Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-10-13
FEELINGS OF A YELLOW FEVER PA.
TIEEE.

The New Orleans 3 t1cfjR says the FOL
lowing ives written by d yellow fever pa
| tient on the fifth day after being takeT
sick. The labor of writing il caused a re
| lapse, which came very near costing hi'
| life:
The writer Of this has had a glimpse o
pUrgatory, and the way it came to pass
was this. Tuesday morning Yellow
| Jack, - sO-called, introduced himself un-
| cernOniOusly and at once proceeded tC
break every bone in this poor subjects
| body. He was left helpless and prostrs.
| ted. Now appeared an army Of littlC
| devils, who commenced prowling, prod
| ding and digging to satisfy themselves
that not a bone was left unbroken. But
| in spite of all the devils, the skull re.
mained unbroken. They made a detail
/ ts keep continually beating the subject
on the top Of the head and downward to-
ward the neck. Then they had a kind
of Greek fire, which, at regular intervals
they poured down the spine Of the sub.
ject.
Having arranged all these prelimi.
naries, they of course thought they had
him dead. Now they commenced 6
curious game; all would whirl around
then stop all of 8 sudden and play with
or dice, vet something Of the sort The
subject watched this game with intense
interest, 20 much so that be almost forgot
his broken bones and unhiuged joints.
Thus, his mind and his spirits and the
game went spinning along together till
about dark, when a servant entered aud
asked if the subject was sick. He rather
thought he was.
a delegation of neigh bOTs now crowded
around the bed to learn how the sick man
felt. He endeavOred to briefly convey
some idea of his feelings. O1e Of those
present asked If he would take q prepara-
ton to check the fever. He answered he
might, provided it was neither calomel
nor quinine. No, it was 3 homeopathic
remedy. Well, the subject had no
objection. Soon after q physician made
his appearance, looked rather serious,
gave his instructions, and told the sub
leCt to queneh his thirst with almost any
decent drink. Now he happened to be
always thirsty, tried citrate of magnesia
for q while, but soon grew disgusted with
it, then tried lemonade, bat with no bet
ter success. The novel idea struck him
TO try pure cold water, and IL turned out
to be exactly the thing.
The physician continued his visits, and
would announce from day to day, with a
curious air, that the patient was better.
In the meantime, when not interrupted,
the subject and the spirits and the Curl
ous game played by the latter, went
swimming along together as much so as
on the first dsy, but gradually the host
grew smaller some OF the spirits seemed
70 have urgent business elsewhere,
others Jagged, and all that ran around
grew more and more careless. But jUst
Ia exact proportion, the subject grew
more and more powerful weak. -
Thursday morning he was all-pOwerfuily
weak; the spirits had all left but two,
one rested on each eyelid. With kick
and snort the subject flung back the
bed cover, Landed on the floor, and said,
" amt dead yet"
With the assistance Of a gentle
nurse, CT whose existence the subject
now became aware, be found his way
back to bed again. Friday morning he
found himself so powerfully weak that
he did not feel able to raise a finger. The
doctor came and looked rather more
pleasant than usual said that everybody
had expected the subject to die, but con-
tinued be, "You' are not going TO die (;
you'll be out in asfew days.
a brilliant idea struck tine subject, and
summoning all his strength, he raised
himself on his haunches. and told the
doctor he would like to have something
to eat. The doctor suggested that tue
subject might drink cup of coffee with
boiled milk. Would duck swim? The
coffee was well made and drank, and the
patient gained strength enough to at
tempt to write this, which he mauged to
do by eight hours hard work, lying on
his back, and holding his pencil in one
hand and his paper in the other. And
the patients still lives.