The sun., 1873-04-22

| with comparative success, until new code
| Of morality which he professed to advo-
cate and practise under inspiration brought
| him to grief through the action Of the local
| authorities, who arrested him for violating
| the Seventh Commandment. One would
suppose that such an ignomnious event in
| the career Of the prophet would have dis
| PEELED the dclusion under which his fol-
| lowers were laburing. On the contrary
| they appear TO have considered the very
| proper punishment of their leader as an
| instance of persecution which should slim
| ulate them to new efforts for preaohn his
doctrines; and we have seen n report OF
meeting held In Springfield. Mass, in which
| two disciples Of CrRRY announced that
| they had been called Of GOD to carry out
| the prophets work, which they would by
divine grace be able to accomplish in three
years and u half, after which they would
return to Georgia. Here is a self-evident
ease Of contagious insanity.
A more remarkable instance illustrating
/ the spread Of insanity by contagiun, or IN
fcctiou, comes from Baltimore. In that
city whole family, consisting of father
! Il'tifIs tll'l SNIls Nlt ltllNllil tliil'l 'ltt
singular dclusiun. Their name is SHEAF
/ They are quiet. inodcu.ivc people, who
! live a secluded life making an honest liVeli-
! hood by tailoring. They entertain the cx-
| traorduary idea that the Oldest son of tie
| family, who is an enlisted soldier at Car
/ Isle barracks. ten years ago murdered his
J aunt, and that the authorities of Baltimore
refuse to take coeni2anco of the crime be-
! cause they have been paid large amount
! ofhush money. Recently the whole family
! lnid u visit to Washington and invaded
/ the Whit, House, y here they insisted that
/ an order should he issued tor the arrest OF
/ the soldier son. The result was that diIcu-
uou, were given for their arrest by the
| police They were taken to the estation house,
whittier they proceeded quietly enough
| until they reached the corridor leading 10
! the cells. when they became alarmed and
made a ish for the street. crying murder
al the top Of their voices. Then, producing
n most remarkable variety of weapons
which they had concealed about their per-
sons, they dehod the police. II required
the efforts of the whole reserve police
| force to capture them, as they were armed
with hammers, knives, pistols, and heavy
fire poker, all of which they showed an
evident desire 10 use in defending them
selves.
Now II is an utter impossiblity that
three such peculiar cases OF insani-
| ty, Of precisely the same nature,
could manifest themselves in three
! different members Of one family at once.
/ The dcusion must have originated in one
mind, and by sympathetic influence have
communicated itself TO the other minds.
! \ man may hc rendered totally blind by
al injury Inflicted on single eve. The
uuinjdrcd Eye will be sympath,tically
affected hy the hurt TO the other. and both
Will be finally destroyed. although but one
has sustained IA direct injury. so, In this
. case. the whole family yalpDar 20 have been
J >ymrathctically carried to luuacy through
au absurd delu,iou or Ginatiug IN IL, BRAIN
Of ouc of It's members.
II insanity !, contagious. and so far A. we
know this question ha. mower hrcu even
discussed 10y those who pf, t,ss to know all
about Tie proper trcatm, NJ Of the insane.
:, not The whole system ot treating luuatiy- y-
byhclimg them tOcc,he. ra ilnally wrong :
If the IaIpos, Of Nua;.c a.. lm- j. to
keep persons who are insane. or are sus-
pr.tel Of being insane, from du.u. harm,
ia, system u voEu. l. aouht,e-, an excel
l.ut ,uy. Bat Il thr object # such iusti-
tutiol, is 10 cul, their patients. c.u.d any
possible way Dee devised lc., Akr,y 10
achieve that result than couhuWe together
uadrr restraint a large number Of persons
/ with di,orderDl mind, To excite each
. other, delu,i0n- by their mamie. tatiun, OF