Epithalamium

“ Both layers of the epiblast assist in the formation of the cerebro-spinal nervous system, and there also at first fuse together [195] , though the epidermic layer probably separates itself again, as the central epithelium of the spinal canal. The lens and auditory sac are derived exclusively from the nervous layer [Pg 318] of the epidermis, while this layer also has the greater share in forming the olfactory sac.
In Elasmobranchii the epiblast is at first uniformly composed of a single row of cells. ”

“ The treatment of idiopathic epilepsy is principally directed to the improvement of the general health, and the diminution of nervous irritability by sedatives and tonics. Among the first, camphor, ether, henbane, hemlock, musk, oil of cajeput, opium, and morphia, and, more recently, hydrocyanic acid, have been principally relied on. Among the second, bark, cascarilla, quinine, strychnia, valerian, the sulphate of iron, zinc, and copper, arsenious acid, and nitrate of silver, have each their zealous advocates. ”

“ Now as opium is an universal stimulant, as explained in the article on Incitantia, it must stimulate into increased action both the secretory system, and the absorbent one; but after repeated evacuation by venesection, and cathartics, the absorbent system is already inclined to act more powerfully; as the blood-vessels being less distended, there is less resistance to the progress of the absorbed fluids into them. Hence after evacuations opium promotes absorption, if given in small doses, much more than it promotes secretion ”

“ At the same time, the quantity of Opium absorbed is so small, that I could not distinguish its smell or taste in the Blood; nor did I find these distinguishable, in other Experiments, in which the Frogs were violently convulsed after applying the infusion to the surface of their Skin.
Animal Electricity or different metals applied to the Head of a Frog, or to any part of its Spine above its sixth Vertebra, do not occasion convulsions of its hind Legs. ”

“ The more widely the limits of these problems are extended, the more probable does it become that the experimental testing of all possibilities will put us on the proper road for an explanation of the phenomena observed. Surely it would be absurd to limit the study of anaphylaxy only to a study of the behaviour of the blood; for it is more than likely that it is the cells of the body which ultimately play the chief part in the appearance of anaphylaxy. The behaviour of the blood plasma is possibly only a reflection of the defensive measures adopted by the cells of the body ”

“ Whereas the perspiration being secreted on the surface of the body is visible in its increased quantity, before it can be reabsorbed; whence arises that erroneous opinion, that opium increases the cutaneous secretion, and lessens all the others.
3. It must however be noted, that after evacuations opium seems to promote the absorptions more than the secretions; if you except that of the sensorial power in the brain, which probably suffers no absorption. Hence its efficacy in restraining hæmorrhages, after the vessels are emptied, by promoting venous absorption. ”

“ It may be safely asserted that according to the theory of epigenesis the germ-cells cannot be influenced except as regards their nutrition. Nutritive changes may be imagined to occur through the varying trophic influence of the nervous system upon the sexual organs, but the structure of the germ-plasm cannot be altered by mere nutritive changes, or at all events it cannot be altered in that distinct and definite direction which is required by the supposed transmission of acquired epilepsy. ”

“ Admitting, then, that the prolonged and excessive administration of the bromides causes a series of abnormal symptoms in the healthy individual, affecting mainly the general nutrition, the mental faculties, and the sensory and motor functions, and also that the epileptic state is itself frequently accompanied by impairment of innervation of a somewhat analogous nature, it follows that when the drug is given for the relief of the disease, care must be taken not to confound the two series of phenomena with one another. ”

“ It would be easy to multiply individual cases supporting the same general principles. One more instance only need be particularized—namely, that of a man aged thirty, who has suffered from [Pg 45] epilepsy from infancy, and who for the last five years has taken four and a half drachms of the bromides daily—i.e., during that time he has consumed upwards of eighty pounds of the drug. Although a delicate person and intellectually weak, his friends state that during those years he has been more healthy and robust in mind and body than at any other period of his life. ”

“ No man at one time can be wise and love.
Herrick, To Silvia to Wed.
Page 135. I have inserted the title Epithalamion after the Ecclogue from D, H49, Lec, O'F, S96, as otherwise the latter title is extended to the whole poem. This poem is headed in two different ways in the MSS. In A18, N, TC, the title at the beginning is: Eclogue Inducing an Epithalamion at the marriage of the E. of S. The proper titles of the two parts are thus given at once, and no second title is needed later. In the other MSS. the title at the beginning is Eclogue. 1613. Decemb. 26. Later follows the title Epithalamion. ”

“ I do not consider that the hysterical diathesis forms any objection to the use of chloroform in operations, as the patients would be generally quite as liable to suffer an attack of hysteria from the pain, if chloroform were not used.
Epilepsy. Chloroform occasionally brings on a fit of epilepsy in persons who are subject to this disease. It was stated in one of the foreign medical journals, in 1848, that this agent was so certain to cause a fit in epileptic persons, that it might be used to detect impostors pretending to be subject to this disease ”

“ Blood-letting produces the same action, but in an inverse mode. Antimony diminishes the pressure on the vessels by weakening the force of the heart; Blood-letting weakens the force of the heart by diminishing the pressure on the vessels.
Such Neurotics as Opium are employed at a more advanced stage, when the inflammation cannot be suddenly put a stop to, and our object is to counteract the effects it has produced. Besides relieving the pain and nervous irritation which are so much to be dreaded, Opium may be employed to prevent a blood-medicine from passing out through the bowels. ”

