404 Historical 



lower limbs, the bladder, and the rectum. He showed complete paral- 

 ysis of movement, hyperesthesia of the skin, and severe pains from 

 the region of the kidneys to the ends of the toes. 



The disturbance had appeared very shortly after he had come up 

 to the deck of his caique. 



He was taken as quickly as possible to Calymnos, where he arrived 

 five days after the beginning of his illness. He had not urinated or 

 defecated; the bladder, which was much distended, caused him acute 

 pain. Catheterization, the use of cathartics, and the application of a 

 large blister to the spine in the region of the loins were the first 

 measures used by Dr. Pelicanos. 



The patient was wholly free from fever; his appetite was good; 

 the regimen was tonic from the first. 



The blister in the lumbar region was renewed, and motility re- 

 turned little by little, at the same time as normal sensitivity. The 

 paralysis of the bladder was the first to yield, and after a month and 

 a half the patient could walk a little, dragging his feet. First he was 

 given frictions along the spinal column with tincture of nux vomica, 

 and then with the following liniment: 



Olive oil 250 grams 



Essence of turpentine 30 grams 



Camphor 4 grams 



Tincture of cantharides 4 grams 



Liquid ammonia 20 grams 



Dr. Pelicanos is well satisfied with the use of this last remedy; 

 motility returned little by little, and at the end of three months the 

 patient was perfectly cured. 



VI. September, 1868. The history of this patient, named Nomikas 

 Sissois, is exactly the same as that of the preceding one. Like him, he 

 was attacked while fishing at Bengazi, at the end of the fishing season, 

 in depths of 35 to 45 meters; he was slower in going to Calymnos, 

 and the disease lasted longer, although he could walk, dragging him- 

 self about, at the end of a month. 



The treatment was the same, the duration of the disease six 

 months; and in January, 1870, that is, fifteen months after the begin- 

 ning, there was only a slight hesitation in his gait. They tried with 

 him an injection into the bladder of a dilute solution of sulphate of 

 strychnine; but this measure did not give satisfactory results. 



VII. In the month of August, 1869, on the coast of Crete, a man 

 named Philippe Karantoni was paralyzed in his lower limbs after 

 diving to a depth of 35 to 40 meters. The bladder and the rectum were 

 not affected. They used as treatment only the stimulating liniment 

 already indicated, and he was cured in two weeks. 



VIII. In the month of September, 1869, in the Greek Archipelago, 

 a man named Georges Ervloia was paralyzed in the whole lower part 

 of his body; the bladder and the rectum were affected; the patient 

 also had violent pains all through his body. He reached Calymnos 

 the day after the beginning of his illness. 



Catheterization, a cathartic, and the use of the stimulating lini- 

 ment brought a complete cure in twenty days. 



