Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-04-03
oRfr AND ITS INFLUENCES.
Enect on the Mind and the Vital Fors>s-
Afhnify for Other Disease


from the New York sun.
That mysterious vexatious and sometimes
destructive disease known 20 the nnhlic NOW "a
the grin and knox-, r,a.r ~.-,,,,. -. g.
..n...r'..-: 'a''ou' ""uaes ~.
-. ,ee eAnions ne" terrors uhoer ,he
nSn' OF modern scientific investigation and the
accumulation of observation OF facts. While
there are yarious theories ~ ,he ,o.,boa 81
nron.sa,ior 90 r., - =, -, ~
- n. =. ""N "i''' SIM U
I" 40 Courageous anu spreads IKE
cnoiera or small pox or any other epidemic,
and others attribute il TO the Influence Of bad
weather there ap,o.rs e. H. -, .,O.a;, :,
o,;r;o,, =. a. IL. " " 80 -, -
a. -, 100 pr suns 'e~ WIN
,ne grip are subject TO great depression OF the
powers Of life, both corporal and mental: that
the disease is attended with great prostra,ion
and that nat;srts a.. r,-.,-t 49, sIn
time at least. with sbiect d.snair,
Some physicians go a great deal farther than
others in their conclusions AS 10 the sxt,nt
and effect of this great depression of snirits
There is good medical authority for the onin-
ion that the grin ia RESPONSIBLE fo- some ,,sp;
festation of insanitv. The attention Of Dr
Allan McLane Hamilton was directed 10 this
newspaper paracraph and his onin;o, vs.
asked thereon.
At the recent animal meeting Of the Roval
Edinburgh ASYLUM DIR. Ooust0n tho suno,;n-
tendent. traced an intimate RELATIONSHIP he
tween the epidemic Of influenza in the begin
q IN nv NnWanN afN
mania provided far more inmates 81 ~.
asylum than melancholia. while durinp 1880
melancholia preiominat.d He sttrihnted
this in some way 10 infuenza which had
greatly lowered human vitality and even now
Europe had not recovered it's nervous tome
DIR. Hamilton said: II recognize fully the
truth of DIR. Clouston's statement except that
so far as nv experience is concerned the form
of insanity was not always melancholia. The
grip of last year seemed to exert it's most seri-
on saffaa
system. / saw in consultation numerous cases
of insanity, some of temporary duration. which
| Immediately followed the influenza aud others
| which are now in asylums and are incurable
One popularity of a great majority of the cases
was the fact that the mental excitement re-
sembled that produced by alcohol or other
| poisons-there being usually MANY hallucina-
| tons"
Although DR.. Hamilton's opinion is some
| what guarded ii accords with the exnerience
| of many patients who have had the grin and
have recovered. The almost universal state
ment is that the temporary feeling was of utter
despair and a conviction that there was little
| LETT worth living for. Ii has been suggested
that there Is some connection between enilen,-
| les OF the grip and suicide and that suicides
| are often caused bv the operation of this dis
| ease. Some color of argument for this view
| was obtained from the fact that for the week
| ending January 4, 1890 when there were the
extraordinary number of l.202 deaths in the
l
the grip and many others from kindred dis
eases. such as bronchitis, there were seven
suicides for the same week But the statistics
of the health board do not carry out this view
because In the following week, when the deaths
| from influenza were nearly four times the num-
| Der. there was only one more suicide than in
| the week ending on January T. and in the SIC
ceeding weeks, when the total number of
| deaths kept on steadily decreasing until
| the rate of deaths had fallen 50 per
l and fha he 50, K 4
| fallen to eleven in one week Tie
| number OF suicides did not decrease in
| proportion, SO that when there were 7G5 deaths.
| OF which ii were from influenza there were G
suicides. 1t is possible. however, that the
| suicides may have resulted from the grip, and
have been the consequence of brooding and
| depression OF spirits which always accompany
the disease. 1t is true that in the week when
| there was the greatest number of deaths by
the grip there was also the greatest number OF
suicides. 1t is also true that while there were
no reported deaths from the grip in the week
ending on March IA last there were four sui
cides in that week. being about the same ratio
| of suicides to the total number of deaths that
there was in the week when the most deaths by
| the grip were reported.
1t must be borne IN mind that the highest
medical authority SO far makes the grip re-
sponsible for only the milder forms of insanity.
| Or. Clouston dwells chiefly on melancholia and
| DR.. Hamilton on temporary forms OF insanity.
| These Is, however. some conflict of opinion
among experts on the subject of insanity. DIR.
| E. c. Spitzha. when his attention was called to
the remarks of DIR. Clouston, said: When
got the first reports that the grip existed at all
L was skeptical as to its severity, particularly
as ii appeared almost simultaneously in the
eastern and western hemispheres, but became
convinced that 1t was very serious matter.
Nevertheless have found among those that re-
covered from the grip those forms OF mental
| disorder known as morbid fears and loss o: will
1 a RnGa Nrl-h
and the only one who did not recover in NV