[13]. Dolor brachii in hydrope pectoris. The pain in the left arm which attends some dropsies of the chest, is explained in Sect. XXIX. 5. 2. 10. which resembles the pain of the little finger from a percussion of the nerve at the elbow in the preceding article. A numbness of this kind is produced over the whole leg, when the crural nerve is much compressed by sitting for a time with one leg crossed over the other.
Mr. ——, about sixty, had for two years been affected with difficulty of respiration on any exertion, with pain about the sternum, and of his left arm; which last was more considerable than is usual in dropsy of the chest; some months ago the pain of his arm, after walking a mile or two, became excessive, with coldness and numbness; and on the next day the back of the hand, and a part of the arm swelled, and became inflamed, which relieved the pain; and was taken for the gout, and continued several days. He after some months became dropsical both in respect to his chest and limbs, and was six or seven times perfectly relieved by one dram of saturated tincture of digitalis, taken two or three times a day for a few days in a glass of peppermint water. He afterwards breathed oxygen gas undiluted, in the quantity of six or eight gallons a day for three or four weeks without any effect, and sunk at length from general debility.
In this instructive case I imagine the pressure or stimulus of one part of the nerve within the chest caused the other part, which serves the arm, to become torpid, and consequently cold by sympathy; and that the inflammation was the consequence of the previous torpor and coldness of the arm, in the same manner as the swelling and inflammation of the cheek in tooth-ach, in the first species of this genus; and that many rheumatic inflammations are thus produced by sympathy with some distant part.
[14]. Diarrhœa a dentitione. The diarrhœa, which frequently attends dentition, is the consequence of indigestion; the aliment acquires chemical changes, and by its acidity acts as a cathartic; and changes the yellow bile into green, which is evacuated along with indigested parts of the coagulum of milk. The indigestion is owing to the torpor of the stomach and intestines caused by their association with the membranes of the gums, which are now stimulated into great exertion with pain; both which contribute to expend the general quantity of sensorial power, which belongs to this membranous association; and thus the stomach and intestines act with less than their natural energy. This is generally esteemed a favourable symptom in difficult dentition, as the pain of the alveolar membranes exhausts the sensorial power without producing convulsions for its relief. See Class [I. 1. 4. 5]. And the diarrhœa ceases, as the tooth advances.