HE'LL DIE IN THIRTY SIX HOURS.
In the autumn of 1824, while a severe sickness was sweeping over one or
two towns adjacent to that in which I resided, and considerable
apprehension was felt lest the disease should reach us, the wife and
child of my medical teacher, and myself, suddenly sickened in a manner
not greatly dissimilar, and all of us suffered most severely.
It was perfectly natural, in those circumstances, to suspect, as a cause
of our sickness, the prevailing epidemic. And yet the symptoms were so
unlike those of that disease, that all suspicions of this sort were soon
abandoned. Besides, no other persons but ourselves, for many miles
around, had any thing of the kind, either about that time or immediately
afterward. I have said that the symptoms of disease in all three of us
were not dissimilar. There was much congestion of the lungs and some
hemorrhage from their organs, and occasionally slight cough, and in the
end considerable tendency to inflammation of the brain. The last
symptom, however, may have been induced at least, in part, by the large
amount of active medicine we took.
When the news of my own sickness reached my near relatives who resided
only a few miles distant, they were anxious to pay such attention to me
as the nature of the case appeared to require. But they soon tired; and
it was found needful to employ an aged and experienced nurse to take the
general charge, and under the direction of the physician, assume the
entire responsibility of the case.
This nurse was one of those conceited people whose aid, after all, is
worth very little. He was as far from affording the kind of assistance
I required as could possibly be. And yet his intentions were in the main
excellent.
The selection of physician was equally unfortunate. My teacher had
nearly as much as he could do to take care of his wife and child. At his
request, and in accordance with the wishes of my friends, their and my
former physician were called in. When the danger became more imminent, a
third was occasionally consulted. It was supposed, no doubt, that in the
midst of counsellors there was safety.
The counsels of our third man, or umpire, may have had influence; but
his manners were coarse, and in many respects objectionable. He was in
favor, also, of a highly stimulating treatment, which appeared to me to
add fuel to the flame, for I soon began to be at a loss when called upon
to recollect things and circumstances. He saw the tendency, and, partly
by way of "showing off" his powers of diagnosis, as well as in part to
gain applause should a case so desperate turn out favorably, said, in
the hearing of my nurse, "He'll die in just thirty-six hours."
Now, whatever his intentions were, and however honest his declaration,
my nurse swallowed it at once, and was restless till he had an
opportunity to divulge what he regarded as an important secret. It is by
no means improbable that he entertained the usual impressions that a
special preparation should be made for death, and that it was needful I
should know my danger and attend to the subject before it was too late.
In one of my most lucid intervals, therefore, he said to me, "Do you
expect to recover from your disease?"--"Most certainly I do," was the
reply. "Do you know what Dr. Thornton thinks about it?"--"Not certainly;
but from his cheerful manner, I suppose he thinks favorably."--"Do you
think you could bear to know the truth? For if it was unfavorable, would
it not be too much for you in your enfeebled condition?"
My heart was in my mouth, as the saying is, at this broad hint; and with
a strong and earnest curiosity, I begged to know the worst, and to know
it immediately. My attendant saw, in my agitation, his error, and would
doubtless have receded had it been in his power; but it was too late;
the die was cast; my curiosity was all on tiptoe, and I trembled, as a
sailor would say, from stem to stern. "Well," said he, at length,
putting on a face which of itself was enough to destroy some very feeble
persons, "he says you cannot live more than thirty-six hours."
My friend, in divulging what he deemed an important secret, doubtless
felt relieved; but not so with me. My philosophy had disappeared with
the progress of my disease, and I was now, in mind, a mere child. In
short, I was so much agitated by the unexpected intelligence, that I
sank at once under it, and remained in this condition for several hours.
When I awoke from this delirium, the symptoms of my disease were more
favorable, and from that day forth I began to recover.
But the risk was too great for my enfeebled and diseased frame, and
should not have been incurred. Dr. Thornton, though a physician of much
reputation, was nevertheless a man of very little principle, and though
respected for his medical tact and skill, was beloved by very few. He
died, moreover, not many years afterward, as the fool dieth; viz., by
suicidal hands. Nor do I know that as a man--a mere citizen--he had many
mourners.
The reader will pardon me, perhaps, for saying so many times, and with
so much emphasis, that "it is an ill wind that blows nobody any good."
