TREATMWW2 OF DISEASES. PM 



frequently they are all of a sudden absorbed, and in four and twenty hours the 

 sore becomes as much increased in size as it had been diminished for many 

 weeks. The principal applications required for indolent ulcers are those of a 

 stimulating nature, as the basilicon ointment, and occasional sprinkling with 

 red precipitate. Pressure is to be made by a roller, and by slips of adhesive 

 plaster. Scrofulous, syphilitic, and cancerous ulcers are to be treated according 

 to the methods laid down under these various diseases. 



PALSY. — A disease in which some part of the body is affectzd 

 with the loss of the power of motion. It may be of all degrees, from a 

 universal attack of the -^hole body, or a complete palsy of one of the sides, to 

 the palsy of a single finger, or a few fibres of a muscle. It proceeds from the 

 same causes as apoplexy, and is in reality often a modification or partial attack 

 of that disease. The disease is also brought on by mere loss of nervous power, 

 as when the brain " gives way," in hard- worked literary men. When a patient, 

 by proper remedies, or the powers of nature, recovers a little from an attack 

 of apoplexy, it is very common for him to be seized with palsy. 



Palsy sometimes comes on suddenly, at other times there is numbness,, 

 coldness, and paleness of the part about to be affected. Sometimes the judg- 

 ment and memory are impaired; the speech is imperfect from the disease of 

 both body and mind; the mouth and cheeks are distorted, and the countenance 

 is expressive of much anxiety. When the lower extremities are partially 

 affected, the patient drags them after him. 



Causes. — The same causes that excite apoplexy, occasion palsy when 

 applied in a less degree; therefore tumors, wrong determination of blood, 

 bruises, pressure on nerves, the drying up of usual evacuations, are often found 

 to induce palsy. When one side of the body is palsied, the disease is termed 

 hemiplegia, and when the lower part of the body is affected the disease is called 

 paraplegia. Certain sedative substances, long applied, produce palsy of some 

 parts of the body, as we see in those who work among lead, and are affected 

 with the Devonshire Colic; one remarkable symptom of which is the palsy of 

 the thumbs and calves of the legs. Palsy is not unfrequently produced gradu- 

 ally by some tumor or other disease pressing on the vertebrae of the back; and 

 this is commonly the cause of the palsy of young people. 



Prognosis.— li is generally unfavorable. Palsy does not suddenly prove 

 mortal. Its cure is the more diflicult the more the senses are injured; and 

 such cases commonly continue till the end of life, often very remote. When 

 palsy follows apoplexy, or happens in old people, it is seldom cured. The 

 palsies of young people are sometimes recovered from. If convulsions occut 

 in the parts opposite to those that are palsied, the danger is great. When 

 palsy occurs from pressure or blows on the spinal marrow, or on any large 

 nerves, it is generally hopeless, and the dragging of the limb is seldom got 

 completely the better of. 



Treatment.— When palsy comes on suddenly, it is proper to treat it a* 

 we do apoplexy sometimes, by bleeding, by purging, by blisters to the head; 

 and when the acute symptoms are in some measure relieved, we apply stimu- 

 lants to the limbs, or weakened parts, if they are within our reach. When 



