Periscope of Medical and General Science in their Relations to Dentistry. [Volume: 2, Issue: 11, June, 1861, pp. 625-637]

632

THE DENTAL COSMOS.

and was not easily extracted until the aperture was enlarged, as already
stated. The sequestrum involved the entire thickness of the lower jaw,
and was situated somewhat to the inner side of the new bone. Mr.
Erichsen believed that the condyle remained in connection with the case
of new bone, and had not lost its vitality. The boy would therefore have
good motion in the tempero-maxillary articulation at a later period, and
would no doubt make a good recovery.
"An interesting point in the treatment of this case was the removal of
a sequestrum from the situation it occupied, in the present instance, entirely through the mouth, without making any wound in the cheek, notwithstanding that there was more trouble in thus getting it away. Some
surgeons would not have hesitated to perform a sort of partial resection
of the jaw in this case."-(Lancet.)
Nervous Diseases caused by Syphilis.-"Dr. Leubuscher, who has
made a special study of the diseases of the nervous system, and who has
been Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Jena, but resigned
some years ago and returned to Berlin, has just brought before the Med.
Soc. of that city his observations on those nervous disorders which are consequent upon syphilis. According to him there are three classes of cases of
this kind, viz., such in which the nervous affections are caused by a morbid
process spreading to the nervous matter from the parts surrounding it, such
as meningitis dependent upon syphilitic caries of the skull, or neuralgia
and paralysis caused by exostoses pressing upon one or several nerves;
secondly, cases in which the syphilitic cachexia produces a disposition to
diseases of the nervous system, which, however, only take place if other
causes supervene; thirdly, cases of syphilitic exudations which occur into
the nervous tissue just as into other organs, (skin, testicle, etc.) He affirms
that in all these cases no pathognomonic symptoms are to be observed, but
that the diagnosis, whether the case is one of syphilitic origin or not, must
be deduced from the history of each case individually. They are always
observed at a later period of the disease, and belong to the so-called tertiary symptoms; they may take every form of nervous disorder that exists.
Thus he has seen cases of sciatica, brachial neuralgia, tic douloureux, epilepsy, impotence, and paralysis due to venereal disease. Diseases of the
mind are also produced by syphilis; these are generally cases of syphilitic
hypochondriasis, which is either due to anxiety and distress felt about relapses by which the patient believes himself to be threatened, or by shame,
or by disturbances of nutrition in the brain. In this case only circumscribed parts of the encephalon are affected, but there is no progressive
morbid change of the cortical substance. Dr. Leubuscher has also observed cases of mania and delirium, but denies the correctness of Jacoby's
theory that syphilis and gonorrhoea are the most frequent cause of insanity.
He thinks that, generally speaking, syphilis is too frequently looked upon
as the cause of diseases of the nervous system; and regrets that, in pursuance of this view, patients are sometimes treated with mercury when
this is especially injurious, as in atrophy of the spinal cord. After this
paper had been read, Professor A. Von Graefe remarked that more than
one-half of a very large number of cases of paralysis of the third pair
which he had seen were consequent upon syphilis. Amaurosis syphilitica
is generally dependent upon choroiditis or retinitis, and the ophthalmoscope has always shown specific pathological changes in such affections."
-(Med. Times and Gaz.)