The Epidemics of the Middle Ages by J. F. C. Hecker and John Caius
2. “A young woman of the lowest order, twenty-one years of age, and
416 words | Chapter 30
of a strong frame, came on the 13th of January, 1801, to visit a
patient in the Charité hospital at Berlin, where she had herself
been previously under treatment for an inflammation of the chest
with tetanic spasms, and immediately on entering the ward, fell down
in strong convulsions. At the sight of her violent contortions, six
other female patients immediately became affected in the same way,
and by degrees eight more were in like manner attacked with strong
convulsions. All these patients were from sixteen to twenty-five years
of age, and suffered without exception, one from spasms in the stomach,
another from palsy, a third from lethargy, a fourth from fits with
consciousness, a fifth from catalepsy, a sixth from syncope, &c. The
convulsions, which alternate in various ways with tonic spasms, were
accompanied by loss of sensibility, and were invariably preceded by
languor with heavy sleep, which was followed by the fits in the course
of a minute or two; and it is remarkable, that in all these patients
their former nervous disorders, not excepting paralysis, disappeared,
returning, however, after the subsequent removal of their new
complaint. The treatment, during the course of which two of the nurses,
who were young women, suffered similar attacks, was continued for four
months. It was finally successful, and consisted principally in the
administration of opium, at that time the favourite remedy[326].”
Now, every species of enthusiasm, every strong affection, every violent
passion, may lead to convulsions—to mental disorders—to a concussion of
the nerves, from the sensorium to the very finest extremities of the
spinal chord. The whole world is full of examples of this afflicting
state of turmoil, which, when the mind is carried away by the force
of a sensual impression that destroys its freedom, is irresistibly
propagated by imitation. Those who are thus infected do not spare even
their own lives, but, as a hunted flock of sheep will follow their
leader and rush over a precipice, so will whole hosts of enthusiasts,
deluded by their infatuation, hurry on to a self-inflicted death. Such
has ever been the case, from the days of the Milesian virgins to the
modern associations for self-destruction[327]. Of all enthusiastic
infatuations, however, that of religion is the most fertile in
disorders of the mind as well as of the body, and both spread with the
greatest facility by sympathy. The history of the church furnishes
innumerable proofs of this, but we need go no further than the most
recent times.
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