Curiosities of Medical Experience Part 8

The Earl of Chatham, 11th May 1778, the day of the full moon.

Rousseau, 2nd July 1778, the day after the first quarter.

Garrick, 20th January 1779, three days after the new moon.

Dr. Johnson, 14th December 1784, two days after the new moon.

Dr. Franklin, 17th April 1790, three days after the new moon.

Sir Joshua Reynolds, 23rd February 1792, the day after the new moon.

Lord Guildford, 5th August 1722, three days after the full moon.

Dr. Warren, 23rd June 1797, a day before the new moon.

Burke, 9th July 1797, at the instant of the full moon.

Macklin, 11th July 1797, two days after full moon.

Wilkes, 26th December 1797, the day of the first quarter.

Washington, 15th December 1799, three days after full moon.

Sir W. Hamilton, 6th April 1803, a few hours before the full moon.

The doctor winds up this extract from the bills of mortality by the following appropriate remark: "Here we see the moon, as she shines on all alike, so she makes no distinction of persons in her influence:

"------aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas, Regumque turres."

HOR. Lib. i. Od. 4.

Not only did the ancients consider the animal creation as constantly under planetary influence, but all vegetable productions and medicinal substances were subject to its laws. The Druids of Gaul and Britain gathered the famed misletoe with a golden knife when the moon was six days old. The vervain, held in such high repute by the Romans, was gathered, after libations of honey and wine, at the rising of the dog-star, and with the left hand, and thus collected served, for various sacerdotal and medical purposes: its branches were employed to sweep the temples of Jupiter; it was used in exorcisms for sprinkling l.u.s.tral water; and moreover it cured fevers, the bite of venomous reptiles, and appeased discord; hence it was borne by those heralds who were sent to sue for peace, and called _verbenarii_; and when its benign powers were shed over the festive board, mirth and good temper were sure to prevail. So generally and so highly appreciated was this all-powerful plant, that Pliny tells us,

Nulla herba Romanae n.o.bilitatis plus habet quam hierabotane.

However, it is somewhat doubtful whether the vervain of the ancients was similar to the plant which now bears that name. It would appear that formerly the appellation of _verbenae_ or _sagmina_ was given to various plants employed in religious ceremonies: and branches of pine-tree, of laurel, and of myrtle were sometimes thus denominated. Virgil says in his Eclogues,

Verbenasque adole pingues, et mascula thura.

Now the epithets of _pingues_ and _thura_ cannot apply to our vervain, but to some resinous production.

Medicine at that period might have been called an astronomic science; every medicinal substance was under a specific influence, and to this day the R which precedes prescriptions, and is admitted to represent the first letter of _recipe_, was in fact the symbol of Jupiter, under whose special protection medicines were exhibited. Every part of the body was then considered under the influence of the zodiacal constellations, and Manilius gives us the following description of their powers:

Namque Aries capiti, Taurus cervicibus haeret; Brachia sub Geminis censentur, pectora Cancro; Te, scapulae, Nemaee, vocant, teque ilia, Virgo; Libra colit clunes, et Scorpius inguine regnat; Et femur Arcitenens, genua et Capricornus amavit; Cruraque defendit Juvenis, vestigia, Pisces.

_Astronomicon_, lib. 1.

SPECTACLES.

The origin of these valuable instruments is uncertain: that the ancients were acquainted with the laws of refraction is beyond all doubt, since they made use of gla.s.s globes filled with water to produce combustion; and in Seneca we find the following very curious pa.s.sage--"Litterae, quamvis minutiae et obscurae, per vitream pilam aqua plenam majores clarioresque cernuntur;" yet thirteen centuries elapsed ere spectacles were known. It is supposed that they were first invented by _Salvino_ or _Salvinio Armati_; but he kept his discovery secret, until Alessandro de Spina, a monk in Pisa, brought them into use in 1313. Salvino was considered their inventor, from the epitaph on his tomb in the cathedral church in Florence: "Qui giace Salvino d'Armato, degl' Armati di Firenze, inventor delli occhiali, &c., 1317." Another circ.u.mstance seems to add weight to this presumption: _Luigi Sigoli_, a contemporary artist, in a painting of the Circ.u.mcision, represents the high-priest Simeon with a pair of spectacles, which, from his advanced age, it was supposed he might have needed on the occasion.

LEECHES.

The origin of their introduction in the practice of medicine is uncertain.

They were well known to the ancients under the name of _hirudo_. Thus Horace:

Non missura cutem nisi plena cruoris hirudo.

The Greeks called them [Greek: Boella], and Pliny states that elephants were often cruelly tormented by them when they swallowed any of these worms in their water: "Cruciatum in potu maximum sentiunt hausta hirudine, quam sanguisugam vulgo coep.i.s.se appellari adverto."

Leeches are oviparous, and their ova are discharged in one involucre near the surface and margin of pools, and are hatched by the heat of the sun.

They do not cast their skin, as is generally supposed, but merely throw off a tough slimy membrane, which appears to be produced by disease, and from which they get disenc.u.mbered by straining themselves through gra.s.s and rushes. During winter they remain in a torpid state. They are most tenacious of life; some say they can live for several days in the exhausted receiver of the air-pump, and in other media destructive of other animals. This phenomenon is attributed to the slow oxygenation of the blood in the respiratory vesicles.

