THROMBOSIS OF THE CEREBELLAR AND VERTEBRAL ARTERIES ASSOCIATED WITH INTERMITTENT HICCUP

From a series of experiments reported previously,1I have found that a streptococcus having peculiar invasive power and other properties appears to be the cause of epidemic hiccup. Thus, spasms of the diaphragm sometimes associated with hiccup have been produced in animals by means of suspensions of nasopharyngeal swabbings containing the streptococcus, with pure cultures on isolation, and after many rapidly made subcultures, with filtrates of active cultures and with suspensions of the dead bacteria. This streptococcus, which has the peculiar property of inciting spasms of the diaphragm and other muscles, has been isolated during the attack from a series of cases of epidemic hiccup in different outbreaks, and has been proved absent from the throats of normal persons and in persons suffering from other diseases. It disappears from the throat as recovery ensues. It has been demonstrated in, and isolated from, the lesions in experimental animals, and the