St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-09-18
OUR WEARY BRAINS.
Business and the Stage Fill
ing the Insane AsyiumS
Rapidly.
Wall Street a Factory Where
Many Lunatics Are
Made.
Paresis the Usual Form Of
Dementia Among Specu-
Iators.
Why Stage Players Are Espe-
eially Liable to Brain
Troubles.

RSylums. Broker SiStare, who shot
himself in the Manhattan club, is but
the latest of a myriad of victims de-
prived of sanity as well as fortune in
the speculative whirlpool. Within the
last ten years more than ninety success
full operators in that great financial
maelstrom, worth all the way from
100000 up to many millions, have
been confined at Bloomingdale. Three
of them out of every five were afflicted
with the most rabid and fatal form OF
brain diSease-paresis which is swiftly
progressive and inevitably kills.
While comparatively rare among peo-
pie generally, paresis IS the usual form
Of dementia among spectators. 1t may
be called the Wall street disease, being
the effect for which the cause is found
In long continued over-strain of the
nervous system. The gambler in stocks
is not merely subjected continually to
most acute anXietieS, but, because his
business is so intensely stimulating, he
can only find amusement in artificial
excitements. As rule, he drinks and
dissipates otherwise, thus burning the
vital candle at both ends, until at length
he breaks down.
One Of the earliest symptoms of pare
sis is apt to be the delusion OF expected
wealth. The victim, very likely unSuS-
pected as yet of being insane, informs
his friends that he has scheme for
making millions of dollars ofshand. On
the strength of his anticipated riches
he INDUCES IN the widest and most alb
Surd eXtravagances, buying 500 dozen
silk umbrellas for distribution among
his acquaintance, or ordering a gross
Of silver stewpans. If he is worth $780,
OO0 he is as likely as not to spend it all
OH diamonds for his wife. Such an eX-
penditure is a trifle from his point of
view, inaSmuch as he is OH the point of
possessing unlimited means. Thus it
is very common for such unfortunates
TO throw away their entire fortunes be-
fore proper restraint can be put upon
their actions.
lone of the most extraordinary forms
of insanity is a mania for stealing woIn-
ems Shoes" said DR.. William Elliott
Dold. physician in charge of the Bloom
ingdale asylum. ''lt is distinguished
as disease by itself, and the Germans
have named it FrauenSchuStehlmo
mamie. 1t is more common among men
than with the other sex. There is one
case on record of a young man whose
sisters lost their left shoes as fast as
they could buy them. 1t was always
the left one OF each pair that was taken.
For a long time the theftS remained a
mystery, until one day the brother
caught a young woman in the street,
and ran away with it. He
was captured, and thus the Sc
cret was discovered. Another strange
mental complaint is called the insanity
of doubt the patient being unable TO
make up his or her mind to do or not to
do the simplest thing. | have known a
girl afflicted i'll this way to stand for
hours deliberating whether to button
her coat. She would be equally in
capable of deciding whether she was
willing TO enter OF TO leave a room.
'MySOphObia is species of brain dis
ease which renders the unfortunate
fearful of imagined uncleanliness in
everything. She will not wear the same
gloves or other garments twice; and
one young woman who used to be here
would have spent all her time in the
bath if she had been permitted
to do So. In fact, she would not
leave it unless compelled, and be-
fore she came to the asylum she did on
one occasion remain for twelve hours
continuously in the bathtub. Yet an
other form OF monomania is dread of
being shut IN. The patient has a horror
of being in any inclosad space like a
room, particularly with the doors closed.
A similar complaint is dread of
heights. But more strange than any of
these. perhaps, is what the French call
the folie deuX, a delusion shared by
two persons. This sympathetic insanity
IS Lot uncommon. 1t may occur witt,
husband and wife, with brother and
sister, or with other individuals who
happen to be intimately associated. For
example, one will imagine that ne is
pursued by enemies with designs upon
his life, and the other will believe con.
fidently that such is the truth.
''All of these curious forms of mania
come under the general head of par
anola,' or partial insanity. the patient
being apparently we'll in mind save as
to the particular weakness or delusior
suffered from. We observe that society
women who become mentally diseased
are usually afflicted with that form OF
insanity which is termed melancholia
though why this is SO nobody hnoWnS
If it is to be reasonably surmised that
their domestic relations are not so hap.
ply as those of others of their sex, that
would account for it. You would nat.
urally suppose that women would be
more docile when insane than men. but
the reverse is III fact the case. 1t is The
experience of the physicians in every
asylum that the females under theiI
charge are much more difficult tC
manage than the males. Furthermore
the women are more noisy and are
more given to using profane language
1t is sad change brought about by
alienation OF the mind, which very com
monty robs even the gentlewoman of al
restraints of propriety and delicacy.
"Whena woman between the ages Of
twenty-five and thirty-five, beng We
unmarried, suddenly conceIveS a notion
that she has mission in life,' YOU ma,
take it for granted that the cause i:
purely physiological. At the same pc
Rod she may bestow an extravaganza af-
lection upon dogs. or she NAV set tt
work at writing erotic books. Perhap.
her oddly may take the form of melan
cholia, and she will have delusions
believing that some woman il
jealous of her, or that man is pursu
ing her with unwelcome attentions. Sh,
is apt to imagine that some one is il
love with her, usually sher favorlt
clergyman. Nobody knows how mucI
distress ministers Of the gospel ar
obliged to endure on account of oil
e. maids who fancy themselves beloved b
them. This sort of mania is particu
larly likely to attack single females q
about the aye OF fortY-hve or fifty.
knew OF case not long ago where
maiden lady ordered lot of grocerie
to be charged to her pastor. saying tina
she was his wife. This was extremel
embarrassing to him. inasmuch as h
was otherwise married and had fan
lily. On the whole, it is safe to say thu
there would be much less lunacy if ma
rage was more universal.
Stage players are specially liable
brain troubles. Their manner of Lii
subjects them to much nervous exhau
ton, and they are apt to be disspateC
Five actors and actresses are at preseI
onfined i'll Bloomindale asylum. Bar
eey Campbell, John Mccullough an
lTony Hart died of paresis. The bra
of patient who has died of this di
ease, OIL being disSected, is found
have undergone some remarkably
changes. Under the microscope its ce
lular structure exhibits abnormalitie
and the membranes COVERING If n,