Preliminary observations on the pathology of sea-sickness / by J.A. Irwin.

  • Irwin, J. A. (John Arthur), 1853-1912.
Date:
1881
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Preliminary observations on the pathology of sea-sickness / by J.A. Irwin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    i r I and even weeks together, and thus life may be- threatened from mere exhaustion. It is cured by the judicious employment of the same treatment as in Class 1, together with remedies addressed es- pecially to the stomach, both external and internal. It will be seen from the foregoing how hopeless must always be the search for a universal specific. That sea-sickness can exist independently of visual impressions is easily demonstrable; there can be no doubt, however, that these impressions exercise an important influence in some cases.. Ordinary visual vertigo depends upon either an exhaustion of the optic mechanism, or a discrepancy between the visual impressions of the moment and the conceptions formed in the central organs of equilibration. In the visual vertigo of sea-sickness- there appears to be a discord between the immediate or true visual impressions and a certain visual habit or visual sense of the fitness and order of things, which passes into consciousness as a distressing- feeling of uncertainty, dizziness, and nausea. It' seems possible that tactile impressions or feelings of indefinite motion conveyed through the feet ia walking, &c, may also exercise some influence. This leads to the question of how all the pheno- mena of sea-sickness have usually a rapid tendency to pass away. Nature constructed the organ of equilibration of a character eminently fitted to