Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-07-03
MAD KINGS.
The Rulers who Have Gone Grassy
Before Louis Of Bavaria.

From the Medical Record.
The late King Louis IL, of Bavaria, was Of q
| mad family. II accounts are correct his father
was of unsound mind, and his brother Is known
| to be an imbeciie
DIR. Ball, in his "Lecons sur les Maladies Men
tales" describes q form of insanity that very
| we'll fits the case of King Louis. There is, he
| says, kind OF maniacal excitation and disor-
dered action of all the faculties. without any
| clear arrangement OF intelligence. Ideas are
| quickly flowing and exaggerated, but there 10
no indifference. The patients often show q re-
markable development of certain intellectual
powers, especially in poetic or artistic direc-
lions. Their minds are filled with speculatiOns
and new projects, aud the moral sense is
greatly weakened or perverted. Pr Ireland
finds another royal illustration Of this psyche
sis in Mohammed TOghiak, sultan OF India, in
the Attn century; and, as we will show later, 1t
has plainly affected one of the cZarS OF Russia,
| ana very likely members of other royal fami-
lies
The German writer's have given to this form
Of insanity the name of paranoia, and this was
the diagnosis made by the late kings physi-
clans.
In earlier times there we're many royal fami.
Hes Ill whom mental disease and decay showed
Itself. Uncontrolled exercise OF power, the
free opportunity Tor the Indulgence OF every
disease either in the Individual himself or his
descendants. In modern times monarchs
have to regulate their conduct and restrain
their passions more than formerly, aud In con.
sequence royalty is a much more healthful
occupation than it used to be.
In the Claudan-Julian family, beginning
With Julius Cesar himself and ending with
Nero, we have an almost unbroken line of neu-
roses. Cesar himself was eplleptic, but prOba-
Oily the disease developed late in lie, from ex.
posture and excuses, and did not much affect
MS health. Augustus, his granddaughter, had,
~ Is DeileVed, writer 3 cramp; julia his daugh-
ter, seems to have been q little better than q
nymphomaniac. She had imbecile son.
iloeTius was a man naturally heartiess cruel
and licentiOus. In his later years he seems to
nave lost all moral sense, and illustrated the
most shameless sensuaiity and cruelty. Cali
sula, reputed great-grandsOn of Augustus, was
eplieptlc as boy, badly formed and weak
minded as q man. He suffered, was insomnia
and apparently had Authorizations. Claudius
was also weak-minded. timid and credulous
Win unsteady gait, weak knees shaking head
ana drlbbling lips.
In Russia, the present house of ROmanoff has
SHOWN plain evidence OF the development OF
mental weakness and defects. The sister of
refer the Great was a brilliant woman, but his
Two brothers We're weak-minded and had ply
sIcal defects Peter himself, though a man of
genius, bore traces of the family neurOsis. He
had, at times. commissions, and was, when
young, the victim OF a morbid antipathy to the
water. Peters daughter Elizabeth, was dis
solute and hard-drinking woman. His grand
son was Weak-minded, coarse and extremely
llcentlous. The Emperor Paul, vino succeeded
questionabIy deranged. His whims and fits of
unreasOn were much more coarse and brutal in
their tendency than those OF King Louis, but
they suggest the same maady implanted on a
man OF less refined nature and duiler sensibili-
ties. Paul Was treated finally in much the
same way King Louis, only, the former
refused to abdlcate, he was summary stran-
gled The house OF ROmanof has improved in
the last three generations, as a result, doubt
less, OF the constant infusion of TeutOnic blood.
study of the royal families OF France and
England would bring to light some interesting
neurOseS, but we have said enough to illustrate
our subject.