Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1888-06-14

I WIS lS'-8 ~. any CbAC l W pdb'iA3 al
large blister on his ablamen: 1T tho
instant ii was dressed and he vcsicatej
skin Shipped. n dressed-up figure Was
thrown from behind him. as if just cx-
tracted from his body. The patient
believed in the performance. and was
flied with joy at first. but an attack
of Indigestion returning. which he had
associated with the delusion he thought
the wretchcd Charles had reached his
old hiding-place again. and suffered a
relapse.
Whenever it is possible, doctors
always humOr the decisions Of insane
people, and so when I woman who was
suffering with delirium tremens de-
c!ared that the boys were fishing for
Ler through the window, and implor2d
the doctor to clear the fish-hooks out
of her bed. he readily complied. Bat
the lunatic who insists that there is II
plot to poison her is not so easily
satisfied, and she is common charac-
ter in all insane communities. a pro-
pensity to theft is often 4 feature of
moral insanity, and sometimes it is the
sole characteristic. In an English
asylum some years ago there was a
lunatic who would not eat unless he
had stolen his food, and his keeper
used to put his meals into corner. so
that the lunatic could discover and
take them fartively.
A curious case is related of man
who had a mania OF putting things in
order. If articles of ladies' work or
books were left on table. he would
surreptitiously put them al! in order,
spreading the work smooth and put
ting the other articles in rows. He
stole into other peoples bedrooms to
arrange them, and was kept so busy
running from one room to another that
he hadn't time to dress for meals, and
sat down to dinner in his dressing-gown.
Frequently he took 4 walk in the even
ings with n lantern. because he had
not been able 10 get ready earlier in
the day. If it happened to be Il STAR
light night. the disorder of the heavens
would drive him wild.
Another eccentric character made it
practice to open his window At GER
tain hour every night, and cry out
murder exactly twelve times; also to
go every day after dinner into the mid
die of the quadrangle of the asylum and
throw his hat into the air twelve times,
vociferating at each throw. His motive
was notion that by this consistency
and uniformity of conduct he afforded
! proof of his sanity. When his
physician approached him. he recoiled
with horror. exclaiming, IF you were
to feel my pulse. you would be lord
paramount over me the rest of my
life
Some lunatics never have any one
permanent delusion. One man who
fairly revealed in the art of lying
always had false report ready about
his keeperS-they ate his food, wore
his clothes. and stole his tobacco. Once
week the lining of his clothes was
unpicked, the bed ticking opened, and
the head of the bedstcad removed in
search for the knives and forks, the
handkerchiefs, and brushes and combs
which he had stolen from his fellow
patients, and the half-picked bones
and pieces of bread which he had fur
lively distracted from their plates. His
madness mainly consisted, however, in
a morbid love of being noticed.
A story is told of IN eccentric gen.
tleman who went around with 4 knife
grinders outfit, and exulted in the
havoc he made in the cutting instru-
ments intrusted to him. firing of this,
he started as an old-clothes, dealer
and this getting irksome, he returned
home. but instead of going in at the door,
he made hole in the roof and entered
that way. He amused himself at night
bv driving n pig tied to Il cord through
the village. upon whose nose some
thing had been fastened to make him
squeak. He varied this performance
by exchanging the farmers cattle and
removing their gates, etc.
1t commonly surprises visitors to a
lunatic asylum to find that insane peo-
pie are not for moment deceived by
the deluSions of their fellow-paticnts.
Each will think himself perfectly sane
and healthy, while knowing that all
the others are hopelessly mad. AL
though lunatic's mental freedom may
be destroyed. it does not follow that
his consciousness is abolished. A minis
ter who was called upon once to preach to
a congregation of luna:ics treated them
| to a sermon he had written for children.
Much to his surprise, he received an
indignant letter from one of his listeners
afterwards. reminding him that while
they might be insane. they were not
idiots. and that many of them were
fully his equals in education and in
telligence.
1t is An interesting fact, recorded by
Pritchard and others, among savage
nations mental diseases are almost I'M
known. They come forward with the
dawning of civilization. and keep pace
with the advancement of mental cul-
ture. The restraints imposed by social
order. the diversity of interests, the
pressure OF universal competition. over
work. griefs anxieties and disappointed
hopes. the artificial life of cities, are
among the causes most influential
among civilized people in the develope-
ment of insanity.
MANY anecdotes are narrated to illus