The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-12-31

Followed he would have dried up and
withered away like a man Of eighty, but
the disease was too swift for that
He was constantly asking about the
condition Of his mouth and throat. when
the liberation Of the tonsils, the conges-
ton of the pharynx and the parchfng Of
the tongue and skin begin, then the DISCO
luton will probably follow within forty
eight hours. Is my tongue coated, or the
pulse irregular? I feel no great thirst
These are the signs of death When they
come watch for the assesses and carbun-
cles that. are likely to follow. Do not
try to relieve them. I want you to dis
sect them and study them particularly
after, for we know almost nothing about
them"
At the beginning of the third day the
patient began to ask for drink more often
than before "Is my tongue not parched
YETI" he asked, and his voice was almost
eager, as though he were anxious for the
signs of death to make themselves mani
fest. And, in truth, he was; not that he
wished to hasten it through any desire to
have an end Of the suffering, but simply
that he wished his case to be a perfect
example of the disease and its ravages.
By night the fever had reached its
height and had deprived DR.. Pestana of
his power Of thought He was delirious
all through the night and constantly was
oppressed by hallucinatfons, imagining
himself at Oporto, working among the
plague patients, for whom he did so no.
BILE a work Then the excitement in
creased and maniacal tendencies were
displayed, and, finally, stupor and coma
that he had predicted. There. were no
spasms, such as he said might ensue after
the coma disappeared. On the other hand,
he came out of it slowly back to his own
strong mind.
He was greatly enervated and had not
the strength Of mind or body to continue
his discussions of his condition. That his
mind was still working with it was plain
ly evident, since from time to time some
remark would flash out that DISPLAYED
some new feature of the case. But he
had evidently exhausted the possibilities
of his case, for he finally began to simply
repeat important admonitions.
SLOWLY SANK.
In this way he slowly sank, his strength
leaving him gradually with much less
suffering than he had expected. Even at
the end, though he allowed them to give
him stimulants, he would not take any
thing to deaden his sensibilities. Shortly
before he died he said: "It cannot last
more than q half hour longer" And
then he began again to lecture in broken
sentences until the words died on his lips
and he gasped his last breath
A more complete abnegation of self and
its interests for the benefit Of science has
never come to the attention Of the medf-
cal profession in Lisbon. Every one Is
praising his heroism. Naturally the
death has made a deep impression on all
his comrades, and as mark Of affection
as much as anything else they followed
his instruction to the letter In the matter
| OF conducting complete post-mortem ex-
animation. No precaution was neglected,
and the results attained when they are
| summarized will be sent to the Pasteur
| institute at Paris and will be formulated
| and published, giving the results to the
world, with all their important bearing
on the dreadful disease and its alIevIa-
ton, If not its cure.
At the present time, according to DR..
Pestana himself, there is no cure Any
one who is afflicted and escapes death re-
covers. He Is not cured
curious fact was the verifcation Of
the last sentence he spoke before death.
He said: After death the temperature
Of the body will increase rather than dI-
minish for several days. In about four
days It will reach its maximum proba-
bly, 1OS degrees. Then it will subside."
The only thing in which the prediction
failed was in the figures. The body re-
corded temperature of 1924 degrees four
days after death. 1t then subsidized.
What a remarkable tribute to the thor
oughness Of his knowledge as well as to
his heroism! It is splendid, absolutely
unprecedented At least this is what his
colleagues say.
And to think 1t all came from an inno-
cent little pun.