The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1874-12-18

CHIcA6o,s RIP VAN wTNKLE.


AN EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF EP1LEPsY-A PA
TIENT WHO HAS BEEN UNCONSCIOUS FOR &c
DAYs-HE WILL NEITHER BURN NOR SCARE
OUT OF HIS sNeozE.
From the Chicago Times Nov. 25.l
"A very singular case has recently come un-
der the eye of Times reporter. 1t is undoubt-
edly case of true catalepsy, and so rare are
the instances of this disease that it has caused
decided sensation among the medical fra
ternity of this city.
The man who furnishes the cause of all the
speculations that are rife, and all the learned
investigations that are daily taking place over
his unconscious. insensible body, is one
Michael Finnegan, true Celt, as his name
implies. Mike alive, well, and about his hum
Bile business. if he had any at all, excited no
interest whatever, and never succeeded in es
tablishing Himself as the centre of q coterie OF
wise and scientific gentlemen, but prone on
his back, prostrated by disease almost un-
known, and when he can possibly derive no
| satisfaction from so doing, he at once becomes
the object of the most
ABsrRUsE DIsoU1s1rroSs,
and the exciting cause of lofty efforts to ex-
pound the various aspects of his condition.
His case has been the subject of essays and
communications to medical Journals, and he
himself
Of the early history of Finnegan's disease.
but little is known. About Sept Is he was
found on the railway track near the Michigan
most rigid, unconscious condition. to all ap-
pearance contemplating what the result might
be II a train should suddenly insist upon occu-
pying his portion of the track. The police
man who arrested him and took him to the
Harrison s4reet station, said it was the queer
! est case of drunk he ever saw, and in all his
experience with himself and numerous other
people, he had never known whisky to thus
affect a human creature.
Michael, in the police court, exhibited
symptoms of insanity, and a day or two SUBJ
, sequently was
REMOVED TO ELGIN.
Here he relapsed into condition of uncon
sciousness and insensibility, his muscles be-
came rigid, and he lost all power of voluntary
motion. 1t was not case that came within
the province of he Elgin institution and he
was removed to the county hospital. Here he
remained until the Sd of November, there be-
ing little or no change in his condition, when
he was brought to the Mercy hospital, where
/ he now is.
He has been in this singular state for 20
days, speechless, senseess, helpless He has
been visited by great many of the physicians
ana surgeons OF this city, to all of whom he is
: a veritable sphinx.
| There are divers and different opinions
about his case, which exhibits complication
of symptoms which none of them have wit
messed before. A large number of them hold
! that it is
TRUE CASE OF cATALEPsY,
| while others maintain that it is hysteria with
aSsimilated catalepsy.
I
change, and yesterday, falling off in
flesh, he appeared as he did when first brought
to the institution. Various experiments have
been made in an effort to arouse him from this
overpowering stupor, but without success. Al
some times there has been reason to suppose
him conscious, at others all expedients have
failed to prove either sensibility or Conscious
ness. His limbs are perfectly rigid, and art
moved with great difficulty, and al times ht
seems to exert decided opposition to bens
thus rudely handled. For instance, the re:
h
with much force, as if perfectly conscious of the
performance. But when the arm was raised j
REMAINED IN THIS ELEVATED POSITION,
and was only replaced with the same effor
required to raise it, which apparently contra
to prove that the apparent resistance i
simply the result of muscular rigidity. A
times, when thus moved about his fac
twitches, if i'll pain. but this, too, cal
scarcely indicate q conscious state. On tn
contrary, he is apparently insensible. Al
iron heated so hot that none of the physician
could bear their hands upon it, was applied t,
tions of pain His eyes closed, and
takes some effort to open them, though h
winks sometimes voluntarily At times h
slightly changes his position, more often dur
ing the night than i'll the day time,
MEDICAL WORKS
record a case of catalepsy where the patien
was cured hy being frightened out of it. Act
ing upon this idea. the physicians have al
at his bedside about cutting his jugular a
his case was hopeless, and have scratched hi
; neck with tooth-pick but the patient faile
to scare any.
He is daily fed by forcing food into hi
throat through large sized catheter. He eat
in this way 80 ounces of milk and four egg
each day.
But little is done in the medical treatmen
of tho case. A relaxation of the muscular sys
tenn has been obtained by administrator
of ether, but it was only temporary. QUINN
ck--,
physicians are discussing the effect of tran.
fusion of blood.
1t is thought that he will come out of th
singular state, but with
/. LOSS OF REASON.
| The case is of the greatest interest to medica
, men account of its extreme rarity. Bu
few have ever been seen. Hammond, yer
voluminous medical writer, records but thre,
and Flint, whose medical researches hav
been very extensive. has observed but ont
, But three have been known in Europe.