Upon dividing the integuments of the head, the pericranium was found scarcely to adhere to the scull. On the right parietal bone there was a large blotch, as if the bone had been inflamed: there were others on different parts of the bone, but considerably smaller. The glandulæ Pacchioni were uncommonly large: the tunica arachnoides in many places wanted the natural transparency of that membrane: there was a large determination of blood to the substance of the brain: the ventricles contained about three ounces of water; the consistence of the brain was natural. He was opened two days after death.
CASE VII.
A. M. a woman aged twenty-seven, was admitted into the hospital August 15, 1795; she had then been eleven weeks disordered. Religious enthusiasm, and a too frequent attendance on conventicles, were stated to have occasioned her complaint. She was in a very miserable and unhappy condition, and terrified by the most alarming apprehensions for the salvation of her soul. Towards the latter end of September she appeared in a convalescent state, and continued tolerably well until the middle of November, when she began to relapse.
The return of her disorder commenced with loss of sleep. She alternately sang, and cried the greatest part of the night. She conceived her inside full of the most loathsome vermin, and often felt the sensation as if they were crawling into her throat. She was suddenly seized with a strong and unconquerable determination to destroy herself; became very sensible of her malady, and said, that God had inflicted this punishment on her, from having (at some former part of her life) said the Lord’s Prayer backwards. She continued some time in a restless and forlorn state; at one moment expecting the devil to seize upon her and tear her to pieces; in the next, wondering that she was not instigated to commit violence on the persons about her. On January 12, 1796, she died suddenly. She was opened twelve hours after death. The thoracic and abdominal viscera were perfectly healthy.
Upon examining the contents of the cranium, the pia mater was considerably inflamed, and an extravasated blotch, about the size of a shilling, was seen upon that membrane, near the middle of the right lobe of the cerebrum. There was no water between the membranes, nor in the ventricles, but a general determination of blood to the contents of the cranium. The medullary substance when cut into was full of bloody points. The consistence of the brain was natural.
CASE VIII.
M. W. a very tall and thin woman, forty-four years of age, was admitted into the hospital September 19, 1795. Her disorder was of six months standing, and eight years before she had also had an attack of this disease. The cause assigned to have brought it on, the last time, was the loss of some property, the disease having shortly followed that circumstance. The constant tenor of her discourse was, that she should live but a short time. She seemed anxiously to wish for her dissolution, but had no thoughts of accomplishing her own destruction. In the course of a few weeks she began to imagine, that some malevolent person had given her mercury with an intention to destroy her. She was constantly shewing her teeth, which had decayed naturally, as if this effect had been produced by that medicine: at last she insisted, that mercurial preparations were mingled in the food and medicines which were administered to her. Her appetite was voracious notwithstanding this belief. She had a continual thirst, and drank very large quantities of cold water.
On January 14, 1796, she had an apoplectic fit, well marked by stertor, loss of voluntary motion, and insensibility to stimuli. On the following day she died. She was opened two days after death. There was a remarkable accumulation of blood in the veins of the dura and pia mater; the substance of the brain was loaded with blood. When the medullary substance was cut into blood oozed from it; and upon squeezing it a greater quantity could be forced out. On the pia mater covering the right lobe of the cerebrum, were some slight extravasations of blood. The ventricles contained no water; on the plexus choroides were some vesicles of the size of coriander-seeds, filled with a yellow fluid. The pericranium adhered firmly to the scull. The consistence of the brain was firmer than usual.
CASE IX.