Shaking

“ Shaking Palsy, or Paralysis Agitans, is an affection dependent upon degenerative changes in the nervous centres. It is characterized by a tremulous agitation, or continual shaking, beginning in the hands, arms or head, and gradually extending itself over the entire body. The disease progresses slowly, but when far advanced the agitation is violent, and the patient swallows and masticates his food with great difficulty. ”

“ They may, indeed, be compared to those movements which we perceive in the margin of a large bell when it has received a heavy blow from the clapper. The reader has perhaps seen that for a moment the rim of the bell vibrates with such rapidity that it has a misty look—that is, the motions elude the sight. It is easy to see that a shaking of this kind is particularly calculated to disrupt any bodies which stand free in the air and are supported only at their base. ”

“ This is conform to what is avouched by the most skilful physicians, when they affirm that shakings and tremblings fall upon the members of a human body, partly because of the heaviness and violent impetuosity of the burden and load that is carried, and, other part, by reason of the weakness and imbecility that is in the virtue of the bearing organ. A manifest example whereof appeareth in those who, fasting, are not able to carry to their head a great goblet full of wine without a trembling and a shaking in the hand that holds it. ”

“ It will give out a low, rumbling sound, which can be gradually increased in power. Graduate the sounds from heavy peals to the first starting point, then discontinue the shaking for a few seconds, and repeat the variety of changes as long as is necessary. ”

“ Violent shaking and agitation of the body by the legs and arms, though strongly recommended, and supposed to have often forwarded the recovery of children and boys, appears to us a doubtful remedy, which can be practised only in certain cases.
7. Sprinkling the naked body of a drowned person with cold water; submitting it to the operation of a shower-bath, or the sudden shocks of the electric fluid ”

“ The fact that sound has a physical basis in the vibrations of bodies, either solid, liquid, or gaseous, may be brought home to one in various ways. Concussion or shaking of some kind is essential to start these vibrations. ”

“ Shaking Palsies proceed from a Slackness of the Nerves, or Sinew strings, as may be observed by those that hold or lay any heavy weight upon the Arms, Hands or Leggs: for, when the Burdens are removed, those Limbs will be apt to tremble and shake so much, for a short time, (until they have recovered their former strength) that the Leggs cannot go, or stand steadily; nor the Arms, or Hands, do any thing without shaking. The reason of these sorts of Slackness, is, That heavy Burdens occasion the Nerves and Sinews to extend beyond their Order ”

“ Those who know say that the most painful punishment that can be inflicted upon an adult male, short of injuring him, is a good, old fashioned shaking. ”

“ The term Shaking Palsy is evidently inapplicable to the first of these cases, which [31] appears to have belonged more properly to the genus Convulsio, of Cullen, or to Hieranosos of Linnæus and Vogel [10] .
The latter appears to be referable to that class of proteal forms of disease, generated by a disordered state of primæ viæ, sympathetically [32] affecting the nervous influence in a distant part of the body. ”

“ The structures in which the disordered nerves branch out should be worked in all directions, but only by experienced, intelligent hands—with pressure, rubbing, kneading, shaking, and moving, in order to remove the disturbance. Rough handling by awkward persons, such as those to whom the process is too often intrusted, may do more harm than good. ”

“ The lower extremities were perpetually agitated with strong palpitatory motions, and, frequently, [37] three or four times in a minute, suddenly raised with great vehemence two or three feet from the ground, either in a forward or oblique direction, striking one limb against the other, or against the chairs, tables, or any substance which stood in the way. ”

“ At present he is almost constantly troubled with the agitation, which he describes as generally commencing in a slight degree, and gradually increasing, until it arises to such a height as to shake the room; when, by a sudden and somewhat violent change of posture, he is almost always able to stop it. ”

“ There seemed a tension in the air—as if something was going to snap. Doubtless you have often felt it—a sensation as though pins and needles were pricking you all over. As though you wanted to scream—to cry out—against an uncertain sensation that gripped you. ”

