APOPLEXY APOSTASY. 



209 



ness and voluntary motion, while the respiration and 

 action of the heart continue, although much oppress- 

 ed. In a complete apoplexy, the person falls sud- 

 denly, is unable to move his limbs or to speak, gives 

 no proof of seeing, hearing, or feeling, and the breath- 

 ing is stertorous or snoring, like that of a person in 

 deep sleep. In a case of less violence, the symptoms 

 are more moderate. Consciousness sometimes re- 

 mains iii part ; some power of motion isi retained, 

 upon one side, or in some parts, at least ; the speech 

 is not entirely lost, but is only an unintelligible mutter- 

 ing of incoherent words. The immediate cause of 

 this disease is some affection or injury of the brain, 

 or of some portion of it ; and it is most commonly 

 produced by a fulness of blood in the head, either 

 remaining in the blood vessels, or poured out, in, or 

 "upon the DRUB, from the rupture in some part, and 

 in sufficient quantity to exert considerable pressure 

 upon that organ. As the state of the whole body 

 depends much upon the sound condition of the brain 

 ;ind nerves, it is evident that such an unnatural state 

 of these organs cannot continue long without danger 

 to life. The termination and effects of the disease 

 vary with the violence of the attack ; and it is either 

 fatal in a few hours, or after a few days, during which 

 a degree of fever is often observed, or the patient re- 

 covers, entirely or with a weakness or lameness of 

 one or more limbs. The immediate cause of the 

 symptoms first occurring, and of those remotely sub- 

 sequent, is not known with absolute certainty ; but 

 from the examination of the bodies of those who have 

 died with this disease, or in whom death has been 

 produced by mechanical injuries to the head, which 

 have been attended by similar appearances ; and from 

 the entire similarity of the symptoms in persons whose 

 brains are injured by the pressure of bones, or blood, 

 or in whom the brain exposed by some wound is pur- 

 )>oscly compressed, &c., to the symptoms presented 

 by apoplexy ; there is scarcely room to doubt, that 

 genuine, complete apoplexy is produced by the pres- 

 sure of blood (whether extravasated or not) upon the 

 brain. This arises from the destruction of the equili- 

 brium or balance of the circulation by various causes, 

 by which an unnatural quantity of blood is forced into 

 an otherwise healthy brain, or the brain and its vessels 

 so weakened, that they are unable to sustain the 

 pressure of the usual quantity of blood. Some of 

 these causes operate directly upon the brain, as strong 

 passions, hard study, exhaustion from fatigue, &c. ; 

 others, indirectly, through the medium of the stomach, 

 :is when this disease is produced by indigestible food, 

 &c. The disposition to it is sometimes hereditary 

 and is most usually found to accompany a short, full, 

 person, a short neck, and a system disposed to a too 

 copious sanguification. It sometimes, also, occurs in 

 people who are exhausted by old age, excessive labour 

 or anxiety, and, in these cases, the brain seems to be 

 too weak to perform its common functions, and the 

 efforts required of it produce an injurious or destruc- 

 tive flow of blood to it. It will Be readily conjectur- 

 ed, from what has been said, that the cure of this 

 disease is by no means easy, as the treatment must 

 be accommodated to the various causes which may 

 have produced it. It is at all times a disease of great 

 danger, but by no means always fatal ; and those af- 

 fected by it sometimes recover as entirely as from any 

 other complaint, although some lameness or defect of 

 motion is apt to remain, either in the limbs, the organs 

 of speech, the eyes or mouth, or some other part. A 

 fatal result is to be anticipated, when the conscious- 

 ness and feeling are entirely lost ; when the eye is in- 

 seiiMble to light, and the pupil does not contract ; when 

 the patient cannot swallow, the respiration grows 

 more laborious, and froth or blood appears at the 

 mouth or nose. But if, on the contrary, the remedies 



used appear to afford relief, and produce a gradual 

 diminution of the symptoms above described, a fa- 

 vourable result may be expected. Although an at- 

 tact of apoplexy comes on, for the most part, sudden- 

 ly, and unexpectedly, yet it is often preceded by ap- 

 pearances, which give warning of its approach 

 These are a high colour of tke whole face, giddiness 

 or vertigo, sparks, or flashes of light before the eyes, 

 noises in the ears, bleeding at the nose, and pain in 

 the head. The danger, in such cases, may most 

 commonly be averted by bleeding and abstemious 

 diet, to be continued till these symptoms are removed. 

 When a person is unfortunately attacked by apo- 

 plexy, the first step should be to open the cravat and 

 collar, so as to leave the neck free : if it be a short 

 time after a meal, or if the last meal has been of an 

 indigestible character, the stomach should be emptied 

 by an emetic, or by tickling the throat with the fin- 

 ger, without waiting for a physician, and, at the same 

 time, a vein or two should be opened, so as to produce 

 a free flow of blood, which should be continued, if 

 the face is flushed and red, till relief is obtained. 

 Subsequent treatment will of course be directed by a 

 medical attendant. Great care should be taken, in 

 such eases, that no attempt is made to arouse the 

 person by rubbing, or any sort of stimulation, internal 

 or external, as these can only do harm. Palsy is 

 sometimes a consequence of apoplexy, but it is more 

 commonly produced by causes of a different charac- 

 ter, and constitutes a different disease. See Palsy. 

 APOSTASY (from Greek a.vt> itm/tai, I stand off) ; 

 a renunciation of opinions or practices, and the 

 adoption of contrary ones, usually applied to one who 

 has forsaken his religion. It is always an expression 

 of reproach. What one party calls apostasy, is 

 termed by the other conversion. History mentions 

 three eminent apostates Julian the Apostate, who 

 had never been a Christian, except nominally, and 

 by compulsion ; Henry IV., king of France, who 

 thought that Paris vaut lien une messe, and that, of 

 course, all France was worth the whole Catholic 

 faith ; and William of Nassau, the stadtholder, who 

 separated himself from the Catholic church, and be- 

 came a Protestant, according to the faith of his father, 

 which, in fact, had always been secretly his own. 

 One day, Henry IV., standing with the marshal Joy- 

 euse on a balcony, seeing many people looking at 

 him, said, Mon cousin, ces gens-Id me paraissent fort 

 aises de voir ensemble un apostat et un renegat. Gen- 

 eral Bonneval, a Frenchman, was a famous apostate. 

 He became a Turkish pacha. Generally, apostates, 

 religious or political, are violent partisans. Catholics, 

 also, call those persons apostates, who forsake a re- 

 ligious order, or renounce their religious vows 

 without a lawful dispensation. The apostasy of a 

 Christian to Judaism or paganism was punished, by 

 the emperors Constant ins and Julian, with con- 

 fiscation of goods; to which the emperors Theo- 

 dosius and Valentinian added capital punishment in 

 case, of the apostate's perverting others. Also, in 

 ancient England, it is said, that apostasy was pun- 

 ishable by burning, and tearing to pieces by horsps. 

 Statutes 9 and 10 of William 111, c. 32, also provide 

 that, if any person, educated in, or having made pro_ 

 fession of the Christian religion, shall deny it to be 

 true, he shall be rendered incapable of holding any 

 office for the first offence, and, for the second, shall 

 be made incapable of bringing any action, of being 

 guardian, executor, legatee or purchaser of lands, and 

 shall suffer three years' imprisonment without bail. 

 The punishment of the first offence, however, will be 

 remitted in case the delinquent, within four months 

 after conviction, publicly renounces his error in open 

 court. Penal laws of this sort, relating to religion, 

 liave generally lain dormant in England. 



