322 



difficulty of moving the jaw could give rise to any apprehension of their 

 approach. 



Disease and excesses of all kinds, occasion in the extensor muscles a 

 relative weakness that is very remarkable, hence we see convalescents, and 

 those who have been addicted to voluptuousness, walk with bending knees, 

 the more so as their debility is greater, and as the force of the extensors 

 is more completely exhausted. The flexion of the knees is then limited 

 by that condition in which the tendons of the extensors of the leg acton 

 the tibia, at an angle sufficiently great to make up for their diminished 

 energy. There exists a condition of the animal economy, in which all 

 the muscular organs appear wearied with exertion, and the limbs assume 

 indifferently any position. In this state, which is always a very serious one, 

 as it'indicates an almost complete want of action in a system of organs 

 whose functions are absolutely essential to life, a state to which physici- 

 ans have given the name of prostration*, the limbs if unsupported, fall of 

 their own weight, as if they were palsied; the trunk is motionless, and 

 supine. The patient is incapable of changing his attitude, and yielding 

 to the weight of his body, sinks on the inclined plane formed by the bed, 

 and seems very heavy to those who may attempt to raise him, because 

 from his helplessness, he requires to be moved as an inert substance. 



* It is from a knowledge of the strength of his patient, that the physician, in the treat- 

 ment of disease, deduces the most instructive indications. It seems to me, that we ought 

 to endeavour to characterize, by specific terms, the different states of animal adynamia 

 in different diseases. Our language, less fruitful in imagery than the ancient languages, 

 will not easily furnish these characteristic denominations, so useful in a science which 

 should paint objects in their truest colours, in terms most approaching to nature. It will, 

 therefore, be necessary to have recourse to the Greek and Latin languages, and perhaps 

 to give the preference to the latter, which is generally understood by those who prac- 

 tise the art of healing. The application of this principle to the dirk-rent kinds of fever, 

 will^rove its utility, and will, doubtless, be an inducement to extend it to all the classes 

 of morbid derangements. 



In febre infhimmatoria sen synocho simplici (angeiotenicu) Opp-ressio virium. 



In febre biliosa sen ardente (meningo-gastrica.) Fracturu virium. 



In febre pituitosa, seu morbo mucoso (aclenomeningea) Languor virium. 



In febre putrida (adynamica) Prosiratio viriitm. 



In trebribus malignis seu atactis Jltaxia virium. 



In febre pestilentiali (adeno-ncrvosa) Sideratio virium. 



The first term which is easily turned into French, expresses, with much precision, that 

 condition in which the living system, far from being deficient in strength, is encumbered 

 by its excess, and is oppressed by its own powers. It might, with slight modifications, 

 be applied to all the kinds of plegmasias and active hemorrhages. 



The second denomination, not so easily translated, expresses the sense of general 

 confusion and bruise, of patients labouring under bilious fever (meuingo-gastricu) com- 

 plain all over their limbs. 



This sensation is b'kewise, it is true, experienced in pituitary fever; but this is more 

 particularly chcaracterized by languor and loss of strength. The same is to be observed 

 in many patients of a phlegmatic temperament. 



The prostration, which is so remarkable a character of putrid fever, and in conse- 

 quence of which they are called adynamic, is easily recognized by tiie total cessation, 

 or by an impaired condition of all the functions performed by in u scalar organs, as volun- 

 tary motion, respiration, circulation, digestion, the excretion of urine, &c. 



The disordered condition of the vital powers characterizes the ataxiae; there is con- 

 siderable irregularity in these fevers, with a very anomalous course of symptoms. In 

 this point of view, one might compare it to several kinds of nervous disorders. 



Lastly, the word sideration appears to me to express, very forcibly, that sudden and 

 deep stupor which overwhelms patients seized with the plague of the East. Author's 

 Note. 



