Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-06-25

cranky" view Of things. At his best, he
thinks his aches and pains of special inn
portance, and that his ill success is due
to jealousy and want of a fair chance.
When he becomes insane he is even
more self-conscious and egotistic- He
thinks enemies practice on his body and
affect his mind Their means of doing
this are hidden and mysterious; but &C
cc-ding to his degree of education he
finds an explanation for the improb-
able in spies, detectives, evil spirits,
secret societies, loadstone electricity,
hypnotism, animal magnetism, or
whatever is the particular mysterious
force under discussion at the time and
in the society in which he moves Be-
Heving so many persons are concerning
themselves about him he comes to think
that he must be of more Importance
than he had supposed, and soon he
passes through the stage of possibility
and probab ility to that of certainty that
he is king, or a pope. or Christ or
whatever else is, in his opinion, most
exalted.
Oftener natural amiability and the
habit of abiding under authority hold
the man in check and he INDUCES his
fancies harmlessly. Occasionally, how
ever, there is an individual in whom
the failure to receive the respect and
honors which he considers his due breeds
growing sense of injustice and wrong,
and after standing it as long as he can
he takes the law into his own hands.
Happily for the sane members of the
community, these desperately insane
men are comparatively few and are
generally put beyond the possibility of
doing harm before their thoughts of
revenge have taken tangible form.
Hallucinations, which are disturb
anees Of the special senses. cause a
man to hear voices which do not really
exist, and which may command him to
do certain acts, or which may warn
him of dangers which threaten his life
or property, or which may tell him of
some high position which is rightfully
his and of which his enemies are de-
frauding him. Perverted taste and
smell suggest poisons, chloroform,
noxious gases, etc, which he believes
are being used by his enemies to over
come him, or to remove him from their
path Through these disorders Of his
hearing, taste, smell. etc, he receives
impressions which are as real to him as
any sound we hear is to us, and thus he
learns of plots against him and of ne
farious attempts upon his life. Is it
strange that he is indignant and that at
length the pressure of his indignation
may burst the trammels of law and or
der?
The manner of the maniac, the Juror
of the man who runs amuck," give
warning of danger. The peril from
these partially insane persons, who to
the common appreciation act and talk
nationally, while harboring purposes
most deadly, is heightened by their art
full concealment, while a deaf ear is
sometimes turned to the warning voice
of the physician
As the pendulum swings back in the
happy time to come for which the soci-
ologist and the moralist are working it
is to be hoped that the safety Of the
community and the right of the mental
ly-ahiicted to protection from their own
morbid impulses and the consequences
of their temporary moral incapacity
may weigh more than the baseless fear
that some sane man may be shut up in
an asylum.-Samuel B. Lyon, NJ. D.,
Bloomington Asylum.