In regard to their food we are ignorant, although Dr. Johnson says that they live by sucking the blood of fish and reptiles.

The collection of leeches const.i.tutes a lucrative trade on the Continent, but more particularly in France, where it is called a leech-fishery, and where, in Paris alone, three millions are annually consumed. The following is an interesting description of the miserable people engaged in this occupation from the _Gazette des Hopitaux_.

"If ever you pa.s.s through La Brenne, you will see a man, pale and straight-haired, with a woollen cap on his head, and his legs and arms naked; he walks along the borders of a marsh, among the spots left dry by the surrounding waters. This man is a leech-fisher. To see him from a distance,--his wobegone aspect, his hollow eyes, his livid lips, his singular gestures, you would take him for a maniac. If you observe him every now and then raising his legs and examining them one after another, you might suppose him a fool; but he is an intelligent leech-fisher. The leeches attach themselves to his legs and feet as he moves among their haunts; he feels their bite, and gathers them as they cl.u.s.ter about the roots of the bulrushes and aquatic weeds, or beneath the stones covered with a green and slimy moss. He may thus collect ten or twelve dozen in three or four hours. In summer, when the leeches retire into deep water, the fishers move about upon rafts made of twigs and rushes. One of these traders was known to collect, with the aid of his children, seventeen thousand five hundred leeches in the course of a few months; these he had deposited in a reservoir, where, in night, they were all frozen _en ma.s.se_." But congelation does not kill them, and they can easily be thawed into life, by melting the ice that surrounds them. Leeches, it appears, can bear much rougher usage than one might imagine: they are packed up closely in wet bags, carried on pack-saddles, and it is well known that they will attach themselves with more avidity when rubbed in a dry napkin previous to their application. Leech-gatherers are in general short-lived, and become early victims to agues, and other diseases brought on by the damp and noxious air that constantly surrounds them; the effects of which they seek to counteract by the use of strong liquors.

Leeches kept in a gla.s.s bottle may serve as a barometer, as they invariably ascend or descend in the water as the weather changes from dry to wet, and they generally rise to the surface prior to a thunder-storm.

They are most voracious, and are frequently observed to destroy one another by suction; the strong ones attaching themselves to the weaker.

The quant.i.ty of blood drawn by leeches has been a subject of much controversy; but it is pretty nearly ascertained that a healthy leech, when fully gorged, has extracted about half an ounce. When they will not readily fix, Dr. Johnson recommends that they be put into a cup of porter.

The cause of a leech falling off when full is not clearly ascertained, but it is supposed to arise from a state of asphyxia brought on by the compression of the breathing vesicles, and the distension of the alimentary tube.

Many serious accidents have arisen from leeches being swallowed in the water of swamps and marshes, too frequently drunk with avidity by the thirsty and exhausted soldier. Larrey mentions several cases of the kind during the French campaign in Egypt, and two fatal instances fell under my observation during the Peninsular war; draughts of salt water, vinegar, and various stimulating injections could not loosen their hold, and they were too deeply attached in the throat to be seized with a forceps.

Zacutus Lusita.n.u.s had witnessed the same unfortunate results. The leech thus swallowed is generally the _hirudo Alpina_.

Norfolk supplies the greater part of the leeches brought to London, but they are also found in Kent, Suffolk, Ess.e.x, and Wales. The leeches imported from France differ from ours, in having the belly of one uniform colour. The best are the green, with yellow stripes along the body. The horse-leech, which is used in the north of Europe, but also common in England, is entirely brown, or only marked with a marginal yellow line. A popular belief prevails, that the application of this variety is most dangerous, as they are said to suck out all the blood in the body.

SOMNAMBULISM.

This singular aberration from our natural habits may be considered an intermediate state between sleeping and being awake. This infraction of physiologic laws may therefore be looked upon as a morbid condition.

Physicians have given it various denominations, founded on its phenomena, _nocti-vagatio_, _nocti-surgium_, _noct-ambulatio_, _somnus vigilans_, _vigilia somnans_. Somnambulism was well known by the ancients; and Aristotle tells us, "there are individuals who rise in their sleep, and walk about seeing as clearly as those that are awake."

Diogenes Laertius states that Theon the philosopher, was a sleep-walker.

Galen slept whilst on a road, and pursued his journey until he was awakened by tripping on a stone. Felix Plater fell asleep while playing on the lute, and was only startled from his slumbers by the fall of the instrument. There is no doubt but that in somnambulists the intellectual functions are not only active, but frequently more developed than when the individual is awake. Persons in this state have been known to write and correct verses, and solve difficult problems, which they could not have done at other times. In their actions and locomotion they are more cautious, and frequently more dexterous, than when awake. They have been known to saddle and bridle horses, after having dressed themselves; put on boots and spurs, and afterwards ride considerable distances from home and back again. A sleep-walker wandering abroad in winter complained of being frozen, and asked for a gla.s.s of brandy, but expressed violent anger on being offered a gla.s.s of water. The celebrated sect of _Tremblers_, in the Cevennes mountains, used to rove about in their sleep, and, although badly acquainted with the French language, expressed themselves clearly and put up prayers in that tongue, instead of the Latin _Pater_ and _Credo_ which they had been taught. A singular phenomenon in some cases of this affection is that of walking about without groping, whether the eyelids are closed or open. Somnambulism has been known to be hereditary: Horstius mentions three brothers who were affected with it at the same period; Willis knew a whole family subject to it. It is not generally known that the subject of the French dramatic piece called "La Somnambule" was founded on fact.