But I must be allowed to repeat the saying here, and to observe that
while I entirely disapprove of the course my attendant took in the
present instance, I am by no means sure that the delirium into which I
was thrown by his tattling propensity was not safer for me than a
restless apprehension of danger would have been, especially when long
continued; nor that it did not contribute, indirectly, to bring about my
recovery.
I was confined to the house by my sickness about five or six weeks, or
till it was midwinter. And yet, all covered as the earth was when I
first ventured forth, no Paradise could ever appear more beautiful to
any son or daughter of Adam than did this terrestrial abode to me. And
if ever I shed tears of devout gratitude to my Father in Heaven, it was
on this very occasion.
It was a long time, however, after I got out of doors, before I was
strong enough, in body or mind, to attempt to perform much labor. At the
time of being taken sick, I was teaching a public school; and as soon as
I began to be convalescent my patrons began to be clamorous about the
school. They were hardly willing to wait till my physicians and myself
deemed it safe to make a beginning. Indeed, notwithstanding all my
caution, I was hurried into the pedagogic chair quite too soon.
But it is time for me to inform my readers what were the probable causes
of my sickness; for I have already said, more than once, that to be able
to do this is a matter of very great importance, both as it concerns
ourselves and others; and it is a thing which can be done, at least to a
considerable extent, whenever parents and teachers shall be wise enough
to put their children and pupils upon the right track. I am well
acquainted with a minister of the gospel, now nearly sixty years of age,
who says he never had any thing ail him in his whole lifetime of which
he could not trace out the cause.
For some months before my sickness I had been curtailing my hours of
sleep. I had resolved to retire at eleven and rise at four. But it had
often happened that instead of retiring at exactly eleven and rising
exactly at four, I had not gone to bed till nearly twelve, and had risen
as early as half-past three. So that instead of sleeping five full
hours, as had been my original intention, I had often slept but about
four.
How far this abridgment of my sleep had fallen in with other causes of
debility, and thus prepared the way for severe, active disease, I cannot
say. I was at this time tasking my energies very severely, for I was not
only pursuing my professional studies with a good deal of earnestness,
but at the same time, as has been already intimated, teaching a large
and somewhat unmanageable district school. If ever a good supply of
sleep is needful, whatever the quantum required may really be, I am sure
it is in such circumstances.
But then it should be remembered, in abatement of all this, that the
symptoms of disease, in all the three cases which I have alluded to, as
occurring in the family with which I was connected, were very much
alike; whereas neither the mother nor the child had suffered, prior to
the sickness, for want of sleep. Must we not, therefore, look for some
other cause? Or if it is to be admitted that sleeplessness is
exceedingly debilitating in its tendencies, must there not have been in
addition some exciting cause still more striking? We will see.
During the latter part of the autumn which preceded our sickness, the
water of the well from which we were drinking daily had a very
unpleasant odor, and a fellow student and myself often spoke of it. As
it appeared to give offence, however, we gradually left off our remarks
and complaints about the water, and only abstained, as much as we could
conveniently, from its use.
In the progress of the autumn, the well became nearly dry, and the
offensive odor having become troublesome to others no less than to
ourselves, it was very wisely concluded to draw out the water to the
bottom, and thus find and remove the impurities. The task was
exceedingly trying, but was at length accomplished.
Besides other impurities, there were found at the bottom of the well,
several toads in a state of putrefaction, and so very offensive that it
was difficult to approach them, or even to approach the top of the well
that contained them. They were of course removed as soon as possible,
and every practicable measure was adopted which was favorable to
cleanliness. This final clearing of the well was about two months before
the sickness commenced.
Now whether there was a connection between the use of this water and the
sickness which followed, is a curious, and at the same time, a very
important question. Against this belief, at least apparently so, is the
fact that our disease resembled in no trifling degree, the prevailing
disease in certain neighboring towns. Another fact is also worthy of
consideration. The rest of the family drank freely of the water, why did
not they sicken as well as we?
But as a deduction from the force of these facts, it is to be observed
that nobody else around us for several miles had the prevailing
epidemic unless it was ourselves. And then as to the objection that only
a part of the family sickened, it is to be recollected that in the case
of some of them who sickened there might have been, nay, probably were,
other debilitating causes in operation previously, to prepare the way;
such as, for example, in my own case, the want of sufficient sleep.
