S. W. a woman, thirty-five years of age, was admitted into the hospital,
June 3, 1797. It was stated that she had been one month disordered, and
had never experienced any prior affection of the same kind. The disease
was said to have been produced by misfortunes which had attended her
family, and from frequent quarrels with those who composed it. She was in
a truly melancholic state; she was lost to all the comforts of this life,
and conceived herself abandoned for ever by God. She refused all food and
medicines. In this wretched condition she continued until July 29th, when
she lost the use of her right side. On the 30th she became lethargic, and
continued so until her death, which happened on August the 3d. She was
opened two days after death. There was a large collection of water between
the different membranes of the brain, amounting at least to four ounces:
the pia mater was very much inflamed, and was separable from the
convolutions of the brain with unusual facility: the medullary substance
was abundantly loaded with bloody points: the consistence of the brain
was remarkably firm.