THE OREGON" SUNDAY TOTONAIi, PORTLAND, SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY 23, 1921.
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Unusual Affliction of a Fashionable
Society Debutante and How
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EARLY in the evening of August 13,
last year, Miss Joan Lippincott, the
charming twenty-year-old daughter
of the Oliver C. Lippincotts, members of
the old and "wealthy Philadelphia family
of that name, turned to Mrs. Lippincott
and cried t
"Mother! Oh, mother! Are my eyes
crossed?", i
Mrs. Lippincott, 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 crumpled to the floor.
"Don't worry," she whispered as her
mother bent to lift her. "I'll be all right."
She fell asleep! i
'From that moment until the morning: of
December 21 just 130 days, or 3,120 hours
Miss Lippincott lay silent and sleeping!
On that morning Joan opened her eyes
and with enormous effort gasped the word
"Mother!" 1 ;
The spell that had held her had broken.
But, unlike the Sleeping Beftuty ofthe fairy
story, it had not been the Hover who.had
snapped c it although, truly enough, the
lover wa's there, and had been whenever
possible through all the weary days and
weeksof slumber. ! ' ' 4
Since then each day has marked a defi
nite advance in her escape from one of the
most fmysterious and baffling' diseases
known to medical science a malady called
somewhat loosely encephalitis; an Inflam
mation! of the brain and its membranes
"marked by an extraordinary chain of symp
toms, one of which, at least, varies widely
in different sufferers. The germ that
causes: this strange disease has-not yet
been isolated. Usually, but not always in
Miss Lippincotfa case ft did not it follows
attacks of influenza, and medical science
believes that it is closely related not only
to the germ of influenza, 'but to the baby
crippling organism that produces what is
called 'infantile paralysis. Probably I all
three of the maladies are caused by organ
isms erived from a common protoaoon
stock--' " . . ..!-., ..... :
Nor is-it new. - !. i :
It i3 its apparent habit of recurrence in
long cyclea after years of almost complete
disappearance that makes i it eem new.
The world is now. it would seem, at the
threshold of" one of these cycles, and the
steadily increasing number i of its victims
Las begun to arouse alarm, Back in the
Herself After 130 Days
things she cared for
consciousness
sixteenth century there was a formidable
epidemic of it, and a learned doctor of
those days learned for those days, at least
knew of and made mention of another
epidemic of it fifteen oanturiee before in
Egypt! .
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
tions have something to do with its dis
semination ; in fact, the appearance of
large numbers of cases occurring 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 thins is oertain it has a peculiar
affinity for the brain and the nervous sys
tem. And this. accounts for the persistent
lethergy which puzzled Miss Lippincott's
physicians for weeks and so alarmed her
family. This slumber persisted in the case
of the young Philadelphian for a surpris
ing length of time. ! 1
The disease strikes like a bolt o light
ning from the blue. Having struck, there
is little that can be done. The . patient
must have absolute quiet, both mental and
physical. Only enough food may be ad
ministered to keep the flame of life goins.
It must be left t nature to heal the
brain. If nature can do it within a certain
time limit, one lives; if nature cannot, one
dies. That is all. But there is -a curious
psychical, factor involved. Now and then
the consciousness does throw aside the
quilts of slumber and look out.: If when
this happens that consciousness can be in
terested, if within it the will to -live can
be stimulated, a healing power; is called
into play greater than any drug can wield.
Why this is so medical science knows no
more than it knows the germ that has done
the damage. Yet it certainly knows that
such is the 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 ap
parently. It was true that an hour before
she had suffered an intense nervous shodk.
And at first Mr. Lippincott, looking down
upon his daughter in that puzzling coma,
was inclined to believe that this had some
thing to do with her case. i
"We were at dinner," he told the phy
sicians, ''when suddenly thera cams the
Profound Sleep
'Wien sAe stirred and her
eyes -would begin to open,
mother and father and lover
and nurse would wave all the
in front of her, trying to keep her
awake as long as possible."
shrieks of a baby in pain and fear. Joan
shot from her chair and rushed to the door1
in great excitement. A little child had
fallen from a passing automobile and was
lying In the street, crying pitifully. She
was much upset."
