Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1868-04-04
THE A

people from all parts Of the world to-
ward the fair land of golden promise.
The hearts Of all beat high with bril-.
liant hopes of fortune aud none seemed
seriously to appreciate or fully consider
their chance, of disappointment, Alas!
how many were doomed to see all their
bright a%nticipations rudcly dispclled'
and their soul-cherished hopes Of wealth
and happiness blasted and crushed be-
meath the cold iron hand Of misfortune
and adversely. Is it any wonder that
many became insane? In the Fall OF
1850, at tho County Hospital, San Fran.
cisco, we saw a young a from New
York who had thus stHked all on IL ven
turc, which, ending. disastrausly, insan-
itv was the result. To n few hundred
dollars left him by his deceased mother
he had contrivcd, by hard work and
strict economy, to add enough to make
it eleven hundred. Falling II victim to
tho "gold fever" he invested his little
fortune In lumber and came with il on
n ship around Cape Horn. When he
shipped it at New York, lumber was
worth over five hundred dollars per
thousand feet in San Francisco, but
when he arrived with it, the market was
perfectly glutted with similar shipments,
and lumber was worth merely nothing.
His little venture only sold for enough
to pay the freight on it, and he was left
penuiless. The blow proved too much
for him, and he shortly became insane.
When we saw him he was quietly aud
steadily busying himself Mt his regular
daily employment--that Of carrying lit
tic sticks and slivers Of wood from one
corner of the hospital yard to the other,
piling it up very carefully and systemat-
ically, imagining it to be lumber. We
simply cite his case MS NJ illustrative
instance Of others Of II similar nature
WHICH Wo sh" kuCu tuu INV
The same causes producing insanity
in California, rule in this State rs well ;
indeed many an insane patient BIAS been
and is treated at the Stockton Asylum
who was made so in Nevada, therefore
VIC speak of the insane Of both States
in common, the more especially rs our
population is made up principally. from
California. The causes of insanity, MS
estimated in the recent annual report Of
the Stockton Insane Asylum for 1868
are thus set forth:
Fast living, intempcrance, disastrous spec
tfiations, sudden reVerses OF fortune, dis.
appointments, separation from family and
friends, and m unsettled condition OF life,
are causes Of mental arrangement which ex-
ist more or less 10 all civilized countries, but
which are supposed to be specially prevalent
and influential in California. Aud to these
exciting causes is constantly exposed u fresh
population, with its susceptible and untried
su6jects-an immigration Of $4,000 a year to
take the place Of a returning $4,000, each
human wave casting upon the strand a men,
tai wreck, evermore there to remain.
The above causes will all apply well
enough in Nevada except the I" fast lir-
lug" There may be some few cases Of
luxurious diet and festive subsistence
here in Gold Hill, but nobody ever goes
crazy over it. Even the choice horse
meat bsnquots we aro said to indulge
in occasionally, lead to no material or
permanent alteration Of mind. They
are far more afflicted with fast living in
California ; they whirl in u perfect afiu-
ence of it. And it seems, too, that the
thing is getting worse and worse the
Stockton Gazette says: "Thc increase
Of tho insane in proportion to the popu-
lation is greater here than in any Other
of the States or in Europe. 1t has
during the last ten years averaged fifty
annually. There is an ANNUAL increase
Of one insaue person in every ten thou
sand Of our population. From our own
observation, we caunot greatly wonder
at this increase" IL would not take
much Of q mathematician to figure on
that proposition according to the ratio,
and determine ut what particular period
in tho future the entire population Of
California would become insane.
The investigation of the phenomena
Of Spiritualism has doubtless induced
some few to become insane, from the
very nature Of such research and in
vcstigation, bringing naught but the
concentrated powers Of tho mind and
reason into exercise, and un~disputably
exhibiting aud developing many strange
and wonderful things, puzzliug to the
most erudite philosopher who dares
brave public prejudice in thoroughly in
vestigsting this phase Of the unaccount-
able. Ask Elder Knapp about It
Dreamy, thoughtful minds are more
predisposed to insanity than others, and
very possibly o few cases may occa-
s~ionally be found, where weakly consti-
tuted, and too impossible individuals
have had their reason dethroned through
an over earnest and absorbing contem-
plation and realization Of what they have
experienced in the way of Spiritualistic
phenomenal manifestations. But where
we find one real genuine cases Of insan-
ity apparently proceeding from Spirit
ualism, we find at least forty un%disputa-
bly, produced by other isms and over
doue religious excitsments and REVEALS.
All new theorie, are critically scanned
and jealousy watched by the old estab-
lished dogmas and religious isms, and
A. t Fla ..f.N lot.ntoJ