PAL 
proper treatment was devifed by Mr. Pott. While the 
curvature of the fpine remained undifcovered or unat¬ 
tended to, the difeafe was generally confidered as nervous, 
and medicines fo called were molt frequently prefcribed, 
together with warm liniments, embrocations, and blifters, 
to the parts affected ; and, when the true caufe was known, 
recourfe was always had to Heel frays, the fwing, the 
fcrew-cbair, and other pieces of machinery, in order to 
reftore the fpine to its true and natural figure. But thefe 
expedients did not ferve any real or permanent good pur- 
pofe: the patients ufually became unhealthy, and, after 
languilhing for fome time under a variety of complaints, 
died in an exhaufted and emaciated ftate ; or, which was 
ftill worfe, dragged on a mif'erable exigence, confined to 
a great chair, or bed, totally deprived of the power of 
moving. 
The fngacious mind of that eminent furgeon, Mr. Pott, 
partly from, a confideration of the difeafed ftate of the 
ligaments and bones, which precedes and occafions tire 
curvature, and partly on the fuggeliion of a learned phy- 
fician, Dr. Cameron, of Worcefter, (who, in confequence 
of an obfervation of Hippocrates, that a paraplegia had 
been cured by an abfcefs in the back, had imitated that 
procefs with advantage,) devifed the plan of inftituting a 
tree difcharge, by means of a large iHue, from both fides 
of the fpine. Experience confirmed the utility of this 
practice; and many examples of the complete refioration 
of ftrength and motion, in thefe deplorable cafes, have 
been fuhfequently recorded. 
3. Paresis, or local Palfy.—The partial palfies of this 
kind are chiefly thofe which are connedted with long- 
continued rheumatic inflammation, or with the long ap¬ 
plication of cohi, or laftly, with the opeVation of certain 
mineral poifons, efpecially lead and mercury. After a 
limb has been for fome time the feat of inveterate rheu- 
matifin, efpecially in debilitated habits, it fometimes be¬ 
comes torpid, and benumbed as it were, lofing its power 
of motion, and commonly fome degree of its fenfibility. 
A fimilar condition is more fpeedily produced by the 
direct application of cold to the parts ; a?, for example, 
in the legs and feet of perfons who work with thefe parts 
in water. The extremities of the r.erves appear to be no 
longer capable of receiving and conveying the nervous 
.power from the brain, while the latter fliovvs no fymptom 
of any difeafe. The poifon of lead, by whatever means 
it is introduced into the lyftem, produces a fpecies of 
palfy peculiar to itfelf: its firft effiedt is the production of 
a fevere colic, which from its being moll frequently feen 
in painters, has been called the painter's colic; and it has 
received alfo feveral other appellations, from certain dif- 
tridls in which it has been prevalent, as the Devonlhire 
colic, colic of Poidlou, &c. After one or more attacks 
of this colic, the patient perceives that one of his hands 
grows weak, and at length he finds himfelf altogether 
unable to extend either the hand or the fingers, which 
hang down torpid, and movelefs except from external 
force. As this commonly fucceeds the attacks of colic, 
it may be probably connedted with irritation in the in- 
teftinal canal, which appears at times to produce other 
forms of partial palfy. The palfy from the influence of 
mercury is alfo of a peculiar nature ; it feems indeed to be 
rather an extreme debility of the mufcles of the limbs, 
combined with tremors, than an abfoiute paralyfis. 
It is to thefe varieties of palfy, in which there is no 
plethora, congeftion, or preflure upon the brain, that the 
employment of Jiimulaht remedies alone is properly ap¬ 
plicable, and that in fadl any benefit is to be expedled 
from them. In the palfy that is occafioned by protrafted 
rheumatifm, or by cold, recovery has frequently followed 
a perfeverance in the life of the warm bath, of repeated 
and continued friftion with the fiefh-brufh, or with 
various ftimulating oils and liniments, of which camphor, 
turpentine, and the acrid gums, together with alcohol, 
conftitute the principal ingredients. Internally, alfo, 
ftimulant medicines of a fimilar nature have been at the 
fame time adminiftered, with a view to aid thefe effedls; ef- 
P A L 303 
pecially the ammoniacal (alts, ortindfures of the ftimulant 
gums in alcohol, and medicines which have been fup- 
pofed to poffefs peculiar powers of exciting the nervous 
iyftera, fuch as the arnica, the rhus toxicodendron, &c. 
