156 



PHYSICAL EXPRESSION. 



postures of the hand due to the brain condition, 

 is the " convulsive hand." /- 



This was well described by Trousseau * as a 

 common condition of the hand in tetany. "In 

 the upper limbs, the thumb is forcibly and vio- 

 lently adducted ; the fingers are pressed closely 

 together, and semiflexed over the thumb in con- 

 sequence of the flexion of the metacarpo-phalangeal 

 articulation ; and the palm of the hand being made 



Fig. 18. The Convulsive Hand. 



hollow by the approximation of its outer and inner 

 margins, the hand assumes a conical shape." 



The condition of the metacarpus is specially 

 noteworthy. I have taken casts of several cases 

 and have measured many more. It is, as Trousseau 

 described it, arched or contracted by approxima- 

 tion of the nietacarpal bones y which are screwed 

 together. Important variations of this posture 

 might be described; it is often seen in various 

 pathological states. 



* *' Clinical Medicine," vol. i., New Sydenham Society's transla- 

 tion, 1867, p. 375. 



