Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1894-04-07
THOSE WHO GO INSANE.
Remarkable Statistics Gathered by til"
New York LunaCy Commission.

Remarkable Statistics Gathered by til"
New York Lunacy Commissions.
The fourth annual report of tn" New
York State Commission in IfHI"T
makes an interesting showing ri 49,"
occupations of insane patients Cnllh..tl
in all the State hospitals. In tho ~"
showing the occupations of lh"S" Il-
mittcd since October |, lSS>. hG.i,'-
Keepers lead. til" number of pI,r!.-'
having been thus occupied being - Il
ont of Il total of 9..ln5, or Il triti" over
30 per cent. Next on til" list rllt"
laborcrS. excluding farm lahor,'rS. l....'i
of whom, or II per cent, W ~ ;li|ht!-
ted during that period. Farmers and
farm lahorrrS are put III l.O62. I'll near
" H. per cent. ct those adui,i'"i.
Among the principal of the r'm '!n''r:
of the occupations represented are lhr
following:
Agents. - patients: commercial lrar-
Oilers Il. clerks l1G. statesmen and
sllrSwnmcn 81. Il actors. 81 h1rh"i>, is
barkcrpcrS and bar1cndclS. - III cN-
smiths. 60 huOkkccpCr>. ~ hui ii r.
only one Christian worker. u c!@.lr-
makers. l. civil engineers. ~ clergy
men. ~ coachmrn. ~ COOKS. 'S;N 40
mcsticS. & editors. - engineers. "j
factory operatives. - tircmrn. ~ -,l-
deurr>. II hotel keepers. 10 "iourn1l-
isis" II laundrrSScS. T. laundry men.
A. lawyers. ~ leather workers. 81
mnrhiniSIS, - mISun$. II mechanics.
Ia merchants. IL millcrS. Ii millmrr$,
IL moldcrs - musicians. IL nurses. -
painters and varniShcrS. 46 prl,llrrS,
81 physicians. II plumbers, II printers.
10 railroad conductors. ~ other rat
road employees. 30 sailors, 20 saloon
kcrprrS - Spamcn and bOatmcn. 81
scam.StrcsScS. T. StcnographrrS. - stu
dents. - tailors and tailorcSS"S. 10
teachers. II telegraph operators. II
tinSmithS. ~ walters and Mattresses
63 workers in metal. II workers lii
stone. ~ workers in wood. ~ bakers
Seven hundred and s"v"nty-Ihrp" are
put down as having no occupation ana
1:i2 whose occupation is unaSrrrianri
Among til" same patients tn" prln-
cipal assigned causes of insanity arc
recorded as follows:
Imbccility 20. bodily injury 10. rcrc-
hral diScaS" u. cerebral hrmorrh1gc
AZ. clmarierir li1. confinement III
prison 10. congrnital defect 30. dis 49,
of skull and brain Is, epilepsy los
excessive smoking II, eXrrSsiv" study
H. typhoid fever ;s;. general illh'"!Iih
500. hereditary prctliSpoSiti"n 10. Ill
health following "vrr-Work ~! Intrni-
pcrancr in drink. 911. incompetence N
drink and narcotics III, In grtpp" @!
moral causes. such as domestic trouble
loss of friends. business anNi"lir>
fright. disappointment. etc. LIN. old
age ::o1. OPIUM habit Il. r"ns'lmIti IN
II. physical disease 211. privat"n aHd
ovcr-work :'i. puerpernl l:'l. "A'">>"$
IL, SunStrokr 1913. traumatir 11G, vie
certaned 2.S19.
1t will be seen that among pruir~
sional men lawyers suffer most. Lie
number of patients of this prniv> Ii
being -. Physicians rank next ~ -.
clergvmcn at 10. artists III . and All
thorS at > Their" are q each OF rIi-
tors and actors, Il rather rrln;lrhahlr
shown" for the latter. considering The
popular belief regarding the prevalence"
of insanity among the members of lhS
profession. This may br accounted
for in Il measure by the knowledge
that many Il So-called actor keeps 10
the stage after he becomes crazy. but
harmless. as a ngsutfcring public
will attest 1t is safer to be II plain
&C 2-3 per cent.
A further examination of the causes
of the mental diseases of these pa
ticntS show that Oh, or nearly 10 per
cent, We're made insane by intcmper
ance in drink. while the reason of 1914
more was dethroncd by incompetence
in narcotics and the opium habit. TO
ovcr-work and privation are also ac-
credited many of the cases. The moral
causes enumerated. resulting in Il great
degree from weak or ovcrtaNcd ncr-
.vouS systems. are responsible also for
a very large proportion of the cases.
Almost exactly two-thrdS of the
cases 10 which attention has been di-
rcct"d, or i.22I are of native-b born per-
sons. OF the remainder 1.2l0 We're
born in ireland. 80 in Germany. 2GU
in England and POS in Canada. The
remainder are mainly natives of san
ony. Poland. France, Italy. Sweden.
Switzerland and Wales.-Troy Press.