Singular faculties have been developed in the mental condition. Thus a case is related of a woman in the Edinburgh infirmary, who during her paroxysm not only mimicked the manner of the attendant physicians, but repeated correctly some of their prescriptions in Latin.

Dr. Dyce, of Aberdeen, describes the case of a girl, in which this affection began with fits of somnolency, which came upon her suddenly during the day, and from which she could at first be roused by shaking or by being taken into the open air. During these attacks she was in the habit of talking of things that seemed to pa.s.s before her like a dream, and was not at the time sensible of any thing that was said to her. On one occasion she repeated the entire of the baptismal service of the Church of England, and concluded with an extemporary prayer. In her subsequent paroxysms she began to understand what was said to her, and to answer with a considerable degree of consistency, though these replies were in a certain measure influenced by her hallucination. She also became capable of following her usual employment during the paroxysm. At one time she would lay out the table for breakfast, and repeatedly dress herself and the children, her eyes remaining shut the whole time. The remarkable circ.u.mstance was now discovered, that, during the paroxysm, she had a distinct recollection of what had taken place in former attacks, though she had not the slightest recollection of it during the intervals. She was taken to church during the paroxysm, and attended the service with apparent devotion, and at one time was so affected by the sermon that she actually shed tears; yet in the interval she had no recollection whatever of the circ.u.mstance, but in the following paroxysm she gave a most distinct account of it, and actually repeated the pa.s.sage of the sermon that had so much affected her. This sort of somnambulism, relating distinctly to two periods, has been called, perhaps erroneously, a _state of double consciousness_.

This girl described the paroxysm as coming on with a dimness of sight and a noise in the head. During the attack, her eyelids were generally half shut, and frequently resembled those of a person labouring under amaurosis, the pupil dilated and insensible. Her looks were dull and vacant, and she often mistook the person who was speaking to her. The paroxysms usually lasted an hour, but she often could be roused from them.

She then yawned and stretched herself like a person awakening from sleep, and instantly recognised those about her. At one time Dr. Dyce affirms, she read distinctly a portion of a book presented to her, and she would frequently sing pieces of music more correctly and with better taste than when awake.

In ill.u.s.tration of the phenomena of the preceding case, Dr. Abercrombie gives the following very curious history: "A girl, aged seven years, an orphan of the lowest rank, residing in the house of a farmer, by whom she was employed in tending cattle, was accustomed to sleep in an apartment separated by a very thin part.i.tion from one which was frequently occupied by an itinerant fiddler. This person was a musician of very considerable skill, and often spent a part of the night in performing pieces of a refined description; but his performance was not taken notice of by the child, except as a disagreeable noise. After a residence of six months in this family she fell into bad health, and was removed to the house of a benevolent lady, where, on her recovery after a protracted illness, she was employed as a servant. Some years after she came to reside with this lady, the most beautiful music was often heard in the house during the night, which excited no small interest and wonder in the family; and many a waking hour was spent in endeavours to discover the invisible minstrel.

At length the sound was traced to the sleeping-room of the girl, who was found fast asleep, but uttering from her lips a sound exactly resembling the sweetest tones of a small violin. On further observation it was found, that after being about two hours in bed, she became restless and began to mutter to herself; she then uttered sounds precisely resembling the tuning of a violin, and at length, after some prelude, dashed off into an elaborate piece of music, which she performed in a clear and accurate manner, and with a sound exactly resembling the most delicate modulation of the instrument, and then began exactly where she had stopped in the most correct manner. These paroxysms occurred at irregular intervals, varying from one to fourteen and even twenty nights; and they were generally followed by a degree of fever and pain over various parts of the body.

"After a year or two, her music was not confined to the imitation of the violin, but was often exchanged for that of a piano, of a very old description, which she was accustomed to hear in the house in which she now lived, and then she would begin to sing, imitating exactly the voices of several ladies of the family.

"In another year from this time she began to talk a great deal in her sleep, in which she fancied herself instructing a young companion. She often descanted with the utmost fluency and correctness on a variety of subjects, both political and religious, the men of the day, the historical parts of Scripture, public characters, and particularly the character of the members of the family and their visiters. In these discussions she showed the most wonderful discrimination, often combined with sarcasm, and astonishing powers of mimickry. Her language through the whole was fluent and correct, and her ill.u.s.trations often forcible and even eloquent. She was fond of ill.u.s.trating her subjects by what she called _a fable_, and in these, her imagery was both appropriate and correct. The justice and truth of her remarks on all subjects, excited the utmost astonishment in those who were acquainted with her limited means of acquiring information.