Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1889-07-11
TWO QUEER CASES.
THE PART IMAGIN ALTON PLAYS
IN DISEASE.
A Man Who Believed He Was Fatal
ly Stabbed-A Patient Who En-
dured Torture for the Purpose of
Focling the Doctor.

There are two cases to which / will
cali your attention that afford an illus
tration Of what a curious thing human
nature is, saws New York letter to the
Cincinnati Enquirer. The first is that
of John Burke, who has been butcher
at Eastman's slaughter house for about
a year. He is muscular fellow. with
the usual high flow of spirits and vital
ity possessed by men who follow this
calling, and the direct opposite TO what
rs termed the nervous temperament.
Burke got into quarrel with a fellow
worker in the slaughter-house and came
to blows. Burke was getting the best
of it, and the other combatant, in order
to even up matters, seized a knife and
made vicious thrust at Burke's abdo-
men. Burke cried out: 81 am stabbed, >"
and fell upon the floor unconscious.
There was long rent in his red flannel
shirt, and as he rolled over ON tine floor
he was covered with blood from head TO
foot An ambulance was speedily sum-
moned and Burke was packed into it
and driven at full speed TO the Bellevue
Hospital. He moaned ard cried aloud
with pain all the way TO the hospital,
and said that he felt he was dying and
wanted a priest sent for. When he
reached the hospital he was pulseless,
pale and exhausted, and was hurried
without delay to the surgical ward. DR..
Conner, the house surgeon, ripped off
the mans clothing with nervous haste,
and the sight that met his eyes nearly
threw him into fit. Instead of the
viscera that he expected was hanging
out, he was astonished to find that there
was not a spot or blemish upon Burke's
body. The knife had simply slit the
shirt and grazed the skin without break
ing it. The ambulance surgeon, il the
first instance, had been deceived by the
blood which Burke had fallen into ON
the slaughter-house floor. DR.. Conner
told Burke that there was nothing the
matter with him, but he would not be-
lieve it and said that he felt the pain,
and ii required an orderly with the Wig
orous application of heavy strap to
his body to bring him TO his senses. He
left the hospital cured in about two
hours, impressed with the belief that
he had been in the hands Of magicians.
The case of Burke shows what large
part the imagination can play in disease
or injury, and confirms what physicians
have everywhere found, that where the
imagination is treated first, the disease
disappears suddenly without drugs.
Burke was honest in the belief that he
had been stabbed, but in the following
case of Louis Fitzgerald the patient
was neither honest in action nor inten-
ton.
Fitzgerald is a young man, with
dark skin, firm muscles, and presume
bly, large development Of the bony sys-
TEN. He was a little wild, and his
father placed him ON the schoolship st.
Mary for discipline. After he had been
on the ship year he fell into the hold,
broke his arm and ruptured one of the
muscles in the neck. An abscess
formed from the neck and discharged
pus for two months before it healed.
After be got out Of the ships hospital,
and was compelled 10 report for duty,
he began to have fits daily. He had Sc
we're commissions, frothed at the mouth.
became perfectly rigid, and exhibited
the symptoms usually found IN epllep
sy.
The tests ordinarily made to discover
whether a patient is shamming were
tried without disclosing any deception,
and Fitzgerald was renewed from duty.
When he got his freedom the fits de-
creased in number and abated in inten-
sity, but another interesting phenome-
non appea. ed. He lost the sense of feel
ing in the right hand and according to
his description the anesthesia spread
up his right arm to the shoulder. Then
the right leg was attacked, beginning
at the toes and extending slowly to the
thigh. The anasthesia then took a
Jump to the other side of the body and |
in a short time the left arm and leg were /
without feeling. This condition con-
tinued to spread until the trunk and |
head showed apparently the most com
plete anasthesia. Fitzgerald claimed ]
that he had neither taste nor smell, or /
at least these senses were perverted, so 1
that the same thing at different times
would taste and smell differently. /
There was no interference with the mo-
tive power, and he could walk and use
his muscles nearly as well as ever. He
was sent to st. Francis Hospital. The
entire history of Fitzgerald's case led
DIR. Coudert to be skeptical, and he
made thorough and critical examine
tion. The patients body was pricked
in every part with needles, and needles
were run under the patients nails,
test that will make a stout-hearted man
cry for mercy, but the lad paid no at
tention to it. An eve wise was applied
TO the eyeball. This would make a
statue weep, but Fitzgerald gave no sign
Of pain. While the pat emit was blind
folded heated irons were kept close
enough to his body to burn and blister
without being met with a protest. A
little alcohol was set on fire on his
abdomen, and he seemed to enjoy it.
There was every evidence that it was
genuine an@sthesia, and strong Fara-
lie current run from the spine to the
EGGS did not dispel the idea. Such an
extensive anasthesia had never ben
net with before, and the medical pro-
ession took great interest IN examin-
!. l.. i. ~ 49, .