Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1889-02-12
OF HYSTERIA.
OUTBREAKS LIKE THAT AMONG THE Or
PHANS RECALLED.
Historical Instances Noted by the Spscaliss-Ths
Malady Declared Not TO Be a Form Of lusan-
ity-Tweys New Cases Of
Mid Form Reported.

PHILADELPHIA, February IL. - The
story Of the strange malady at the Me-
Allisterville school excites wide in
terest among the medical men Of the city.
Twelve new cases in mild form among
the boys are reported yesterday aud to-
day.
THE published accounts" said DR..
Charles X. Mills, the specialist, 'are not
sufficiently exact to enable one to decide
positively as to the character of the out
break in the school at McAllisterville.
Such outbreaks of hysteris or hysterical
snsauitY are well known to those who
have studied nervous diseases. Snch out.
breaks have not been very common in this
country, but they have occurled,
and in recent years. In 1850, in
this city, strange malady like
this broke out in one Of the church
homes where over a hundred children,
nearly all girls, were living Many of the
children were affected somewhat like the
boys in the McAllisteryille school The
girls bsrked like dOgs. Some had a crow
ing cough, Others were speecbless, and
some hsd hysiericAl commissions, while
certain group danced and others hoped
The trouble was evidently mimetic. One
child, for instance, would bark or twitch,
OF make grotesque iaces, ard Instantly
other children would do tbs same The
children in The Church Home were cured
by scattering them in different hospitals
and Institutions
"In a small way have often seen a sim
liar disorder occur 10 the nervous ward Of
the Philadelphia Hospital In Blockley
there are many cases Of epilepsy and bys-
terra. While ] WAS leetnring one day or
al epileptic he took a cJnyulsion.
"Such outbreaks as now disturb tie
orphan school are Of great historical inter
eet The dancing manias OF the Middle
Ages weIe epidemic During the Dark
Ages a simple shepherd hos started as
prophet for the Holy Land, and in = short
time 10000 boys, armed and unarmed,
we're following him TO Jerusalem. IN
factory IN England not many years ago an
epidemic like the Midlin county outbreak
was started by girl y ho threw a mouse az
a sister worker. In Italy, only q few
yesrs ago, an epidemic ike those Of the
Middle Ages broke out Women and girls
went into commissions at the souHd OF
church balls OF the sight Of priest: Ths
Italian village vas shat out from he world
much like the school in the Mifllm county
village.
'Sach outbreaks would seem 10 be
caused By the shutting in OF persons from
the rest Of the world and making them
lead m0notOn0us lives tending to low
physical condition. One might occur in
dependently of bad food or vicious habis.
The condition Of the mind of persons af-
fected like the orphan boys 10 similsr n
that OF people under the influence Of mes
merism. | think the children would he
greatly benefited by separating them. One
interesting fact III this instance il the APP
psarance of the malady among boys, he
cause hyeferia is much more common 10
girls and women, although not confined
to them"
Assuming that tho newspaper stories
are correct" said the white-haired Dr.
Chap;n, successor Of the noted Kirkbride
as chief OF the Pennsy lvaniA Asylum for tae
Insane, "the children in McAllistsryille
are rot insane. Insanity in children Of
their age is exceedingly rare. Within The
past Eve years not an insane child Of 'hat
age has been admitted into this insuiu-
ton. Insanity is not disease that deyel-
ops suddenly. There is olwaya formative
stage Of several weeks or months While
there are few recorded cases Of cOmmuni-
Gated insanity, yet they have been where
one member OF a family already prelis-
posed became insane from lcss Of sleep and
exhaustion while nuisug the insa1e reln
tive. There il no record OF insanity
Spreading through a school or communi-
ty like that in the orphan asylum. Tho
epidemic at McAllistsrville is not unlike
the dancing mania Of the Middle Ages,
where the persons affected initiated the
rythmic movements Of others"