“ There are a few who sadly collapse before the onslaught of adverse circumstances, who give way without a fight to nervous prostration, and who are subject at times to wild spasms of uncontrolable trembling, finally going down the line with a form of shell-shock altogether distinct to shock from violent concussion. ”

“ I could feel the lid now, lightly at first, for it advanced but slowly. A space passed, and the pressure began to pain me. Then came to me a last great power, and I shouted and raved, swearing horribly, until the sweat rolled down my cheeks in great drops. The pressure beeame more and more pronounced, the air more obnoxious, the gnawing more persistent, the racking pain in my shoulders more torturous with each twitch, and at length I became oblivious of all.
What am I doing here? Was I not in the iron coffin? Have I died and come to life? ”

“ I had fallen asleep in that state of nerve tension with which one meets the continuous shock of sound or movement, and I had awakened, still tense, bracing myself to meet the pressure of something which no longer bore upon me. ”

“ I felt a greater shock and concussion in the air than I had ever observed before from thunder. A gentleman, who was with me, says, what he felt was most like the sensation produced by the pressure of the water when a man leaps into it. ”

“ An alarming sound or sight, besides impressions on the organs of sense and the nerves, may produce a start, a scream, a distortion of the face, a trembling consequent on general muscular relaxation, a burst of perspiration, an excited action of the heart, a rush of blood to the brain, followed possibly by arrest of the heart’s action and by syncope ”

“ And all of a sudden the earth shook, not with a vibration produced by the thunder, but with a deep inner convulsion, which came from the very bowels of the earth and was repeated several times, like a noise reechoing through the woods and hills. ”

“ A flash, a roar—a mad reeling of the senses, and crimson clouds flitting before your eyes—a horrible pain in your ears, a sense of oppression on your chest, and the knowledge that you are not on your feet—a whispering of voices blending with the concert in your ears—a darkness before your eyes—and you find yourself plump up in a heap against the padding, whither you have been thrown by the violence of the concussion. ”

“ When the eye lights on one of these vacuities, after having been kept in some degree of tension by the play of the adjacent colours upon it, it suddenly falls into a relaxation; out of which it as suddenly recovers by a convulsive spring. To illustrate this: let us consider, that when we intend to sit on a chair, and find it much lower than was expected, the shock is very violent; much more violent than could be thought from so slight a fall as the difference between one chair and another can possibly make. ”

“ At the same time a time-keeping convulsion, beginning in his fingers, extends from limb to limb, finally engaging the whole body, till at last the man dances in spasmodic leaps, which continue till he collapses in exhaustion. The music now ceases, and the time has come for the head of the family to question the begu which has taken possession of the medium, first asking its name. ”

“ When I exert pressure on the skin of my body, I experience it as a pressure sensation. This same pressure can be sensed as light by the eye, as sound by the ear. I experience an electrical shock by the eye as light, by the ear as sound, by the nerves of the skin as touch, and by the nose as a smell of phosphorus. ”

“ My brain was all in a whirl. I could do nothing but lie there shivering; my joints and muscles seemed to be possessed by an attack of twitching spasms, as if I had been suddenly smitten with some hideous disease. ”

“ Crouching, clinging, starting, trembling, remaining stock still, covering the eyes, opening the mouth and eyes, a temporary cessation followed by an acceleration of the heart-beat, difficulty in breathing, paleness, sweating, and erection of the hair are responses of which certain ones seem bound, apart from training, to certain situations, such as sudden loud noises or clutches, the sudden appearance of strange objects, thunder and lightning, loneliness and the dark. ”

“ The shock remaining in the ear and brain, after the sound of thunder, must pass through the same circles, and operate in the same way as during the actual sound. We can have no reason for believing that, in this self-sustaining condition, the impression changes its seat, or passes into some new circles that have the special property of retaining it. Every part actuated after the shock must have been actuated by the shock, only more powerfully. ”

