John Chapman
Published: 2017-06
Total Pages: 148
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Excerpt from Sea-Sickness and How to Prevent It: An Explanation of Its Nature and Successful Treatment, Through the Agency of the Nervous System, by Means of the Spinal Ice-Bag Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic, he stated that, in order to overcome the spasmodic contractions of the cerebral arteries constituting the first phase in a fit of epilepsy, he was entertaining the idea of paralysing the cervical sympathetic nerve by dividing it; but though an exceptionally heroic patient might be found willing to undergo such an operation, I apprehend few phy would be found willing to advise it. While attending the practice of Dr. Brown-sequard, at the Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic, in Queen-square, I became impressed with the conviction that in preportion to the number Of patients suffering from paralysis or epilepsy the num ber of cures was lamentably small (although the institution had the help of one of the most distinguished physicians in Europe), and that, with respect to many forms of paralysis, and nearly all forms of epilepsy, a hitherto insoluble problem demanded solution before the physician could be permitted to hope for the power of treating those diseases with any considerable success. That problem presented itself to my mind thus By what means can the quantity of blood circulating in the spinal cord, including the medulla oblongata, and in the ganglionic nervous centres, be most effectually increased or lessened? In' the latter part of 1862 the idea occurred to me that this problem might be solved by modifying the temperature of the parts in question, and that this could be done by means of cold or heat applied along the centre of the back. During the first half of 1863 I tried the efficacy of this method in numerous cases, and had the satisfaction of finding that the remedial power which had hitherto existed only as an idea occupying my mind day and night for months, was an indubitable reality. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
