are developed. These are frequently attended by obscura
tion of vision or temporary blindness. Such a girl passes
into what appears to her friends and medical adviser as
ordinary hysteria. This gradually deepens without warn
ing, until she is suddenly seized with a convulsion, begin
ning in one-half of the face, then involving the arm, next
the leg of the same side of the body, until the convulsion,
violent and purely epileptic form in character, becomes
universal. This is attended by loss of consciousness, out
of which she passes into a series of convulsions, gradually
increasing in severity, in one of which she dies or con
sciousness, partial or perfect, is regained, either, it may be,
for a few minutes, a few hours, or days, during which
violent headache is complained of, or she is delirious and
excitefl, as in acute mania, or dull and sullen as in melan
cholia, and requires to be roused, when she is found wan
dering, and her speech is somewhat imperfect. Without
further warning, save that the pulse, which has become
soft, with nearly the normal number of beats, all at once
becomes low and hard; she is suddenly seized with another
convulsion, in which she dies, or passes into a state of
coma from which she never rallies. In another case the
convulsions will gradually subside, the headache disap
pears and the patient recovers, only to find that she has
completely lost her eyesight, a loss that may be temporary
or permanent.

And here are a few specific cases of white lead
poisoning:

Charlotte Rafferty, a fine, well-grown young woman
with a splendid constitution who had never had a day s
illness in her life became a white lead worker. Convul
sions seized her at the foot of the ladder in the works.

[[259]]

p258 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p259w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p260

v?