NERVOUS AFFECTION CURED BY PRESSING THE CAROTIDS. 347 



sided, she became preternaturaHy sensible to sound in the Case of nervous 

 car of the affected side, and felt a sort of rushing or ting- 

 ling in the fingers of the left hand, which led her to con- 

 clude, that " the blood went too forcibly there." 



Though the coldness went off, what she called numbness 

 still continued, but without the least diminution of the 

 power of motion in the side affected. In about six weeks, 

 the numbness extended itself to the right side. 



Among various ineffectual remedies for these complaints, 

 blisters were applied to the back, and the inside of the 

 left arm above the elbow. The former drew well. The lat- 

 ter inflamed without discharging: so that a poultice of 

 bread and milk was put on the blistered part. After this 

 period, the muscles of the humerus began to feel as if con- 

 tracted and stiff: and these sensations gradually spread 

 themselves to the neck and head, and all across ihe body, 

 so as to make it uncomfortable for her to lie on either side, 

 though there was no inability of motion. 



She now began to be affected with violent occasional 

 flushings of her face and head, which occurred even while 

 her feet and legs were cold, together with a rushing noise 

 in the back of the head, especially in hot weather, or from 

 any of those causes, which usually produce the feelings of 

 heat. 



It is difficult to give intelligible names to sensations of a 

 new and uncommon kind. That, which this lady denomi- 

 nated numbness, diminished neither the motion nor the sen- 

 sibility of the parts affected. It was more a perception of 

 tightness and constriction, in which the susceptibility of 

 feeling in the parts was in fact increased ; and the skin of 

 the extremities was so tender, that the cold air produced a 

 sense of uneasiness, the finest flannel or worsted felt disa- 

 greeably coarse, and the attempt to stick a pin with her 

 fingers caused intolerable pain. 



In the month of September 1803, not long after the ap- 

 plication of the blisters, she experienced in certain parts of 

 the left arm and thigh that sensation of twitching, which is 

 vulgarly called the " life blood," and which soon extended 

 itself to the right side. Shortly afterward, she began to 

 perceive an actual vibration or starting up of certain por- 

 tions 



