Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1890-11-03

Iuch dDOuE COWn- 1eOple III new 1OIk
know it as the dreaded thing that carried |
off George Fox, John Mccullough and |
Bartley Campbell, which has got poor |
Tony Hart in its tolls now at the Worces- |
ter insane asylum, and which, rumor says,
afflicts prominent operate manager. On
account of the public lives of these men
and the notoriety of their illness, an i'm
preston has prevailed that this form of in
sanity is largely confined to members of
the theatrical profession. This is far from
being the truth, though it is the fact that
the peculiar nature of an actors life ex-
poses him at once to the disease as other
professional men are not exposed. The
main cause of the disease must be borne
in mind-excitement and overwork in
men whose minds have not been subjected
to an early discipline. 1t is no discredit
to the dramatic profession that compare
lively few of its great men were college
bred men Most of them began to walk
the stage when they We're very young.
Many served in very menial capacities.
When success comes, with all that it i'm
plies, the mind of many great actor has
not been able to stand the strain. Upon
this point the words of DIR. Robertson, the
physician of the Actors Fund here, are
very interesting. DIR. Robertson is an ex-
pert in mental diseases. Paresis is his
speciality, and he has had personal charge
of the cases of Mccullough, BARLEY
Campbell, Tony Hart and other members
of the profession who became paretics.
He recently emphasized to Sun reporter
the fact that excesses We're not the great
causes of paresis and said:
"The real cause is the mans inability to
stand the excitement of success. Take
Mccullough, for instance. He was, 1
think, boy working in q foundry. He
had the mind and the strength of day
laborer. When success came to him it
meant late hours, little sleep, rapid jour
neyings to and fro throughout the coun-
try, the nerves strung at extreme tension
continually, and, of course, more or less
social dissipation. Why, the man could
not stand it, that was all. And that has
been the case with many another actor or
actress"
Erroneous popular impressions concern
| ing a form of insanity which is so fire.
quent and so much talked of are, it
seems, very numerous. The idea that the
disease is due principally to excess is one.
Again, the disease is not to be confused
with ''softening of the. brain" 1t is real
| ly a hardening of the brain, and the name
''paresis" is really misnomer. The pro-
per name is general paralysis" and the
| disease is simply deterioration of q mans
whole nervous organization. General pa
ralysis is not only kind of insanity, but
| it is a disease as distinct from any other
disease as measles is from typhoid fever.
| No other mental disease has such an init
mate relation to the mysterious connection
| of mind and matter, and the study of gem
| eral paralysis has vastly increased the
| worlds knowledge as to what the mind of
man really is and how it is linked to his
| physical body.
| Esquirol first diagnosed it fifty years
| ago. Since then the disease has greatly
increased, and mental experts generally
consider it the one striking disease of high
ly civilized life, the dreaded enemy of &C.
tive business and professional men. The
proportion of cases in the cities to thoss
in the country are nearly as five to one
1t is uncommon in Scotland, in Norway
and Sweden, is utterly unknown in Asis
and among savage tribes, and is infrequent
in any land or place where the habits oi
the people are simple, hardy and hygienic
| Eight men have il to one woman, but i
| women live riotous, excited lives they ar
almost as likely to have il as men. DR.
Clouston, the great Scotch expert on gene
raj paralysis and the superintendent of tn
Royal Edinburgh Asylum for the Insane
says that ''he never saw but one woman o
rank general paralytic." 1t is heredita
~ in ten per cent. of cases. 1t almos
never attacks any one younger than thirt,
years old or older than sixty years, ant
| generally occurs between the ages of TWEEN
ty-five and forty. The things that caus
general paralysis are the things that mos
excite and at the same time most exhaus
the highest brain energy. When thes
things happen in excess in the case of an.
man, even If he has been mentally trained
general paralysis is likely TO follow, an'
when they happen in the case of q maj
| who has not been mentally trained, gene
raj paralysis is almost the sure result
The country of 'sself-made'' men is tn
country of paretics. In countries hayin
large army and navy there is apt to be
, large percentage of cases of general para
, ysis, due to the influences OF naval an
military life. Politicians, actors, speculi
tors, Wall street men, and all men leadin
lives of sudden changes and great excit'
ment, are likely to become general paral,
) tics. 1t is the great revenge which natul
, takes upon an artificial, pleasure-seekin;
L money-making, oyer-worked and owe
stimulated life. Among successive gen
u rations born and bred in this kind of Ii
= the disease becomes hereditary.
General paralysis is a disease of the grs
e matter of the brain-the highest organ
v product in nature. This is the substsn
g which reaches its highest development
:. middle life, the seat of mans facultis
d whose uses are called forth in the highe
e degree by the European races who live
d towns. Its abuses by poisoning and owe
strain are more common under these q
d cumstances. A progressive and incurat
disease of this mind tissue causes I
IA whole nervous system to die, surely al
4 progressively. Back of the decay of t
~ gray matter was the over stimulation
ia the small blood vessels of the brai
d Here, strictly speaking, the disease begin
|, The tissue of these blood vessels, al
hence the gray nervous matter itself, q
a | generates
j. The beginnings of the disease are, fol
y long time, utterly unnoticeable, even
m the trained eye of the physician. VIII
"a they do become noticeable at all the d
v ease is far advanced Even then few p,
id sons not physicians, and physicians W
w are more or less experts in mental diseas
can believe that the man is really insal
., or that he needs any more than ga lit
o rest" The sufferer himself goes abe
. his business as usual, recognizes
!" w friends, and has no apparent hallucil
~ tions. Finally his friends notice that
II is not Just the same. He complains
headaches, perhaps He is little forg
-. full, and, if he is not usually good-te
Ls pered man, is apt to be somewhat irri
BILE. he does things that are a little o.
He shows slight exaggeration of sta
ment, and is apt to get a little careless
his dress. His wife tells him that he
overworked and needs rest. The phi,
&c clan is called in, and perhaps the disc
ne has not progressed so far but that the p
Gn sician gives the same advice. But fin:
all these symptoms become moro mark
with the single exception that all the he
", aches disappear, and the man declares
wn he feels "wonderfully WELL" or s'that
ch never felt better in his life." He
he peculiarly" and yet has strange i
ere schemes for making large sums of mo
,sy in his business or in outside speculate
Ks, The doctor is again called in, and
at time looks at the man with sharper /.
of He notices that the man with his unc
is ing exaggeration of statement has b
nd fancy of speech, talks little thickly
the stammers some; he slurs a little in
of nouncing long sentences or in articula'
in words with many consonants In tn
md His voice is pitched in little higher
,dy He walks with kind of sidelong shI
but or shamble and takes steps good ,
,le. shorter than he used to. He has
red somewhat in weight. The muscles rol
in his lips and eyes twitch, and the pupil
. of one eye is little larger than the OF
me His tongue twitches, too, when he rur
the out. His skin is slightly moist and
of and his pulse is full. All his sensati
are are slightly dulled. He often cannot
the tinguish between colors, cannot hear
me- tinctly, sometimes cannot even smell j
all per, OF tell the difference between whis
be and vinegar. The doctor draws ci