The San Juan County index. (Aztec, N.M.) 1890-19??, 1899-03-03
DEATH SLEEP
PECULIAR DISEASE WHICH
ENDS LIFE PAINLEssLY.
Two very Pcouliar Cases IN n London
HospItaI-It IL Not Aiwava A swift
Separator Of Life and IA Flesh
Doctors Can't Explain.

Among the patients in Charing
Cross hospital at the pre- sent time are
two negroes who a9e suffering from
what Is known as slsefing sickness,
says the London Mail.
They have been inmates since Sept.
"a, and the medical authorities and
students attached tol the Institution
have been afforded the opportunity Of
studying a disease uWkBown In this
country, and, as far 3 is at present
known, prevalent only on the west
coast Of Africa, between Senegal and
Loanda, some 1900 miles of latitude.
Besides being known a. the Sleep
ing sickness" 1t is sometimes de-
scribed as the sleeping sickness of the
Congo n sometimes negro leth-
argy."
As the last name implies, the dis
ease Is practically conhnkd to negroes,
and so far there have bgen no anthem
tic cases Of pure-bred white men he
ing attacked, though It has been met
with in Moors and half-breeds. In ad-
dition to the peculiar features of its
geographical and racial limitations,
the sleeping sickness has another
curious phase, in that it has often
been known to lie dormant in the sys-
tenn for a period Of " years, and
that, once seized, the patient has lit
tie or no chance Of recovery.
1t is through the fundamentally Of
DR.. Grattan Guinness that the two pa
tients-one aged about 20, with the Gu
phonious name of Eli Mboko, and the
other a boy of IL or ~thereabouts, Ton
da Mkaloo-have been sent to Eng
land. The elder, until about fourteen
months ago, was remarkable in his viii
lage of Mbanza Mauteka, on the Low
er Congo, as an extraordinarily active,
self-reliant and intelligent young man.
Then he was seized with the sickness
and began to be ~listless and vacant
minded and lost all interest in his
former occupations and smuseEents.
Since his arrival here, In September,
no change has become apparent in his
condition, and now he spends most OF
his time in a semi-comatose condition,
rousing only for meals or if spoken to-
A feature of his illness is the express
sion Of deep melancholy which marks
his features. He is able to give APP
and intelligent answers to questions
but never speaks an unnecessary wore
and appears to doze almost constantly
With the younger patient, on thu
contrary, there has been a distinct inn.
provement, so much, indeed, that thu
physicians have been tempted to be
lieve, were they not assured to tn,
contrary by experts, that he is no
suffering from the disease as dag
nosed. DR.. Patrick Manson, who's,
lecture on the disease exhibited b,
these two patients is printed at length
in the current issue OF the British
Medical Journal, says Gat the sick
ness gradually overpovers the vic
TIM who eventually pes com
/ pletely bedridden. sometimes a chang
for the better is apparent but that /
only temporary, and the llethargy in
variably returns, and the disease ad
, vances to the inevitable and fatal is
r sue. The last stages are marked b
tetaninc spasms and extreme muscula
p%rostration.
The disease may run its course 1
: three months or it may last. for a
y many years, but, so far as is known
nine months is about the averag
time. Many theories have been aC
vanced as to the origin of the "sleeI
ing sickness" but most Of them hay
ben rejected as untenable.
? DR.. Manson attributes It to the il
i fuence Of some plant or animal. A
any rate, the cause must be somethin
which can remain alive, though It ma
be p-athologically iIert for a very Ion
: time.
I, Since the lecture, delivered in Oct
Der, there has been no appreciate
Z change in the condition of either pi
d tient, whose progress is watched viii
the keenest interest by medical men.