Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-04-12
ALI ABOUT PARESIS.
An Insidious Disease Which De- stroys Many Brain-W orkers.

etrOys Many Brain-Workera. | Tho Theories of Some Noted Physicians- Onco Afflicted with tho Brain Destroy or, tho Patients Only .Hopo is tho Gravo-Prominont Victims, Paresis is a disease of comparatively mod | ern growth. Americans are it's victims l more than any other people on earth. It loves brilliant mark, and the best and l brainiest of our land become it's prey. It is l incurable When once within it's clutches the subject undergoes living death; a slow, tortuous, deceptive one, but still the dark river is inevitably reached
 There are many causes which induce
 paresis-overwork, overindulgence in alco-
 holic beverages, tobacco or narcotics or other excesses.
 People of small mental caliber need not l fear paresis, provided they do not cripple
 their brains by overindulgence in liquor. Statistics show that but one per cent of | the cases reported are women.
 | From the time when the first traces of | the disease are apparent but three years are required to consign the patient to the grave.
 There are cases where the victim fingers on for twelve or fourteen years. This only oc- CUTS where tho subject is given to alcoholic and narcotic excesses and possesses in ad- | dition great physical powers. For three quarters of that period he is pitiable sight. His frame is without the slightest spark of | life, his eyes are lusterless, his muscles | fabby and flesh like that of a corpse. In
 word, he is a helpless idiot, tortured by dark hallucinations, tormented by physical l fears, and death finally comes as glad re- lease.
 Brilliant men are the first to fall beneath It's lnsidious advances. Bankers, lawyers, editors, actors, pIaywrights and even doc tors compose the greater part of the roll of l it's victims. In the very fact that it's prog
 ress is insidious the danger lies. When | the symptoms are discovered the patient
 has gone beyond hope of recovery. Once
 the work of mental disinteragtion begun,
 the only end is the grave.
 The striking peculiarity of paresls, para.
 doxical as the statement may seem, is it's
 apparent suddenness. A strong, vigorous
 man, in the prime of life-the president of
 railroad, If you please-a man endowed | with physical and mental attributes to an l extraordinary degree, is suddenly stricken down and compelled to take a long rest He goes to Europe, visits the land ot the Cid, l wanders about the catacombs and inhales
 the breezes of the Mediterranean at Monte
 Carlo. He finally returns to work, but is l incapable of effort. He leaves his desk.
 The process of mental disinteragtion goes on and the inevitable end is calmly waited. This case is like thousands of others. When the victim shows the first symptoms
 his "breaking down" is thought to be due to
 overwork. Friends urge that brief rest will restore him to his usual condition. It
 does not. The mlnd grows weaker. The | body, strange to say, seems to develop. Finally the mind becomes warped, dark
 pictures come before it, and the body fails. Nho ot cla
 pains in the head, eats abnormally, but
 without preserving the physical powers, and
 finally the body, like the mind, wastes away to mere skeleton. Then comes death. Sometimes the victim rallies a bit. He seems to regain in a measure his mental control, and is permitted to test his strength l of intellect again in business or professional pursuits. Then the reaction comes quick l and sudden. The mind resumes it's defect | i've condition; the same phantasmagorla | afflict it; the same painful halucinations terrify 1t. Then comes the end.
 Dr. Allan McLane Hamilton, the famous specialist and a recognized authority upon l mental diseases, gave New York Star re- | porter a few facts about the remarkable
 disease:
 "Paresis," sa,d Dr. Hamilton, "is ire
 quently misunderstood by many people. It
 is generally supposed to be insanlty-pure l and simple-with a new name It. is the fashion nowadays to call all forms of men,
 tai disturbance paresis. It is paralyzing of the nerve fibers. The disease has in-
 creased alarmingly in this country within
 the last eight or ten years, and from what
 can learn is dependent directly upon vice and not upon the overworking of the braln Alcoholism frequently induces it.
 "lhave seen innumerable cases of paresis
 in the asylums, and many in my private 1 practice, and find, as rule, that tho disease
 attacks persons who are primarily dissipat- | ed and who are addicted to great or irreg- ular amount of mental work. Generally the | first symptoms begin with feelings of de- spondency or depression, which is followed after time by wonderfully extravagant | ideas. Some subjects believe that they can make enormous wealth by carrying out a scheme or idea they cherish. Others be- | Ieve they have heaven born mission to do | something good and great for their fellow | man, such as the establishment of new faiths or doctrines. The schemes are al | ways colossal. The victim of paresis never entertains any thing small. When under | the domination of these delusions the sub- | jectis likely to treat with violence any one | who questions his powers or belief "After this period has passed away,
 there may be cessation of the symptoms
 of paresis, and his friends begin to hope
 that the patient may recover. This period may last five or six months, but with the
 certainty of fate the apparent soundness of | mind vanishes, and the wild mental pict-
 ures return with greater force than before The disease then makes its way, with prob ably recurring periods of sanity, but they 1 are always shorter, and the inevitable end | comes.
 "With the progress of the disease the | frame wastes away, the strength leaves | the patient, the muscles become flabby and 1 general paralysis sets in. At the last stage of his illness the patient becomes devoid of consciousness, incapable of motion, his eyes are lusterless, saliva oozes from his mouth and he fades away from earth.
 "Men are almost always the victims of paresis, and they generally vary in age
 from forty to forty-fve years. Only one per cent. or thereabout of known cases of paresis are women. Alcohol and overwork
 in an irregular way and in irregular hours | are the causes of paresls.
 Excessive mental work, with recourse
 to narcotics, alcohol or other stimulants,