Emotional excitement is, however, the most pro-
of my own in the Journal of Nervous and Hfe?tial Disease,
January, 1876, I presume he is unacquainted with either. Prof.
Broca ascertained by means of thermometers, applied to differ-
ent parts of the scalp, that the external temperature was affected
by different internal morbid, and physiological conditions, and
hence confirmed the previous observations of Lombard and
myself. His experiments would have yielded much more
delicate and accurate results if he had employed Lombard's in-
strument.
SYMPTOMS. 49

lific cause of cardiac disturbance in patients affected
with cerebral hypersemia, and at times leads to serious
results. The pulsations of the heart may be so irreg-
ular and the action of the organ so strong as to in-
duce grave interference with the respiratory apparatus.
Upon one occasion a lady, while in my consulting
room, was seized with a paroxysm of the kind in ques-
tion, of so severe a character that for a moment or
two I thought she was about to die. For several
months she had been wakeful, had suffered from ver-
tigo and slight pain in the head, and while relating to
me her symptoms, a blast near by, where a cellar was
being excavated, exploded and produced so violent and
sudden a shock as to bring on the excessive cardiac
action mentioned. The heart throbbed with so great
a degree of violence that its pulsations could be
readily seen through her dress and heard at the dis-
tance of two or three feet ; her face and neck became
livid, and gasping for breadth, she fell to the floor in-
sensible. In a very short time, however, the inordi-
nate movements ceased and she recovered conscious-
ness.