"But she had entirely recovered," ob
jected Mrs. Lippincott. "The baby hadn't
been much hurt. She had come into the
sewing room with me after dinner and was
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
shivered and asked me whether her eyes
were crossed. And then she fell!"
Before the family physician came they
dii 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, bitt they could jjot 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 after Pres
ident Wilson during his mental collapse.
They diagnosed the case as encephalitis
and took charge of Joan not alone for the
sake of the Lippincotts, but also for the
value of the observations to medical
science. ,
For many weeks the chief treatment con
, sisted In the closest possible supervision
and the administration of drugs t keep
the heart action normal. Food was ad
ministered in liquid form through a tube
in quantities' just sufficient to keep the
girl alive and not to put the slightest un
necessary strain on her system.
At first she lay almost fiat on her back
or side, her head supported by a pillow
Her sleep was virtually continuous. For
more than three months it was" never com
pletely interrupted. Occasionally, at inter
vals of two or three days, she would stir
slightly, but no sound came from her lips.
The nurses and her mother were constant
ly at her bedside. Slowly, drowsily, she
would half open her eyes and smile. Then
the lids would droop again.
t Gentle but repeated 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 child
hood sweetheart, qf as excellent a family j
as her ; own, that she would marry him. !
Young Gibson spent all the hours he could 1
! (C) 2921. TnHimuioiu) Feature SoraiM. loO,
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Mrs. Morton R. Alexander, Who
Was Kept Awake by the Same
Puzzling Disease That Made Miss
Lippincott Sleep.
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spare from work and sleep at the nouse,
whispering to her in her sleep, striving by
his love to draw her consciousness out of
the slumber that was sucking it down to
death. It was three months after-the col
lapse before any signs of real awakening
began to show. Then, almost impercept
ibly, the moments of half-consciousness be
gan to lengthen. There was aj flicker of In
terest in the wide and dreaming eyes at
these times when certain familiar things
were mentioned. Occasionally she would
try to nod her head at questions, and there
was plain though pitifully fleeting recog
nition of parents and lover.
Now, the doctors warned the family, had.
come the time to catch this straining con
sciousness and draw it up out of the men
ial quicksands into which it was as surely
sinking as a body in actual I ones. They
must watch for its emergence from the
sleep and strive to bold it as long as pos
sible. Only so could it grow strong enough
to escape the strange death, j
So they- propped Joan ( on pillows.
They shot the shades of thai room up to
admit every bit of the sunshine which she
had loved. They filled the room with the
flowers which she 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 i the dresses
over the foot of the bed, around the room
anywhere she could see themi -
And when she stirred and her yes
. opened they would wave these things 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 ber
,and talk to her. Uncannily was it like try-
Gnat SrKJa Ubta ScmtoO.
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Miss Joan Lippincott, Who Has Just
lng to bring back to earth one who had
, more than half passed into the realms of
the dead! : : j ;, 'j
The periods of awakening grew more
frequent perhaps a half-dozei times a day
' and for a minftte or more in duration. But
still she made no sound.) She would stir,
her eyelids would lift, there would be" the
flash of recognition then there would be
despairing submergence into! sleep, with
glances poignantly like those! of one sink
ing beneath deep waters. j
The physicians had advised Mrs. Lippin
cott that her daughter might speak sud
denly. She had been showing marked im
provement in nodding T'esponlses to ques
tions. On the morning of Decerafer 21 the
mother was at the side of herded, praying.
She heard a gasping cry of "Mother!"
Shaking, she arose. She itried to get
Joan to speak again, but she jjcould get no
response. Several hours' latr again the
girl repeated the word "Mother!"
