Palsy
the loss of the power of motion. It is a symptom of disease, usually of apoplexy. The two causes on which it depends are an affection of a nerve or nerves, or a morbid state of the nervous centers, the brain or spinal cord. Under the former head poisoning of nervous matter or any morbid process impairing the nerves or solution of continuity, or pressure may cause it; under the latter, it is due to a morbid state of the centers of the nervous system. The commonest form is hemiplegia, a paralytic stroke on one side or half, which may be complete, profound, or incomplete. There are six forms: Cerebral, spinal, epileptic, choreic, hysterical, and peripheral, their frequency being in the order named.
Palsy is uncommon but serious in the young, and most common in advanced life. There are four modes of termination: (1) Death; (2) complete recovery with wasting muscles; (3) partial recovery with rigid muscles; (4) complete recovery. In hysterical hemiplegia the lower limb, instead of being dragged by