Diving Bells and Suits 381 



raised to more than 4 atmospheres. The civil engineer who super- 

 vised the work, M. Counord, twenty years old, who up to that 

 time had felt no symptom, on December 31, a few minutes after 

 leaving the lock-chamber, in which the decompression had been 

 made in 4 or 5 minutes, was attacked by vertigo, dizziness, and 

 complete loss of consciousness. The pressure was 4 atmospheres, 

 the length of the stay in compressed air was one hour; the day 

 before, he had remained in the caisson for two hours. Three hours 

 afterwards, when he regained consciousness, he was completely 

 paralyzed in both sensation and movement in the lower limbs, 

 with loss of sensation in the arms. 



The detailed observation of the beginning of this strange case 

 was given by Dr. Limousin, 25 of Bergerac, who does not hesitate 

 to attribute the symptoms to a hemorrhage of the spinal cord: 



I called upon M. C, who had been brought from Bayonne to 

 Bergerac, on January 12, 1863: complete paralysis of the lower limbs, 

 involuntary excretion of the feces! and urine, normal sensitivity 

 everywhere, a little exaggerated in the lower limbs; if they were" 

 struck suddenly, or touched with a cold body, a sudden extension 

 was produced. Intelligence normal. In the epigastrium and the hypo- 

 chondria, pains which were checked by the application of morphine 

 on the bare skin. Up to January 20, two doses of cathartic were given; 

 nothing new appeared except very painful convulsive movements of 

 the abdomen. 



January 28. Excruciating pains appeared yesterday in the belly; 

 it is flaccid, pressure does not change it. The patient's condition is 

 terrible: constant moaning, voice faint, cold sweat, face cadaverous, 

 pulse imperceptible, 48. Dry cuppings, enemas with laudanum have 

 no effect. I then prescribed 20 centigrams of extract of opium in four 

 pills, one every hour. 



On January 29, with the second pill, the pains stopped; the 

 patient fell into a profound sleep; he awoke quite free from pain. In 

 the first few days, a small erosion had formed on the sacrum, today 

 there was a huge scab; the buttocks, and the lumbar region were dull 

 red; the patient could lie only on his back. 



February 20. The sore on the sacrum, sprinkled with gray cinchona 

 bark, has shrunk to the size of a 5 franc piece; it is pink and granu- 

 lated; painful contractions have yielded to the application of metallic 

 armatures. Movements can be made by the paralyzed limbs; they are 

 executed more freely on the right side; on the contrary, sensitivity 

 is very dull on the right, and keener on the left side in the same parts; 

 there are formications over the whole body; one day sight was entirely 

 gone for a few instants; erections, rare at first, have become more 

 frequent. Finally defecation and urination are voluntary. 



It is hard to find a better example of medullary apoplexy: sudden 

 attack, lesions of contractability, sensation, a special sense, and the 

 eye; reflex movements caused by the slightest stimulus; great lowering 

 of the vitality of the tissues, manifested by the rapid mortification of 



