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 CATALEPSY CATALONIA 9T The disease ia so seldom met with that some well known writers have doubted its existence, and have attributed the recorded cases to im- posture. Bourdin (Traite de la catalepsie, Paris, 1841), who collected all the recorded facts within his reach, was able to unite but 38 well characterized observations. The attack is often preceded by headache, confusion of mind, loss of memory, &c. ; more commonly, however, nothing of the kind has been noticed. During the paroxysm the patient retains the position and expression of countenance he had at the moment of the seizure ; the face is com- monly pale, sometimes slightly flushed ; the pupils are dilated, but contract on exposure to a strong light ; the limbs can be moved with the exertion of a little force, and retain the new position which may be given them ; if the patient is standing and is pushed, he makes no effort to save himself; if placed in a painful and constrained attitude, it is retained during the paroxysm. The unvarying, motionless attitude and fixed expression give a strange and corpse- like look to the sufferer. The duration of the attack is variable ; sometimes it lasts but a few minutes, sometimes 12 or 14 hours ; cases are recorded in which it has been prolonged to 20 or even 30 days. Many cases occur in which the attack is less characteristically marked, or in which a portion only of the symptoms is present. Although deprived of speech and voluntary motion, the patient is more or less con- scious of what is passing around him. In Dun- can's " Medical Commentaries," a case is related of a woman who in this state of partial cata- lepsy was taken for dead, and who was per- fectly conscious of what was occurring around her, while her body was being laid out and pre- pared for interment. In ecstasy, a disease allied to catalepsy, and which by imperceptible degrees passes into it, the patient is insensible to everything about him, while the mind is absorbed in some one object or train of ideas; the muscles are either relaxed or in a state of almost tetanic rigidity, while the patient speaks and sings, perhaps with greater readiness and ease than in his natural condition. This con- dition is frequently occasioned in nervous and hysterical persons by religious excitement, and is often produced in a similar class of persons by animal magnetism. It is one much more commonly assumed by impostors than true catalepsy. Both catalepsy and ecstasy seem to be closely allied to hysteria ; they occur for the most part in young females of nervous habit, and both the one and the other often com- mence or terminate in it; occasionally, how- ever, as is likewise the case with some of the more ordinary manifestations of hysteria, they have their origin in serious disease of the brain. The age and history of the patient will help the intelligent physician to discriminate such cases. Some strong moral excitement is generally the immediate cause of the disease, but when it is already formed, or when the predisposition to it is very strong, a most trifling cause a sud- den noise, the surprise of an unexpected visit, &c. may induce a paroxysm. In itself the disease is never fatal, and morbid anatomy throws no light upon it. In regard to the treatment, in the interval between the par- oxysms means should be employed to improve the general health and give tone to the nervous system. During the paroxysm the feet may be immersed in a mustard foot bath and cold applications made to the head ; of these, where it can be borne, the cold douche is best. CATALONIA (Span. Cataluna), a maritime di- vision of Spain, on the Mediterranean, lying between lat. 40 30' and 42 51' N., and Ion. 15' and 3 21' E. ; area 12,504 sq. m. ; pop. in 1867, 1,744,052. It is bounded N. by the Pyrenees, E. by the Mediterranean, S. by Va- lencia, and W. by Aragon. The coast line ia about 240 m. ; the principal ports are Barce- lona, Kosas, and Tarragona, connected by rail- way with other parts of the Spanish coast and with the interior. Catalonia is divided into the provinces of Barcelona, Tarragona, L6rida, and Gerona. The face of the country is much broken by spurs of the Pyrenees. Some of these mountain ranges diverge toward the Mediterranean ; others, of which the chief ia the Sierra de la Llena, pursue a S. W. direction to the Ebro, and form a watershed in which 26 rivers have their rise, and flow either westward to the Ebro or eastward to the sea. The prin- cipal of these streams are the Segre, a tributary of the Ebro, the Noguera Pallaresa and Noguera Rivagorzana, tributaries of the Segre, the Llo- bregat, Francoli, Tordera, Ter, and Fluvia. None of these are navigable to any great ex- tent. The general grade of the country is a descent from the mountain altitudes of the Py- renees to the plateaus of upper Catalonia, and thence to the plains which skirt the Mediterra- nean. Most of the inland mountains are of granitic formation; those near the coast are limestone. Traces of volcanic origin are found especially in the vicinity of Barcelona. Val- leys of remarkable fertility intersect the moun- tains. Such are the plateau of Urgel, and the valleys of Cerdafia, Tarragona, Vails, La Selva, Igualada, Cervera, Ampurdan, and L6ri- da. About half the surface is susceptible of cultivation, the rest consisting of rocks, bar- rens, and woodlands. Forests of beech, pine, elm, and cork are found in the mountainous districts. Iron, copper, lead, and manganese are found ; coal is met with in quantity, but it has been turned to little account ; crystals, ame- thysts, topaz, jasper, and marble occur; and there are hot and mineral springs in various parts. Of alum, nitre, and rock salt the sup- plies are inexhaustible ; at Cardona is a mound of pure salt, 500 ft. in height and 3 m. in cir- cumference. Near Olot, 55 m. N. of Barcelona, is a remarkable district of extinct volcanoes. Montserrat is a single and precipitous moun- tain, composed of a number of conical hills heaped in confusion over one another, and broken into fantastic shapes of parti-colored