Note 78 — Chapter III

This African plague is accounted for by the faculty in various ways. Dr. Clarke of Sierra Leone attributes it to the presence of acrid substances internally, whereas it is most frequent ‘upon an empty stomach.’ Others derive it from inequality of evaporation or radiation from the body, from derangement of the liver, from bad circulation, and from cold producing undue contraction of the muscles. As usual with the obscure nervous disorders, where the scientific can do little, every one has a remedy of his or her own. I have been recommended to sleep with a tub of cold water under the bed, to hold a mutton-bone in the right hand, to stand and stamp when unable to move, and to kick out with the heel when the limb is as rigid as wood. A tight ligature above the afflicted part, like the Arab Hibas, sometimes removes extreme pain. The only remedy, however, is thoroughly to heat the offending member by spirit frictions, hot foot-baths, and swathes of flannel.