The New Orleans daily Democrat., 1878-04-14
GENERAL PARESIs.
A New and Pleasant Kind Of Insanity,
where the Patient Believes Himself

Of insanity cases, and In fact
prior to that period such form OF insanity
had been almost unknown In this country. |
The cases Of general paresis generally came
patient suffers great mental depression, and
that is followed by eiation of the spirits to
such degree that the victim always imag-
ines himself possessed Of great wealth. !
NEARLY all the patients before the class"
says the New York World, from which we
clip The following curious dialogue that en-
sued, chad been healthy, robust men, and 1t
man become the victim OF general paresis. |
After occupying half an hour In ecturing on
the subject Prof. Macdonald kept calling up
the patients one by one to speak for them.
selves. The first one called on responded
Ehe Re benc og og WhoE he had d been 20 ms seated %
ing asked to put out his tongue to extend his
arm and hold 1t up steadily, he did 80 as best
he could, but 1t was impossible for him to as
sume any one attitude and retain 1t more than
about five seconds at a time.
"Well," said the professor, "tell us what
you have to say about yourself. How long
have you been up there on the island?'
"About two years. sir"
''How about your finances? How much were
you worth at the time you went to live on the
"About s75,ooo millions, SIR
"Yes, Well, how much do you think you
are worth now?'
"Oh livery deliberately. 1t Is incalcuable. /
was worth 10O. 900 billions of dollars then, and
/ haven't drawn any dividends since"
"What does your property consist In, prin-
"Oh, Pacific steamers, sir"
"Anything ese?"
"Well, sir, I own the world Yes, sir /
bought the world at legal sale, sir"
"How much did you pay for it?'
Il paid 367 trillons for it,
"How old are your
I'm forty eight sir, and my wife is twen-
Have you got any children?"
1--WE got 5000 babies, sir"
"Have you any title in addition to your
wealth."
'Yes, sir. l am Emperor of France. I'm
Napoleon Bonaparte, Jr"
How long do you expect to liver"
81 never expect to die The Bonaparte
family never dies at all. That has been set
tied by contract"
"Have you ever engaged in any wars?'
ooh, yes, sir. Mostly In the Archipelagoes
attacked the pirates and conquered them. |
captured their treasure and sank the pirates
1000 feet deep in the ocean"
"Do you contemplate waging any more
wars?"
"Oh yes, sir. I'm going to attack China
and Japan. I'm going to beat down the great
wall in China and spread the Catholic reli-
"Have you ever had any hand-to-hand
combats?'
"Oh, yes"
How many men have you ever overcome
"Oh, more than can tell sir"
"Have you ever entered the pugilistic ring
"Oh, yes. I fought Joe Coburn and licked
him easy. allowed myself only 500 pounds,
and ?uaI allGMed 91 d,i him Red3 126G0 pounds
"By good square fighting, sir. We fought
six rounds and left him a skeleton on the
sidewalk"
"Are you well and strong now?''
Il was never stronger. Ii you don't think
Here the patient passed around the biceps
of his right arm, which, apparently, had the
strength OF boy about ten years old. .,
"How many men could you contend with
single-handed now?
"Well, sir (deliberating again many as
could be brought before me"
"How tall are you2"
81 am five hundred feet in my stockings"
'Yes2 About how tall do you think I amp
six or seven foot tall"
"How it it, then, that you have to look up
to see my face?"
"WelI, that is something that often hap
pens, but / can't explain it.
.sao, "Ro you intend to ever enter the prize ring
"No, sir. It's not in accordance with my
taste. But the older | grow the stronger |
| get, and | shall keep on so. / left Joe Coburn
skeleton. After that | got up benefits for
him in all the leading theatres, and made q
good deal OF money for him."
"How did you come to be sent to the asy-
lum?"
"On account of gambling and spending
money for pleasure, sir.
Professor Mcdonald said that popularity
about patients afflicted with general paress
was that they not only believed themselves
to be sane but never doubted the sanity of
other patients similarly afflicted. They often
formed copartnerships irR the asylum for
carrying on great enterprises He once
knew OF a patient who Imagined that he
owned all the steamships In the world, and
there was another in at the same time who
| imagined that he owned all the dried apples
in the world. They formed copartnership,
agreeing that the dried apples should be
shipped on board the steamers and trans
ported to all parts of the world, calculating
the profits at fabulous amount.
! Some OF the other patients made speeches,
sang songs, etc. One OF them being asked
how old he was, said he was once 10000 years
old, but had reduced himself down to three
then to two, and at last to one year old. He
was now twenty. He was married when he
was five years old He afterwards said 81
have spent 1000 years on the top Of a noun
tain, worshipng my god, and that god is
me. am god, and was the first man. am
Adam and | made Eve out Of one OF my ribs
Alls well that ends well l wrote that. But
Wnefe Ill Inc ueVt lS tue emu! by pFOgFes'
sion we get in advance of the gods them
selves | control the earth and the stellar
system might dissolve the earth, but
wont"
! The facade of the United States section al
the Paris Exhibition promises to be exceed
| ingly effective. The canvas screens, which il
| has been found necessary to stretch across
the roof are now in position, and will bear
| favorable comparison with anything OF the
| kind in the exhibition. Each screen bears the
| Union, and in the centre is grand design
representing the arms of the United States
| The colors are very bright and the orna'
mental designs very chaste and effective. The
| designs on the screens are so arranged as to
| building, so as to draw out the perspective
| nd 10 ho nno+io,,