Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1884-01-10
Death From Frights.

The serious effects of shock to the
nervous system. especially by fright,
are constantly witnessed. the results
being most commonly syncope and con-
yulsions. Death itself is, fortunately.
comparatively rare. 1t is reported in
the newspapers to have occurred at
Brockley on March 21st, in the case of
a girl aged eighteen years. who was
frightened to death by man dressed
rs a ghost, near the Deptford Cemetery.
The pathology of emotional death is of
great interest, and varies in different
cases. In some instances a fatal issue
results from sanguineons apoplexy; in
others, and much more frequently,
from shock to the heart Examples of
the former are recorded by DIR. ID. Hack
luke, in his Influence of the Mind
Upon the Body Thus woman at
Bradford received fright from man
throwing a stone against her window.
He had previously threatened her. She
soon afterwards complained of numb
ness and rapidly became insensible.
There was right hemiplogia. She died
in seven hours, and, on post-mortem
examination, eliot of blood was found
in the left lateral ventricle. The cere-
bral vessels appeared to be healthy.
In the well-known example of death
from the heart, which occurred in John
Hunters own case, we have an illustra-
ton of the cardiac class. The organ
was extensively diseased, and the left
ventricle was strongly contracted.
Other instances of death from emotion,
in which the stress had evidently fallen
upon the heart, and not upon the brain,
are recorded in the collection of cases
of death from powerful emotion to
which we have referred.
In some cases. however, there was
no evidence of disease of the heart or
of any organ of the body. as might in
deed be expected. For instance, man
is reported to have died at Twicken-
ham after Witnessing the death of
neighbor. He made the remark: II
have never seen any one dead before,
and hope | never shall again" There
was post-mortem examination made
by DIR. Ward, but nothing was found
to account for death; both ventricles
contained only little fluid blood, the
organ itself being normal in size and
HedItu}. mere Is no reason TO uDuOI
that, in such instances, fatal syncope
may arise simply from the action of the
heart being inhibited, whether by direct
excitation OF the vagus, rs maintained
by Brown-Sequard, or of the accecra-
tors of the heart in the first instance,
followed by exhaustion, and the unan-
tagonized play of the former. Any
way, if the heart as in Hunters case,
could be strongly contracted on its con-
tents. and the blood expelled, one III
Gent cause of syncope with fatal results
IS present. Probably this was he patho-
logical explanation of this unfortunate
girls death, from the silly practical
jokes played upon her. She arrived
home after her fright in the road by
the Deptford Cemetery, at Brockley,
looking very ill and excited. She is
said to have taken off her waterproof,
drawn chair to the table to take sup
per, fallen forward with her head on
on the table and died after short
struggle. Mr.. Hollis, the physician
who was called in, made post-mortem
examination and reported that all the
organs were healthy, but that the state
of the heart, combined with the fright.
would account for death. British
american Journal