Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1872-06-27

I
toms Of sunssrcke are At once uniform and
diverse-uniform in their general outline.
and diverse in tkeir especial details. In
the ordinary form-shae which nav be
!. spoken Of as the eeFebro-spioal variety
stser more or less distiac, warning. in the
shape Of such prcmoni,ory symptoms. as
headaehe. disoraered vision, iutense wear-
mess ETC.. the sutjecs becomes uncou.
sciou1. sometimes suddenly. sometimes
more Rrsdually. The laoorer will fall
senselcss tp the street; in the hospital the
comrades ofs sick man will have their at
tention attracted BY his acary breathing.
oaly to 6nd that natural sleep ha passed
BY insensible degrees into fstal coma or
lssppor. With this insensibility the.e is
lrys associated ntense hes. Of the skin.
ENts es.,... .,rface feels intensely
hos: nor s ye6la,iou deceptive che
the heat of the body exceeds tha, at
tained in almost any other affection. A
thermometer placed in the armpit, instead
of indicating 9so Fahrenheit. the tempera.
ture of health. rises generally to 1899, in
some eases even to 1882. FROM ,he pc.
culiar pungency Of this heat the tech
meal term colpr usordae. or biting heat.
has been applied to it.
The surface may or may not be pale !;
very often it is dusky. With livid. blush
purple hue. The eyes are sometimes wild
, and restless. sometimes fixed ani glsrins.
sometimes dull with the leaden hue Of
approaching death The pupils at frs,
are generally contracted: in the latter
stages they are often widely dilated. -
With these symptoms Of intense fever are
others betokening nervous disturbance.
In some cases these are of the nature Of pa.
ralysis. the Pasien. lying apparently in
the deepest sleep. no. muscle moving,
not a limb raised. not an eyelid quiverins.
In other cases this peaceful ,hcug h dead
y calm is replaced by a wild tempest
raging de'irium. wild screams. as though
Of intense or uncomfortable passicr, furi-
Gus convulsious. following one another like
the rapid discharges of a galvanio battery.
throwing the body in all directions. twist-
ing it into erery conceivable shape, the
countenance mocking the derisive laughter
of the maniac, or kno.ted into an express
sion Of agony. In another and perhaps
more common class Of cases the uncou-
scious patient is simply restless. mutter-
mg incoheren; words, tossing about on .he
bed. showing, perhaps, also signs Of local
paralysis. There appears to be curious
connection between this variety Of symp-
toms and the difference of races The
Anglo-Saxon rarely becomes wildly de-
lirinus, whilst this is the most common
symptoms amongst the Latin nations =
Frenchmen .hus attacked often become
melancholic. and develop an irresistible
tendency to suicide. SO ths. solliers on the
march will suddenly shoot themselves.
Whatever be the form of the attack,
generally as the minutes pass the sytip-
toms are intensified ; the quick pulse of
the first onset becomes more and more
feeble, the laborcd breathing noisy ani
stertorous. the surface darker and darker
as respiration fails and death at last is
brough, about By asphyxia. or sometimes
by the almost consentaneous fading away
Of respiration and circulation.
The one great symptom. the centre Of
the group in all forms Of the disease, is
the high temperature. If the skin be
cool. the case is not surstroke. After
death the high temperature continues, and
is said sometimes even to rise higher
Decomposition follows with exceeding ra-
pidity On post-mcrtem examination the
only appearances Of striking importance
arc-a condition Of blood similar to that
seen in low fevers. a rigid. contracted
state of the heart. in which it feels almost
like wood. ard great tendency toward
the rapid but transient development Of
that peculiar stiffeniug which at some time
after death takes possession Of the muscu-
lar tissues From the July number Of
Lippinco't's Magazine.