The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1883-12-25
TWenty Cigars q Day.


"Yes," said the old physician, 81
was in an insane asylum for many
years."
GAS q patient?"
"Well, hardly, though confess con-
nearly set me crazy. really believe I
should have lost my balance if I had
remained there. should eith~r
have become insane or turned out a
poet" .....
II have a patient now who was Just on
the verge Of tobacco insanity as it Is
sometimes called, a few weeks ago.
He came to me about the middle Of o.
, tober, and said he feared he was becom-
ing insane; that he had some of the
most horrible and frightful thoughts
and impressions, and felt sure he would
sometime do something terrible if he
| were not cured Of them. He was a
pale, nervous man with large, round
eyes, and altogether a very intellectual
looking face. He looked like q close
student. asked him if he had not
been studying too hard, and he said he
had once thought so and had quit all
study for several weeks, but fonnd him
self growing worse each day. He said
he could not get rid Of an awful feeling
that something terrible was going to
happen; it followed him wherever he
went. no matter what he did. why, ,
said he, My room is on the fourth
floor. and dare not sit by the window
nor look out at it, for fear that will
yield to the awful impulse to Jump out.
And the horrible things that oome to my
mind-oh, they will surely drive me
| crazy and I shall do some awful thing
ope Of these daysl'
| "Then he told me how he saw things
double, and sometimes saw himself
coming toward himself with big
knife. 'Why,' said he, I was walking
home the other night, and, although 1
could see no one, I felt man
cGmlng toward me. I thought him
away off, several miles, but that he YVES
coming toward me rapidly. AL this
time l knew nobody was coping, yet L
coud feel him, and was a' sure in my
imagination that soo1 should see him,
as / was in my rassOn that l should
not. The feelaIg grew in spite of
me. l tried co fight it Off with my
reason. Jut the imagination was the
stronger, and with the never-ceas-
)illg impression that something ter
rible was about to happen, 1 stopped
under street lamp, and sure enough
right there before me stood an exact
counterpart of myself. l knew l
couldn't run away from it. Indeed, l
knew there was nothing there to run
away from. yet could see it, and feel
its presence. Finally shut my eyes q
moment, and when opened them again
the apparition was gone, and 1 walked
on hOme.'
"Oh, he told me long rigmarole OF
this sort; said he often walked in the
night and saw himself lying dead in bed
beside himself; that he had, not less
than a hundred times, been almost
tempted to kill his little sister Just for
the sake of seeing how she would look,
that he had wondered how it would
feel to be stabbed through the heart,
and had, one night, gotten out OF bed
and threw his pocket-knlfe out of the
window for fear he could not resist the
temptation to use it,"
"What did you do for HIM, doctor?"
"Well, to tell the truth, l never
thought Of tobacco until he ,ook out a
cigar and lit it. He seemed very ner-
yous before that, but the cigar seemed
to calm him, and he was quite Jolly for
a time. Then thought Of tobacco in
sanity, and made up my mind that he
was about to have delerium tremens.
Carefully [ questioned him and found
that he smoked from dozen to twenty
cigars day, and, as he put it, They're
about the only thing that do me any
good
'"The cure was very simple. I shut
him up and took tobacco away from
him gradually until he got through a
day with three cigars and felt so much
better that he was convinced his whole
trouble was all due to smoking, and, Of
his own accord, he resolved to quit it
entirely. or course I gave him some
nerve tonic and built up his. general
health, which helped him in his good
resolution.'