Note 10 — CHAP. III.
Reading edition
Corporis agitatio continua, indolens, convulsiva, cum sensibilitate.—Linn.
Agitatio corporis vel artuum convulsiva continua, chronica, cum integritate sensuum.—Vogel.
This genus is resolved by Cullen into that of Convulsio. Synops. Nosol. 1803.
Dr. Macbride has given a very interesting and illustrative case of this disease.
“Hieranasos, or Morbus Sacer, so called, as being vulgarly supposed to arise from witchcraft, or some extraordinary celestial influence, is a distinct genus of disease, though a very uncommon one; the author once had an opportunity of seeing a case. The patient was a lad about seventeen, who at that time had laboured under this extraordinary disease for more than twelve years. His body was so distorted, and the legs and arms so twisted round it, by the continued convulsive working, that no words can give an adequate idea of the oddity of his figure; the agitation of the muscles was perpetual; but in general he did not complain of pain nor sickness; and had his senses perfectly, insomuch that he used to assist his mother, who kept a little school, in teaching children to read.” A methodical Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Physic. By David Macbride, M.D. p. 559.