Preterite

“ To the habitual Fletcherite such double disaster does not come. Easy digestion has been assured by beginning it in the manner required by [Pg 131] Mother Nature, and to arrest it by unfavourable psychic influence for a little time does not result in the production of those poisons which wear out the body faster than any other cause. The worst of news may be sprung on one as a terrible surprise, and cloud the happiness for a time without causing damage to the delicate vital organs. ”

“ Choking, gasping, spitting, the pedestrian fought manfully to regain his breath. His face was purple with congested blood, and his glazed eyes were bulging. Great beads of sweat poured from his forehead and mingling with the froth that oozed from between his lips, flecked his face as he [119] twisted his head from side to side in agony.
“What is the matter with you?” shouted Peret. “Speak! I want to help you.” ”

“ So is peritonitis often the result of disease previously latent, but brought on by exposure to cold, or some such agency. Some men say that such cases as those of doubtful sanity should not be taken up by us—that ordinary men are quite as well fitted for finding out the truth as we are, with all our training. ”

“ Femm retreated a step, his eyes two pin-points in a crumpled sheet of paper. Penderel hadn’t seen a man look so frightened for years. What an oddity!—dense at first, and then flying into a panic. A man so thin, with so little flesh and so much shining bone ought to be braver than that; he was almost a skeleton, and skeletons, jangling and defiant, [31] are brave enough. It’s our flesh, Penderel told himself, the jellied-stuff that rots so easily, which quivers and creeps, goes goosey with fright; but our bones stand up and don’t give a damn. ”

“ This gives rise, as a rule, to sudden and intense abdominal pain, together with vomiting and signs of collapse, viz., a rapid flickering pulse, cold clammy skin, and the marked fall of tempera ture. Symptoms of peritonitis (see PERITONITIS) quickly supervene and add to the patient's distress. Death usually takes place within 24 hours. Occasionally peritonitis, apart from perforation, is the cause of death. (4) Occasionally, but rarely, hyperpyrexia (excessive fever) . (5) Complications, such as pulmonary or cerebral inflamma tion, bedsores, &c. ”

“ And since, though my work takes me daily into what men call the peril of infection, I am sound and bring no hurt to others, I am not afraid that I shall bring hurt to thee. I could not bear to have no tidings of how it fared with thee. Thou wilt not chide me for making this provision. It came into my head so soon as I knew that peril of infection was like to come within these walls. We must not let thee be shut quite away from us. We may be able to give thee help, and in times of peril neighbours must play a neighbourly part. ”

“ Peritonitis is an inflammation of the serous membrane lining the cavity of and covering the viscera contained within the abdomen. It is very rare to see a case of primary peritonitis. It is, however, somewhat common as a secondary disease from extension of the inflammatory action involving organs covered by the peritoneum. Peritonitis is often caused by injuries, as punctured wounds of the abdomen, severe blows or kicks, or, as is still more common, following the operation of castration. It follows strangulated hernia, invagination, or rupture of the stomach, intestines, liver, or womb. ”

“ An ague, he goes on, “is either interpolate (intermittent) or continual; it is either engendered of a melancholic humour or it is a splenetic effect; the liver is obstructed by abundance of choler proceeding from a salt rheum that cometh from the brain” etc. Agues are to be dreaded most for their remote effects: “Say not therefore, ‘It is but an ague, but a feaver; I shall wear it out.’ Dally not with this disease;” ”

“ Indeed, in that moment, I cursed the Duke of Trevino and all that belonged to him; and with a final word of objurgation for the day upon which I had met him, I gave my cob his head, and prayed aloud for my safety.
There is an old saying that a sick man must be worse before he is better. ”

“ S. Augustine. You are the victim of a terrible plague of the soul—melancholy; which the moderns call accidie, but which in old days used to be called ægritudo.
Petrarch. The very name of this complaint makes me shudder.
S. Augustine. Nor do I wonder, for you have endured its burden long enough.
Petrarch. Yes, and though in almost all other diseases which torment me there is mingled a certain false delight, in this wretched state everything is harsh, gloomy, frightful. The way to despair is for ever open, and everything goads one's miserable soul to self-destruction. ”

