362 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



defines as cutaneous perspiration intermixed with blood, has taken 

 place during vehement terror, and not unfrequently during the agony 

 of hanging, or the torture. It is said, also, in some instances, to have 

 occurred in new-born infants, probably from the additional force given 

 to the circulation in consequence of a full inflation of the lungs, ac- 

 companied with violent crying. 



The following remarkable case is related by Hebra, in his work on 

 " Diseases of the Skin " : " The patient was a young man, strong and 

 well-nourished, who was attacked repeatedly by hceraorrhage from the 

 surface of the lower limbs. This generally occurred during the night, 

 so that he first became aware that the bleeding had taken place by 

 finding the sheets stained with spots of blood when he awoke. I once, 

 however, saw blood flow from the uninjured back of the hand of this 

 patient while he was sitting near me at table. The blood formed a 

 jet, which would about correspond in size to the duct of a sweat-gland. 

 This jet had also a somewhat spiral form, and rose about one line 

 above the surface of the skin." An exceedingly interesting case was 

 reported by Dr. Hart, in the "Richmond and Louisville Medical Jour- 

 nal," January, 1875, p. 98. 



The most recent case that I have found is the following from an 

 informal "Report of the Proceedings of the King William County 

 (Virginia) Medical Association," by George William Pollard, M. D., 

 and published in the "Virginia Medical Monthly" for January, 1880, 

 p. 816: "Among a number of interesting cases reported at the last 

 meeting of the King William County Medical Association, was one 

 by Dr. R. G. Hill, of bloody sweat, the subject being a boy four years 

 of age, suffering from malarial fever. 



" During each sweating stage, blood oozed from the face and neck. 

 Febrifuges followed by quinine afforded relief ; but two months later 

 he was taken with haemorrhage from the bowels. This condition was 

 accompanied with vomiting of blood, from which he died." 



I have been able to collect in all forty-seven cases of this strange 

 and interesting disorder ; and, when we consider the long period over 

 which this research extends and the tolerable certainty that every 

 case of this kind has found its way into print, this number may surely 

 be received as an indication that it is extremely rare. One of the 

 lower animals, the hippopotamus, sweats blood, at least when brought 

 to this country and kept in a state of confinement, as I myself have 

 witnessed ; the instance thus seen occurred during hot weather in the 

 latter part of summer. 



As already stated, sweating of blood has been simulated by reli- 

 gious enthusiasts, the following instructive example of which is taken 

 from Hebra : " More than ten years ago there lived in a village not 

 far from Vienna a woman who was said to take neither food nor 

 drink, and who asserted that every Friday, between the hours of 10 

 A. M. and noon, haemorrhage occurred spontaneously from her skin at 



