What is "brain fever"

Brain \Brain\ (br[=a]n), n. [OE. brain, brein, AS. bragen, br[ae]gen; akin to LG. br["a]gen, bregen, D. brein, and perh. to Gr. bre`gma, brechmo`s, the upper part of head, if [beta] = [phi]. [root]95.]

1. (Anat.) The whitish mass of soft matter (the center of the nervous system, and the seat of consciousness and volition) which is inclosed in the cartilaginous or bony cranium of vertebrate animals. It is simply the anterior termination of the spinal cord, and is developed from three embryonic vesicles, whose cavities are connected with the central canal of the cord; the cavities of the vesicles become the central cavities, or ventricles, and the walls thicken unequally and become the three segments, the fore-, mid-, and hind-brain.

   Note: In the brain of man the cerebral lobes, or largest part of the forebrain, are enormously developed so as to overhang the cerebellum, the great lobe of the hindbrain, and completely cover the lobes of the midbrain. The surface of the cerebrum is divided into irregular ridges, or convolutions, separated by grooves (the so-called fissures and sulci), and the two hemispheres are connected at the bottom of the longitudinal fissure by a great transverse band of nervous matter, the corpus callosum, while the two halves of the cerebellum are connected on the under side of the brain by the bridge, or pons Varolii.

2. (Zo["o]l.) The anterior or cephalic ganglion in insects and other invertebrates.

3. The organ or seat of intellect; hence, the understanding; as, use your brains. `` My brain is too dull.''
   --Sir W. Scott.

   Note: In this sense, often used in the plural.

4. The affections; fancy; imagination. [R.]
   --Shak.

5. a very intelligent person. [informal]

6. the controlling electronic mechanism for a robot, guided missile, computer, or other device exhibiting some degree of self-regulation. [informal]

   To have on the brain, to have constantly in one's thoughts, as a sort of monomania. [Low]

   no-brainer a decision requiring little or no thought; an obvious choice. [slang]

   Brain box or Brain case, the bony or cartilaginous case inclosing the brain.

   Brain coral, Brain stone coral (Zo["o]l), a massive reef-building coral having the surface covered by ridges separated by furrows so as to resemble somewhat the surface of the brain, esp. such corals of the genera M[ae]andrina and Diploria.

   Brain fag (Med.), brain weariness. See Cerebropathy.

   Brain fever (Med.), fever in which the brain is specially affected; any acute cerebral affection attended by fever.

   Brain sand, calcareous matter found in the pineal gland.

Fever \Fe"ver\ (f[=e]"v[~e]r), n. [OE. fever, fefer, AS. fefer, fefor, L. febris: cf. F. fi[`e]vre. Cf. Febrile.]

1. (Med.) A diseased state of the system, marked by increased heat, acceleration of the pulse, and a general derangement of the functions, including usually, thirst and loss of appetite. Many diseases, of which fever is the most prominent symptom, are denominated fevers; as, typhoid fever; yellow fever.

   Note: Remitting fevers subside or abate at intervals; intermitting fevers intermit or entirely cease at intervals; continued or continual fevers neither remit nor intermit.

2. Excessive excitement of the passions in consequence of strong emotion; a condition of great excitement; as, this quarrel has set my blood in a fever.

   An envious fever Of pale and bloodless emulation.
   --Shak.

   After life's fitful fever he sleeps well.
   --Shak.

   Brain fever, Continued fever, etc. See under Brain, Continued, etc.

   Fever and ague, a form of fever recurring in paroxysms which are preceded by chills. It is of malarial origin.

   Fever blister (Med.), a blister or vesicle often found about the mouth in febrile states; a variety of herpes.

   Fever bush (Bot.), the wild allspice or spice bush. See Spicewood.

   Fever powder. Same as Jame's powder.

   Fever root (Bot.), an American herb of the genus Triosteum ( Triosteum perfoliatum); -- called also feverwort and horse gentian.

   Fever sore, a carious ulcer or necrosis.
   --Miner.

alt. (context pathology dated English) encephalitis or meningitis n. (context pathology dated English) encephalitis or meningitis

n. meningitis caused by bacteria and often fatal [syn: cerebrospinal meningitis, epidemic meningitis, cerebrospinal fever]

Brain fever describes a medical condition where a part of the brain becomes inflamed and causes symptoms that present as fever. The terminology is dated, and is encountered most often in Victorian literature, where it typically describes a potentially life-threatening illness brought about by a severe emotional upset. Conditions that may be described as brain fever include:

• Encephalitis, an acute inflammation of the brain, commonly caused by a viral infection.
• Meningitis, the inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord.
• Cerebritis, inflammation of the cerebrum.
• Scarlet fever, infectious disease whose symptoms can include paranoia and hallucinations.

In The Wound Dresser / a series of letters written from the hospitals in Washington ..., by Walt Whitman the part called Letters of 1864 (about 3/4 of the way through the book), VI, a letter dated March 15, 1861(!) describes a patient Whitman lost to brain fever.

In Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes story " The Crooked Man", the term is used to refer to a woman suffering from a state of shock when her husband has been murdered. The term is also used in " The Naval Treaty", in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes; here it refers to Percy Phelps, an old schoolmate of Dr Watson’s, who was distraught after losing important diplomatic papers. He was so upset that he had a fit and went almost mad, before he “lay for over nine weeks, unconscious, and raving mad with brain fever.” Similarly, brain fever is also mentioned in the Holmes stories " The Adventure of the Copper Beeches", " The Adventure of the Cardboard Box", and " The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual".

Brain fever is mentioned in Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov which manifests itself into Ivan's nightmare of the devil in Part IV, Book XI, Chapter 9, "Anticipating events I can say at least one thing: he was at that moment on the very eve of an attack of brain fever. Though his health had long been affected, it had offered a stubborn resistance to the fever which in the end gained complete mastery over it." The terminology is also used in Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo and Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights."

More recently, a technician accuses a robot of having "brain-fever" in Isaac Asimov's 1945 short story "Escape," included in the 1950 collection I, Robot.