Injuries of nerves and their consequences - Reflex Sympathetic ...

VARIETIES OF MECHANICAL INJURIES OF NERVES. 133
was met with, of course, in
men who had to bear hard on
The paralysis
the crutch because of a wounded or lost leg.
beo-ins with a tino-linoc and numbness in the little finojer of
one hand, ordinarily the right, with sometimes a loss of
entire rest,
feelino^ in tlie ulnar distribution. Then the hand grows
feeble, or this symptom comes on, though rarel}-,
without
previous or accompanying sensory phenomena; but at
last the patient can no longer grasp his crutch, so that inevitably
the disease brings its own remedy of
althouo;h it does sometimes continue to increase for a time
after the crutch has been abandoned. I have seen no case
which failed to get well, though in certain instances of
pressure from other causes the palsy has been found to be
permanent.
The following history sufficiently illustrates this form
of pressure:
Q. C. Meanning, aged forty, Company B,
1st Mass.
Cavalry. Eidisted Sept. 1861. He was previously well.
In January, 1863, he fell, breaking both bones of the
right leg.
Union took place, with deformity and unusual
difficulty in locomotion. From April 25th to June 20th
he walked on two common wooden crutches, and then,
until July 11th, on one, which he used on the right side,
leaning heavily upon it. On the last-named day he
walked a great deal more than usual, and immediately
after found that the third and fourth fingers were benumbed.
The following night he lost partially the
use of the arm. The axilla felt sore, but there were no
evidences of any central lesion, or of syphilitic
or rheumatic
antecedents.
Since then his biceps regained power, but no other
muscle had improved up to July 21, 1863. At that time
his shoulder muscles acted well, except the deltoid, which
was feeble. The other muscles of the arm were healthy.
The biceps was feeble ; pronation and supination were