The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-09-19


so; / can accomplish this, or probably only
this, for its relief; and this or this will be the
end" The reproach which Bacon in his
time threw upon medicine, that those who pro-
fessed 1t did not seek for specific remedies, is
ROW taken away, for this is the era of inces-
SAINT experiment, and medicine now rests on a
sound basis and no limits can be placed to its
expansion in far-of ages.
Many of the phenomena presented by dis
ease are exceedingly curious, and even roman
tic. Take for instance, bronchitis. Some-
times il happens that a bronchial tube be-
comes carnifed at one end, or is filled by some
substance. The result is that the tube is
converted into n musical instrument. It gives
a hute-lke sound. II COOS like wood-dOve.
Sometimes the bronchial tube acts differently.
The sound resembles the noise made by loud
snorer. Then it mimics the noise of an infu-
rated tom-cat. Cullen's celebrated account
of the phenomena Of fever might well de-
serve a place in the romance Of medicine,
deeply and painfully interesting as 1t Is.
From the many thousand cases that are on
record in medical journals, many might be
cited involving matters very curious In
scientific point of view, and narratives OF per-
sonal history of the most dramatic kind.
Cases of insanity especially possess horribly
grotesque character. In the work of M. Es-
quiros alone there is remarkable collection OF
very singular cases. II is to be noted that IN
sanity is a physical disease of which several
hundred people die annually. The curious
disease commonly known as St. Vitus' dance
(chorea) presents some remarkable phe-
nomena. It is generally painless, and most
frequently attacks boys and girls, and very
rarely has fatal termination. The patient be-
comes a merry Andrew, and twists the face
into all kinds of ridiculous forms. 1t is i'm
possible for the lookers-on not to be amused,
but any such unworthy feeling would certainly
cease when they become acquainted with the
horrible and most distressing forms which the
disease can assume. The name of chorea,
which signifies dance-Hunter calls it rotate
is derived from the dancing phenomena
which are not uncommonly found with it
the insanity OF The muscles as it has been called.
st. Vitus is supposed to have been a worthy
saint who was much afflicted this way, to
| whom chapel is dedicated at Ulm in Swabia.
A case is mentioned in which a young woman
would dance on one leg and hold the other in
| her hand. When a drum sounded a kind of
air she would dance up to the drum and con-
tinue dancing till the drummer was out of
breath. Another would leap, exactly as fish
might do, from the top of a wardrobe five feet
high. Another patient, little girl, would
twirl round on her feet like a top. She would
spin for six or seven hours at a time, the
evolutions being sixty minute. Another
patient was continually walking backwards
| receiving many falls and bruises. "Such
histories" says Sir Thomas Watson, "would
sound very like romances, if they were met
with in the old authors alone, or if they were
not attested by unimpeachable authority"
Such diseases are morbid affections of the
nerves, and are well called "the dark corners
| of pathology" The whole subject of the in
| fluence of the nervous system ON the organic
| functions is replete with curious memorabilia.
| Here is curious case, mentioned by Mr..
| Paget:-"A lady who is subject to attacks of
| what are called nervous headaches always
| finds next morning that some patches of her
hair are white as if powdered with starch.
| The change is effected in night: and, in a
few days after, the hairs gradually regain their
dark brownish color"
DR.. Carpenter explains the famous miracle
OF the thorn, which is such a leading event in
the history of Port Royal, where. an advanced
fstula lacrymalis was undoubtedly healed
through the influence of the nervous system.
He says that there is scarcely a malady to
which, according to well-grounded medical
! opinion, amendment has not been produced
| 'by practices which can have had no other
effect than to direct the attention of the suf-
ferer to the part, and to keep alive his con-
tident expectation of the cure" Among such
curious instances may be recalled the servant
maid, whom COleridge quotes, who, in the
rawlings of feyer-and the rawlings of fever are
always more or less emarkable-repeated
long passages from the Hebrew, which she did
! not understand, and could not repeat when
well, but which, when living with clergyman,
she had heard him read aloud. DIR. Forbes
Winslow's work on the "Obscurer Diseases of
the Brain" gives many highly curious cases,
and DR.. Maudsley's philosophical work. re-
Gently published, is an extremely thoughtful
work, enriched with notes of great literary in
terest. DR.. Maudsley's collection of fifty cases
Of insanity, which he has had under his own
care, is both striking and instructive and
many similar cases might almost be entitled
''Studies for Stories" / have just noted
curious case reported by DR.. Fitzpatrick, of
London, for the Pathological Society of Dub
lin. man wasted away in hospital as if for
consumption. On post-mortem examination
it was found that a small fshbone of a plaice
had passed into the left lung, and the pre-
sence Of this foreign body had made a cavity.
| A surgeon was performing simple operation
| in the neck, when suddenly slight kissing
sound was heard. The air had forced its way
| into vein, and death was the result. But
| such curious cases might be multiplied ad
! H6ttu1a; collection might easily be formed by
| any reader of current medical literature, The
human interest is even greater than the scien-
tifc interest, and it must be noted, to the
credit OF practitioners, that they eXemplify
Bishop Butler's law, that their sympathies,
! being accompanied with active goodness in
stead OF being dulled by the multiplicity of the
phenomena of suffering, constantly become
more tender and acute
Something might be said in contradiction to
the theory mentioned just now, that an organi-
| zatiOn viii act regularly till worn out by long
use. AT the same time there can be no doubt
| that carelessness is the origin of most diseases