Since then she has talked a little more
every day, always, however, in mono
syllables, giving names, datesj of birthdays
and other answers to questions. Her an
swers' indicate that her mind is perfectly
clear.
The scientific aspect of
the disease
which is just releasing Its grip on Miss
Lippincott has been discussed' in detail by
Pr. Charles K. Mill 3, a distinguished Phil
adelphia neurologist.
"Every neurologist sees a few of tjese
cases every now and then," says Dr. Mills.
"In my own time I have! seen the most
cases since the influenza epidemic of 1889
and 1890. It seems to recur Jwith and' di
rectly follow every influenza or grip epi
demic, but, we must confess It occasion
ally occurs without such an attack.
"It is best to speak of It by its patho
logical name as 'endemic (encephalitis,
with sxichv a qualifying statement as 'with
lethargy. v It is not desirable to call it
sleeping sickness, despite the fact that it
is accompanied by the accustomed somno
lence, because whea doctors! and patho
logical biologists refec to sleeping sickness
they refer to the well-known disease of
Africa, nearly always fatal; occurring over
. large areas, and discovered to be due to
the poisonous tsetse fly. ! P
"Encephalitis Is known not to be pro
- duced by this particular form of germ. Just
what does cause it has not fret been ex
actly determined. . i i
"Those interested in tracing this disease
know that it may assume various forms,
sometimes misleading. The clinical form
is dependent at bottom on the part of the
.nervous system which is attacked hy the
inflammation, coming from the original
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Awakened from Her Strange Four.
poison. A great many cases aro lethargrb
because the mid-brain is attacked with an.
inflammation which arrests Impressions
and stimuli from the outside world. - '
. "The mid-brain, it may be explained, is
situated between the spinal cord and the
higher regions of the brain, and is the
place where the various nerve 'tracts and
centres for the cranial nerves are located.
"There are other symptomsjhah lethargy,
however, all according to the part. of the
brain attacked. The disease may attatk
any part of the brain or spinal cord, afflict
ing It locally or spreading over large areas!
"The connection between encephalitis
and influenza is certain, although there Is
still no positive proof. It may be that the;
influenza poison so reduces the resistance
of the individual that the germ of encephal
itis can. get to work.
"The main theory of treatment is to keep
the patient mentally and physically quiet,
and to use drugs to reduce the Inflamma
tion and keep the heart going. Nature has'
to do the rest. The public should be told
about the disease, but there is not the
slightest reason in the world for alarm."
It happens that Philadelphia fashionable
society furnishes an immediate-example
of a form of the disease different from that
developed by Miss' Lippincott, but re
ferred to by Dr, Mills. The victim in this
case is Mrs. Morton R. Alexander, of No.
2223 Spruce street, who was Miss Elsie
Crozer Knowles and the granfidaughter of
' the late John,P. Crozer, wealthy steel and
iron magnate. Early In the Fall she was
brought home from her cottage at Cape
May to the home of her mother, Mrs.
Emma Crozer Knowles, No. 1628 Spruce,
street, after several months of suffering
with the disease.
But instead of being unable to keep
awake, Mrs. Alexander has been unable to
stay asleep. In her case the disease has
caused an insomnia' filled with illusions
and hallucinations and a desire to talk in
cessantly. In the early days all the symp
toms of pain in the eyes, blurred or double
vision, irritability to the light and occa
sional prolonged s.uporp, heTadaches and
melancholia were present, but at no time
has there been any heavy sleeps, Grad"
ally these stupors disappeared.
Not a word -of Mrs. Alexander's Illness
became public until after specialists bad
pronounced her out of danger-until. in
fact, she had gone a long way toward re- ,
covery. But as evidence of the tenacity cl
the disease, it may be said that she is still
in the grip of the mysterious ailment to
fome extent, and is still under the care of
physicians. Mrs. Alexander's illness also
differed from that of Miss Lippincott in
that her condition came on slowly, with no
sudden collapse. "But the treatment was
the same as that outlined by pr. Mills. J