Post Mortem Findings. The cause of death was streptococcus septicemia with acute ulcerative colitis, acute splenitis, bilateral purulent pleuritis, multiple infarctions of lungs.
There were no signs of chronic disease outside the nervous system except a moderate thickening of the mitral valves, and slight dural adhesions.
The brain weighed 1450 grams. The vessels at the base showed a slight degree of sclerosis. There was a slight opacity of the frontal, parietal, and temporal pia overlying slightly atrophied convolutions, whose surfaces showed in a few places slight cuppings. The ependyma over the thalami and the floor of the fourth ventricle was finely roughened. The spinal cord showed a typical Tabes Dorsalis.
Although we probably cannot regard either Case 42 or Case 43 as a case of paretic neurosyphilis, and although it must remain doubtful whether they are cases of any form whatever of neurosyphilis (in the absence of the modern tests), yet it seems clear that both these cases may very well have been cases of neurosyphilis on account of the existence of a definite tabetic process in each. The symptoms of these cases, like those of Cases 38 to 41, suggest how difficult it must be to make a clinical diagnosis of general paresis safely without employing available laboratory tests. Yet how frequently in the past have neurologists brought data concerning various phenomena in long series of so-called paretics in which the error of diagnosis was certainly between 5 and 15% and frequently still greater. The entire question of the symptomatology of paretic and non-paretic neurosyphilis, therefore, needs re-opening and revision.
CEREBRAL GLIOSIS (probably non-syphilitic) producing the clinical picture of paretic neurosyphilis (“general paresis”). Autopsy.
Case 44. John Hughes was a hostler, and later assistant with a wholesale drug company, with which he remained for 32 years. He had been moderately but constantly alcoholic all his adult life up to 50 years of age, and at 45 had had an attack of so-called nervous prostration, in which his head had troubled him and he had been seclusive. At 49, he had a serious attack of otitis media, associated with delirium, swelling of the feet, and what was called rheumatism. After this attack of otitis media, Hughes appears to have been not altogether right.
At 53, after a quarrel with his employer, Hughes quit work, began to trade a little in hens and pigs, became forgetful, especially of recent events, and did “a variety of peculiar things.” He was a married man but he had no children. There had been miscarriages but of unknown origin; venereal disease was denied. At 55, a week before admission, Hughes had a spell of unconsciousness for several hours, after which his speech was thick, and restlessness, insomnia, and a wandering tendency set in. Visual hallucinations, fabulation, tremors, “excited-looking” eyes, are described. He would sweep things from the dining-room table, pulled a hot stove into the middle of the floor, attempted to sweep paint off the floor, and cut up a carpet with a knife.
The patient on commitment November 5, 1904, was well developed and nourished. The mucous membranes were rather pale. Bruises and excoriations of limbs. Harsh breathing at the base of each lung. Enlargement of heart; sounds irregular. Accentuation of aortic second sound; tension fair, rate 80. Slight brachial arteriosclerosis. Abdomen slightly distended. The urine contained a faint trace of albumin and many hyaline casts.
Moderate tremor of extended hands. Slight tongue tremor. Romberg’s sign absent (slight swaying). Considerable ataxia of extremities (inability to stand with foot on opposite knee). Vision poor. Hearing could not be tested accurately. Prompt pupil reactions with direct light. Slight consensual reaction in left pupil, absent in right. Deep reflexes equal and lively.
Quiet and orderly at first. Later restless and noisy. Questions were answered at times relevantly, more often irrelevantly. Patient irritable, intractable. Required repeated urging to take nourishment. Consciousness clouded. Orientation imperfect. Attendants are possibly “officers.” Date September, 1995. Slight errors in repeating alphabet. Mistakes in Lord’s Prayer with rhyming tendency. Simple arithmetical tests answered automatically with many mistakes. More complex combinations incorrect. Handwriting tremulous (noted as “typical of general paresis”). Auditory hallucinations (answering invisible persons), “All right, I’m coming.” Amnesia and confabulation. Q. “Have you had breakfast?” A. “No,” (later) “Yes, I had a very light breakfast.” Q. “What did you have?” A. “Anything that came along. A few green peas and beans that were left, bread and butter and pie. I had a good breakfast. Guess feed is very high.” Q. “Give names of your sisters and brothers.” A. “There are three or four I never see. I will have to think them up.” (Later)—“Lillie, Abbie, Julia, George.” On repetition of question, “Elizabeth, Julia, Annie and Lizzie.”