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Show M L ' !'Wi UA r Bur Months Sleep I MSSSSSMIIIIMMISMWI I - fia I I - I Very Unusual Affliction of a Fashionable I Society Debutante and How I , , i a. They Helped Her Arouse I lift ' Herself After 130 Days of rmftlr M'A W llUl) ' "When sie sfirrecf on d her j 1' j 11 ( L ee5 would begin to open, vJHjB I I 'l y mother and father and lover Ikm ' j Iff kvs and nurse would wave all the Xxs$&A$ II ' things she cared for in front of her, trying to keep her I ' consciousness awake as long as possible." 9 ARLY In the evening of August 13. H1ll1 year. Miss Joan Llppincott, the charming twenty-year-old daughter of the Oliver C Lippineotts, members of the old and wealthy Philadelphia family o' that name, turned to Mrs Llppincott and cried: "Mother! Oh. mother! Are my eyes crossed?" Mrs. Llppincott, looking, saw that the left lid was almost closed and blood red. Before she could answer. Joan cried out again: "Mother! I can't see a thing!" And suddenly she I rumpled to the floor H "Don't worry," she whispered as her mother bent to lift her. "I'll be all right." H She From that moment uniil the morning of j 1 1 December 31-r Just UO days, or 3,120 hours Miss Llppincott lay silent and sleeping! j On that inoming Joan opened her eyet and with enormous effort gasped the word Mother!" The spell that had held her had broken. Rut. unlike the Sleeping Beauty of the fairy I story. It luid not been the lover who had H snapped it although, truly enough, the lover wdh there, and had beeta whenever possible through all the weary day and weeks of slumber. Ij Since then each day has marked a defl- j nite advance In her escape from one of the most mysterious and baffling disc . known to medical science a malady called somewhat loosely encephalitis , an inflammation inflam-mation of the brain and Its membranes marked by An extraordinary chain of symptoms, symp-toms, one of which, at least, varlop widely In different sufferers The germ that H causes this strange disease has not yet hcon isolated. Usually but not always In II Miss Llpplncott'a caee it did uot It follows H attaokl of Influenza, and medical scleneo B believes that it Is closely related not only 1 10 the germ of influenza, hut to the baby H crippling organism that produces what Is H called Infantile paralysis Probably nil H three of the maladies are caused by organ- H isnt: nerlved from a common protozoon H It Is its apparent habit of recurrence in 1 Ions cycles after years of almost complete W , dliappearanca thu't inakos It seem H 1 The world it now, it would seem, a the ' H l threshold .f ono or thest cycles, and the ft t steadily In reusing number of its victims H has begun to arouse alarm. Back in the sixteenth century there was a formidable epidemic of it, and a learned doctor of those days learned for those days, at least knew of ami made mention of another epidemic of it fifteen centuries before In Egvpt! Medical science believes that the germ that causes this peculiar encephalitis finds' its way Into the body through the nose and throat Very probably atmospheric condi tionH have something to do with Its dissemination, dis-semination, in tact, the appearance of large numbers of cases occurring simultaneously simulta-neously in widely separated districts can be accounted for in no other way. But whatever the nature of the germ or the means by which it finds a foothold in the body, one thing is certain it has a peculiar affinity for the brain and the nervous sys tern. And this accounts for the persistent lethergy which puzzled Miss Lippineotts physicians for weeks and so alarmed her lamily. This slumber persisted In the case of the young Phlladelphlan for a surprising surpris-ing length of time. Tho disease strikes like a bolt of light- Is Utile that can be done. The patient must have absolute quiet, both mental and physical. Only enough food mav be administered ad-ministered to keep the flame of life goint It must be left to nature to heal the brain. If nature can do it within a certain time limit, one lives; If natnre cannot ono dies That i" all But there Is a curious psychical factor involved Now and then the i imn ioiiennr.-: does thro v.- a: hie the quills of slumber and look out. If when this happens that consciousness can be Interested! In-terested! If v. ithln it the will to live can be stimulated, a healing power Is called Into play greater than any drug can wield. Why tins is so medical science knows no more than It knows the germ that has done the damage Yet it certainly knows that such Is tho fact. None of this, being laymen in science did Miss Joan s parents realize when that strange sleep descended so suddenly upon her. She had been perfectly healthy apparently. ap-parently. It was true that an hour boforo she had suffered an Intense nervous shock, tad at Qrsl Mr Llppincott. looking down upon hi daughter In that puzzling coma, was Inclined to believe that this had some-thing some-thing to do With her case. 