Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-07-09
Morbid impulse as a Disease.

New York Medico-Legal Society. The
paper consisted chiefly of a recital OF
cases of morbid impulse that had come
under the observation of Prof Hammond,
without any especially elaborate ANALYSIS
of the disease. He laid down the propo-
sltion, however, that observers could
never be sure that those afflicted with
this tendency had exercised all their will
power in resisting 1t. In referring to the
several cases that had come under his
observation, Prof Hammond mentioned
one instance of young man who told
him that he felt impelled By an irresisti-
BILE power to kill his friend He had
even gone so far as to put some strychnine
in mug Of ale which he had invited him
to drink. However, as his friend was
about to drink the ale, he knocked it out
of his hand, as if by accident. It not un-
| frequently happened, he said, that per-
sons took pleasure in carving out these
impulses, and he instanced the case of
one young man who told him that he
knew he was doing wrong, but that it
| gave him pleasure to do it. He mentioned
another instance of young man who was
arrested for assaulting a lady in the street
His mode of procedure was to throw
down the lady whom he might meet, take
off her shoes, and run away with them !;
but he did not in any other way modest
her. On searching this young mans
trunk it was found full of ladies' shoes.
He had no use for them, but il gave him
| plea.'u re to take them. In 1864 a man
| killed, in the forest of Vincennes, two
! little boys whom he had never seen be-
| fore, and when confined in prison he said
that he had no motive to kill the children
| The case OF Waltz, who had been lately
executed, seemed to him to come within
the same category. Undoubtedly, he
said, habit had much to do with
! crime, which arose in the first in
stance from mere impulse, and in
illustration of this theory he referred to
several cases, among them that of the boy
Pomeroy, who created great deal of ex-
element about two years ago in Chelsea,
near Boston. At that time great cruelties
We're perpetrated on children at Chelsea,
in various ways. Pomeroy, who was
boy OF about fourteen years, was discOv-
cred to be the perpetratOr of these cruel
ties, and he was convicted and sent to the
House Of Refuge. He was released on the
9th Of February, and in the following
April little boy was found dead, with
his head nearly severed, and with about
thirty stabs in different parts of his body
Suspicion fell on the boy Pomeroy, and he
was arrested. He was confronted with
the body of the murdered child, and ad-
mitted his guilt. When asked what he
thought should be done with him he gave
an answer which should commend itself to
the attention Of those having charge of
such matters" Put me somewhere where
l cannot do such things" Prof Ham
mond mentioned another peculiar case of
morbid impulse continued by habit. A
young man, member of a highly re-
spectacle family, had consulted him, and
his case was this: He had been struck
with the appearance of a lady who was
walking before him through the street,
and who wore very rich silk dress. Sud
denly the impulse came upon him to ruin
the dress with sulphuric acid, and accord
1ngly he ran into drug store, purchased
the acid, and without observation effected
his purpose. He derived such pleasure
from yielding to the impulse that he re-
solved to continue his course, and so he
purchased more sulphuric acid and ruined
a second dress. He then resolved to con-
tinue this pursuit, but nights rest
brought better state of mind, and he was
so sorry for what he had done that he
actually wrote an advertisement and sent
it to the newspapers, with the
view of finding the ladies whose
dresses he had destroyed, so that he
might indemnify them. On his way to the
newspaper Office, however, he saw hand
some dress, the impulse at once seized
him, and he yielded to it without hesita-
ton. Thus, whenever he saw handsome
dress, he could not restrain the impulse
to destroy it with sulphuric acid. Prof.
Hammond advised him to take a sea
NH oh ono
no woman passenger. He complied with
his advice, went to sea in a fishing schOon-
er, and returned perfectly cured. The de-
sire of a person to tn. ow himself from
great height on which he might be stand
ing, and the morbid impulse stimulated
by the use of suitable weapon to COM
NIT deed of violence, were duly referred
to. The yielding to a morbid impulse
| through the influence of imitation was
fully illustrated. Among other cases,
Prof. Hammond mentioned that some
| years ago man hanged himself in the
Hotel DIES Invalides, Paris. No suicide
had taken place there for three years, but
IN short time afterward five persons
| hanged themselves from the very same
| beam. AS another instance, he said that
when he was medical student in the
University of New York he had COM
| panion student who used to dissect along
with him. He was of cheerful DISPOSE
ton and gave no evidence cf morbid i'm
! pulse. However, he was one morning
found dead, having divided the femoral
artery. 1t was quite an unusual mode OF
suicide; no other had probably ever oc-
| Cured in the State of New York, but IN
week atterward there were two similar
| suicides. In the first case they had sui
eide from suggestion, and atterWard
| from imitation. For this reason Prof.
| Hammond advocated less public execu-
ton of criminals and slaughter OF ami
mails. Morbid impulses, arising from
| the force Of habit, often continued long
time when the original cause had
passed away. In illustration of this
| theory he stated the case of lady who
had a disposition to throw every valuable
article into the fire. In the first place
she burned an old slipper, and derived
peculiar pleasure from the contortions
through which the leather went in the
process of burning The next day the
impulse was renewed, and, yielding to it,
she burned felt hat, but without any
pleasure, inasmuch as the hat did not go
through the same contOrtions as the
slipper. The third day she burned
prayer-book, and soon she burned shawls,
bonnets, and every article of value within
her reach. The peculiarly, however, was
that she took no pleasure in seeing them
burn, as in the first instance, and her i'm
pulse being satisfied on throwing them
into the fire she walked to another part
| of the room She was nevertheless, en-