It is that of a gentleman who suffered severely for
some years before his death from valvular disease of the heart, with a
tendency to pulmonary congestion, and attacks of "cardiac asthma." His
wife, a lady of great intelligence, kept notes of her husband's
condition,[122] and at last observed that there was a certain periodicity
in the occurrence of the exacerbations. The periods were not quite
regular, but show a curious tendency to recur at about thirty days'
interval, a few days before the end of every month; it was during one of
these attacks that he finally died. There was also a tendency to minor
attacks about ten days after the major attacks. It is noteworthy that the
subject showed a tendency to periodicity when in health, and once remarked
laughingly before his illness: "I am just like a woman, always most
excitable at a particular time of the month."
Periodicity has been noted in various disorders of nervous
character. Periodic insanity has long been known and studied
(see, e.g., Pilcz, _Die periodischen Geistesstoerungen_, 1901); it
is much commoner in women than in men. Periodicity has been
observed in stammering (a six-weekly period in one case), and
notably in hemicrania or migraine, by Harry Campbell, Osler, etc.
(The periodicity of a case of hemicrania has been studied in
detail by D. Fraser Harris, _Edinburgh Medical Journal_, July,
1902.
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