IMAGINARY DISEASES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VII, Issue 2, 10 January 1891, Page 16

IMAGINARY DISEASES.

A highly intelligent lady, related to a doctor, says that one day she was walking past a public institution and observed a child in whom she was particularly interested coming through an iron gate. She saw that he let go the gate after opening it, and that it seemed likely to close upon him, and concluded that it would do so with such force as to crush his ankle ; however, this did not happen. ‘ It was impossible,’ she said, ‘ by word or act to be quick enough to meet the supposed emergency; and, in fact, I found I could not move, for such intense pain came on in my ankle, corresponding to the one which I thought the boy would have injured, that I could have only put my hand on it to lessen its extreme painfulness. I am sure I did not move so as to strain or sprain it. The walk home, a distance of about a mile, was very laborious, and on taking off my stocking I found a circle around the ankle as if it had been painted with red currant juice, with a large spot of the same on the outer part. By morning the whole foot was inflamed, and I was a prisoner in bed for many days. ’ A lady, who was watching her little child at play saw a heavy window-sash fall upon its hand, cutting off three of the fingers. She was so much overcome by fright and distress as to be unable to render any assistance. A surgeon was speedily obtained, who, having dressed the wounds, turned himself to the mother, whom he found seated, moaning and complaining of pain in her hand. On examination three fingers, corresponding to those injured on the child, were discovered to be swollen and inflamed, although they had not ailed prior to the accident. In twenty-four hours incisions had to be made into them, and it was some days before the wounds ultimately healed. One doctor related a noteworthy case. It was that of a butcher who was brought into the shop of a druggist, from the market-place opposite. The man, on trying to hook up a heavy piece of meat over his head, slipped, and the sharp hook penetrated his arm, so that he himself was suspended. On being examined he was pale, almost pulseless, and expressed himself as suffering acute agrtny. The arm could not be moved without causing excessive pain, and in cutting off the sleeve he frequently cried out. But when the arm was exposed, it was found to be quite uninjured, the hook having only traversed the sleeve of his coat.