;3o DISEASES CLASS III. i.i.g. 



ed emprofthotoiioi \ when they bend it backward, they are term- 

 ed opifthotonoi. They frequently fucceed each other, but the 

 epidhotonoi are generally more violent ; as the mufcles, which 

 erect the body, and keep it creel, arc naturally in more conftant 

 and more forcible action than their antagonifts. 



The caufes of convulfion are very numerous, as from tooth- 

 ing in children, from worms or acidity in their bowels, from 

 eruption of the diilinct fmall-pox, and laftly, from breathing 

 too long the air of an unventilated bed-room. Sir G. Baker, 

 in the Tranfactions of the College, defcribed this difeafe, and 

 detected its cauie ; where many children in an orphan-houfe 

 were crowded together in one chamber without a chimney, and 

 were almoft all of them affected with convulsion ; in the hof- 

 pital at Dublin, many died of convulfions before the real caufc 

 was underilood. See Dr. Beddoes's Guide to Self-prefervation* 

 In a large family, which I attended, where many female fervants 

 Uept in erne room, which they had contrived to render inacceffi- 

 ble to every blaft of air ; I faw four who were thus feized with 

 convulfions, and who were believed to have been affected by 

 fympathy from the iirft who fell ill. They were removed into 

 more airy apartments, but were fome weeks before they all re* 

 gained their perfect health. 



Convulfion is diitinguifhed from epilepfy, as the patient does 

 not intirely lofe all perception during the paroxyfm. Which 

 only mews, that a lefs exhauftion of fenforial power renders tol- 

 erable the pnins which caufe convulfion, than thofe which caufe 

 epilepfy. The hyftcric convulfions are diltinguifhed from thofe, 

 owing to other caufes, by the prefence of the expectation of 

 death, which precedes and fucceeds them, and generally by a 

 flow of pale urine ; thefe convulfions do not constantly attend 

 the hyfleric difeafe, but are occafionally fuperinduced by the 

 cUfagreeable fenfation arifing from the torpor or inverfion of a 

 part of the alimentary canal. Whence the convulfion of laugh- 

 ter is frequently fuflicient to reftrain thefe hyfteric pains, which 

 accounts for the fits of laughter frequently attendant on this 

 difeafe. 



M. M. To remove the peculiar pain which excites the con- 

 vulfions. Venefection. An emetic. A cathartic with calo- 

 mel. Warm-bath. Opium in large quantities, beginning with 

 fmaller ones. Mercurial frictions. Electricity. Cold-bath in 

 the paroxyfm ; or cold afperfion. See Memoirs of Med. Soci- 

 ety, Lon. Vol. III. p. 147. a paper by Dr. Currie. 



5. Convulfto debilis. The convulfions of dying animals, as of 

 fchofe which are bleeding to death in the flaughter-houfe, are an 

 efTort to relieve painful fenfatiou, either of the wound which 



occafions 



