The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1884-04-25
MURDEROUS IMPULSES.
Mon Who Are Suddenly Seized With =
Desire to Nil Somebody.

Mon Who Are Suddenly Seized With a
Desire to Nil Somebody.
considering the number of cases of
homicidal and suicidal impulse that
come under the notice Of experts in
nervous diseases distinguished
specialist remarked to New York
Sun reporter, sit is wonder to me
that so few tragedies from that source
really happen. Last week business
man in this city, who owns a hand
some country residence on the IIud-
son, and would be regarded by his ac-
quaintances as the last person in the
world to be possessed by such whim,
came to me in great worry of mind
and told me he had something to COM
municate that must be held strictly in
violate. The story was typical /
have heard it with trifling variations
thousand times in five years. He had
not been feeling very well-rather
nervous and i'll at ease-for some days.
That morning, as he left the house to
take the train for New York, he hap
pened to pass his gardener who was at
work on the grounds, and stopped to
talk to him minute. The man was
STOPPING over a clump of ornamental
shrubbery, thinning out the dead
stalks with pruning knife. A spade
was leaning against the trunk of tree
just at his hand. 'Ihad never had any
quarrel or misunderstanding with the
man. said this patient, telling his
story. But the impulse was upon me
in an instant to seize that spade and
brain the poor fellow on the spot. l
trembled all over like leaf, with a
kind of nervous terror that 1 can
scarcely describe to you, Doctor.
Finally, not daring to trust myself
longer / turned and walked away as
fast as my legs could conveniently
carry me- believe, sir. that l should
have killed the man if l had fingered
five minutes longer. Now what is to
be done?"
The doctor advised his patient to
avoid temptation for few days. turn
his mind resolutely to something else,
and gave him a sedative prescription
--bromides, of course-with instruc-
tions to call again in day or two.
The man was sensible enough to act
on the advice, and on the fourth day
he dropped in and told the doctor that
the trouble had passed off, and he felt
like himself once more. And so a
tragedy was averted, probably.
The physician went on to say that
he had no less than nine cases of homi-
cidal or suicidal impulse then under
treatment. OF these seven were sui
cidal and the other two homicidal-
One of the latter had been on his hands
| for three weeks. The patient, man
of some note in literature, had been
sleepless for several weeks before the
impulse manifested itself. He was a
married man, and loved his wife de-
yotedly. One night, after doing a
few minutes with terrible dreams, he
awoke with a strange presentiment of
impending disaster. His wife was
sleeping quietly. The moonlight,
struggling through the window-pane,
fell upon her face and white, shapely
throat. AS sudden as the leap of a
tiger, the impulse seized him to cut the
woman's throat, and he was actually
out of bed and hunting for his razor in
the bureau drawer, Eefore any realiz-
ing sense of the enormity of the deed
that he was about to perpetrate inter-
posed to prevent the tragedy. He re-
turned to bed, and lay in a tremble till
daylight. His wife never knew how
: near she had been to death. He had
had no wish to kill anybody else as
, yet.
"One of my suicidal patients" con
tinued the doctor, "was first seized
with the impulse on Brooklyn ferry
boat. He had been across the river
! on business, and was on his way back
l He went on board one of the boats al
the Fulton Ferry, and stood gazing
" listlessly at the rampant of business
houses extending far to the right OF
a Furman street. The boat started sud
! denly as he stood Illuminating. He in
5 sists that the impulse had its origin il
.. irritation of the retina caused by th'
movement of the sunshine-fooded sur
faces of brick across the optic field, ant
very likely he is right. For an in
5 stant,' he says, 4 was wild; and wher
I came to myself my hand was on'tht
railing, and couple of stalwart pas
l sengers had collared me. had never
Il thought of such thing as committing
suicide except as towards resource.
Now" added the doctor, "this mar
J; was no more mad than am; it was {
l tvpical case of suicidal impulse. caused