Some practical aspects of the plague at Sydney / by Frank Tidswell.

  • Tidswell, Frank.
Date:
[1900?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Some practical aspects of the plague at Sydney / by Frank Tidswell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    what was said to them, and in their failure to utter more than half sentences, forgetting the rest. They were generally bid- able, being too sick to resent or resist interference, and more- over they could generally be made to appreciate the efforts made for their comfort. The positions assumed were also indicative of the retention of sensibility, for in these patients one observed the attitudes designed to relieve pressure on a bubo, viz., flexion of the thigh, elevation of the arm, &c. The comlition was of variable duration, and of no significance as to the ultimate issue of the case. In other instances, although the onset itself was not ex- cessively rapid, there -was a period at which the symptoms would suddenly become distressingly acute. For example, a young man having spent the evening socially at a friend’s house, went home and retired to bed, apparently in his usual state of health. During the night he vomited, and next morning complained of nausea and headache. He did not go to business, and appeared to get better during the day. Towards evening he became listless, drowsy, and light-headed, and when seen at midnight he was flushed with fever, quite prostrate, and delirious. He was transferred to the Quarantine Hospital early next morning, and in that institution had a series of haemorrhages from the mouth, nose, and bowels, developed a ])nrpuric rash, and died on the fifth day of illness during copious bleeding from the lungs. It was not often that patients were found delirious at an early stage, this condition more com- monly supervening after admission to the hospital. The delirium was generally noisy, taking in some cases the form of incessant chattering, and in others that of more or less frequent s])asmodic outcries. In nearly all cases the utterances were incoherent, babbling, and meaningless, with perhaps a single word distinguishable here and there. Associated with the mental, there was also muscular uurest, tremors, spasmodic contractions, or ]>urposeless movements of the limbs or head. Karel V a patient would excitedly sit up in his bed, or try to get out of it, and sometimes struggle when his efforts were resisted. In connection with the class of case now under consideration I may perhaps be i)ermitted to cite one illustrative of the mode of attack in a young child. A little boy, aged two years, had beeti bright during the day, but was noticed to be ntiusually quiet in the evening. During the night he had a series of convulsions. Next morning the child was admitted to one of the general hospitals. There he lay all day in his cot, very pale, drowsy to torpidity, having no regard for food, nor the surroundings, and making no sound unless disturbed, when he uttered plaintive cries. This condition, for which thei*e was
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