The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1886-12-03
INSANITY.

Inc Spunlarus, pcOpio nOtcu iol tuo
shrewdness of their provcrbial sayings,
declared in one of those rhyming
aphorisms of which they possess such
an abundance that we have all got
something of the physician, something
of the poet, and something of the
lunatic in our composition
DE mcdico, poets, yloco
Todos tencmos un POGO
A large and important sect OF philoso-
pliers in ancient times went even still
further. and maintained without
periphrass or qualification that all men
were mad. There are probably philos-
ophers at the present day who share
this opinion; and 1t is sad to be favored
by not few of the men OF science
who devote themselves to the study and
treatment of insanity. One of them,
howevcr-Prof Ball, of paris-took n
more cheerful view of our mental con-
dit on in a brilliant inaugural address
which he delivered year or two ago,
and which was largely noticed in the
French press. though he qualified it
with statement calculated to suggest
serious misgivings to nervous people.
While readily admitting that the great
majority of mankind stood in no need
of the ministratIons of himself or his
confreres he affirmed, nevertheless,
that the number of persons absolutely
free from any faint OF mental disorder
is very much smaller than is generally
supposed. There are millions of peo-
pie in the world, he declared, suffering
from one or another of the recognized
forms of insanity whose sanity no one
thinks Of calling in question. Perfectly
rational in all essential respects, the
weak spot in their mental organization
never manifcsts itself in an observable
shape at all, or only shows itself in
trillng cccentricities of too common
and harmless q character to attract
serious notice. Borrow NC an illustra-
ton from political geography, he de-
scrbcd persons of this class rs inhab.
ting n sort of borderland or neutral
zone lying between the confines OF
sanity on the one side and those of in
sanity on tho other. In strict theory
they are all maniacs; but Their mania is
of so mild type as in no way to dis
qualify them for the discharge of the
duties of their sphere, still less to con-
st tute danger of society or to call
for the intervention of their Fl ends, in
whose ewes, as in those of the world at
large, they pass for perfectly sane,
though science recognizes no other diff
ference between their case and that of
the unhappy sufferers who people the
asylumns but simple difference OF de-
gree.
Tie crazcs OF this class of persons
take various forms. For an illustra-
ton of the mental twist which mani
TESTS itself in simple. eccentricties of
behavior we need not 20 beyond the
familiar case of DR.. johnson. Every
one knows of his singular tricks of
habit, his practice of touching the
posts, his avoidance of certain streets.
his strange grimaces and gestures. his
muttcrings, his occas .onal CALCULATIONS
of scraps of prayer in crowded draw
ing-rooms; his mysterious boarding OF
bits of orange peel. The loxicograp-
hers name would probably figure N
any complete census Of Prof. Balls
frontier zone, for in spite of the fact
that Jchnson's really strong point was
his immense fund of common sense, it
is greatly to be doubted if any scrupu-
lous mental pathologist would give him
clean b i of mental health. In an
other class OF sufferers the mental
tain, shows itself in the form of NOR
bid impulses of one sort or other. OF
lose the imrul which prompts per
fectly honest people to appropriate
their neighbours goods may serve as a
type. Klcptomania is often set up as
defense in cases Of evident larceny, but
of lis existence as a genuine species OF
mental inlirm.ty or craze there can be
no doubt whatever. Numerous and
well .au,henii ated eases of undoubted
klep,omania are to be found in I'LL the
treaiises. Pcddie, for instance, men
tons the case of an old lady noted for
her piety who acquired large Library
OF bibles by the wholesale piunder Of
her neighbors. She, it is clear, was
wholly stranger to the sordd motives
witch actuatc the vulgar thief The
wealthy baronet mentioned by DIR.
Buckncll who stole so much old iron
and worthless crockcry in the course
of continental tour that no fewer
than eleven tons of this strange brio q