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

CHAPTER XIV.
NEURAL MALADIES OF
STUMPS.
The nervous affections of stumps are chorea, neuralgia,
neuritis, and sclerosis. They have received but little
notice at the hands of neuro-pathologists, and, indeed,
the physiology of stumps, a comprehension of which is
necessary before studying their diseases, may be said to
have been almost entirely neglected.
I have therefore thought it fitting to introduce here an
original study of the vital conditions of stumps before
speaking of their diseases.
Functional and other changes after amjmtaiion.— The amputation
of limbs gives rise to certain functional and other
conditions which have never as yet been fully studied.
According to my own experience, removal of large limbs
tends to cause plethora, more rapid pulse, and in very
many cases greater tendency to sweat. The tissue
changes in the stumps which follow amputation have been
pretty fully described by surgeons, and need not be considered
here, save as to certain practical points.
In many
cases the stumps, after wasting for a time, seem to gain
in bulk, although this is not alwaj's the case, for it occasionally
happens that both muscles and bone undergo
remarkable and permanent atrophy. Perhaps in chosing
a line of amputation, more attention should be paid to
the points at which the
nerves enter the muscles or the
bones, since, if these can be respected, wasting will be less
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