The herald., 1893-08-09
CURING 4 NERVOUS CRANK.
| Treatment Employed In RESTORING Wd
Man who Imagined He Was III.


Treatment Employed In Restoring WEI
Man Who Imagined He Was III.
On the east side lives physician who's
success In the treatment Of nervous dii
orders has brought to him, rather againa
his own wishes, considerable practic
among a class whom he describes q
nervous cranks" One Of these pa
tients, man Of large means, had cause
no end Of trouble to the doctor, who
seeing that the case was purely one
mental idiosyncrasy, was unwilling I
prescribe course Of drugging or otha
injurious treatment. The man insisto
that his nervous system was completel
unstrung and that the physician shoul(
take his case in hand.
There you can SEQ how nervous
am," said the patient one day, In the doc.
tors Office, as he picked up an incandes.
cent electric light bulb from an sdjoin-
ing table. "Look at that Sec how that
carbon coil inside Of the bulb vibratss
and trembles from my nervousnessr'
Every we'll" replied the physician, d.
termined now to deal with the case =
another way, 'you are moro nervous
than supposed, but / think ! can fetch
YOU out all right in FIVE or six weeks"
An assortment Of bogus pills and po-
tions was given to the patient, and he
was placed under rigid rule for sleep,
diet, baths and exercise. His physical
health, which had been excellent to BE-
gin with, improved steadily; but hisnerv-
GUS condition, as indicated by the fiuc-
tuations Of the incandescent bulb, which
he found conveniently at hand every
time he visited the doctors Office showed
little or no trace of mending.
One day, however, near the end OF the
fourth week, the patient, upon taking
the bulb from its accustomed place and
holding it up to the light, was surprised
to find that the vibrations Of the carbon
were almost nothing. Beaming with
new hopefulness. he called the physi-
clans attention to the fact. The latter
was surprised and delighted. The par
tient tested himself with the bulb in his
right hand, then changed 1t to his left
and then repeated the operation, always
with the Same gratifying result The
treatment had done its work. He felt
like well man. He was satisfied from
the first that those pills would FIX him.
.''He sailed for Europe the other day,
remarked the physician, land a. he Is to
remain abroad for five years l guess
there is no danger of his learning how
cured him. He was SO taken with the
idea of testing the condition Of his nerv-
GUS system by the vibrations OF the car
bon in that electric light bulb that hu-
mored his fancy. After three or four
weeks of careful living, and when he had
put himself into FIRST class physical con-
dition, simply changed the bulbs for
him. For the ordinary bulb containing
a carbon coil I substituted ono that ]
had made with a fine coil Of oxidised
silver wire closely resembling the other
and which was so stiff that it was capa-
BILE of almost no vibration when tho bulb
was held in the patients hand. He took
it, saw that the vibrations had ceased
and concluded that he was cured.
"In some way, perhaps by accident on
when in condition of mental excitement,
he had noticed the trembling Of the car
bon in a bulb when held in the hand,
and had instantly made up his mind that
he was suffering from nervous disorder.
He insisted upon using the Same means
in testing his progress toward recovery
that had first persuaded him that he wa
ill, and was compelled to acquiesce
and treat him from that basis. He had
evidently had little experience with these
|1bulbs. y0rdinary tests and observation
would have shown him that no man,
however sound. can hold an incandescent
bulb In his unsupported hand 80 steadily
that the carbon inside Of 1t will not Vi.
brate. n--New York Herald.