Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-11-11
A Beautiful Young Lady Asleep
Since June Last.
SHE WEIGHS BUT so POUNDS.
Peculiar Manner of Waking Her When 1t
is Necessary to Give Her Food-Most
Remarkable Case-Number-
less Remedies Tried.

patient are, that Miss White was losing
strength and could not last many days.
NiSSFSse is twenty-three years of ag'
youngest daughter OF Palmer
White, who has been proprietor of gen
eral country store in the township OF Ing
ham for a score or more of years, an6
whose family is known all over this anG
Jackson counties. May is the youngest o.
three children. She has brother and
sister and the latter has been in constant
attendance upon the sleeping girl since she
was overtaken by the strange malady which
has so sorely puzzled the physicians. In
1890 May was taking a course in bookkeep.
ing and shorthand at Cleary's business col
lege at Ypsilanti, Mich, and but a few
weeks before completing the course was
taken sick of nephritls on August 4.
EPILEPSY FOLLOWED.
A short time previous to this attack she
| fell while ascending the slippery steps lead
| ing to one of the college buildings and re-
ceived an injury which caused an abscess
| to develop on her side and she was forced
to return home. DR.. Brown was called to
| see her after she reached home and under
his treatment both the disease and nephritis
| healed nicely. For three months Miss
| White enjoyed her usual health, but at the
end of that period histerio-epilepsy devel-
| oped. and her condition at once became
most pitiful The commissions which
| strained her nerves to the highest tension
and racked her body with most circulating
! torture were horrible to witness. Not only
We're these commissions terrible in their Sc
verify but they occurred with alarming
| frequency until it was no unusual accur
| renee for her to experience fifty OF those
| awful attacks in a single day.
WHEN SHE FELL ASLEEP.
Miss White continued to have the convul-
sions for about sixty days, when they
ceased as suddenly as they made their APP
fully two he ba no
tent was comparatively well. There was
no recurrence of the commissions, no signs
of q return of the abscesS or nephritiS, and
she seemed to be in a fair way to recover.
Toward the end of this period she was pro-
nounced fully recovered by the physicians,
when, without the slightest premonition of
approaching danger, she fell into a deep
sleep early in June last, and she has been
unconscious of her surroundings greater
portion of the time since.
A very peculiar feature of the case is that
during her five months of Slumber several
of her friends and relatives have at numer-
Gus times tried to awaken her, but have
never succeeded in doing SO, and up to this
day no one but DR.. Brown has been able to
rouse her from her deep and enervating
sleep. 1t took DR.. Brown over five hours
to awaken her the first time and she had
then been asleep twenty-six hours. The
average time now required to waken her is
twenty minutes. The shortest period that
the doctor has succeeded in keeping her
awake was twenty minutes and the longest
was six hours. She has been awake the
greater length of time named but once, and
this was within the past few DAYS. For
the past ten days she has been awake on an
average OF four and one-half hours per day.
When sleeping the unfortunate woman
lies perfectly rigid. and if not awakened at
regular intervals she would certainly die Of
axyI "a nd ha.
three times day, at $50 n. m, ,: 80 D. IN.
aud between and 10 p. m. She will rouse
easily if awakened at these regular hours,
the process of awakening being the passing
of the hand up and down the spinal column
HER MIND STILL CLEAA
When awake Miss White readily recog-
n:zes all her acquaintance and is in full
possession Of all her mental faculties Most
of her time, when awake, is spent in cong
versing with her friends and reading booEs
and newspapers, until drowsinesS agaan
overtakes her, and she gradually drops OF
into a deep sleep. When she again awakens
she will pick up the book or newspaper she
was reading when last awoke, and readily
turning TO the point al which she left of 4
will continue her perusal of the articles.
Her mind is fully as clear and active as it
ever was from the moment she opens her
eyes until she again passes into uncon-
seriousness.
Notwithstanding this fact, she has stead
lily lost flesh until she has now wasted away
to the veriest skeleton. During her illness.
she has lost more than seventy-five pounds
and now weighs less than fifty pounds.
IN the way of nourishment she is given
ordinary food, in such quantities as she de- |
sires it. twice day. Her appetite is some |
what fitful, but, on the whole, she partakes |
of a sufficient quantity to satisfy her physi- |
clan.
For the first month or so after her pecul- |
lar ailment developed. Miss White remained |
at home and Dr. Brown drove from his |
home at Stockbridge twice day to care |
for her. AS the distance between the two |
places is quite long, these daily drives soon |
became too much for him, and he had the |
patient removed to his own home, where |
he could give her the attention she needed |
without risking his own health.
SHE CANNOT LIVE.
Up to the past ten days DR.. Brown has |
been very hopeful of Miss Whites ultimate |
recovery. At times he was quite sure that |
she was gradually gaining flesh, and this |
inspired him with the hope that she would |
eventually gather sufficient strength to |
enable her to wear the sleep out He has |
hope, and in letter written to friend in |
this city yesterday said that Miss White |
had steadily lost strength, and reluctantly |
the belief that she could not posi- |
bly, live many days LANCER.
Since the strange malady which affiicts
the young woman first manifested itself |
DIR. Brown has done little else than study
the case in the hope of discovering some
mode of treatment by which he would be
able to conquer this mysterious ailment but
without avail. After Miss White had been
sleeping SO long that her case began to
attract the attention of the outside world
letters Of inquiry poured in upon the doctor
from every section of the country. he has
as many as possible, but has been
utterly unable to give attention to them all.
Some of these letters contained suggestions
as to the proper method Of treating the case
and some of them have been adopted by the
doctor, but although the case has furnished |
material for articles in the leading scientific |
and medical journals. it is no nearer solu-
ton than when it was first heard Of, and |
the probabilities are that it will never be |
fully and satisfactorily explained until the |
wasted and ifeless body of the unfortunate |
young woman has been subjected to the |
surgeons knife.