sleep with the head well elevated, and 

 the neck free from constrictions, and bathe the 

 head frequently. The bowels should never be 

 constipated. If subject to giddiness, or sudden 

 confusion of ideas, a seton or issue in the back of 

 the neck may be put in by a surgeon, as a counter- 

 irritant 



Concussion of the brain is caused by a severe 

 blow on the head. There is, according to the 

 force of the blow, a condition more or less ap- 

 proaching unconsciousness. There is also con- 

 fusion of ideas. The pupils are insensible to light. 

 The skin is cold, the breathing can scarcely be 

 detected, and the pulse is feeble and irregular. 

 This condition should be distinguished from that 

 following compression of the brain, where we 

 have deep snoring respiration and a full pulse. 

 In all doubtful cases, as, for example, when a man 

 is found insensible in the street, the odour of the 

 breath should be observed, because drunkenness 

 may be the origin of the insensibility, and it may 

 be neither a case of apoplexy nor of concussion. 

 At the same time, a drunken man may become 

 apoplectic, an event which has occurred in police 

 cells. The treatment of concussion is quietude 

 and rest, with the administration of a little wine 

 or brandy diluted with water. 



Habitual intemperance produces a disease called 

 delirium tremens, on account of the trembling of 

 the muscles which is associated with the delirium. 

 There is complete loss of appetite and sleep ; 

 the patient looks haggard and restless ; may 

 answer questions rationally, but when allowed 

 to follow the current of his own thoughts, talks 

 nonsense ; and he usually suffers from hallucina- 

 tions of the senses, fancying he sees spectres, hears 

 mysterious sounds, or feels vermin crawling over 

 his body. The treatment is dietetic, medical, and 

 moral. In the first place, the sufferer should be 

 compelled to take a considerable quantity of strong 

 concentrated beef-tea, to nourish his exhausted 

 body ; secondly, a dose of thirty grains of the 

 hydrate of chloral in two ounces of water should 

 be given, to cause sleep, and the dose may be 

 repeated at the end of two hours if necessary ; and 

 thirdly, he should be cut off from all intoxicating 

 liquors, and be quietly restrained from mischief by 

 a strong male attendant. Repeated attacks of 

 delirium tremens weaken the mental powers, and 

 may induce insanity another sad instance of 

 the result of abusing the use of alcoholic liquors. 



Headache is a very common complaint, but it 

 may arise from various causes. Frequently it may 

 be termed a bilious headache, because it is associ- 

 ated with derangement of the digestive organs, 

 produced by an error in diet. An ordinary lax- 

 ative quickly removes this variety. Full-blooded 

 people, of a stout habit of body, may suffer from 

 headache and giddiness, which is relieved by a 

 purgative and low diet. Nervous persons, of 

 weakly constitution, are liable to severe headaches, 

 which may be diffuse, or limited to one side of the 

 head. There . is no disturbance of the digestive 

 organs. Such headaches may be caused by the 

 irritation of decayed teeth in the gum. These 



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should be removed. A dose of two grains of 

 quinine three times daily will be found beneficial. 

 Lastly, when headache is severe, constant, limited 

 to one part of the head, and not apparently con- 

 nected with disorder of the digestive system, 

 disease of the brain may be the cause. 



2. The Spinal Cord. The spinal cord is the 

 channel of communication between the brain and 

 the body, and it is also the centre for numerous 

 reflex actions (see PHYSIOLOGY). Consequently, 

 any disease of the cord which affects its structure 

 is attended by paralysis, or loss of power of move- 

 ment. The cord is liable to inflammation, both 

 acute and chronic ; to softenings ; to the pressure 

 of tumours ; to pressure from diseased bone in 

 curvature of the spine ; and to concussion or 

 shock from severe jolts, such as may be got in a 

 railway accident. These diseases are all danger- 

 ous, and require medical or surgical skill. 



~By paralysis we mean the total or partial loss of 

 sensibility or motion, or of both, in one or more 

 parts of the body. If the sensory nerves, which 

 convey impressions from the circumference of 

 the body to the brain, are alone affected, we 

 have partial or complete loss of sensibility; 

 if, on the other hand, the disease affects the 

 part of the central nervous system from which 

 the motor nerves (which carry impressions from 

 the brain to the muscles) originate, or the 

 nerves themselves, the condition is loss of motor 

 power, partial or complete. Paralysis may be 

 local, as when a special nerve is paralysed, or it 

 may be more general. When one side of the 

 body is paralysed, the disease is almost invariably 

 in the brain, and is termed hemiplegia. When 

 the two lower limbs are paralysed, the spinal cord 

 is the seat of the disease, which is called para- 

 plegia. Hemiplegia of one side, say the right, 

 indicates disease in the brain on the opposite side 

 that is, the left. This is owing to the fact, that 

 the great majority of the nerve-fibres which pass 

 from the right half of the brain, cross over at the 

 upper part of the spinal cord, to supply the left 

 side of the body ; while those from the left half 

 pass to the right side. In hemiplegia, as the 

 disease is cerebral, there is usually more or less 

 disorder of the mental faculties ; but such is not 

 the case in paraplegia, the disease being in the 

 cord. In both kinds of paralysis, the muscles 

 undergo fatty degeneration and waste from disease, 

 unless daily stimulated to contract by electricity. 

 Details as to the treatment of paralysis cannot be 

 given in the limits at our disposal There is a 

 form of local paralysis of one-half of the face pro- 

 duced by sitting in a cold draught of air, such as 

 exists at the window of a railway carriage. The 

 cause here is the effect of cold on the nerve sup- 

 plying the muscles of expression on one side 

 of the face. The features on one side lose 

 the power of expression, and the eye on the 

 affected side remains wide open from paralysis 

 of the muscle which closes the lids. There 

 usually no loss of sensibility. This affection 

 purely local ; it does not indicate any disease of tl 

 brain; and it usually disappears at the end of i: 

 or 14 days, the nerve slowly regaining the powe 

 of exciting the muscles on the affected side 

 contract properly. Painters, and other operath 

 who work with lead, suffer from paralysis of 

 extensor muscles of the fore-arm, so that the 

 cannot, by any effort of will, raise the hand, bi 



