In the eighteenth century, apoplexy was the term used to describe a clinical presentation rather than a single disease entity – a sudden catastrophic event characterised by a loss of consciousness, movement and sensation. Many of the conditions that would have been described under the term apoplexy are incorporated into what is now referred to as stroke. This chapter will explore the changes in the understanding of this spectrum of diseases included in the term as well as the shifts in the actual use of the term during the eighteenth century.
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Storey, C.E. (2007). Apoplexy: Changing Concepts in the Eighteenth Century. In: Whitaker, H., Smith, C.U.M., Finger, S. (eds) Brain, Mind and Medicine: Essays in Eighteenth-Century Neuroscience. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-70967-3_17
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