The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1873-12-03
CURI0SlTxES or LUNACT.

There are eases where blows on the head
have benefited the brain, and produced extra
ordinary changes for the better. Mabillon
was almost an idiot TILL at the ago of twenty
six, he fell down a stone staircase, fractured
his skull, and was trepanncd. From that mo-
ment he became genius. Doctor Pritchartl
mentions case of three brothers who were
all nearly idiots. One Of them was injured
on the head, and from that time he brighten
cd up and is now successful barristcr. Wal
lcnstcin, too, they say, was mere fool till he
fell out of window, and awoke with enlarg-
ed capabilities. A patient in an asylum was
the victim of many delusions. He was pay
ing off the national debt, going into partner
ship with Baron Rothschild, and forming u
lodge of Frccmasons. One day an cpileptic
patient irritated at being pcrpetually asked to
buy imaginary shares, gave him tremend-
GUS blow OH the bridge Of the nose. From
that time he improved rapidly, and acknowl-
edged that the blow had SOLDERING effect,
and had quite knocked the nonsense out of
him.
There is no doubt that this was tho secret
of the cruel old remedy for madness, the cir
culating swing, mentioned favorably by ply
sicians Of the last century. This horrible
swing was small box fixed upon pivot, and
worked by a windlass. The "inilexible y
maniac, or the maniac expecting paroxysn,
was firmly strapped in sitting or recumbent
posture. The box was then whirled round it
81
tions minute, and its beneficial effect was
supposed to be heightened by reversing the
motion every six or eight minutes, and by
stopping it occasionally with u sudden jerk.
The results of this swing (which occasionally
brought ON concussion of the BRAIN were pro
found and protracted Sleep intense perspira-
ton, mental exhaustion, and a not unnatural
horror of any recurrence to the same remedy
which left a moral impression that acted az a
permanent restraint. That the result, were
often beneficial we have indisputable evil
dencc.
The cases of suspended consciousness after
brain injury are web worthy attention. A
man who awakes out of sleep is conscious of
lapse of time, and Gun generally even guess
its duration but tho man struck on the brain
is often unconscious of any lapse. A man
was struck in the street, and was aftcrwald
delcrious. lie was unconscious after the
blow for fourteen days. lie was then delerious
and manacal for ten weeks When he be-
came more tranquil they brought him to the
asylum in u strait-waistcoat. He soon re-
covered, but when he became conscious he had
clean forgotten the fourteen days trance, and
the ten weeks delerium and mania. At the
battle Of the Nile an English captain was
struck on the head by n shot, and became I'M
conscious. He was taken home with the
wounded, and remained in Greenwich Hos
pital fifteen months, deprived Of sense and
speech. At the end of that period an opera
ton was performed, and brain relieved from
the pressure. lie instantly rose from his bed,
and continued his order to the sailors which had
been so abruptly interrupted fifteen, months
before. Dir. Abcrcombie gives an analogous
case. A lady was struck with apoplexy while
sitting ut the whist-tablc 1t was Thursday
evening when she fell, and she lay in q stupor
all Friday and Saturday. On Sunday she sud-
denly recovered her consciousness, and her
first words were, "What arc trumps." The
clocl-w work had stopped at that point, and
now tho pendulum again commences to
swing