, 1884-05-21
INSANE MOMENTS.
Homicidal and Suicidal Impulses That
Spring Up Involuntarily.
Confessions of People Who Have
Been UnaccountabIy Tempted
TO Take Human Life--A
Study for Doctors.


NH4AA AHB hA1 lAAllbEi VI Cu5b5 Ol
homicidal and suicidal impulse that come
under the notice OF experts in nervous dis.
eases" a distinguished specialist remarked,
"it is "A wonder to me that SO few tragedies
from that source really happen. Last week
Il business man in this city, who owns q
handsome country residence - the Hudson.
and would be regarded by his acquaintance
as the last person in the world to be pos
sessed by such a within, came to me in great
worry of mind and told me he had some
thing to communicate that must be held
strictly inviolate. The story was typical.
l nave heard it with triding variations a
thousand times in five years He had not
been feeling very well-rnther nervous and
Ill at ease-for some days. That morning,
as he left the house to take the train for New
York, he happened TO pass his gardener who
was ut work on the grounds, and stopped to
talk to him n minute. The man was stopping
over a clump Of ornamental ~shrubbery, thin
ming out tho dead stalks with n pruning
knife. A spade was leaning against the
trunk OF a tree at his feet. Il had 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
tho spot. | trembled all over like O leaf,
with n kind Of nervous terror that | can
scarcely describe to you. doctor. Finally,
not daring to trust myself longer, l turned
and walked away as fast as my legs could
conveniently carry me. 1 believe, sir, TINT l
should have killed the man if l had fingered
five minutes longer. Now, what is to DO
doneTp
The doctor advised his patient to avoid
temptation for n few days, turn his mind
resolutely TO something else, and gave him a
sedntive ACCOMPLISHMENTS of course
with instructions to call again within IA day
or two. The man was sensible enough to
act on tho advice. and on the fourth day he
dropped in and told the doctor that the
trouble had passed Off and he felt like him.
self once more. And 50 u tragedy was
averted probably.
The physician went on to say that he had
no less than nine cases of homicidal or
suicidal impulse then under treatment. or
these, seven were suicidal and the other two
homicidal. One of the latter had been on
his hands for three weeks. The patient, u
man Of some note in literature, has been.
sleepless for several weeks before the
impulse manifested itself. He was IA mar.
riod man, and loved his wife devotedly. One
night, after doing a few minutes with terri
BILE dreams, he awoke with a strange present.
iment of impending disaster. His wife was
sleeping quietly. The moonlight struggling
through the window pane fell upon her face
$3.50 HANN oaAhENAJ ~ Us lub
leap OF u 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 before any realizing sense of
the enormity of the decd that he was about
TO perpetrato interposed to prevent the
tragedy. He returned to bed and lay in a
tremble till daylight His wife never knew
how near she had been To death. He has had
no wish to kill anybody else as yet.
-.
the doctor, twas first seized with the inn
pulse on n Brooklyn ferry-boat. He had
been across the river on business, and was on
his way back. He went on board one of tn
boats at the Fulton ferry and stood gazing
listlessly at tho rampant of business houses
extending far to the right on Furman street.
The boat started suddenly as he stood rumin-
ating. He insists that the impulse had its
origin in irritation of the retina caused by
the movement of the sunshine flooded sur
faces Of brick across the optic field, and very
likely he is right For an instant he SAYS,
Il was wild; and when l came to myself
my hand was on the railing and a
couple of stalwart passengers had
collared me. 1 had never thought of
such a thing as committing suicide except as
Il towards resource Now" added the doc
tor, this man was no more mad than l am;
IL was n typical case of suicidal impulse,
caused, perhaps, by long nervous tension"
In point of fact, both suicidal aud homi-
cidal impulses appear to be less frequent with
women than men. In all his experience, the
doctor has treated only five cases of the inn
pulse in women, while of the sterner sex his
patients have been numbered by scores. He
inclines to the belief that the habit contracted
by men of business of always being in a
hurry, engaged, occupied, is one of the prin-
cipal instrumentalities, next to malaria
poisoning, in producing this type of
nervous disturbance. "And l imag-
inc" no concluded, "that our former
Commissioners vi iuuacy, Dr.. o~rdronnaux,
was not far out Of the way whom he declared
that one man in every hundred who walks
the streets is potentially "A murderer or a
suicide; n startling declaration, but ono that
my own practice during the last ten years
has a|bundantly verified"
Sometimes the impulse Is accompanied by
voices in the ears, urging the patient to kill;
sometimes a red light lurid, dismal, weird
-suifuses the eyes, and with one of the doc
tors patients the attack is announced in
variably by n premonitory shiver or shudder
of momentary duration only, which proceeds
it by a second or two. 1t is n curious fact,
also, that a serious organic trouble with the
brain and spinal tract seldom gives rise to
these strange paroXysms.
r.INf.