The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-02-28
THE MIND DISEASED.
Superintendent Fletcher's Discoveries in the
Study of Unbalanced Brains.

A walk through the female wards of the In
sane Hospital with DR.. Fletcher is amusing,
rather than saddening. Some sing him Songs
others beg bite from his dried and
wellworn plug of tobacco. others are
determined to dance with him, and
all look on his coming with pleasure
They call him pet names, as Uncle" doc"
and "Popsy." Sunday they hunt him for candy.
Others beg him to write home for them. A few
beg to be taken home. They cut some strange
antics. Not long since female patient on the
upper floor kicked out the ward door panel
crept through, and at midnight, climbed the fire
mans ladder to the loft, where, though
it was dark as pitch she crept
about among the rafters and steamppes until
she came to the elevator-well seventy feet deep
She seized the wire cable slid down two stories,
and then got off onto the screen-door. at least
three feet from the cable Here she hung, with
fingers and toes in the meshes until she was dis
covered by quick witted woman-one of the
ward attendants-who was going through the
passage and heard scratching on the
wires The attendant rushed into the clothes
room, seized shelf board, and broke out a large
pane of glass above the girl, who chung like a
squirrel fifty feet above the basement. and
pulled her out, chattering and laughing, into the
passage, and so. with good courage and rare
presence of mind, saved her life.
nittens. and this so that they will not pull out
their eyebrows and fnger-nails. Only one is
kept in crib and this so that she may secure
rest to broken limb.
The screw holes and chair marks are seen,
where the bad patients were formerly fastened
| in rows, each with arms in jacket and strong
band about the waist which passed through holes
in the back of the chairs and was locked.
The chairs have been supplied with rockers and
the patients seem to enjoy them-aiways except
p0f ho vVh IN sit liza hnd cd
up in heap, and seem to enjoy nothing.
DR.. Fletcher says they receive from fifty to
one hundred inquiries from friends daily, and
that the women usually send stamp and envelop
for answer, while the men Use only a postal
card. Not infrequently two or three members Of
family are in the various wards, indicating he
reditary insanity.
Here is fine field for study in pathology and
and psychology, and one which DR.. Fletcher is
improving, though he Gays to do any work Of a
scientific nature where there are 300 attendants
and 600 patients means the use of spare mo-
ments and midnight oil. However, he has be-
come very much interested in the study of the
blood supply of the brain in disease-a subject
almost untouched in the works on brain and
mind diseases, as, for example, in the great at
lases Of the brain by Dr. Dalton. of New York,
recently published
DR.. Fletcher had series of injected specimens
Of the arteries supplying the brain dissected
out notably the artery at the base of the brain,
which branches like tree, two Of the shoots
spreading around to meet the arteries in front,
forming the remarkable communication between
the front and back sets of brain arteries known
as the 'circle Of Willis" in memory of its
iescriber, contemporary and adherent
of Hunter, who discovered the circulation of
the blood Many anomalies the Doctor finds in
the blood supply of the insane brain-two of the
four great tubes that supply the brain. in one
case reduced to the size of pin others turned to
solid cords and yet others with beads and
pockets developed in them. OF these he has
made careful drawings, and has preserved
specimens, hoping to add something
to the multiplicity Of causes, including
disease and distortion of every organ and func
ton of the body from the sole of the foot to the
crown of the head--which go to make up the I'M
known thing which we call insanity, but which,
like headache or heartache, or WEAKNESS, may
spring up from any part Of the body, or from
purely external causes.