SHOCK

is a condition of depre ion of vitality due to violent derangement of the nervous system, caused by powerful mental emotions, such as horror or joy, by extreme irritation of the peripheral nerves through injury, or by certain poisons. There is lo of control over the vasomotor nerves (or nerves of the blood ve els); the blood leaving the brain and superficial parts of the body and accumulating in the blood ve els of the internal organs, and the heart’s action may also be inhibited. The patient may feel faint or hecome frsensible, pale and cold, perspiration ofte1 appearing on the forehead; the pulse is at first slow then rapid and irregular, the breathing at first weak and short and latcr deeper and gasping, the temperature is subnormal, and the pupils dilated. There are, however, many degrees of the condition, from a slight and transient faintne to sudden death.