200 



of aloes 6 drams, croton oil 6 drops, and 1 dram of capsicum, to be 

 made iuto a ball with liard soap, molasses, or bread soaked in water, 

 and given on an empty stomach. After the cathartic has ceased to 

 operate give one large tablespoonful or half an ounce of the following 

 mixture twice a day : Pulverized hydrastis, pulverized ginger, sodium 

 bicarbonate, of each 4 ounces; mix. 



In some cases iodide of potassa in dram doses twice a day, alternated 

 each week with 1 dram of calomel twice a day, will prove successful. 

 In cases where there is a deep coma or almost continuous unconscious- 

 ness, ice bags or cold-water cloths should be applied to the head— be- 

 tween the ears, dropping well down over the forehead and extending 

 backward from the ears for 4 or 5 inches. 



PARALYSIS — PALSY. 



Paralysis is a weakness or cessation of the muscular contraction, by 

 diminution of loss of the conducting power or stimulation of the mo.,or 

 nerves. Paralytic affections are of two kinds, fhe perfect and the im- 

 perfect. The former includes those in which both motion and sensi- 

 bility are affected ; the latter those in which only one or tlie other is 

 lost or diminished. Paralysis may be general or partial, The latter is 

 divided into hemiplegia and paraplegia. When only a small portion 

 of the body is afi'ected, as the face, a limb, the tail, it is designated by 

 the term local paralysis. When the irritation extends from the pe- 

 riphery to the center it is termed reflex paralysis. 



Causes. — ^They are very varied. Most of the acute affections of the 

 brain and spinal cord may lead to paralysis. Injuries, tumors, disease 

 of the blood-vessels of the brain, etc., all have a tendency to produce 

 sus])ension of the conducting motive power to the muscular structures. 

 Pressure upon, or the severing of, a nerve causes a paralysis of the 

 parts to which such a nerve is distributed. Apoplexy may be termed 

 a general paralysis, and in non-fatal attacks is a frequent cause of the 

 various forms of palsy. 



GENERAL PARALYSIS. 



This can not take place without producing immediate death. The 

 term is, however, usually applied to paralysis of the four extremities, 

 whether any other portions of the body are involved or not. This form 

 of palsy is due to compression of the brain by congestion of its vessels, 

 large clot formation in apoplexy, concussion or shock, or any disease in 

 which the whole brain structure is involved in functional disturbance. 



HEMIPLEGIA — PARALYSIS OF ONE SIDE OR HALF OF THE BODY. 



Hemiplegia is frequently the result of a tumor in the lateral ventricles 

 of the brain, softening of one hemisphere of the cerebrum, pressure 

 from extravasated blood, fracture of the cranium, or it may be due to 



