The Newberry Herald And News

Lockjaw and Perspiration.

Lockjaw when caused by a wound has long been considered incurable. and it is only of late years that a few instances of successful treatment have been recorded, the most striking being those effected by the Indian wourali poison and by enormous doses of alcohol. Two cases are reported in which all the alarming symptoms were removed by violent perspiration. The first was that of a young man of twenty-two, who had the misfortune of having his hand caught in the gearing of a threshing machine; part of the skin was carried off, but in the course of a fortnight everything seemed progressing toward a speedy cure, when one morning the patient awoke with a strange rigidity in his jaws, violent pain all over the sternum, intermittent difficulty of breathing and convulsive starts in the lower limbs. A doctor being called in, he immediately proceeded to throw the patient into a violent perspiration. For this purpose he had hoops put under the bedclothes in order to prevent their contact with the body, and then got four deep pots filled with quicklime, which he slightly moistened with water. To prevent the skin from being scorched each pot was wrapped in linen and then placed on each side of the patient, orders being given to the family to moisten the quicklime from time to time, and to change it when exhausted. The heat engendered was so intense that on the first day the bedclothes caught fire, which, however, was speedily extinguished. As for the perspiration, it was so immoderate as to pass all belief. On the fifth day all tetanic symptoms had disappeared, except a little stiffness in the jaws; the patient was in a state of complete prostration, which was, however, removed by good nourishment, and a few days after all traces of the dangerous affection had disappeared.

The second case was that of a day laborer, who, when the doctor came, appeared in a dying stage. He at first denied having had any wound. but upon examination an injury caused by a hobnail was discovered on one of his great toes—he had forgotten the circumstance. The treatment was the same and attended with the same result.—London Globe.