Elements of medical jurisprudence / By T.R. Beck and J.B. Beck.

  • Beck, Theodric Romeyn, 1791-1855
Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Elements of medical jurisprudence / By T.R. Beck and J.B. Beck. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    36/1168 (page 10)
    person of a young girl aged fifteen, who pretended to suffer great pain just back of the symphysis of the lower jaw. It produced her removal from school, the object she had in view. On a subsequent attack, Dr. Thomson resolved to try the effect of a strong mental impression ; and understanding that she entertained great antipathy against a dog, informed her that the only remedy remaining was to rub the affected part over the back of that animal. The consequence was an imme- diate removal of the disease, and its continued absence for eighteen months. This case, according to Dr. Thomson, has been published in the medical journals as an illustration of the effect of mental impressions on the nervous system. Yet, eight years afterwards, when this female had become a wife and mother, she wrote to him, stating that the whole course of the disease had been a deception.* * * § It is easy to feign hcemoptysis, by pretending to cough, and then spitting out the blood which comes from pricking the gums; or it may be assumed by constantly holding some armenian bole or vermilion paint under the tongue, which tinges the saliva of a red colour. Periodical attacks of this disease are most commonly simulated; but it is difficult to counterfeit the accompanying marks of disease—such as the cough, flushed cheek, and even the florid and coagulated state of the blood. Orfila recommends that they should be made to spit without coughing, when the bloody saliva will be seen. There are other persons who pretend to be afflicted with hcemate- mesis, or vomiting of blood ; and for this purpose, drink the blood of some animal, or use some coloured liquid, and then throw it up in the presence of spectators. Sauvages, in his Nosology, mentions of a young lady, who, being unwilling to remain in a convent, had some blood of an ox brought to her, which she drank, and then vomited in the presence of her physician. As no deceit was suspected, lie stated that she was really ill, and she thus obtained her liberty.f A similar case is related of a female, who accused a person of having maltreated her. She went to bed, and brought up large quantities of blood without any effort. She could however sing, cry, and put herself in a passion, without the disease recurring ; and it ceased when she found that the deceit w'ould prove useless.^ llloody iirbie has been frequently feigned, either by adding blood to the excretion, or by using substances that have the quality of reddening it, such as the prickly pear (Indian fig),§ the beet root, madder, &c. The Spaniards, on their discovery of America, ate largely of the Indian fig, and were much alarmed at the consequence. It only requires cautious examination to detect deceit. The individual should be made to urinate in the presence of the physician, and the vessel used should be carefully examined both before and during the process. The blood in real cases, when subjected to heat, furnishes a * London Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. vii. p. 101. *f Mahon, vol. i. p. 361. i Metzger, p. 402. Hutchison mentions a case where a man had blood brought to him from the butcher’s, and which he swallowed (p. 178). The slaves in the M eat Indies have been known to swallow their own blood.—Scott, vol. ii. p. 143. § Zacchias, lib. iii. tit. 2, p. 200.