Omaha daily bee., 1883-08-01

is also an essential, as is plain comfort
able clothing"
els it true that the insane are effected
by the weather and the moon, the latter
as indicated by the word 'lunaticl"
my experience has convinced me that
in clear, bright weather the minds of
these unfortunate people are usually
do not say always-clearer and brighter;
while in cloudy, sultry weather the re.
verse is unquestionably the case. II may
DO considered a fallacy of mine, but l
have come to the conclusion that Thurs.
days and Fridays are the worst days of
the week for them, but | cannat very
satisfactorily explain why this is. You
may n day have an opportunity of judy
ing for yourself in the matter.
Now as to the moon. This is the
rock upon which many opinions clash.
For my part, | decidedly believe that the
changes of the moon-the new moon in
particular-have an unfavorable effect
upon the minds of the insane. This is
founded upon close observation, and | do
not, therefore, altogether rely upon the
traditions of the sstute ancients, as hand
ed down in the word 'lunatic,' for my
opinion. You know it has been alleged
that tradition, like its twin sister rumor,
is never wholly without foundation. A
piece of mud thrown at a wall will stick
there-not So much on account of the
force with which it is thrown rs on there
being an affinity between the wall and the
mud itself"
us insanity due sometimes to physical
intirmity2'
Not frequently so. Blindness, par.
alysis, and the like often bring it about,
especially in the cases of persons of &C
tive temperament. Fevers and extreme
pain also tend to produce mental aliena'
ton, temporary or permanent, but most
frequently only temporary.
"ls it true that persons of strong mind
are sometimes confined in asylums under
treatment as p%atientsG"
"Oh, no. Go through an asylum one
day and you will find a hundred who will
try to make you believe this. Visit them
n week later and you will be convinced OF
their insanity. In their more lucid in.
tervals such patients generally assign
their detention to spite and personal
motives on the part of their relations,
and this proves what told you Just now
that whenever n man believes that So
ciety in general and his relations in par.
ticular are set rgainst him, his mind is
unquestionably deranged."
"What has been the origin of the worst
cases of mental arrangement that have
come under your noticel BY the worst
cases, | mean the most violent and hope.
lessl"
Excess and undue religious excite.
ment. Insanity induced by ~privation
usually takes the forms of melancholia OF
suicidal mania"
500 you really believe that insanity is
on the increaseY'
81 repeat that statistics prove it to be
so. Many a person who never sees the
inside of an asylum never ought to be
without the walls of m Do not con.
slider me irreverent, but / can not hell
indorsing the aphorism that He whom
God wishes to destroy He first makes
mad Insanity is unquestionably mainly
traceable to vice, and it is a well known
fact that the face of the Creator wa,
against this and those who practiced it,
Hereditary insanity is but the sins of pa
rents visited upon their children. Wher
the golden age of a purer and stricter-;
Quaker-like l may almost say-morality
shall dawn, half the crazy-houses viii
have to close their DOORS"