SYNCOPE (crtrynori, literally a cutting in pieces, a sudden failure of power or strength), fainting. A sudden impairment or complete loss of sensation and voluntary motion, with great diminution or almost total abolition of the heart's action and of the function of respiration.
Fainting sometimes occurs quite suddenly, but is usually ushered in by certain premonitory symptoms. These are a sense of languor and uneasiness, confusion of the mind, oppression at the chest, dimness of sight, ringing in the ears, partial cold sweats, paleness of the face, and coldness of the extremities. These continue for some time, and theu either pass away, or are followed by swooning, a state of complete faintness, during which the pulse is altogether imperceptible at the wrist, and respiration nearly ceases. When a fainting fit comes on suddenly and without any warning, it is usually mere profound than when it has been preceded by the symptoms just enumerated. Recovery from fainting is frequently attended with palpitation of the heart, and sensations more distressing than those which ushered in the attack. The duration of a fainting fit seldom exceeds a few minutes or even seconds, but instances are on record of persons continuiug in a swoon for The immediate cause of fainting is, in all instances, some interruptiori to the due transmission of blood to the brain. Various circumstances however, both moral and physical, interfere with the circulation, either through the medium of the nervous system, or by acting directly on the heart itself. Persons swoon from any violent and sudden moral emotion, as terror, grief, disappointment, or even excessive joy. The sight of blood or of any object which excites disgust occasions some persons to faint, as do various impressions on the senses, whether painful or otherwise. Very susceptible individuals have been known to faint on perceiving the odour of certain flowers, and unpleasant smells still more frequently cause faintness. The abstraction of a large quantity of blood probably has a more immediate action on the heart ; and to the disturbance of the circulation must be attributed those fainting fits which sometimes occur in the course of diseases of the heart. The sudden transition from a horizontal to a sitting posture
when persons are very weak, or have lost a large quantity of blood, probably nets in both ways at once ; and fainting sometimes takes place from other causes, such as heatSd rooms, &c., of which we cannot well explain the action.
Fainting may be confounded with apoplexy or asphyxia ; and if it continues for an unusually long time, the person may be supposed to be dead. A little attention however will prevent our mistaking an apoplectic person, who breathes loudly and with a snoring noise, for a person in a swoon, whose respiration is gentle, and almost itnpereep tible, and whose pulse either cannot be felt at all, or is at any rate extremely weak. Asphyxia is a state of Suspended animation, brought on by some cause interfering directly with respiration ; it is marked by tumor and lividity of the face, while the face of a person in a faint ing fit is pale and sunken. The continuance of respiration and of the action, though very feeble, the temperature of the body, and the absence of all stiffness of the limbs, would sufficiently distinguish syncope from death ; but it must be very unusual for fainting to con tinue for a few minutes without there appearing some evident signs of life. [Aseurxra.] In the treatment of a person who has fainted, the first point is to place him in the recumbent posture ; and in the case of fainting after blood-letting, nothing more is in general required. Exposure to the cool air, sprinkling cold water on the face, and friction of the limbs may be employed if the fit continues ; and a small quantity of ether or sal-volatile may be given as soon as the person can swallow. The horizontal posture should be preserved until recovery is complete.