The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-08-22
THE DOUBLING MALADY.
STRANGE APPLICATIONS AscRIBED
To MODERN CT WHEATON.
Mental Absurdisies in Which Some
People InduIgo-NariOus Gases
Cited-OriRin VI Tie ID snrders.

Some months ago Professor Tamburini,
distinguished Italian alienist, and later
Professor Magnan, of Paris, gave an in
tercsting account of certain eccentricities
of nervous origin which he had met with
in some of his patients. The cases cited
appear to belong to what some writers
have called the diseases of civiliza-
ton, and their groundwork is regarded
as resting in impaired volition. The in
tellect itself is believed to be, at least for
the time being. practically unimpaired
and recognizes the absurdity of the ideas
which constitute the trouble, without
being able to Danish the thought of them
acteristics of this mental disturbance
are said to be overcoming
and tormenting doubts about the
most trivial things, followed by some
form of morbid dread. Sometimes it is
a fear of dirt. called mysophobia."
The individual breads to touch anything.
An example is given of a lady having
this affection, who washed her hands
more than two hundred times day.
Another patient would not touch door
knob without putting on gloves, while
another, who spent four hours every night
in preparing for bed, always used up
twenty fresh towels in drying his hands.
A serious case of the sort is that of
young women who conceived so great an
adherence of a man who had been pay
ing his addresses to her that she heaped
together all of the articles in her parlor
which had been touched by him and set
fire to them. A case is mentioned of a
postmistress who washed her hands after
each letter she handled. At the end of
the day she would be so exhausted with
her efforts as to be hardly able to 90 to
her home. She was we'll aware of her
folly-as, in fact, all of them are-but
could not resist its influence.
Cases are given of people who have a
fear of moving from their seat or of get
ting out of bed; the trouble is ca led
atremia Claustrophilia is the fear of
leaving a room. 0: a house, and claustro-
phobia is the fear Of remaining in
closed place. The fear of crossing a
street or square is called agoraphobia.
According to the Journal de 1NeSeciae
this trouble may give rise to veritable
anguish, and even result in syncope.
Curiously enough the fear wholly disap-
pears when the patient is accompanied
by person whose hand or clothing he
may be able to touch. In a case of
claustrophobia, lady would reside only
on the lower floor of a house, and in
sisted that every door except the one
looking upon the street should be opened
night and day. Another patient troubled
with caustrophilla, however, was unable
to sleep in any but avery small bedroom.
and the sight of an open door was insup-
portable to her. Professor Magnan saws
that in cases of this sort, which seem to be
wholly impulsive, it is impossible to dis
cover the cause. The patients them
selves have no idea whatever of the origin
of the eccentricity.
Cases of what is called folie impulsive
are cited as increasing with the advance
of civilization. One class of them is
caused by an unreasonable passion for
domestic animals. One lady brought on
an obstinate, chronic condition of nervous
sleeplessness in imagining the suffering
she supposed horses must feel when kept
out of doors on rainy nights. The noise
made by the swapping Of whip would
drive her nearly wild, and the sight of
coachman touching up his lazy animals
would bring about a CONFUSION or state
al
the street she always rushed to his aid
and assisted the men who raised him.
One day she saw a driver treat his horse
roughly while Harvesting him, and has
tened to interfere in the animals behalf.
The scene made strong impression on
her, and she was unable to resist an i'm
pulse TO 60 every morning to the stable to
make sure that the animal was not
abused.
! Other persons are described as suffer
ing from what is called word mania :"
Some of these are constantly seeking for
some word which they never succeed in
finding, and whose purport they cannot
even describe. Others find their happi-
ness in life utterly DESTROYED on account
of the imperious necessity they feel in
pronouncing, at short intervals, some
particular word which they detcst Some
of them are in constant fear of pro
nOunCing certain words which they wish
to avoid uttering. \ lady in the latter
category was certain that if she pro-
nounccd particular words some people
of her acquaintance would die. The de-
sire to say them grew irresistible, and
she repeated them. AS, however, the
persons did not die, she appears to have
become cured for the time at least, of
her malady. \ man belonging to the
first mentioned group devoted himself for
a long time to trying to recall the name
of a man he had met but once, and in
whom he had no real interest. Still
another one affected with the word mania
WAS pursued by the word 'orgie, which
he felt himself obliged under pain of
horrible perplcXity to pronounce, per
forming certain acts or executing some
particular movements.
The origin of these affections, which
have been described by Professor lie
Grand du Saullc under the designation OF
'malady of doubling with deirium OF
the sense of touch,n is thought to be
due in considerable degree to heredit
airy predispoSition. The other causes
named are thought to be mostly of a
facilitating nature, such as directly alter
or exhaust the brain; these which act