Jostled carrying explosives; no explosion; unconsciousness: Deafmutism and foggy vision. Gradual recovery from these symptoms. Then, on rising from bed, camptocormia.
Case 322. (Lattes and Goria, March, 1917.)
An Italian of the Class of 1891 (convulsions and pains in the spine, with rigidity, as a child; typhoid fever at 18; brother sickly, neuropathic; mother subject to periodic convulsions; father alcoholic and nervous), on the night of November 26, 1915, was carrying a number of tubes of explosives. A comrade stumbled and fell over the soldier, who fell to the ground unconscious. None of the glycerine tubes exploded, and none of the soldiers round about were hurt.
The man regained consciousness at the camp hospital, but remained deafmute and also impaired as to vision. It was as if a screen of fog lay between him and objects seen.
During fifteen days of observation at the camp hospital, he had terrible war nightmares. The mutism, the visual disorder, and the deafness then gradually disappeared without special treatment.
However, when the patient rose from bed, it was found that his lumbar vertebral column was stiff. He walked bent forward and was unable to bend or straighten the back. There was a hyperesthesia along the vertebrae, especially on pressure. X-ray examination showed no bone lesion. The larynx and cornea were sensitive, and the plantar reflexes were absent. The abdominal reflexes were present. The pupils reacted to light and accommodation. There were two areas of analgesia in the nipple regions. The expression of the patient’s face was relaxed and drooping.
A heavy cannon slides and grazes a man: Unconsciousness; stupor; amnesia (anterograde amnesia persistent). Complete recovery in less than seven weeks.