CONVULSIONS. 389 



tion to health; but it is also found lo assume all the characters of 

 apoplexy, and occasion the death of the patient. It also sometimes 

 happens that certain of the functions remain in a perverted state 

 after the cessation of the convulsions; sometimes the sight, or hear- ■ 

 ing, or smell, or some one of the intellectual faculties appears to have 

 sufTered the severest pressure of the disease; at others, tliere are 

 found internal lacerations or particular effusions, that occasion a de- 

 viation from the natural state of the organism, &c. 



AVhen the woman comes to herself, fatigued and worn out, her 

 limbs bruised, as after long and violent exercise, astonished at the 

 situation in which she finds herself, she is, sometimes, ignorant of 

 every thing that has taken place, can scarcely believe what is told 

 her, and has no knowledge of the extraordinary movements executed 

 by all parts of her frame, or the violent cries she has uttered; some 

 are mentioned, even, who have been delivered without knowing it, 

 and after the attack was over could not understand that they were 

 really delivered! 



On the parts that have been struck with considerable force we 

 afterwards find blackish spots, Avhich are real contusions, attended 

 with more or less pain. 



Where the woman recovers her senses in the intervals of the 

 paroxysms, the convulsions have been denominated epileptiform; 

 in the contrary case, and especially where they are accompanied 

 with stertor and coma, they are called ajjoplectiform or edampsic. 

 This division can be of use no further than this — viz. that the 

 former which are more easily confounded Avilh epilepsy or hysteria, 

 are rarely so dangerous as the latter; but in fact they are only differ- 

 ent shades of the same affection. 



893. The examination of the body after death is far from always 

 giving a satisfactory explanation of the severity of the symptoms. 

 A small quantity of serum in the ventricles of the brain; the veins 

 and sinuses of the brain more or less engorged; the meninges and 

 cerebral substance somewhat red, or of a natural appearance; in 

 some cases evident traces of congestion, or a slight extravasation 

 of blood; but, most generally, no appreciable lesion, is what the 

 unprejudiced observer finds within the cranium. Neither have the 

 other splanchnic cavities exhibited any alterations, that constantly 

 occur in these cases; the heart is flaccid and almost empty; the 

 lungs choked up or pale; a few ounces of citron-colored or reddish 

 serum in the serous cavities, are the principal traces left by the dis- 

 ease in the abdomen and thorax. 



"Without being rare, eclampsia is, notwithstanding, not a disease fre- 

 quently to be met with, since Madame Lachapelle met with it only 



33* 



