Wine, on the contrary, they all drank willingly,
without being heated by it, or in the slightest degree
intoxicated. During the whole period of the attack they suffered
from spasms in the stomach, and felt a disinclination to take food
of any kind. They used to abstain some time before the expected
seizures from meat and from snails, which they thought rendered
them more severe, and their great thirst for wine may therefore in
some measure be attributable to the want of a more nutritious
diet; yet the disorder of the nerves was evidently its chief
cause, and the loss of appetite, as well as the necessity for
support by wine, were its effects. Loss of voice, occasional
blindness, vertigo, complete insanity, with sleeplessness,
frequent weeping without any ostensible cause, were all usual
symptoms. Many patients found relief from being placed in swings
or rocked in cradles; others required to be roused from their
state of suffering by severe blows on the soles of their feet;
others beat themselves, without any intention of making a display,
but solely for the purpose of allaying the intense nervous
irritation which they felt; and a considerable number were seen
with their bellies swollen, like those of the St.
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