'We were at dinner." ho told the physicians, phy-sicians, "when suddenly there came the shrieks of a baby in pain and fear. Joan shot from her chair and rushed to tho door In great excitement. A little 'hild had fallen from a passing automobile and was lying in the street, crying pitifully She was much upHct " "But she had entirely recovered objected ob-jected Mrs Llppincott "The baby hadn't been much hurt She had come into the sewing room with me after dinner and Wftt talking as gaily as you please She was always lively, bubbling over with fun She was-full of life And then, all at once, she shhered and asked me whether her eyes were crossed. And then she fell'" Before the family physician came they did all they could to arouse her They made loud and violent noises, slapped her hands and feet, shouted to her. It was, of course, the worst thing they could have done, but they could not know that. She did not arouse And after exhausting his knowledge the family doctor called in some famous neurologists, among them Dr. Francis X. Dercum. who looked alter President Pres-ident WUbOu during his mental collapse They diagnosed the case as encophulll is and took charge of Joan not alone for the sake of the Lippineotts. but also for the value of tho observation.- to medical science. v For many weeks the chief treatment consisted con-sisted in tho closest possible supervision and the administration of drugs to keep the heart action normal. Food was administered ad-ministered In liquid forni through B tube in quantities Just sufficient to keep the clrl alive and not to put the slightest unnecessary un-necessary strain on her system. At first she lay almost Pat on her back or side, her head supported by a pillow. Her sleep was virtually continuous. For more than three months it was never completely com-pletely Interrupted Occasionally at intervals inter-vals of two or three days, she would stir Slightly, but no sound came from her Hps The nurSOS and he:- mothe wore constant ly at her bedside. Slowly, drowsily, she would half open her eyes and smile. Then the lid- would droop again. Gentle but repented efforts were made to keep her flagging consciousness aroused by low-voiced Questions, references to familiar things, songs she loved. Only a' little before her seizure she had promised young Murray Gibson. Jr., a childhood child-hood sweetheart, of as excellent a family as her own, that she would marry him. Young Gibson spent all the hours he couk' (CI 10J1. lilliimHWIII I'cature Strrtct. Ioe. li' r j I 1 2 i X Miss Joan Lippincott, Who Has Just Awakened from Her Strange Four j Months' Sleep. I' 1 Mrs. Morton R. Alexander, Who Was Kept Awake by the Same Puzzling Disease That Made Miss Lippincott Sleep. spare from work and Bleep at the house, whispering to her in her sleep, striving by his love to draw her consciousness out of tho slumber that was sucking it down to death- It was three months after the collapse col-lapse before any signs of real awakening begon to show Then, almost Imperceptibly, Impercept-ibly, the moments of halfs.on6clonsnesK began be-gan to lengthen. There was a flicker of interest in-terest in the wide ;tnd dreaming eyes at these times, when certain familiar thing.; were mentioned. Occasionally .she- would try to nod her head at questional and there was plain though pitifully fleeting recognition recog-nition of parents and lover. Now. the doctors warned the family, had come the time to catch this straining consciousness con-sciousness and draw it up out of the menial men-ial quicksands into which It was as surely sinking as a body in actual ones. They must watch for its emergence from the sleep and strive to hold it as Idng as possible pos-sible Only so could It grow strong enough to escape the strange death. So they propped Joan on pillows. They shot the shades of the room up to admit every bit of the sunsblfie which she hud loved. They lllled the room with the flowers which I he had liked. They brought out her favorite dresses, her best-liked hats, the parasols she had carried even her old dolls and toys They hung the dresses over the foot of the bed. around the room anywhere she could see them. And when she stirred and her eyes opened they would wave these things before be-fore her mother, and lover and nurses and father just as one does to stop a baby from crying. And they would call to her aud talk to her. Uncannily was It like try- Gicit UrIULn Blcblt UetcrrtJ. Ing to bring back to earth one who had more than half passed into the realms of the dead! The