“ Periodic variations in the secretory tides of the other endocrines, the ovaries, the thyroid, and so on, may determine the onset of the attack of "fits." The point is that when epilepsy plays a constant part in the life history of a man of genius, we are justified in assuming a disturbed balance among his hormones, and so a reasoned picture perhaps of the foundations for the erratic in his behaviour or his productions. ”

“ It is necessary in order to judge of the true effect of a drug in epilepsy that the patient should be under its influence continuously for a certain period of time. Now, a large number of patients, especially amongst the working classes, cannot or will not be induced to persevere in the prolonged treatment necessary in so chronic a disease. They either weary of the monotony of drinking physic, especially if, as is often the case, they are relieved for the time, or other circumstances prevent their carrying out the regimen to its full extent. ”

“ They are less marked in old age than in the middle period of life, and they are not by any means so frequent or strong in fat, as in thin, muscular persons. I have seen the spasms take an epileptiform character in a few cases; but by gently continuing the chloroform, they have always been subdued. In a great number of cases, the patient mutters in an almost inarticulate and a perfectly unintelligible manner, just as the muscular rigidity and spasm are subdued. ”

“ The most ultramicroscopic activities of the molecules and atoms in the highest nerve cells and nerve tissues are dominated. The speed of their chemistry and their associations, and thus the speed of thought, are regulated. Iodine has been shown to increase the electric conductivity of the brain that is, the rate at which electrons will fly through it. The thyroid may then be regarded as manipulating the amount of iodine brought to play upon the brain cells at a particular moment of danger or exaltation. Adrenalin increases the electric conductivity of the brain. ”

“ There is no doubt that some medicines, such as Iodine, Bromine, Mercury, and Iron, tend especially to affect the blood and the blood-making organs, as the liver and spleen, rather than to act on the nervous or glandular systems. That some tend particularly towards the nerves, and prefer individually different parts of the nervous system, as Opium acts on the brain, Aconite on the superficial sensory nerves, Digitalis on the organic nerves of the heart, and Stramonium on those of the [Pg 38] lungs. Again, it is evident that some medicines tend to act on the organs of secretion ”

“ During the early part of the opium-eater's career these structural changes go on with a rapidity which partly accounts for the vast disengagements of nervous force, the exhilaration, the endurance of effort, which characterize this stage, later to be substituted by utter nervous apathy. By the time the substitution occurs something has taken place throughout the physical structure which may be rudely likened to the final equilibrium of a neutral salt after the effervescence between an acid and an alkali. ”

“ The epithelium of the epidermis is stratified-- that is to say, has many thicknesses of cells; the deeper layers are alive and dividing (stratum mucosum) , while the more superficial are increasingly flattened and drier as the surface is approached (stratum corneum) and are continually being rubbed off and replaced from below.
Section 59. In the branching air-tubes of the lung, the central canal of the spinal cord, and in the ureters of the rabbit, and in most other types, in various organs, we find ciliated epithelium (Figure VII.) . ”

“ After the lapse of several days or even weeks, these scratching movements which result from pinching in the above-mentioned area, form the beginning of a complete epileptic attack. Hence the changes immediately produced by the division of a nerve are obviously not the direct cause of epilepsy, but they only form the beginning of a pathological process which is conducted in a centripetal direction from the nerve to some centre which is apparently situated in the pons and medulla oblongata, although, according to others [221] , it is placed in the cortex of the cerebrum. ”

“ The parathyroid glands are probably closely concerned in regulating the retention and excretion of salts, and especially of calcium, a circumstance which becomes of significance when we remember how frequently rickety changes, tetany, and other convulsive seizures form part of the clinical picture which we are now considering. While it is difficult to determine the effect of repeated infections upon the functions of the endocrine glands, we have clear evidence of the deleterious influence upon almost all the tissues of the body, the functioning of which it is more easy to estimate. ”

“ Every kind of animal sensibility is foreign to the epidermis. We know that it can be pricked, cut or torn, without being felt. It is especially on the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet that these experiments are easily made. The thickness of this membrane is such in this place, that we can remove layers of it, as we see done by those who try the edge of an instrument, that it is possible even, as most cooks do, to put it in contact with live coals, and that it is not impossible to carry a red hot iron over it. ”

“ How can the last ontogenetic stage of the ganglion cells in the pons and medulla of such an individual, stamp upon the germ-plasm in the germ-cells of the same animal—not indeed the peculiar structure of the stage itself—but such a molecular constitution as will ensure the ultimate appearance of epilepsy in the offspring? The theory of epigenesis does not admit that the parts of the full-grown individual are contained in the germ as preformed material particles, and therefore this theory cannot allow that anything is added to the germ-plasm ”

“ Its aim has been to show the effects of the bromides on the attacks or symptoms of that disease. It is common to hear it remarked, as if this were of no importance, "You only arrest the fits, but you do not know, and cannot cure, the original lesion. You do not go to the fountain-head of the disease, but simply relieve its results." In reply, I would ask, Of what disease do we know the ultimate nature any better than that of epilepsy? ”

“ Notwithstanding the great step made by the introduction of ether and chloroform, the medical man is to-day still dissatisfied and is continually endeavoring to discover some agent or combination of agents which will produce insensibility to pain without unconsciousness and without the slight danger and the uncomfortable after effects of chloroform and ether. ”

“ When you can with reason ask a man to aerate his lungs with his head submerged in water—when you can expect him to control the movements of his limb while you apply an electric current to its motor nerve—then, but not till then, speak to a confirmed opium-eater of "exerting his will;" ”