Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-11-17
PANGS OF TETANUS.
Physician Receivers From Lockjaw and
Tells How IL Feels.


Tells How IL Feels.
Few people ever unlock their jaws
long enough to tell what the sensa-
tions of having tetanus are. But DR..
F. William Grundmann, of Wash
street and Jefferson avenue. is able
to do So says the st. Louis Post-Dis-
patch He has Just recovered from
tetanus, as lockjaw is known to
science.
There is a well-founded horror in
the public mind Of lOckjaw. While
it is not always fatal, so few recover
from ii and the disease is accompanied
by such horrors and agony that to
think of it is to shudder
Yet the public seldom takes any
precautions against it. and while
man may run the risk Of it a thousand
times and nature is on the defense
for him, yet it is easily contracted
and the tentanus germ is ever present
and in place where one would least
expect to find it---Mother Earth.
"In diagnosing my own symptoms
a week after the germs Of tetanus had
entered my blood I thought l had te-
tanus, but I am not sure" said Doctor
Grundmann, speaking of his narrow
escape from death from the dreaded
disease.
Il could have accurately determin-
ed the matter for a patient. but call
ed on a fellow physician and told
him how l felt and the cause that led
to the effect and he made an exam
me up on the phone and told me
had tetanus and that ! had better
take care of myself.
"Ry that time had all the symp-
toms and was getting worse every
moment. This gave an opportunity
to observe in myself what had often
observed in others. the progress Of
the disease.
"One day, as ] was stepping off
street car it started prematurely and
threw me on my knee on the street.
hole was ripped in my trousers and
a cash cut in the flesh Of my knee, in
to which earth from the street was
ground.
Il was over on the East Side, far
away from a drug store or medical
supplies, but 1 tried to get some whis-
ky with which to sterilize the wound.
I could get none, not even carbolic
acid, so / washed the wound as best
1 could and bound it up.
1T gave me no trouble, panied me
very little and I gave it no further
thought About a week later found
that 1 had fever and that the muscles
Of my neck panied me and were con-
stricted Later I observed spasmodic
jerkings of the limbs. These I knew
to be premonitory symptoms of lock-
jaw.
IT was alarmed naturally, but
thought perhaps might be mistaken,
so I visited a physician, told him how
felt. He did not think seriously Of
the matter and I believed I might
have been mistaken. But neverthe-
less l was worried, and when that
night the symptoms grew more pro-
nounced and became more perceptible
I watched all the more closely.
THAT night I got real shock.
observed a growing rigidity Of the
muscles Of the jaws. If it kept on
they would become locked beyond
II used all my will power that night
to control myself and the symptoms,
and in the morning called up the doc
tor who had made the examination
of my blood and told him that he was
right. He said he would be right
over with the tetanus antitoXin serum.
"In one day I had 5000 units-or
about a fluid once-of the serum in
jected. My jaws continued slowly
to grow mere rigid, but we fought
the disease with the serum until at
last we saw that we had the disease
going the other way, and we fought
it out.
1.-The germs of tetanus may be in
any manner Of dirt. If you have
wound in your finger and go out into
the garden and stick it into the fresh
earth you stand a chance of getting
tetanus. BY that I mean that the
germs of tetanus are in the earth ev-
erywhere, in the dirt on the surface
of the street, on rocks which cut
your flesh when you fall on them,
on rusty nails, in anything that is
unclean. 1t is of the utmost impor-
tance, therefore, that when one gets
cut to render the wound antiseptic
at once. One cannot be too careful
about making a wound clean.
"a cut that has been exposed to
the dirt of the street should be cleans
ed and if a surface wound iodoform
should be applied. If the cut Is deep
it should be washed out with a solu-
ton of bi-chloride of mercury 1000 to
1000. If this is not procured then
alcohol (plain whisky will do) should
be used as a wash, and If a deep in
cision, such as made by a rusty nail,
it should be syringed clean
"As a preventive when tetanus is
suspected the injection Of 1900 units
of the antitoxin serum is generally
used, and when the symptoms become
extreme 5000, 5000 and $1,000 units
are injected. But prompt cleansing
of the wound and it's antiseptic treat
ment is the best preventive, and the
danger from tetanus is always pres