Arizona weekly citizen., 1886-11-13
PARETIC DEMENTIA.
GROWING FREQUENCY OF BRAIN
 DISEASE IN AMERICAN CITIES.
EIperts fin Insanity Not Willing to Talk -Panies as Faetors in the Production of Brain rroubles-NationalIti Most Ans4tsd-Cures-


 of Brain rroubles-Nationaiities Most
 Afsstsd-Cures-
 The raeent deaths of John Mccullough, the actor, and George Zebold, theatrical manager, together with the prostration oi Bsrtley Campbell, Joseph Dion and other well known men, and the rapid recruit ing miscellaneous army of -cranks," have directed the attention of the public to what is (to them) a comparatively new form of insanity. This disease Is more or less correctly termed -paresis," general parseis," general paralysis, progressive patalysis,H ,H -psretic dementia,' -softening of the brain" and brain wasting
 The experts in insanity are very unwill- ing to talk on the subject, limiting, with the usual professional dellcacy, that il would not be regular The three great est names in the United States in connec- lion with nervous and mental disorder are Drs. F. C. SpitZka. William Ham mond and F. C. Seguin- The last named is now in Europe. The other gentlemen willingly furnish a few figures from theii private practice, supply little genera information of the subject, and refer the inquirer to their published works for fur ther particulars. As the figures of ths experts themselves differ very greatly, a the asylum statistics are not accepted by them on account of alleged ignorant and faulty classification of patients, and a the treatises consist principally of cita tions from foreign authors and technical terms, the lay seeker after knowledge l. almost disheartened at the outset
 ONLY MILDLY ECCENTRIC.
 g.. -f..., under private treatment to-day, said Dr Spitzka, would have been considered only mildly eccentric thirty years ago The fellows who used to go wild on the Pacific coast in ls49-JO. and be told of by Judge Lynch. were in many eases pa retic dement's. The same is true Of some of the cowboys of today. It is not that the number of cases of insanity has in creased out of proportion to our increase of population. but that watchfulness and proper classification have brOuglt the total up to a surprisingly large figure. The intense mental struggle for existence in America has. undoubtedly swened the ranks of paretic dement's. The pinic of 1873 developed large number of eases among the upper classes, as dd the crash of 1883, but matters seem tO be
  ever, for further increase of paretic de- mentiA among the lower classes owing to the late strikes
 Does psretic disease ever occur among wOmens7 It undoubtedly does, although certain eminent alienists maintain the contrary. | The proportion of females to maes Is | about as one to eight-some say Ons to | five. In a group of iifty-eight paretic de- ments found but one female Out of | total of l2l deaths of paretic demens on Blackwell island, nine were Of females You see women are not subjected e the | same intense mental strain as men. Bar | ring alcoholic and physical excesse a. | causes, the disease seems to attach tselt tO women only when they -pHEsIe -oca tons wherein they -Gre brought into ac- 1 tive u2SIIta competition with mem What natiOnalities in the United States | are most numerously afflicted with this | diseasef7
 "The AnglO-SaNons constitute a lttle | over l3 per cent of the whole numbe; af- fected; Celts l2 per cent, Germans about II per cent, Hebrews 10 per cent, and ne groes per cent The Scandinayhns, Dutch, Scotch. Italians and Sclavs have a larger proportion of their insane among the paretic dement's than the natiOnalties represented by larger numbers
 PLEASURE gE-SEEREE'S DISEASE Paresis is peculiarly rich, intellectual or pleasure seeking mans disease. In such 1t is usually taken in hand by ply -faF. H-.a -ls Ia. |