A CASE OF IDIOCY WITH UNIVERSAL RIGIDITY, THE RESULT OF SYPHILITIC DISEASE OF THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM

ANGEL MONEY
1884 Brain  
A. R. H, a female child, aged 3£ years, was admitted into the Hospital for Sick Children, under the care of Dr. Dickinson, on April 3, 1883. She was an illegitimate child ; her .mother died of consumption, aged 31. The child had been bottle-fed all through. She was in good health till two years old, whenshe had two " fits " (? bilateral) in one afternoon, which were attributed to the teething. Three days after these fits, the child is said to have become unconscious. Since then she had not
more » ... nised friends, had not spoken, nor walked; though before the fits she was intelligent, conld speak and had walked welL The bowels had been constipated. There was no vomiting. On admission, the gums were spongy and swollen; the bowels were freely opened after a purgative; the patient vomited three times without apparent cause; the temperature was 104 at night, and 101 in the morning; the cornea were clear; the discoloured teeth were ground down level with the gums in the upper jaw, and projected a little beyond the gums' in the lower jaw. The upper part of the right external ear stood away from the side of the head. Unless the optic discs were too pale, ophthalmoscopic examination revealed nothing abnormal. The eyeballs were moved about thoroughly in every direction; they had no characteristic position; there was no facial palsy in crying; the tongue seemed to move naturally and equally. There was practically no intellect. The child seemed to observe a bright lamp, cried when food was put into the mouth; deglutition was natural. The mouth was very large, the face seemed ill-developed; the head was brachycephalic and small; its circumference measured 18J in.; the measurement from ear to ear over the cranial vault was in. The legs, arms and trunk, when left alone and at rest, by guest on March 15, 2016 http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/ Downloaded from
doi:10.1093/brain/7.3.406 fatcat:brdtrfnesng7bbwwqspkb7rdvu