Case 82. Frederick Estabrook was a salesman, who, be it noted, had never had typhoid fever or any disease remotely resembling typhoid fever. He had acquired syphilis at 19; had married at 22; was the father of two healthy children (no miscarriages); had had a certain disturbance of bladder and rectum, but remained a successful salesman to the age of 28, when advancing tabes confined him to bed for a time. At 30, mental signs of Paretic Neurosyphilis developed, and death followed at 32, after an acute illness of a week.
The details of the history after the first symptoms at 28 are as follows:
At twenty-eight patient lost control of limbs and was confined to the house about two months, under medical care. Three months later he had regained partial control of his limbs but had lost all control of his sphincters. After another month he had returned to work, but did not work steadily and seemed to have lost ambition. In the summer of 1905, his mind became obviously altered. He grew indolent and extravagant and given to buying expensive and useless articles. Loss of interest in things followed, together with loss of memory for recent events, lack of insight into illness, delusions of persecution by wife, irascibility followed quickly by crying. Before admission to hospital, he was euphoric, drawling and tremulous in speech, sprawling in penmanship, alternately depressed and exalted in manner. Knee-jerks were absent, gait ataxic, pupils stiff to light.
The family history was negative with respect to insanity. All the family were reported as nervous. A brother died of peritonitis at twenty-eight, a sister of pneumonia under twenty. Another brother and sister are living. Father and mother died of heart trouble at about sixty-seven and sixty respectively.
The patient was at high school one year and was a fair student. Considerable tobacco was used, and some alcohol. Intoxication denied. There was no history of typhoid fever or other acute disease.
The patient on admission was sallow, poorly nourished, and flat-chested, with a slight lateral curvature. There was slight dulness over right apex in front and in right upper back. Voice sounds were increased over right apex in front and over whole right back. The right chest showed bronchial respiration throughout. The respiration in front of right chest was of an interrupted character. The liver seemed moderately enlarged. The urine showed a very faint trace of albumin. There were a few small nodes in right groin and a scar on dorsum of penis.
Neurological Examination. Slight swaying in Romberg position. Slight tremor of protruded tongue and extended fingers. Pupils irregular, left slightly larger than right. Left pupil reacted to light consensually, but not directly. Right pupil reacted very slightly to direct light, not consensually. Knee-jerks and Achilles jerks absent. Ankle clonus absent, abdominal and cremasteric reflexes brisk. Sharp and dull points were recognized in the legs with numerous mistakes. Vocal and facial tremor. Speech slow and drawling. Test phrases repeated well if care was taken. Consciousness clear. Orientation perfect. Calculating ability preserved. Many words omitted in writing. Penmanship clear but shaky.
Hallucinations absent. Memory of recent events poor. Associations of a logical or defining type. Patient denied various statements in commitment papers and had little or no insight into the mental side of his disease—slight euphoria.
After a month’s observation the patient was removed to a quiet ward and set to work a few days in the scullery. One night he began to yell as if assaulted and said later that he had an idea that he was going to die. Before three months had passed he had become untidy, disorderly, and imperfectly oriented.
The general degeneration continued rapidly. One week before death the temperature rose to 103 degrees F., and the patient succumbed to what seemed clinically like a bronchopneumonia. Unconsciousness two days before death.