Case 2
Hermocrates, who lived by the New Wall, was seized with fever.
He began to have pain in the head and loins; an empty distention of
the hypochondrium; the tongue at first was parched; deafness at the
commencement; there was no sleep; not very thirsty; urine thick and
red, when allowed to stand it did not subside; alvine discharge very
dry, and not scanty. On the fifth, urine thin, had substances floating
in it
[p. 123] which did not fall to the bottom; at night he was delirious.
On the sixth, had jaundice; all the symptoms were exacerbated; had
no recollection. On the seventh, in an uncomfortable state; urine
thin, as formerly; on the following days the same. About the eleventh
day, all the symptoms appeared to be lightened. Coma set in; urine
thicker, reddish, thin substances below, had no sediment; by degrees
he became collected. On the fourteenth, fever gone; had no sweat;
slept, quite collected; urine of the same characters. About the seventeenth,
had a relapse, became hot. On the following days, acute fever, urine
thin, was delirious. Again, on the twentieth, had a crisis; free of
fever; had no sweat; no appetite through the whole time; was perfectly
collected; could not speak, tongue dry, without thirst; deep sleep.
About the twenty-fourth day he became heated; bowels loose, with a
thin, watery discharge; on the following days acute fever, tongue
parched. On the twenty-seventh he died. In this patient deafness continued
throughout; the urine either thick and red, without sediment, or thin,
devoid of color, and, having substances floating in it: he could taste
nothing.
Explanation of the characters. It is probably that it was the suppression
of the discharges from the bowels which occasioned death on the twenty-seventh
day.
