Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1866-07-10


Few diseases are SO appalling as what, in
the books OF medicine, is dcuominated 7eta-
mus, or Tr'Sn1us, accordingly as its scat NAV
be general or local.
The latter term is used to express that form
OF the malady popularity known as Clock
JAW" the very mention of which was once
sufficient to make me shud'ler, calmly as |
can write of it in my old days, because of nv
having encountered it so frequently when in
Southern practice for it is a disease much
more frequently met with il warm than in
cold climates
Tetanus, as it may not be unacceptable to
the reader to be informed, consists in violent
spasms Of the voluntary muscles, which take
place while the power of thought and the ca
pabilty Of sensation are unimpaired. There
is, therefore. a radical difference between this
disease and those properly cassed as convul-
sive.
In the latter class of ailments there is all
ways more or less disorder of the intellectual
powers, and the spasms are marked by sud
den contractions and relaxations of the VOL
untary muscles, in alienation, giving violent
motions Of the body and the limbs But IN
the former class of symptoms we have what
are technically called clonic spasms-that is.
such as are unyielding Apoplexy and cpl
lepsy give US examples of the former symp-
toms, while the disease which more directly
concerns us, affords most marked examples of
the latter.
Tctanus is divided by medical writers into
several varieties, according to the particular
set of muscles affected. When it is confined
to the muscles of the jaws and throat, it IS
called trisna"s, or ''locked- jaw" Sometimes
/ those muscles of the trunk of the body and
the legs, known to medical men as 'sexten,
fbo Of tbo 4
Then the affection is termed Opisth0t0nOS. and
the body is curEed backward When the
curvature is forward, it is called en,prosthoto-
nos. When. again, the body is bent side
ways, the name g wen to the disease is pLewro-
thOtOnOS. But these distinctions are made
where there ls no difference, as LAWYER
would say. They are of no practical signifi~
canoe whatever, aud have recounted them
for the purpose, more than anything else, of
showing up the humbugeous folly to which
nosologists are too commonly addicted, not
only in making such ludicrotsly reiUed dis
tinctions where none exists in fact but in
employing such jawbreaking names as those
just cited-for one is really in danger of hav-
ing his jaws ''locked" in his efforts to stretch
them widely enough to pronounce them.
1t is hard for me, as medical thinker, to
resist the temptation Of giving description
Of the symptoms of tetanus before proceeding
to transcribe the leaves of my journal fure
nishing my present narrative. And 1 am
sure that could not perform a more useful
task. But know how restive the majority
of popular readers are to get at what they
persist understand, in calling my ssstories. /"
and, Therefore, if. conclude to give further
insight, it shall be after they are satisfied.
and you and I, more inquiring aud patient
reader; are left to pursue our studies quietly
by ourselves.
Now, theu, for my narrative, beginning
with a description of the circumstances under
which the locked jaw patient, who is the sub
ject of this article, received the injury which
was the cattse of his sad afliction.
The locality in reference was in the out
skirts of the Virgiuian village of Charlestown,
and almost within guusbot of the spot made
memorable by the execution of john Brown.
The season was the early Autumn, as / dis
tinctly remember, althoug gh it was nearly forty
years ago, from the circumstance that the sa-