Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1889-11-08
STIMULATING DISEASE.
STRANGE CASES MET WITH BY PLY
SICtaNS AND OTHERS.

How People Feisn Injuries and Other Disa-
biiities-several Illustrations Taken from
Life-How the Deceptions Are Discov.
cred.
A man, apparently in great bodily pain,
was found lying upon the sidewalk at
Front and Chestnut streets, by a police
man. The man had fallen "all in heap"
and his story was that he had been way
laid and beaten. A patrol wagon was
summoned, but when an attempt was
made to place him in the vehicle he COM
planned of such exquisite pain it was
found necessary to discard the patrol
wagon and to carry the man on stretch
er to hospital. On arriving at the lat
ter institution he was carefully removed
from the stretcher to a cot in the receiv-
ing ward, and, although handled very
tenderly, the change of position seemed
to aggravate his suffering Singularly
enough. when the surgeons made an ex-
animation, it was found that when pin
was stuck in any portion of the mans
body below the neck he apparently failed
TO feel it, and the natural conclusion un-
der the circumstances was that he had
suffered spinal injury 1t was then
proposed to place the patient under an
anesthetic, with the view of performing
an operation, but when the man heard
this he jumped off the cot and darted
quickly out of the hospital gate and was
soon lost to view He had been playing
possum," but for what reason will. per-
haps, never be known
TO AVOID THE DRAFT.
Such cases are not infrequently met
with by physicianSin their regular prac.
tice and at hospitals and other charitable
institutions Either to excite sympathy,
or from other motives. people sometimes
cultivate the power of Stimulating dis
eases. These individuals are known to
the medical profession as "malingerers,"
and they become particularly numerous
on certain occasions. During the civil
war, at the time conscriptions were made,
it was surprising to see the number of
able bodied men limping along with canes
and apparently suffering with rheuma,
tism or other crippling ailments While
it is not always easy, even for an expert
doctor, to detect between real and sim
ulated disease, yet he can generally dis
tinguish between the genuine and feigned
rheumatism by the manner in which a
man plants his cane on the pavement
To understand the difference it is only
necessary to watch man who carries a
cane to assist him in walking and one
who fiourishes a cane for pleasure.
Among the disorders generally simu.
lated are fainting and epilepsy Both
have been so well counterfeited as to have
been mistaken for genuine cases 1t is
only when heroic measures are proposed
that theimposition is disclosed Not long
since an up town physician. while pass
ing an open air religious meeting on
Broad street. had his attention attracted
to a middle aged woman. apparently suf.
fering with an epileptic attack She was
surrounded by a group of sympathetic
men and women, and one of the latter
had procured from a neighboring resi-
dence pinch of salt. The woman re-
covered consciousness, however. without
the use of the latter remedy.
On the following Sunday the physician
noticed the same woman in church. and.
thinking she might be seized with another
spell, took seat several pews from her
Sure enough, an attack came on, to the
discontinue of number of nervous peo-
pie. The poor woman was carried out
to the vestibule of the church, and the
physician followed. The seeming epilep-
tic seizure passed off in about five min
utes
FEIGNING DEAFNESS.
The next Sunday there was a repeti.
tion of the attack. The woman, who
was a stranger to the congregation, was
again taken to the vestibule, and the
physician who had previously attended
her was again called upon Thinking
that the attack was simulated, he pro-
posed that settee should be procured
and the woman carried through the
street to police station. In a twink
ling the woman sprang from the chair
in which she had been placed, hurried
from the building and has not since ap-
peared at the church.
One of the methods adopted to mis-
lead is to feign deafness. This is one of
the tricks resorted to by men who desire
to avoid being placed upon juries. Gen
orally, however, the judges are able to
fathom the deception, and, by the use of
a little stratagem, it is easily exposed |
Men who simulate deafness will clasp an
ear in the palm of the hand and lean
forward as though the auditory nerves
were strained to catch what was said. |
In an unguarded moment the supposed |
deaf man is asked question in an ordi-
nary tone, to which he generally replies
and his deception is unmasked.
AS a rule, however, illness and other
physical disabilities are simulated by
people who wish to avoid work or who
desire to obtain admission to some in
stitution where they may live without |
cost to themselves, and sometimes by
convicts with the hope of bettering their
condition. In fact very many diseases
are feigned, but in the hands of a skill |
full physician they are soon exposed. A
common method of Stimulating apoplexy
is by falling down as if deprived of sem
sation and consciousness. Powerful
an electric shock. the appli-
II