The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1886-08-05
KING LUGWIG INSANE.
The Autopsy the Remains of Baya-
ria's Mad Ruler.


The Medical Record prints the follow
ing IN regard to the autopsy on the
body of the late King of Bavaria:
'Great interest attaches to the ques-
ton of the alleged madness of the late
King Louis of Bavaria. Many have
limited that his eccentricities were pur-
posely exaggerated By those about him,
and that he was not in reality insane.
A leading English medical journal
takes this view. The full report of the
autopsy, which we give below, will
therefore be read with close attention.
1t seems that on June Prof. Won Gud-
den, Dr. Hagen, Prof. Grashey, and DR..
Hubrich deposed under oath % that
King Louis was suffering from we'll
advanced form of mental disturbance,
known to alienists as paran9a (Ver-
rucktheiD; (2) that this form of dis
ease was one OF gradual, progressive
development. and was, in his majestv's
case, then incurable: (3) that through
this disease the free will of thinking
was completely destroyed, and he was
personally incapacitated for governing.
'Such was the unanimous opinion of
nlortem was made by Prot. Ruding ger,
in the presence of Prof Grashey and
Drs. kerschensteiner, Hahn. Hubrich,
and Ruckert. Marked changes of vari-
Gus forms and of degenerate nature
were found in the skull, brain, and
meninges. These changes were partly
abnormal developments, partly chronic
intiammations of old and recent date,
and are described as follows:
''Ihe seal p was very thick and enor-
mously vasular The skull was dispro-
portionately small and unsymmetrical.
For example, the diagonal diameter
from the left brow to the right side of
the occiput was 17.2 centimeters. while
from the right brow to the left
occiput it was 1z.9 centimeters The
skull was extraordinarily thin, its thick
est portion being only g millimeters.
The coronal and sagittal sutures on the
inner surface of the skull were COM
pletely ossilied. The longitudinal sinus
was too much dilated posteriorily and
narrowed auterioTily. There were sew
eral large and small bony protuberan-
ces on both sides Of the inner surface of
the frontal bone The dura matter was
in general much thickened, especially
over the frontal bone, where it was vas
cular and roughened. The left petrous
bone showed projection which corre-
sponded to a depression in the temporal
lobe. The tentorium was irregularly
thickened, and on stretching appeared
porous and triable. All the blood-ves-
sells of the base were filled with dark
fluid blood.
The brain, without the dura, weighed
1.349 grains, or about 435 ounces. The
arachnoid on both convexities of the
cerebrum was thickened and milky
looking. At one place, about at the
functions of the LETT frontal and the
ascending frontal, the Dia and arach-
mold membranes had become thickened
and raised by fbrous proliferation. The
skull over this point was almost as thin
as paper In certain localities on both
sides the convolutions appeared shrunk-
en-, viz, at the beginning of all three of
the frontal convolutions. the mesal
parts OF the anterior central convolu-
tons, and in the region of the middle
OF the post-central tissure. The brain
substance was vascular and soft. No
microscopic examination has yet been
made.
THE account thus given apparently
does reveal degenerative changes. TAX
en- in connection with the personal and
family history, they place the insanity
of the King beyond all reasonable
doubt and make it quite unnecessary to
suppose that there was any dark con-
spiracy in connection with his tragic
end -