The place of incision was a little scarified by its working there.
They who choose to go through the operation of the small pox or measles, without suffering any thing by the symptoms, by pain or by
the eruption, may do it at their leisure, by observing rigidly the foregoing directions.
If by any unavoidable accident the patient should take a cold, in this or any other case, it must be immediately removed by the shock, &c.
Madness.
WHEN madness is attended with a strong hard pulse, and with or without redness of face, there is an indication of a redundancy of blood in the head, and a compression and irritation of the brain,
or of those nerves that proceed from the brain, or the basis of the brain, the cerebellum medulla spinalas, &c. all of which may take its rise from a redundancy of blood in the head.
This compression and irritation on the seat of sensation, of those nerves of such exquisite sensibility, is sufficient to produce disorder in the mental
faculties, such as madness or delirium.
To remove this redundancy, is to remove the direct cause of the disordered mind: as to the indirect cause, it is of no consequence to enquire; undoubtedly there is a combination
of them, partly from the peculiarity of the present habit, and partly from the present state of agitated spirits upon that habit;
all which may form or constitute the indirect cause of the deranged mental powers.
In order to remedy the immediate cause of this disordered mind, the excessive action of the aorta ascendens must be suppressed, and that
excessive pressure of blood to the head must be thrown down: this can only be done by the action of the electric shock, passed from the sides of the neck to the feet.
And, by the way, this case requires as strong an action of the shock as any case I know of.
It is sometimes, if not always the case, that when there is an over-action in the aorta ascendens, there is a deficiency in the action of the aorta descendents, or at least in the
extremities of the arteries towards the feet; and this is more probably the case, when we consider that the lower extremities are
more exposed to fuller abuse from colds often, and frequent dampness; great exertion upon the solids in exercise, thence a sudden transition to inaction, hence a cold
upon the lower extremities; but so far from the seat of life, it is not noticed in producing any direct effect upon the system.
But one of the consequence is, the aorta descendens is unable to receive its equal quantity of blood from the heart; hence the ascendens must receive too much; the blood
cannot flow freely to the extremities of the arteries downward; and hence they press too violently to the extremities of the arteries upwards.
But a strong action of the shock goes to the bottom of this case, and restores an equilibrium in the circulations, and frees the head
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