Thus far, then, though we arrive at nothing positive, we yet find our
suspicions of a poisonous influence emanating from the putrid reptiles
remaining. Indeed, it were impossible wholly to suppress them, and I
will ask the candid reader's attention for a few moments to certain
analogical evidence in the case, which, it is believed, will greatly aid
the mind in coming to a right decision on the subject.
An eruptive disease broke out in two families residing in a house in
Eastern Massachusetts, a few years ago, which was observed to affect
more or less, every member of the two families who had drunk water from
the common family well, except two; and these last had drank but very
little. On cleaning the well, the same species of reptiles which I have
already mentioned, were found in it, in a state of decomposition, and
highly offensive. No eruptive complaints of the same general kind
prevailed at the time in the neighborhood, and those which I have
mentioned disappeared soon after resuming the use of pure water.
Another instance occurred in this same region, a few years afterward. In
the latter case, however, the putrid animals were rats and mice, and the
eruption, instead of having a diffused or miliary appearance, partook
largely of the character of the common boil.
Forty years ago a sickness broke out in Litchfield county in
Connecticut, in a neighborhood where the wells were all very low; and
the water which remained being in a cavity of rock, and continuing
unchanged or nearly so, had at length become putrid. It was late in the
autumn when the disease broke out, and it disappeared as soon as the
wells were duly filled for the winter. It is true, I never heard in the
latter case, any thing about putrid animals, but their existence and
presence under such circumstances, would be natural enough.
It has, I know, been sometimes said that putrid animal substances,
however unpleasant their odor might be, were not poisonous. But this
opinion is doubtless unfounded; and, for myself, I find it difficult to
resist the belief that in all the foregoing cases, except the last, and
very possibly in that too, animal putridity had influence.
The practical lessons to be derived from the developments of the
foregoing chapter are exceedingly numerous. I shall direct your
attention for a few moments, to some of the more important.
First, we learn the necessity of keeping our wells in a proper
condition. Could it be even proved that dead reptiles never produce
disease, it is at least highly desirable to avoid them. No reasonable
person would be willing to drink water highly impregnated with their
odor, even if it did not reach his own seat of sensation.
Secondly, we should avoid the use of stagnant water, even though it
should be free from animal impurities. Especially should we be cautious
where there is a liability, or even a possibility, to impurity and
stagnation both. Either of these causes may, as it is most fully
believed, produce disease; but if so, what is not to be expected from a
combination of the two?
Our wells should be often cleaned. It is not possible, of course, to say
with exactness, how often, but we shall hardly err in the line of
excess. Very few wells are cleaned too often. Once a year, in ordinary
cases, cannot be too much; nor am I quite sure that twice would be
useless.
It seems to me quite possible to exclude animals from our wells, would
we but take the necessary pains; and this, too, without covering them
closely at the top. I can not see how any toad, unless it be the
tree-toad so called, could climb a well-curb three feet high. Other
animals, however, might do so, and therefore I would keep a well as
closely covered as possible.
Many, I know, believe it desirable that the surface of the water in a
well should be exposed to the air. I do not believe there is any
necessity for this, though it is certainly desirable to avoid stagnation
of the air at the bottom. Motion is essential, I might even say
indispensable. I have sometimes thought the modern endless or chain pump
as perfect a fixture as any other.
Thirdly, we may learn from the details of the foregoing chapter, the
necessity of having in our sick-chambers the right sort of nurses or
attendants. There should be a class of persons educated to this service,
as a profession; and most happily for the prospects of the great human
family, such efforts are now being made; it is hoped and believed they
will be crowned with success.
One thing more may, as I think, be inferred from the story of my
sickness as above:--the folly of multiplying physicians. In the present
case, when the physician's own family was in a condition to demand a
large share of his attention, if not to absorb all his energies, it may
have been desirable to call in an additional medical man as counsellor.
But the multiplication of counsel, besides adding to the danger of too
much dosing and drugging, brings with it a host of ills too numerous to
be mentioned in this place, and should be studiously avoided. My full
belief is, that Dr. Thornton was a principal agent in creating the
dangers he deprecated, and which came so near effecting my own
destruction.