Eledlricity has alfo been extenfively applied to paralytic 
limbs under thefe circumftances ; and it is probable, both 
from its obvious influence in exciting fpafmodic twitches 
in the mufcles, and from the number of fuccefsful in- 
ftances of its application which have been recorded, that 
it has been of material benefit. 
We have mentioned, among other ftimulants that are 
really fuccefsful in the cure of thefe fpecies of local palfy, 
the warm-bath, an expedient which is hazardous, in the 
early ft ages at leaft, of hemiplegia. Hence the Bath 
waters, and more efpecially the ufe of the hot-pump, 
commonly fucceed in removing the palfy from lend, as 
well as from cold and rheumatifm. There is, indeed, no 
remedy that appears to poffefs an equal efficacy: in the 
palfy from lead, after the difeafe has refilled all ordinary 
expedients, the hot-pumping feems to he alinoft a fpecific. 
There appears no reafon, however, to fuppofe-that any 
water of the fame temperature, poured upon the limb in 
the fame quantity, and with the fame impetus, could not 
equally a fie ft the cure, as the water of Bath ; fince it is 
the quantity of the ftimulation, and not any peculiar 
quality of the water, that produces the effect. 
For the palfy arifing from the poifon of lead, and 
affecting principally the extenfor mufcles of the hand and 
fingers, Dr. Pemberton recommended a fimple contri van-ce, 
which appears to have contributed to accelerate the cure 
of this difeafe; namely, a fort of battledore of wood, of 
the length of the fore-arm and hand, which is tied to the 
former, and fupports the latter extended at length. Under 
this fupport, he conceives the mufcles fooner recover their 
tone than when they are conftantly ftretched by the pen¬ 
dulous hand. 
Under all the forms of palfy, a conftant exercife of the 
palfied limb contributes materially to expedite its re¬ 
covery. This principle is equally applicable to the hemi¬ 
plegia, as to thefe partial forms of palfy. But to the 
palfy, or tremors, originating from the poifon of mercury, 
neither this nor any of the preceding precepts very clearly 
apply. The brain, in this cafe, feems to be affedfed by 
the poifon, and the whole fyftem fuft’ers from its dele¬ 
terious influence. Many remedies have been recom¬ 
mended, but efpecially fulphur, which was. fuggefted 
perhaps upon chemical notions, rather than from a proper 
eftimate of its operation upon the living body. On the 
whole, the difeafe is very unmanageable, and we know 
not how it is to be cured. The manufadturers among 
whom it alinoft exclufively occurs, viz. watch and button 
gilders, filverers of mirrors, &c. have contrived mechani¬ 
cal means of preventing the mercury, efpecially when 
tifed in its mod pernicious form, vapour, from entering- 
into the body fo fully as formerly; and therefore the 
difeafe is become lefs frequent. But even now, as wears 
informed, the perfons employed in what is called water¬ 
gilding, that is, in laying an amalgam of gold and mer¬ 
cury upon the articles to be gilded, and driving off the 
mercury by evaporation, are generally fhort-lived from 
this caufe. 
PAL'TA, or Palte'. See Jamdro, vol. x. 
To PA'LTER, v. n. [from poll ran , or perhaps from 
paltry.'] To fliifr; to dodge ; to play tricks. Not in ufe .— 
As if they hated only the miferies, but not the mifchiefs, 
after they had juggled and paltered with the world. 
Milton's Ten. of Kings and Magiftrates. 
To the young man I muft fend humble treaties, 
And palter in the fhift of lownefs. Shakcfpcarc. 
Be thefe juggling fiends no more believ’d, 
That palter with us in a double fenfe; 
That keep the word of promife to our ear, 
And break it to our hope. Shakcfpeare's Macbeth. 
Romans, that have fpoke the word, 
And will not palter. Shaltefpeare's Jul. Ccefar. 
To 
