Observations on distortions of the spine : with a few remarks on deformities of the legs / by Lionel J. Beale.

  • Beale, Lionel J.
Date:
1831
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on distortions of the spine : with a few remarks on deformities of the legs / by Lionel J. Beale. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    OF LATERAL CURVATURE. Perhaps there is no infirmity to which the human frame is liable, more deserving our attention, than that which is the subject of the following pages— whether on account of that portion of the commu- nity who are most frequently the sufferers, or in reference to the numerous afflictions which result from disturbance of the spinal cord, or its appen- dages. From a variety of causes, lateral curvature of the spine has of late years become so common, that there is hardly a family in the middle or upper ranks of society in this country, which has not one or more of its members so afflicted : indeed, so ge- nerally have these causes operated, that there are very few females in these classes of society who are totally exempt from some slight degree of spinal curvature or weakness. A small degree of curvature exists in numerous instances without being sus- pected, and many of the nervous, hysterical, and other anomalous affections met with in practice, have their cause in some slight deviation of the bones composing the spine. The causes which give rise to this widely-spread calamity, are very numerous and very different. There are various kinds and degrees of lateral cur- vature, some arising from a single, some from a combination of several of these causes. The origin