periods of awakening grew more frequent perhaps a half-dozen times a day and for a minute or more in duiatlon. But still she made no sound. She would stir, her eyelids would lift, there would be tho flash of recognition then there would bo despairing submergence into sleep, with glances poignantly like those of one sinking sink-ing beneath deep waters. Tho physicians had advised Mrs. Llppincott Llppin-cott that her daughter might speak suddenly. sud-denly. She had been showing marked Improvement Im-provement in nodding responses to questions. ques-tions. On tho morning of December 21 the mother was at the side of her bed, praying. She heard a gasping cry of "Mother!" Shaking, she arose She tried to got Joan-to speak again, but the could get no response. Several hours later again the girl repeated the word "Mother!" Since then she has talked a little more every day. always, however, in monosyllables, mono-syllables, giving names, dates of birthdays and other answers to questions. Her answers an-swers iudlcate that her mind is perfectly clear. The scientific aspect of the disease vv.il. , -. Ju,t releasing It, grip on "PPtooott has been discussed In detail by -Mills, a distinguished Phil adolphla neurologist. ' very neurologist sees a few of tj,emi cases every now and then," says Dr MilU In ray own time I have seen the most s'mri'M116 ,nflUen2a eldeui,c f 1M 'm ,1S' ,, 11 s"-ms to rec&' with and dire! di-re! v follow .-..very influenza or grip n . deml, . but, we -must confess, it occasionally occasion-ally occurs without 8uch an attack "It Is best to speak of it by Us patho-'1 patho-'1 .K'.r.e as endemic encephalitis' With such a qualifying statement as I' thargy- t is not desirable to ca sleeping sickness, despite ihe fact nat .s accompanied by the accustomed somnolence, somno-lence, because when doctors and nrfK oglcal biologists refer tc ? e8plnB frfiSS they refer to the well-known disease of Africa, nearly always fatal, occurrC over hnnr'1, aDd dlsco"ed to b due J the poisonous tsotse fly. "Fncephalltls Is known nr.f t , duced by this particulaMorm of germ 3 hat does eauso p hn. , ,m J,l3t BCU determined 3 Dl y0t bcen "Those Interested In tracing this disease Know -hat it may assume various form, mtlmes misleading The ei Mni 7 dependenl ttwAA'ffJSl nervous featem which l t 1 t. h'' ....lammation comSu? fbfij poison. A great many cases are lethirH because tho mid-brain Is attacked witbaBlj inflammation which arrests Impre.-slosMp and stimuli from the outride world. J "The mid-brain, it may be explained, Rs. situated between the siinal cord and 'Jul higher regions of the brain, aud Is tHN place where the varinis nerve traclriB centres for thr. cranial nerves are loeatjM "There are other symptoms than lethatH I however, all according to the part 'JH;.5 brain attacked. The , : 1 1 r mav 3tH' any part of the brain or spinal coni. afllM- 1 ' . - . . ; I "The mi...tion h.-'w.-en encephlllH and Intl'ienza la certain, ulthoilgh therelH Mill no fin hive proof. It may be ihatuBVjj influenza poison so reduces thr' refistaaH of the Individual that tho germ oi'encepns Itls can g t to work. 1 "The main theory of treatment Is t0!H the patlont mentally and '.hylcally flUH and to use dru to redu the I "ia Hob and keep the heart going Nature to do the res( The public should e tcl H I " Bllghtesl reason in he vvorl It happens tii.it Philadelphia fashlonsBSSSj society furnish.., ., ,.. II. i-' -uiy'JB of a form of the li--, ,i e different fromtSM developed bv Miss Llppincot'. but.H fen-.-d to hy 1 1 r Mi I- The victim In 'H caso Is Mis Morton i; teander. or &aI -M'ru.e tre. .. v.as Mi-'j Cro2er Ktiuwte ,,'n(j mo graiiddaiigti'BJ the h, to John P ", .,.. al'h.v M lion magnate. F;i:lv i-i the Fall st,r!gB'J brouglit honiM i:, her cottage at tM Way to the home of her mother. -M ft. Kninia Prozer Knowlcs. No 16-'s 9PH street, after several monu- of 3 Htrl with the disease . - I Put Instead of being unable t0JrH has been unaHB c tay asleep. In her a so the d's.S M ''used an insomnia tilled with ilV and hallucinations and a desire to tausj 1 1 - -anfly. In the , tntns of pnln In t'ie ov.--, blurred or atM I vision. Irritability to the light ,ad :-ional pndi "'' (f3 I Fffl melancholia were ine-ent. but at D,i3 Hs has thore been any t,eavy sleep. urwnl U ally these stupors disapp " ,! ,f N'ot a word of Mrs Alexand " K 1 became public until after specialist? BSSSJ ;m. 1 . 1 V fact, she had gone a long way to- . CV "very. nut ;1. x lu,,lh ... 0f the teDa,' jffl Ihe disease, i may be 3 .1.1 "'.it -tn- ,, In the -,, of the eriot. llltuCrtoi Ik. omo extent, and I- -till under 'he 1" Physicians Mr? Alexander'. I!,"e,t 'I from that ol L.I i"n,;,1(b J I f, ber . ondltion . n slowly. I sudden collapse. But Uie treatai"1 s |
