It is of the greatest value in bad cases to place the patient in bed and keep him there until the symptoms improve. John Van Bibber of Baltimore has treated a number of cases of chorea successfully by keeping them secluded in a darkened room. Such an extreme degree of isolation is not often necessary, and it might make a child more nervous.
In children the patient should always be taken from school and kept from exciting play. Plenty of fresh air and wholesome food should be insisted upon. Change of air to the mountains or to the seashore often effects a cure in a short time.
Some cases do not appear to be benefited by any treatment. These are the hereditary form of chorea and some of the localized choreas. The latter are often helped or cured by the hypodermic use of arsenic even in long-standing cases.
ATHETOSIS.
BY WHARTON SINKLER, M.D.
This disease was first described by Hammond in his work on Diseases of the Nervous System in 1871, and cases have since been reported by many observers, among them Clifford Allbutt, Claye Shaw, Eulenburg, Oulmont, and Gowers. The disease is named by Hammond from the word ἀθετος, without fixed position.1 The principal features are an inability to retain the fingers and toes in any position in which they may be placed, and the continual movements which persist in the parts—a condition called by Gowers mobile spasm.
1 Diseases of the Nervous System, p. 722.