“ Terror on the physical side shows both a loss and a transfer of nervous energy. The appearances may be distributed between the effects of relaxation and effects of tension. The relaxation is seen, as regards the muscles, in the dropping of the jaw, in the collapse overtaking all organs not specially excited, in trembling of the lips and other parts, and in the loosening of the sphincters. ”

“ I will feel the blood in my body like fire, and the strength of a hundred will rush into my limbs, and I will grasp my weapon and slay—slay—till my heart is sick and my head faint; and still there will be the same awful, insatiable thirst that nothing can slake. ”

“ The like happens when the sonorous particles are collected in great quantities; they produce sensible agitation, which is very different from the action of sound upon the ear. Any violent explosion, as a loud clap of thunder, shakes us, and communicates a kind of trembling to all the neighbouring bodies. ”

“ The convulsions once started in a congregation spread quickly through it, until all the fit subjects were convulsed. Repetition greatly increased the proneness to the disorder, which was invited by the masses on the supposition that it was a true religious exercise.
These perverted muscular movements all come under the head of morbid reflex action. By the continued religious fervor, the central portions of the brain, the immediate seat of emotion and feeling, became inordinately excited. ”

“ With him sat a man who was so drowsy that his head constantly dropped forward on the round silver knob that headed his cane, at the imminent risk of putting out his eyes. The force of the blow never failed to waken him, and he straightened himself up with a sheepishly defiant air, as if to refute any possible denial of his wakefulness. ”

“ If I stumble as I run, the sensation of falling provokes a movement of the hands towards the direction of the fall, the effect of which is to shield the body from too sudden a shock. If a cinder enter my eye, its lids close forcibly and a copious flow of tears tends to wash it out. ”

“ But the question of the direct and lasting physical effect of blows--even of one blow on the delicate tissues of a child's body, on the frail and trembling nerves, on the sensitive organization which is trying, under a thousand unfavoring conditions, to adjust itself to the hard work of both living and growing--has yet to be properly considered. ”

“ Without further warning, save that the pulse, which has become soft, with nearly the normal number of beats, all at once becomes low and hard; she is suddenly seized with another convulsion, in which she dies, or passes into a state of coma from which she never rallies. ”

“ In sobbing, which often follows long-continued crying, there is a rapid series of convulsive inspirations, with sudden involuntary contractions of the diaphragm. Laughter, and sometimes sobbing, like yawning, may be the result of involuntary imitation. ”

“ Then follow a host of indescribable sensations, as of burning, tinglings, and twitchings, seeming to run along just beneath the surface of the skin over the whole body, and so strange are these sensations that one is prompted to scream, and strike the wall, the bed, or himself, to vary them. ”

“ Some outward or inward shock, some drastic swing of the psychic pendulum, must sooner or later restore the balance and bring the will back to that wavering and indecisive state—poised like the point of a compass between the two extremes—which seems to be its normal attitude. ”

“ CHAPTER XVI
WAVE-TOSSED A tremendous concussion, a muffled explosion that seemed to shake the bowels of the earth—then a spout of water shooting high into the air, a sight to inspire an awed and fearful wonder. ”

“ I know a heavy soft mass struck me senseless, but my ears at moments ring yet with that horrid scream, which seemed to split and tear the night asunder, wavering, quavering, long after I was hurled on my back and my eves seemed stark open in oceans of blood. ”

“ An external shock causes "a functional disturbance of the delicate mechanism of the psychic centers shown in 1, faulty distribution of motor impulses, 2, hypo-innervation, 3, hyper-innervation, causing tremors, tonic and clonic spasms, etc., instead of single muscle actions." ”

“ The heart beats wildly [Pg 447] or must fail to act and faintness ensue; there is a death-like pallor; the breathing is labored; the wings of the nostrils are widely dilated; there is a gasping and convulsive motion of the lips, a tremor on the hollow cheek, a gulping and catching of the throat; the uncovered and protruding eyeballs are fixed on the object of terror; or they may roll restlessly from side to side, huc illuc volens oculos totumque pererrat. The pupils are said to be enormously dilated. All the muscles of the body may become rigid or may be thrown into convulsive movements. ”