The case must be well known to
many members of the profession, since there is scarcely a consultant of
eminence in the metropolis who has not seen her during the sixteen
years her illness has lasted, besides many of the leading practitioners
in the numerous health-resorts she has visited in the vain hope of
benefit. My first acquaintance with this case is somewhat curious. About
two months before I was introduced to the patient, chancing to be
walking along the esplanade at Brighton with a medical friend, my
attention was directed to a remarkable party at which every one was
looking. The chief personage in it was a lady reclining at full length
on a long couch, and being dragged along, looking the picture of misery,
emaciated to the last degree, her head drawn back almost in a state of
opisthotonos, her hands and arms clenched and contracted, her eyes fixed
and staring at the sky. There was something in the whole procession that
struck me as being typical of hysteria, and I laughingly remarked, 'I am
sure I could cure that case if I could get her into my hands.
Pages:
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167