138 LOCALIZED ELECTRIZATION. 



respiration, such as paresis or paralysis of the expiratory or 

 bronchial muscles of Reissessen (paralysis of the lung) ; o. simple 

 or comatose apucea, producing consecutively an accumulation of 

 bronchial mucus and asphyxia. 



A. — Tlie following clinical observation is the proof of the two 

 first assertions : — 



Case VIII. — Grave disorrJer of the cardiac innervation and of expiration, 

 in conserjui net' of dij'htheritic jjoisojriug. 



Summary. — Membran,ons angina attaching a large surface, in a lady twenty- 

 one years old; dijyhtheritic poisoning producing, on the sixteenth day, paralysis 

 of the 2iha7'y7ix and the soft ]ialate, and towards the twenty-seventli day, after 

 a miscarriage at three months and a half, other j^ndytic phenomena symptomatic 

 of a lesion of the medidla; namely, — 1. Grave disorder of the cardiac circidat ion , 

 due to paralysis of the vagus, and removed hy slight cutaneous faradization of 

 the precordial region. 2. Two days later, temporary di/jlojna, lasting an hour, 

 and immediately followed by hemiplegia of the left side; ivhich ivas cured in 

 an hour hy cutaneous faradization of the paralysed parts. 3. Two or three 

 hours later, a return of grave functional disorder of the circulation ; cured again, 

 after two days of cutaneous faradization of the jirecordial region, practised 

 night and day at short intervals. 4. Grave functional disturbance of respira- 

 tion, symptomatic of paralysis of the intrinsic expiratory muscles (bronchial 

 muscles of lieissessen') or, in other icords, paralysis of the lung; removed imme- 

 diately {for the space of half an hour or an hour), and on different occasions, 

 by cutaneous faradization of the dorsal aspect of the chest. 5. Lastly, forma- 

 tion of bronchial mucus from rreakness or p)aralysis of expiration, and death on 

 the thirty-eighth day, at two o'clock in the morning. 



Slaclame X., 21 years of age, and three months advanced in pregnancy, was 

 attacked, on the 22nd February, 1869, with a membranous angina, following 

 a cold. It seems superfluous to describe the symj^toms of the angina, 

 which, under the care of MM. Earth, Eicord, H. Eoger, and Descroizilles, 

 charged specially to remain day and night near the patient, followed a 

 regular course up to the time of convalescence ; when, on the 10th of March, 

 there appeared paralysis of the pharynx and of the soft palate. It followed 

 that deglutition was rendered difficult, and that the patient could take only 

 Liquids, soups, and slops. Nevertheless, Madame X. began to regain strength, 

 and it was hoped that her convalescence was established, when, in the 

 morning of tlie 21st of March, severe uterine pains announced the ai)i3roach 

 of a miscarriage. Although this took place regularly, and produced no 

 hfemorrhage, it was followed by derangements of the respiration and circu- 

 lation, of extreme severity. MM. Earth, Eicord, H. Eoger, Campbell, and 

 Descroizilles, who had i^assed the night in attendance, and who had suc- 

 cessfully encountered, by the aid of diffusible stimulants, a state of syncope 

 that had several times placed her life in danger, were still unable to over- 

 come very grave disorders of the circulation and the lireathiug. 



On the following morning, the 22nd of March, my confreres wished to 

 call in the aid of electricity. They asked me — 1. Whether in such a 

 case an electrical treatment afforded any hope of success; 2. By what 

 mode of proceeding it would be possible to direct the therapeutic action 

 upon the functions or the parts of the nervous centres that were ^cted 

 upon by the diphtheritic jDoison ; and, 3. How, by faradization or galvani- 

 zation, we might resist the syncope or the asphyxia that was imminent. 



Before replying to these questions, I examined the patient ; and the fol- 

 lowing were the chief conditions that I observed :— Face very pale ; lips 

 discoloured ; the nose and extremities cool ; precordial weight and sense of 

 suffocation; respiration a little panting, although the rytlim of the move- 

 ments was normal, and there was no paralysis of the diaphragm, no emphy- 

 sema, and no rales; the pulse small and very frequent (lb 6 to 140), irregular, 



