Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1874-08-06
LUNACY.
CurlOslties Of Mental Vagartes.

There are cases where blows on the head
have benefited the brain, and produced eN-
traordinary changes for the better. Mabillon
was almost an idiot till, at the age of twenty
six. he fell down q stone stair case fractured
his skull, and was trepanncd From that
moment he became 4 genius. Doctor Prltch-
ard mentions a case of three brothers WhC
were all nearly idiots. One OF them was III
jurcd in the head and from that time hc
frightened up, and is now successful balrlS-
ter. Wallcn>tein, too. they say. was mere
fool till he fell out Of window, and awokc
with enlarged capabilities. \ patient in an
asylum was the victim of mahy dclusions.
He was paying off the national debt, going
into partnership with Baron Rothschiid, ana
forming lodge of female Free Masons. One
day an cpiliptic patient, irritated at being
pcrpetually asked to buy imaginary shares,
gave him tremendous blow on the bridge OF
the nose From that time he improved rapid
ly, and acknowledged that the blow had had
a SOLDERING effect, and had quite knocked the
nonsense out of him.
There is no doubt that this was the secret
for that cruel old remedy for madness, the
circulating swing, mentioned favorably by
physicians of the last century. This horIi-
bic swing was a small box fixed upon pivot
and worked by windlass. The ''inhexible'
mania, or the maniac expecting parOxysm,
was tirmly strapped in sitting or recumbent
posture The box was then whirleu round at
the average velocity of hundred revolutions
minute, and its beneficial effect was sup
posed to be heightened by reversing the mo-
ton every six or eight minutes. and by stop
ping it occasionally with a sudden jerk. The
results of this swing (Which occasionally
brought OH conclusion of the brain) were
profound and protracted sleep, intense per-
spiration and mental exhaustion, and not un-
natural horror of any recurrence to the same
remedy, which left moral impression that
acted as permanent restraint. That the re-
suits were often beneficial We have intisrut-
able evidence.
The cases Of suspended consciousness after
brain injury are well worthy attention. \
man who awakcs out of sleep is conscious of
Il lapse of time, and can generally even guess
its duration; but the man struck on the brain
is almost unconscious of any lapse. \ man
was struck in the street and was afterward
delirious. He was unconscious after the blow
for fourteen days. He was then delirious
and maniatal for ten weeks When he be-
came more tranquil they brought him to the
asylum in a straight waistcoat. He soon re-
covered, but when he had recovered he had
clean forgotten the fourteen days trance and
the ten weeks delirium and mania. At the
battle of the Nile an English captain was
struck on the head and became unconscious
He was taken home with the wounded and
remained in Greenwich Hospital fifteen
months deprived of sense and speech. AT
the end OF that time an operation was per-
formed and the brain relieved from pressure.
He instantly rose from his bed and continued
the orders to the sailors which had been so
abruptly interrupted fifteen months before.
DR.. Abercrombic gives an analogous case. A
lady was struck with apoplexy while sitting
at the whist table. 1t was Thursday evening
when she fell, all Friday and Saturday. On
Sunday she suddenly recovered her conscious
ness; and her first words were, What are
trumps?' The clock work had stopped at
that point, ard now the pendulum again CON-
mcnccd to swing.