THE SYMPATHETIC SYSTEM 109 



the vomiting, or when patients have used stomach lavage 

 extensively. It may appear as localized contractures or 

 generalized as epileptiform attacks, sometimes even it may 

 take on a chronic appearance. Its prognosis is severe, 

 particularly by reason of the lesions which bring it on. 



3. In the course of infectious diseases. Typhoid 

 fever, dysentery, cholera, measles, influenza, diphtheria, 

 etc.; these can become complicated by tetany. This 

 condition is usually mild; nearly always gets well and 

 does not re-occur. 



4. In various types of intoxications. Toxic tetany are 

 very rare. They have been reported in delirium tremens, 

 chloroform poisoning and uremia. 



5. At various periods of the genital life of women. 

 Tetany is occasionally met with at puberty. Rebaud 

 considers this as a premonitory sign of menstruation. It 

 disappears once menstruation has become regularly estab- 

 lished. It is also reported during pregnancy. It ceases 

 usually towards the sixth month, but is a rather serious 

 complication, for the attacks are usually painful and last 

 a long time. It may also occur after delivery in nursing 

 mothers. It always gets well, but a recurrence is possible 

 during each pregnancy and each lactation period. Finally 

 Delpech and Dalche have seen it at the beginning of 

 the menopause. 



IDIOPATHIC TETANY. It is most frequent during the first 

 two years of life, but is sometimes observed in adults, 

 usually in men between 16 and 25, nearly always in winter. 



Tetany of infants occurs during a variety of diseases: 

 measles, broncho pneumonia, athrepsia, congenital syphi- 

 lis, etc. Two diseases play a preponderant part in the 

 causation of this disease: rickets and gastro enteritis. But 

 tetany may occur in infants without rickets, without any 

 gastro intestinal disorders, and without any other disease. 



