AIDS to Medicine Volume 3 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1885 edition. Excerpt: ... cold. Quivering motions (fibrillary cramps) of the enfeebled muscles have been observed; these motions are quite irrespective of the will of the patient, who may be even unconscious of them. The mental faculties remain intact. The affected muscles lose their electro-contractility in proportion as they become atrophicd and degenerated, while the unaffected muscles respond fully to the electrical current. The progress of the disease is slow and the prognosis very unfavourable, but recovery has taken place in a few instances The mean duration is about one year. Causes.--These are obscure. It rarely occurs under adult age. Males are more often affected than females. It has been supposed to be due to excessive muscular exertion. In many instances, several members of the same family have been sufferers from the affection, but it appears to have no connexion with particular occupations or social condition. P3JlhO10gY.--POSlJ-lX10I-l8XD examination shows that the muscles are more or less diminished in volume. They are pallid, and microscopically their fibrillze are reduced to half or one-third their normal size. The transverse striae are diminished or lost, the proper muscular substance is replaced by molecular granules, the myolemma may be found devoid of contents, and mingled with the affected fibres are those which have undergone little or no change. Treatment.-The great indication is to arrest the progress of the disease. All undue exertion should be avoided, but a certain amount of exertion is advantageous. Friction, shampooing, and stimulating embrocations must be applied to the muscles to promote their nutrition and circulation. Duchenne considers the induced electrical current exceedingly valuable, and Romak asserts that the constant...