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

LESIONS OF SPECIAL NERVES. 329
to treat the case was made till October. From October
1st, however, to November 3d, he was faradised, although
with slight hope of aiding him. At this date he was no
better. On returning, December 3d, from a furlough, a
cast of his face was made. The wounds were then healed,
and the mouth could be opened.
At this time we noticed that taste was duller on the
left side of the tongue than on the right,
and that the
motions and tactile sense of the tongue were healthy.
Electricity was used persistently up to January 10, 1864.
It gave a good deal of pain, but in no way relieved the
patient's paralysis. In February he was transferred to the
Veteran Reserve Corps. lie had gained the power to
chew his food, but sutiered from all the annoyances of
complete facial palsy.
It will be observed that in this man's case the injury
was deep, the hearing wonderfully little afltected, and the
sense of taste distinctly altered. The mouth never became
sufficiently open to enable us to study the palate.
Case 61.— Gunshot wound of left facial nerve; hearing lost ;
speech impaired; gustation affected; recovery. J. Gager,*
aged forty-two, blacksmith. Company M, 14th JSTew York
Heavy Artillery, enlisted December, 1863. Health good.
"Wounded May 12th, at the battle of Spottsylvania Court
House. The ball entered the left posterior neck one and
three-quarter inches from the spine of the third cervical
vertebra, and was cut out immediately behind and below
the left ear, about two and a half inches beneath the
meatus, and a quarter of an inch behind the jaw. The
track of the bullet is unknown, except that it injured the
ear, paralyzed the portio dura of the seventh nerve, and
splintered the edge of the ramus of the jaw. The man's
head, at the time he was shot, was bent forward and
* Gunshot AVounds, etc., op. cit.
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