vomiting center in the medulla; hence, when the atmosphere was highly
charged with electricity the structures affected became more readily
impressed. Camby relates the case of a neuropathic woman of
thirty-eight, two of whose children were killed by lightning in her
presence. She herself was unconscious for four days, and when she
recovered consciousness, she was found to be hemiplegic and
hemianesthetic on the left side. She fully recovered in three weeks.
Two years later, during a thunder storm, when there was no evidence of
a lightning-stroke, she had a second attack, and three years later a
third attack under similar circumstances.

There are some ocular injuries from lightning on record. In these cases
the lesions have consisted of detachment of the retina, optic atrophy,
cataract, hemorrhages into the retina, and rupture of the choroid,
paralysis of the oculomotor muscles, and paralysis of the optic nerve.
According to Buller of Montreal, such injuries may arise from the
mechanic violence sustained by the patient rather than by the thermal
or chemic action of the current. Buller describes a case of
lightning-stroke in which the external ocular muscles, the crystalline
lens, and the optic nerve were involved. Godfrey reports the case of
Daniel Brown, a seaman on H.M.S. Cambrian. While at sea on February 21,
1799, he was struck both dumb and blind by a lightning-stroke. There
was evidently paralysis of the optic nerve and of the oculomotor
muscles; and the muscles of the glottis were also in some manner
deprived of motion.

That an amputation can be perfectly performed by a lightning-stroke is
exemplified in the case of Sycyanko of Cracow, Poland. The patient was
a boy of twelve, whose right knee was ankylosed. While riding in a
field in a violent storm, a loud peal of thunder caused the horse to
run away, and the child fell stunned to the ground. On coming to his
senses the boy found that his right leg was missing, the parts having
been divided at the upper end of the tibia. The wound was perfectly
round and the patella and femur were intact. There were other signs of
burns about the body, but the boy recovered. Some days after the injury
the missing leg was found near the place where he was first thrown from
the horse.

The therapeutic effect of lightning-stroke is verified by a number of
cases, a few of which will be given. Tilesius mentions a peculiar case
which was extensively quoted in London. Two brothers