advantage, in a single case, of that light which anatomical examination yields, opinions and not facts can only be offered. Conjecture founded on analogy, and an attentive consideration of the peculiar symptoms of the disease, have been the only guides that could be obtained for this research, the result of which is, as it ought to be, offered with hesitation.

SUPPOSED PROXIMATE CAUSE.

By the nature of the symptoms we are taught, that the disease depends on some irregularity in the direction of the nervous influence; by the wide range of parts which are affected, that the injury is rather in the source of this influence than merely in the nerves of the parts; by the situation of the parts whose actions are impaired, and the order in which they become affected, that the proximate cause of the disease is in the superior part of the medulla spinalis; and by the absence of any injury to the senses and to the intellect, that the morbid state does not extend to the encephalon.

Uncertainty existing as to the nature of the proximate cause of this disease, its remote causes must necessarily be referred to with indecision. Assuming however the state just mentioned as the proximate cause, it may be concluded that this may be the result of injuries of the medulla itself, or of the theca helping to form the canal in which it is inclosed.

The great degree of mobility in that portion of the spine which is formed by the superior cervical vertebræ, must render it, and the contained parts, liable to injury from sudden distortions. Hence therefore may proceed inflammation of quicker or of slower progress, disease of the vertebræ, derangement of structure in the medulla, or in its membranes, thickening or even ulceration of the theca, effusion of fluids, &c.

But in no case which has been noticed, has the patient recollected receiving any injury of this kind, or any fixed pain in early life in these parts, which might have led to the opinion that the foundation for this malady had been thus laid. On the subject indeed of remote causes, no satisfactory accounts has yet been obtained from any of the sufferers. Whilst one has attributed this affliction to indulgence in spirituous liquors, and another to long lying on the damp ground; the others have been unable to suggest any circumstance whatever, which, in their opinion, could be considered as having given origin, or disposed, to the calamity under which they suffered.

Cases illustrative of the nature and cause of this malady are very rare. In the following case symptoms very similar are observable, so far as affecting the lower extremities. That the medulla spinalis was here affected, and in its lower part, is not to be doubted: but this, unfortunately, was never ascertained by examination. It must be however remarked, that this case differed from those which have been given of this disease, in the suddenness with which the symptoms appeared.

A. B. aged twenty-six years, during a course of mercury for a venereal affection, was exposed to severely inclement weather, for several hours, and the next morning, complained of extreme pain in the back, and of total inability to employ voluntarily the muscles of the lower extremities, which were continually agitated with severe convulsive motions. The physician who attended him employed those means which seemed best calculated to relieve him; but with no beneficial effect. The lower extremities were perpetually agitated with strong palpitatory motions, and, frequently, three or four times in a minute, suddenly raised with great vehemence two or three feet from the ground, either in a forward or oblique direction, striking one limb against the other, or against the chairs, tables, or any substance which stood in the way. To check these inordinate motions, no means were in the least effectual, except striking the thighs forcibly during the more violent convulsions. No advantage was derived from all the means which were employed during upwards of twelvemonths. Full ten years after this period, the unhappy subject of this malady was casually met in the street, shifting himself along, seated in a chair; the convulsive motions having ceased, and the limbs having become totally inert, and insensible to any impulse of the will.

It must be acknowledged, that in the well-known cases, described by Mr. Potts, of that kind of Palsy of the lower limbs which is frequently found to accompany a curvature of the spine, and in which a carious state of the vertebræ is found to exist, no instructive analogy is discoverable; slight convulsive motions may indeed happen in the disease proceeding from curvature of the spine; but palpitating motions of the limbs, such as belong to the disease here described, do not appear to have been hitherto noticed.

Whilst striving to determine the nature and origin of this disease, it becomes necessary to give the following particulars of an interesting case of Palsy occasioned by a fall, attended with uncommon symptoms, related by Dr. Maty, in the third volume of the Medical Observations and Inquiries. The subject of this case, the Count de Lordat, had the misfortune to be overturned from a pretty high and steep bank. His head pitched against the top of the coach, and was bent from left to right; his left shoulder, arm, and especially his hand, were considerably bruised. At first he felt a good deal of pain along the left side of his neck, but neither then, nor at any other time, had he any faintings, vomitings, or giddiness.—On the sixth day he was let blood, on account of the pain in his shoulder and the contusion of his hand, which were then the only symptoms he complained of, and of which he soon found himself relieved.—Towards the beginning of the following winter, he began to find a small impediment in uttering some words, and his left arm appeared weaker. In the following spring, having suffered considerably from the severities of the winter campaign, he found the difficulty in speaking, and in moving his left arm, considerably increased.—On employing the thermal waters of Bourbonne, his speech become freer, but, on his return to Paris, the Palsy was increased, and the arm somewhat wasted.—In the beginning of the next spring he went to Balaruc; when he became affected with involuntary convulsive motions all over the body. The left arm withered more and more, a spitting began, and now it was with difficulty that he uttered a few words. Frictions and sinapisms were successively tried, and an issue, made by a caustic, was kept open for some time without any effect; but no mention is made of what part the issue was established in.

Soon after this, and three years and a half after the fall, Doctor Maty first saw the patient, and gives the following description of his situation. “A more melancholy object I never beheld. The patient, naturally a handsome, middle-sized, sanguine man, of a cheerful disposition, and an active mind, appeared much emaciated, stooping, and dejected. He still walked alone with a cane, from one room to the other, but with great difficulty, and in a tottering manner; his left hand and arm were much reduced, and would hardly perform any motion; the right was somewhat benumbed, and he could scarcely lift it up to his head; his saliva was continually trickling out of his mouth, and he had neither the power of retaining it, nor of