Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-08-09
TROOPS FOR ASYLUMS.
Wall Street and the Stage Furnish
Recruits in Large Numbers.
PARESIS TIE BROKERS' DISEASE.
A Mania for Stealing Shoes Among the
Peculiar Examples.
WHY so MANY STAGE FOLKS GO INSANE

NEW YORK, Aug. 6-Wall street 10
great feeder Of lnnatie asylums. Broker
Sistare, who shot himself In the Manhattan
Club, Il but the latest of myriad victims
deprived of sanity a well a. fortune In the
speculative whirlpool Within the LAST ten
years more than 80 successful operators In
that great financial maelstrom, worth all
the way from $100 900. up to many millions,
have been confined at Bloomingdale. Three
of them out OF every five were afflicted with
the most rapid and fatal form Of brain
disease e-paresis-which Is swiftly progress
sive and inevitably kills
generally, paresis is the usual form Of de-
mentia among speculstora 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 sub
jected continually to most acute anxieties,
but because his business Is 50 intensely
stimulating, he can only find amusement in
artificial e1citements. As rule, he drinks
and dissipates otherwise, thus burning the
vital candle at both ends, until at length he
breaks down.
Delusions OF Paresis Victims.
One of the earliest symptoms Of paresis is
apt to be the delusion of expected wealth.
The victim, very likely unsupported as yet
being insane, informs his friends that he
has Q scheme for making millions Of dol
lars offhand. On the strength of his an
ticipated wishes he indulges in the widest
and most absurd extravsgances, buying 800
dozen silk umbrellas tor distribution among
his acquaintsnces, or ordering q gross Of
silver stewpans. If he is worth $100, 600 he
is as likely as not to spend 1t all on dia-
monds for his wife. Such an expenditure
is trifle from his point of view, inasmuch
as ne Is on the point of possessing unlim-
tied means Thus 1t Is very common for
such unfortunates to throw away their en-
tire fortunes before proper restraint can be
put upon their actlona
''One of the most extraordinary forms Of
insanity is q mania for stealing women's
Shoes" said DR.. William Elliott Dold,
physician in charge at the Bloomingdale
Asylum, yesterday. 'Tt is distinguished
as disease by itself, and the Germans have
named it chustehlmonomanie.' It
Is more common among men than with the
other sex. There is one case on record of q
young man whose sisters lost their left shoes
as fast as they could buy them. 1t was al
ways the left one of each pair that was
taken. For long time the thefts remained
q mystery, until one day the brother caught
young woman In the street, threw her
down, tore of her left shoe and ran away
with It He was captured, and tn us the So
cret was discovered.
Very Peculiar Mental Complaints.
"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 q girl afflicted In this way to stand
for hours, deliberatinY whether to button or
not to button her coat. She would be
equally incapable of deciding whether she
was willing to enter or to leave . room.
''Mysophobia is q species of brain disease
which renders the unfortunate fearful of
imagined unclesnliness In everything She
will not wear the same gloves or other gar
ments twice, and one young woman who
used to be here would have spent all her
time In the bath If she had been permitted
less compelled, and before she came to the
asylum she did on one occasion remain for
II hours continuously In the bathtub. Yet
another form of monomsnis is . dread Of be.
ing shut in. The patient has . horror of
being in any inclosed space like
room, particularly with the doors
closed. A similar complaint Is Q
dread of heights. But more strange than
any of these, perhaps, is what the French
call the 'folie q deux'-a delusion shared by
two persons. This sympathetic insanity is
not uncommon. 1t may occur With husband
and wife, with brother and sister, or with
other individuals who happen to be in
timately associated. For example, ono will
imagine that he is pursued by enemies with