The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-04-07
THE BRINK OF A CHASM.
DR.. Allan M'Lane Hamilton or
unsupported Monomonia.
Symptoms of the Early Stages of Insanity
Effects of the Injudicious Use of
Leisure-The Best Medicine.

ne beSL heulclnes
There is man in this city who is
confined to certain limits on the island.
He can not 90 above Fifty-ninth street,
nor can he cross a ferry. Otherwise he
walks about freely and transacts his
business. He is not a ''crook," and
the police would let him 90 to Jericho
or Canada if he desired Neither his
friends nor his enemies restrain him,
and he has fortune that would per-
nit him to 90 where he liked and do as
he pleased. He is his own jailer, a
mOnomaniac whose sole delusion re-
lates to the bounds which he thinks are
set about him. Not half dozen of the
hundreds of people with whom he daily
comes in contact know that he is not
perfectly sane.
A reporter heard of this curious case
in the course of conversation with Dr.
Allan McLane Hamilton, the insanity
expert.
"Unsuspected insanity" said DR..
4IdlilllbOu. IHGlC 10 IutiCD W Dt Sdltl
about it. which the public ought to
hear. Many a man stands upon the
brink of that chasm which it is verse
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, re-
1ates 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 | should
deny that a person can be wholly sound
except upon a single point, but the ap-
pearance is there. Such men and
women are by no means rare. Their
lunacy is of so subtle q nature as to
defy detection for years, though they
may be hopelessly mad Take, for in
stance, the case of a man who can not
go above Fifty-ninth street. Three or
four years ago he was going uptown
and was near that street when suddenly
the feeling came over him that he
would 90 no further He yielded to it
and went home. Some fatalistic idea
came over him that penalty would
have fallen upon him if he had con-
tinued. He brooded upon it till the
absurd idea had complete possession
of him. OF course there must have
been something in his makeup to pre-
dispose him to this madness, but by
proper care it could have been warded
off. After while he came to me. He
can talk as nationally on general sub
jccts as | can; in fact he talks ration
ally about his lunacy, admitting that it
it is all folly and nonsense. Hoping to
break him of it took him in q carriage,
and we drove up to Fifty-ninth street.
He begged me not to cross it, and cried
like a baby. l ordered the coachman
to 90 on, and the unfortunate mono
maniac went into violent hysterics-so
violent, IN fact, that gave up the ex-
pertinent and decided that nothing
could be done in that way. Now it is
just as bad with a ferry boat; so much SC
that another physician had a fearful
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 q year without
finding out that any thing 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
ninth street and no ferry. Let hin
lead q systematic life, with regular oc.
cupation and duties. The point is thai
he should have begun such treatment
the moment that his delusion appeared
"The danger in all cases of mono
mania" continued Dr. Hamilton, ii:
that they will develop into dangerou!
forms. Homicidal tendencies are al
ways to be feared. recall the case o
girl who had some apparently harm
less delusion, but who suddenly de
veloped a desire to smother herself anC
her roommate with Illuminating gas
and she came very near doing it, too
These people are rightly sent t.
nsylums by physicians, and then they
are liberated by sherin's jury, be
cause they tell such straight story OF
the witness stand. remember q strill
ing scene that developed from sucl
an examination. The friends of MAJ
confined ON Wards Island brought hin
before sherih's jury. He told hi
story from youth up with the mos
painstaking precision. He was us san'
as right-anglad triangle all the way