[ 87 ] 
perfed, and her jaw not quite fo fliut, but a little 
might be put into her mouth by a teafpoon ; yet fo 
great were the fpafms, that fhe never after could fwal- 
lowing any thing; and in this manner fhe continued, 
with fhort remiffion of the fpafms, till two o’clock 
the next day, Monday 4^’% when death put an end 
to her mifery. I have been fince told, that an hour 
before fhe died, flie could open her jaw, at which 
fhe feemed to be greatly rejoiced ; but it was of a 
fhort duration, the convulfions again returning, and 
a univerfal one carried her oft. 
Give me leave to make an obfervation on the cafe, 
which I fubmit to year better judgment. That a 
locked jaw fhould often be the confequence of an ex- 
ternal wound, is nothing new, feveral cafes having 
happened that put it beyond doubt; but that fym- 
ptoms fhould come on after a flight contufed wound 
that had been cured for four or five days ; and make 
fucharapid progrefs, as to carry off the patient, in little 
more than forty-eight hours after the firfl appearance 
of the fymptoms, is very remarkable. We are certainly 
much in the dark, in regard to the nervous fyflem ; 
but I think it a flrong prefumption, that from the 
firft impreflion of the nail, the nerves were fo pecu- 
liarly affedted, that, though the irritation was not fuf- 
ficient to hinder the external wound from healing, yet 
it might be fufficient to difpofe them to fuffer thofe 
violent agitations, which ended fo fatally. 
On the other hand, is there any reafon to con- 
clude, that it was from an inward affedion of the 
nervous fyflem ; the wound being well,, and the 
woman able to walk about and manage her family 
matters ? 
If 
