A STRANGE DISEASE,

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 28 February 1918, Page 3

A STRANGE DISEASE,

HAS IT REACHED THIS

DISTRICT ?

A PECULIAR disease is reported to have broken out in several towns in New Zealand. The disease is known to scientists as Morbus Sabbaticus, or Sundaysickness. According to medical men who have studied the disease the attack comes on suddenly on a Sunday morning after a hard week's work. The patient as a rule sleeps well, awakes feeling well, eats a hearty breakfast, and goes about his business as usual. Shortly before 11 a.m., however, the attack comes on, and continues for about an hour, the patient feeling too languid to walk even a few yards. At dinner time the patient feels easier, and in the afternoon recovers sufficiently to take a stroll, and afterwards partakes of tea. Shortly after 6 p.m. the attack comes on again, causing the patient either to retire to bed or rest quietly for an hour. On Monday morning the attack has passed, and the patient enjoys his usual health. The chief peculiarities of this disease are that it never appears except on Sunday; symptoms vary, but never affect sleep or meals. The chief thing it affects, strange to say, is Church-going, The mere mention of this to a person suffering from the disease causes the symptoms to be violently increased, in fact in some respects it is not unlike the result caused by displaying water before a person suffering from hydrophobia. No cure has so far been found for the disease, which unfortunately is spreading rapidly in many towns in New Zealand.