“ Before he could find it, however, the Thing again whispered its warning of death in his ear and scorched his face with its icy breath.
Almost mad with terror, Peret threw himself backward and crashed against a chair with such violence that he was almost knocked senseless. For a second he lay still, to gather his forces and to fill his bursting lungs with air. His clothes were wet with perspiration, and his body cold and numb.
Expecting each instant to feel the vise-like grip of the Thing on his throat, he staggered to his feet and made another frantic effort to find the push-button. ”

“ If we follow the modern tendency and classify the cases according to the specific irritant, we shall have an endless number of varieties according to the endless number of possible irritants; and where will you classify the man who is subject to them all? In the present state of our knowledge, it seems better to regard the sensitiveness to irritants as the characteristic of these cases and to think of them as different forms of the same disease. In most text-books this idea is expressed by the terms hyperæsthetic catarrh and vaso-motor rhinitis ”

“ I do not know if there be any drug in the Pharmacopœia, or any clearly defined medical treatment, which may ever hope to grapple effectively with the strange disease of jewel-hunger, but if there be not, I have much pleasure in recommending this most singular ill to the notice of a rising generation of physicians. That it is a branch of that mystery of mysteries, la névrose, I have no manner of doubt, for I have seen it in all its forms—a malignant growth which makes night of the lives it plays upon; and flourishes to exceeding profit down in the very heart of tragedies. ”

“ Does not lunacy strike you, Bertie, as being a very eerie thing? It is a disease of the soul. To think that you may have a man of noble mind, full of every lofty aspiration, and that a gross physical cause, such as the fall of a spicule of bone from the inner table of his skull on to the surface of the membrane which covers his brain, may have the ultimate effect of turning him into an obscene creature with every bestial attribute! ”

“ Chronic peritonitis may occur as a result of the acute attack, or as a tuberculous disease. In the former case, the gravest symptoms having subsided, some abdominal pain continues, and there is considerable swelling of the abdomen, corresponding to a thickening of the peritoneum, and to the presence of fluid in the peritoneal cavity. This kind of peritonitis may also develop slowly without there having been any preceding acute attack. There is a gradual loss of strength and flesh. The disease is essentially a chronic one; it is not usually fatal. ”

“ Monday, August 11.—The disease of the lungs is complicated with peritonitis. She has terrible pains in the bowels, she cannot move without assistance, she cannot lie on her back or her left side. In God's name, is not death enough? must she also endure suffering, aye, torture, as the final implacable breaking-up of the human organism? ”

“ One would never have suspected from his manner or appearance that, eight hours previously, he had battled with an invisible menace in the narrow confines of a darkened room, and had felt stark terror grip his soul before he emerged triumphant from the most harrowing experience of his adventurous career. No one would ever have suspected that, because, to all outward appearance, Peret was at peace with the world and had no thought on his mind of greater weight than the aroma of the cigarette between his lips. ”

“ It began with languor, lowness, flutterings, faintness, vague pains in the limbs, a low quick pulse, giddiness and slight sickness. Some had a propensity to loose stools and to profuse hurtful sweats; some bled at the nose, others coughed and spit blood; some had pain in the throat, and crimson-red tongue, the sweat and breath of the sick had a strong, offensive, putrid smell. In some of the worst cases livid petechiae, large livid blotches, and dark brown spots occurred over the trunk and limbs. The successful treatment was by mineral acids, bark, port wine, and vesication. ”

“ In contraction the powerful, writhing peristalsis involves the small intestine above the impediment, and in stricture the large bowel above the obstruction. In both stricture and contraction inflammation of the bowel and peritoneum may supervene. In contraction, when inflammation sets in or when enteritis and peritonitis are absent and the attack of constipation is insurmountable, I have noticed that the symptoms are more urgent and rapid in their course, and danger of death from collapse greater, than when these conditions exist in stricture. ”

