The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1892-03-18
WIND SWEPT HEADS.
A Physicians Scheme for Detecting the
Presence of Insanity.

n
Presence of Insanity.
DIR. Peter McCahey. of Philadelphia. has
found that by placing II siethoscope to n
persons head he can distinctly hear the
sound OF an air current within, and by the
character of the sound can tell whether a
person is sane or insane. and he positively
AYERS that in the Uranium of "a big headed
idiot this wind current can he distinctly
heard loudly whist ling
The doctor il convinced that the brain
breathes ~ well rs the lungs. For many
years he has been investi gating air as
mechanical agent in the human body, and
about n year ago conceived the novel idea
of n rubber tip to the ordinary stethoscoDe
whereby the instrument can be fitted so
exactly to the subject head that the sound
of this brain respiration cannot escape. but
may he undeniably heard That it differs
in sane and insane persons the doctor is
convinced. and by means of the stcthoscope
he feels sure that he can distinguish, as n
rule. between healthy Drained people and
those who are insane or idiots
The little rubber tip. which is DR.. Nc
Cahey's discovery. is novelty, and its
story was unfolded by DR.. McCahey him
self
Cahey, ''is that the t,rea; mechanical agent
employed by all the animate world. animal
or vegetable. to permit Of growth against
the continual resistance Of the atm sphere
is heated air Within the interstices Of the
tissue Of the body is air, and this mir. be
coming heated by the processes of life. ex
erciscs u greater expansive force than the
outer atmosphere, and thereby enables the
animal TO grow against IT, You can squeeze
this air out OF tomato and pepper under
water and see it come up in large bubbles
In the tissue and hollow organs of men this
air il used rs the direct mechanical func
ton. The expansive force in splitting.
coughing and sncezing we know to be air
"A free supply of mir to the brain is Just
as necessary a. a free supply to the lungs,
and any interference with this brain res
piration will cause serious disturbance of
the cerebral functions. even insanity. In
sanity may I've caused by a tumor or ly
congcstive blow, but post mortems almost
invariably disclose no resident cause of in
sanity. That people become insane and
are permanently restored and that there is
a recurrcnt insanity points to a functional
arrangement
This disturbed function | claim 10 he
the cranial respiration. Air taken into the
lungs passes to and from the brain through
minute pores ut the base of the skull The
normal circulation of blood through the
brain depends upon this normal air cur
rent. If from any cause these tiny pores
become closed or stopped 10 an abnormal!
degree, the current is impe,,cd or destroyed
The air that is shut in becomes overhclted
and congests the brain"
BY means OF the DOCTORS rubber tipped
stethuscope wonderful things come to light.
In the head of II healthy person two dis
tinct sounds can be heard, coincident with
the inhalation and exhaiat ion of air by the
lungs. These sounds are practically of the
same tone in all healthy heads, but are al
tered or absent In all classes of insane or
idiots. The sounds Of the heart and voice
in these mentally weak and deranged un
fortunates are also different from those In
sane persons As these are grades OF in
sanity no there are degrees Of sound.
As n rule tie noise of the wind current
Of an insane or idiotic brain Is more marked
ly perceptible than that Of a sane organ
and in big headed idiots it whistles loudly
The major portion of insanity is caused by
arrangement of the cranial wind apparatus
Where II is not due to tumor, u blow or
some kindred direct injury to the brain or
its covering insanity is tri.ceable to this
ill wind" and the rubber tipped stetho
scope may'yet become the champion insane
expert in the world. Newark Journal