I know not how to describe it better than
as a kind of tempest, which suddenly rose in my blood, and spread in a
moment over every part of my body. My arteries began beating so
violently that I not only felt their motion, but even heard it,
particularly that of the carotids, attended by a loud noise in my
ears, which was of three, or rather four, distinct kinds. For
instance, first a grave hollow buzzing; then a more distinct murmur,
like the running of water; then an extremely sharp hissing, attended
by the beating I before mentioned, and whose throbs I could easily
count, without feeling my pulse, or putting a hand to any part of my
body. This internal tumult was so violent that it has injured my
auricular organs, and rendered me, from that time, not entirely
deaf, but hard of hearing.
My surprise and fear may easily be conceived; imagining it was the
stroke of death, I went to bed, and the physician being sent for,
trembling with apprehension, I related my case, judging it past all
cure. I believe the doctor was of the same opinion; however he
performed his office, running over a long string of causes and effects
beyond my comprehension, after which, in consequence of this sublime
theory, he set about, in anima vili, the experimental part of his art,
but the means he was pleased to adopt in order to effect a cure were
so troublesome, disgusting, and followed by so little effect, that I
soon discontinued it, and after some weeks, finding I was neither
better nor worse, left my bed, and returned to my usual method of
living but the beating of my arteries and the buzzing in my ears,
has never quitted me a moment during the thirty years which has
elapsed since that time.
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