VERMINOUS DESEASES. 157. 



§ XCIX. In the year 1.^43, an epidemic ce- 

 phalalgia made its appearance in some provinces of 



cles of the face and eyes ; white tongue, painful stools. The 

 same evening he lost his speech, respiration short and very pain- 

 ful ; the patient intimated by signs that a great weight impeded 

 his speaking and breathing. The symptoms disappeared for a 

 moment to be followed by violent convulsions in the muscles of 

 the arm. After the fit, the lad said that before the attack he felt 

 something move in his stomach, and that a second after he lost 

 his speech. Some calming medicine procured a pretty good 

 night; there was no other crisis. 



February 21, in the evening, M. . . . , though perfectly 

 tranquil, lost his sight, which soon returned, and then he be- 

 came deaf. This deafness declined, and was succeeded by aphonia 

 and difficulty of breathing. The patient was successively for an 

 instant blind, deaf, and dumb, and terrible convulsions followed 

 all these singular symptoms. The muscles of the spine were so 

 contracted as to bend the body backward. These muscles re- 

 laxed to obev the contractile force of their antagonists, which 

 in their turn bent the trunk forward. The tongue passed out of 

 the mouth, the eyes were turned up and the arms were stiff, the 

 nates touched the feet ; the pulse was small and frequent ; and 

 respiration very short ; the severity of these symptoms put his 

 life in danger. As this lad threw up every thing he took, M. 

 Hoiizelot caused him to inhale ammonia, — all the symptoms 

 immediately ceased as if by enchantment. A strong opiate 

 procured repose during the next night. The remission of these 

 complaints after the use of anthelmintics, led M. H. to believe 

 that they arose from worms ; this opinion however was not well 

 received. In the morning of Feb. 22, the symptoms returned 

 with extreme violence, the head being most affected. 



His eyes were rolled up, he understood nothing, his ideas 

 disconnected, and his obstinacy in speaking of nothing but re- 

 ligion, all resembled a fit of mania. 



The cerebral affection often abated to be transferred to the 

 muscles of the tongue, which was thrust out of the mouth. This 



