The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-02-26

COULDN'T CROSS FIFTY-NINTH STREET.
''Unsuspected insanity is your best topic"
said DR.. Hamilton. ''There is much to. be
said about it, which the public ought to
hear, Many man stands upon the brink
Of that chasm which it is worse than death to
cross, and though few words may save
them now, all the doctors of the world may
not be able to bring them back after they
have passed over. What | want to say in
the hope that it may do some good, relates
to the early stages of such cases, the
symptoms of the malady when it is just
beginning to take hold and may be shaken
off. If l were speaking in the strictest
scientific language I should deny that per-
son can be wholly sound except upon a
single point, but the appearance Is there.
Such men and women are by no means rare.
Their lunacy is of so subtle a nature as to
defy detection for years, though they may
be hopelessly mad. Take, for instance, the
case Of the man who cannot go above Fifty
ninth street. Three or four years ago he
was going up town and was near that street,
when suddenly the feeling came over him
that he would 60 no further. He yielded
to it and went home. Some fatalistlc idea
came over him that a penalty would have
fallen upon him if he had continued. He
brooded upon it till the absurd idea had
complete possession of him. Of course there
must hav Q been something in his make up
to predispose him to this madness, but by
proper care it could have been warded off.
After a while he came to me. He can talk
as nationally on general subjects as | can in
fact he talks nationally about his lunacY,
| admitting that it is all folly and nonsense.
! Hoping to break him of it [ took him i'll a
| carriage, and we drove up to Fifty-ninth
street. He begged me not to cross it, and
! cried like baby. | ordered the coachman
| m oO IN and tho "a TnOpOpQniap
went into violent Mysteries; so violent, in
fact, that gave up the experiment and
decided that nothing could be done in that
way. Now 1t is just as bad with ferry
boat so much SO that another physician had
afearful time trying to make the man cross
the East River. For all that the man is
still sane to all appearances and you might
associate with him for year without find
ing out that anything was the matter. The
only thing to be done in such case IS to
take the man into the country where there
will be no Fifty-nintb street and no ferry.
Let him lead a systematic life, with regular
occupation and duties. The point is that he
should have begun such a treatment the
moment that his delusion appeared.
The danger in all cases of monomanla,"
Continued DR.. Hamilton, sis that they will
develop into dangerous forms. Homicldal
tendencies are always to be feared. / recall
harmless delusion, but who suddenly devel-
oped desire to smother herself and her
dominate with illuminating gas, and she
came very near doing it, to. These people
are rightly sent to asylums by physicians,
and then they are liberated by a Sherif's
Jury, because they tell such straight story
On the witness stand. remember striking
scene that developed from such an examin-
alton. The friends of man confined on
ards Island brought him before a Sheritf's
lnry. He told his story from youth up with
lne most painstaking precision. He was as
ane as rightangled triangle all the way
through. The Jurymen cast significant
gances at each other, as much as to say,
What an injustice has been done to this
oor man. When they were all through
with hims DR.. Macdonald said:
would like you to ask but one
question, ask him who he is! The
uestion was put, and the witness, lift
lg his hand to heaven with a most impress
I'VE gesture replied: I am the Lord Jesus
nI1st! and Immediately he began to talk
n the most irrational manner. Frequently
not so easy to bring out mans deiu-