“ PERITONITIS IN CARNIVORA. Causes: gastro-intestinal inflammations, metritis, trauma to walls of abdomen, pyæmia, septicæmia, tuberculosis, cancer, tumors, parasites. Symptoms: dullness, hiding away, movements tardy, painful, arched back, retracted abdomen, tense and tender, drags hind limbs, vomits, yawns, bloats, hopeless look, snappish, death in 2 to 8 days. Treatment: anodynes, saline laxatives by mouth and rectum, damp compress, warm bath, antiseptics, diuretics, in effusion, puncture, antiseptic irrigation, laparotomy. ”

“ Peritonitis occurs in phthisis as an acute and as a chronic affection. When acute, it is caused by intestinal perforation incident to ulcerations; this is a rare accident. It is to be inferred whenever the symptoms denote rapidly-developed acute peritoneal inflammation. The peritoneal sac contains intestinal gas. Perforation is excluded if percussion shows dulness or flatness over the site of the liver. The normal hepatic dulness or flatness on percussion is always abolished if the peritoneal cavity contains gas. ”

“ It sometimes happens, that in spite of all endeavours to the contrary, the inflammation goes on, and symptoms of a beginning mortification appear. When this is the case, the prepuce must be scarified with a lancet, and, if necessary, divided, in order to prevent a strangulation, and set the imprisoned glans at liberty. ”

“ When a man feeleth himself infect, as soon as he may, let him be let blood plenteously till he swoon: then stop the vein. For a little letting of blood moveth or stirreth venom.”
Then follow directions for bleeding, according to the position of the bubo—in the armpit, groin or neck, the direction “if on the back” probably having reference to the carbuncle [402] . The section on treatment, which is the last, ends with a prescription for a medicine “that the sooner a swelling be made ripe.”
These are sufficiently clear indications of the bubonic nature of the disease called pestilence. ”

“ You’ve nothing to live for. You’re [125] just passing the time and it’s rotten. Everything so far’s been a washout, and now it’s Monday morning all the week.’
Both Penderel and Sir William opened their mouths to speak, but they were drowned by a new voice that was so shrill and unexpected that it startled them all. Miss Femm had returned and was approaching the table, shrieking at her brother.
‘Morgan’s at the bottle again,’ she was shrieking. ‘I knew he’d begin to-night. Where did he get it from?’
Mr. Femm bit his lips. ”

“ I don't know what came over me, but that same instant I took her hand and said, trembling:
"Gütele, will you be my soul?" And she answered me quite softly: "Yes!"
X
IN TIME OF PESTILENCE 1
THE TOWN TAKES FRIGHT
It is coming! öi, it is already near! In the villages round about people are in peril of death! Lord of the world, what is to be done? "Thou shalt not open thy mouth for Satan"—the name of the pestilence may not cross the lips, but fear descends on every heart like a stone.
And every day there is worse news. In Apte a water-carrier, carrying his cans, has fallen dead in the street. ”

“ But it's a new Bad that has to do with the new disease."
"And have you got the new disease, Aunt Sophia?"
"I never was healthier in my life, my dear boy; but there's a cave near this Bad, with bones and skulls of the Stone Age. I want to see what like the poor, dear things were, in those happy times."
"They won't look pretty as merely bones," said Prelice dryly.
"Perhaps not. Only dogs like bones. But I daresay there will be some dear little axes, with which they cut off the heads of animals that lived before the flood. ”

“ From advanced or chronic peritonitis it is distinguished by the history or evidence of diseased liver, heart, or kidney, the absence of hyperthermia or abdominal tenderness, and the absence in the ascitic fluid, extracted with a hypodermic needle, of blood globules, or leucocytes in numbers, of false membranes, of excess of salts, or of a tendency to coagulate firmly. ”

“ Well, these extremes have their uses, and we may look for relief in the mediate ground. The smaller we can get the dose, and still be reliable, the better we shall suit the people,—though we shall seriously offend the apothecaries.
Dr. Francis, in his book, “Surgeons of New York,” tells the following, which illustrates how a desperate remedy may apply to a desperate disease. The cases in reference were “peritonitis.” Dr. Smith (our “plough-boy”) had charge of the lying-in wards, under Professor Clark.
“Dr. Smith, have you ever attended a common school?” asked Professor Clark. ”