PARALYSIS. 451 



called hemiphyia, at others the loss of power is confined to the legs, and then we say 

 it is a case of pa/raplegia. Then, again, the paralysis may be local, only a small 

 portion of the body, as a limb, a foot, or the face, being involved. In many instances 

 the affection is due to brain disease, and immediately follows a shock. Not unfre- 

 quently the brain is unaffected, the disease being in the spinal cord, or spinal marrow, 

 as it is called. Sometimes even it is the nerve itself which is at fault. 



That variety of paralysis which we have called famrpleyia is the most common 

 form of palsy. It usually comes on suddenly, and is spoken of as a paralytic stroke. 

 Almost invariably both arm and leg are paralysed, and the left side suffers more 

 frequently than the right. The loss of power is very striking. The patient may 

 fi/l the motion of his leg or his arm, but neither of them any longer obeys the act 

 of volition ; if they are lifted by a bystander, and then let go, they drop down like 

 logs of wood. This is a condition very painful to witness, for the powerful man, full 

 of health and strength, is in a moment reduced to the condition of helplessness of a 

 little child. One side is for the time being dead. When only one limb suffers it is 

 usually the arm. Often enough this condition is accompanied by some loss of power 

 over the movements of the face. Sometimes the mental faculties remain intact, but 

 very often the memory becomes weakened, and there is a peculiar tendency to shed 

 tears and to become distressed by slight causes. In paralysis of the right side there 

 often co-exists that peculiar loss of the faculty of language which we have described 

 under the title of APHASIA. In hemiplegia from disease of the brain, although the 

 sufferer cannot, by his own will, move the palsied limb, yet the irritation of the sole 

 of the foot will often excite active movements, the involuntary action causing no 

 little astonishment to the patient. Supposing recovery to take place, the symptoms 

 of amendment are usually first noticed in the leg. Besides the palsy there is 

 mostly loss of sensation also, but this is by no means so constant a symptom as the 

 paralysis. When the sensibility is lost or blunted it is so, commonly in the same parts 

 that are affected with paralysis. But sometimes there is loss of sensation and no 

 palsy, and, more strange still, there has been sometimes loss of feeling on one side 

 and loss of the power of motion on the other. It must be remembered that these 

 palsied parts do not resist the influence of cold and heat so well as the sound parts. 

 They readily get chilled if exposed to even a very moderate degree of cold. One 

 has always to be careful in applying hot-water bottles or hot bricks to the feet of the 

 paralysed, for the parts may get blistered or scalded without the patient experiencing 

 any pain. In this affection the attendance of a doctor is necessaiy. As a rule, good 

 feeding, with the administration of tonics, is to be enjoined. 



Paraplegia, or paralysis of the lower half of the body, usually arises from some 

 disease of the spinal cord. It most frequently commences slowly and insidiously 

 with weakness and numbness of the feet and legs, or with tingling and a creeping 

 sensation in the parts, unattended with pain. By degrees the weakness increases 

 until there is complete loss of sensibility and motion of the lower extremities, with 

 perhaps some affection of the bladder or bowels. Although the power of moving is 

 completely lost in the lower limbs, the patient is not uncommonly rendered sleepless 

 at night by painful spasmodic twinges and startings in the parts. Paraplegia may 

 be the result of some injury to the spinal cord, or it may proceed from the pressure 



