Electric Sunstroke.

Evening Star, Issue 7485, 2 April 1888, Page 4

Electric Sunstroke.

In one of his popular, but sufficiently accurate, weekly scientific retrospects in the 'Journal des Debats,' M. Henri dc Parville gives an account of some extraordinary medical observations on electric sunstroke collected at the famous French foundry, Creuzot, by the medical oflicer-in-chief there, Dr Dcfontaine, and communicated by him to the Surgical Society in Paris. Ordinary sunstroke is well known. But there is another kind of sunstroke indefinitely more strange yet scarcely known, and that is the electric sunstroke. Now, what is electric sunstroke ? Dr Dcfontaine, in his character of head physician at Creuzot, has been called upon to examine its effects. It is already known that electricity is employed in the form of an intense focus (foyer) to smelt certain minerals, and especially to melt and solder metals. Thus, a metal placed in the electric arc is fused as if by magic. It happens that spectators standing at a distance of, say 10yds, feel no heat; but presently they become conscious of acute pain. " Very odd," said a bystander; " I feel no heat, but I have a sense of being burnt which recalls the sunstroke I had last summer." Therefore he stood off, but not before he had, in fact, experienced something like a second sunstroke. It almost always happens that, after an hour or two, persons witnessing the experiments feel a burning sensation, with more or less pain, in the "neck, face, and forehead, and their skin at the same time assumes a coppery-red tint. It is customary to protect spectators' eyes with blackened sun-glasses ; yet their retina iB affected to such an extent that blindness supervenes in broad daylight for several minutes, and for nearly an hour all objects arc seen in deep saffron color. There is irritation of the conjunctiva, and the congestion lasts forty-eight hours at least, accompanied by a sense of gritty particles inside the eyelids. The lachrymal glands suffer excessive stimulation, and tears flow. Other symptoms are headache and sleeplessness. Afterwards the skin of the face gradually peels off in broad flakes, when the complexion ia left of a fine brick color.