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

280 INJURIES OF NERVES.
warning in the way of pain or tenderness. One of the
best illustrations I have seen of this was in the case of
C. P., a man of intemperate habits, who bruised the ulnar
nerve at the elbow by a fall in July, 1862. He could use
the limb next dav, but for some months he had slio-ht
formication along the inside of the arm. In December,
1862, the third and fourth digits became weak, and gradually
the loss of power atiected the entire hand and wrist.
He was admitted to the hospital in June, 1863 at this time
;
every motion below the elbow was feeble. The sensory loss
was great in the ulnar track, and was increasing in the
median distribution. Both the ulnar and the median nerves
were exquisitely tender on pressure. The intlammatory
condition awakened in the hurt nerve, some five months
after the injur}', passed up the arm high enough to affect
secondarilv the median nerve. Leeching and blisters
always greatly relieved his neuralgic pain, and lessened
as certainly the tenderness of the nerve trunks; but his
incessant drinkins; at last set all means at detiance, and he
was finally discharged. The proper treatment for a contused
nerve is absolute rest, with the use of leeches and
cold water, when symptoms of neuritis declare themselves.
The following case is a fair illustration of contusion of
nerves and its treatment:
C«se 40.— Conlusmi of the right musculo-spiral nerve. Early
in January, 1865, C. P., clerk, aged twenty-two, while
fencing, was struck by the button of his opponent's foil
upon the middle and outside of the right arm. The shirtsleeve
was torn, and the flesh bruised severely. He felt a
sharp pain, which subsided into a tingling in the thumb
andoutsideofthe forearm. This continued forseveral days,
and on the tenth day became distressing. Upon examining
his arm, I found that the motions of the index-finger were
feeble, and that the wrist was extended with difficulty.
The track of the radial nerve was sore, and the point on