Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1884-05-02
suRDEROUS IMPULSES
uen WhO Are Suddenly i've, vim
Deiirc to Kul somebcd, ="

S,sn reporter, "it is wonder to me
that 50 few traselies from taa, source /
really happen Last week a business
man in this city, who owns a hand
some country residence On the IIud
son, and voali be regarded by his ar-
quaintances as the last person in the
world to be possessed by such a 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. Tie story was typical. !
have hearl 1t with triaIng variations 4
thousand times in five years. lie had
not been feeling very well rather
nervous and Ill at ease forsome 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 a minute. The man was
STOPPING over clump Of ornamental
shrubbery, thinning out the dead
stalks with apTuning knife. y spade
was leaning against the trunk Of tree
lust at his hand lhad 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 tie spot. l
trembled all over like a leaf, with a
kind of nervous terror that | can
scarcely describe to you, Doctor
Finally not daring to trust myself
longer, ! turned and walked away a.
fast as my legs could conveniently
carry me. lbelieve, SIT, that | shoul,
have killed the man if l had lingereC
eve minutes longer. Now what is t.
be done?"
The doctor advised his patient t
avoid temptation for a few days, tur
his mind resolutely to something els
and gave him a sedatiye prescripho
-bromides, Of course-with instru
tions to call again in day or tW
The man was sensible enough to a
on the advice, and on the fourth d
he dropped in and told the doctor tn
the trouble lsl passed off, and he !
ssA<s w.. = orN-~ move. And g
tragedySx -iwrfJed, w probably.
The physician went on to say t
he had no less than nine cases of no
cidal or sulcidal impulse then un
treatment Of these seven were
cidal and the other two homicit
One of the latter had been on his hal
for three weeks. The patient, IL
Of some note in literature, had b,
sleeples- for several weeks before
impulse manifested itself. He was
married man, and loved his wife
votedlF- one night, after doing
few minutes with terrible dreams,
awoke with strange presentiment
Impending disaster. His wife W
sleeping quietly. The moonligl
through the window-par
ell upon her face and white. shane
hroat. As sudden as the leap Of
iger, the impulse seized him to cut Il
woman's throat, and he was actual
)ut ofbed and hunting for his razor
.he bureau drawer, before any reali
NJ sense of the enormity of the dee
hat he was about to perpetrate inte
posed to prevent the tragedy, lie r
.urned to bed, and lay in tremble ii
daylight His wife never knew no,
near she had been to death. lie ha
lad no wish to kill anybody else =
yet.
zone of my suicidal patients" cor
.inued the doctor, "was first seize
with the impulse on a Brooklyn ferr,
boat. He hal been across the rive
On business, and was on his way bacl
He went ON board one of the boats A
-he Fulton Ferry, and stood gain
istlessly at the rampant of bushes
houses extending far to the right 0,
Furman street. The boat started sud
lenly as he stood Illuminating. lie in
5ists that the impulse had its origin il
irritation Of the retina caused by tn
of the sunshine-nooded sur
faces Of brick across the optic field. an,
very likely he is right. For an in
slant he says, 4 was wild; and wber
came to myself my hand was on tb,
railing, and couple of stalwart pas
5engers had collared me. l had neve,
thought Of such thing as committing
suicide except as a coward's resource
Now." added the doctor, "this man
was nomore mad than am; it was a
typical case OF suicidal impulse, caused,
perhaps, by long nervous tension"
In point OF fact, both suicidal and
lomicidal impulses appear to be far
less frequent with women than men
In all his experience, the Doctor has
treated only five cases of the imnnlsa
in women while of the sterner sex his
patients nave been numbered by scores
lie inclines to the belief that the bohit
oymen of business Of always
being in hurry, engaged. occnniod - >
one of the principal instrumeptalitios
next to malaria poisoning. in prodncino, :,
this type Hsfvous disturbance. and
l imagine, oe,,.l. he concluded, that our e,lr
former Commissioner of Lunacv gi n"
Crdronnaix' was not far ont 80 a.
way when ten5re5 ,e declared eel that one man IN