The Washington bee. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1884-1922, 1895-09-14
THOSE WHO GO INSANE.
Remarkable Statistics Gathered By the
New York LunacY Commission.

| Remarkable Statistics Gathered by the
New York Lunacy Commission,
The fourth annual report of the New
York State Commission in Lunacy
makes an interesting showing of the
occupations of insane patients confined
In all the State hospitals In the table
showing the occupations of those adj
mitted since October 1, 1888, house
keepers lead, the number of patients
having been thus occupied being 2,901
out Of a total of 9,503, or a trife over
30 per cent. Next on the list come
laborers, excluding farm laborers, 1884
of whom, or IA per cent, were admit
ted during that period. Farmers and
!arm laborerS are put at LOOP, or near
ly 11.2 per cent. OF those admitted.
Among the principal of the remainder
of the occupations represented are the
following:
Agents, "a patients; commercial tray
ellers II, clerks 176, statesmen and
barkeepers and bartenders, SO black
only one Christian worker, ~ cigar
makers, II civil engineers, 10 clergy
men, "a coachmen, "a cooks, 338 do
mestics, 6 editors, "a engineers, SO
factory operatives, 80 firemen, "a gar
deners, II hotel keepers, 10 journal
ists," 81 laundresses. II laundrymen,
IS lawyers, 81 leather workers, 81
machinists, 50 masons, IL mechanics,
Ia merchants, 10 millers, Is milliners,
Al molders, % musicians, Is nurses, 95
painters and varnishers, 46 peddlers,
81 physicians, II plumbers, AZ printers,
10 railroad conductors, 81 other rail
road employees, 35 sailors, 20 saloon
keepers, % seamen and boatmen, 60
seamstresses, II stenographers, 90 stu
dents, 70 tailors and tailoresSes, 12O
teachers, Il telegraph operators, Il
tinsmiths, 10 walters and mattresses,
63 workers in metal, Al workers in
stone, 232 workers in wood, "a bakers.
Seven hundred and seyenty-three are
put down as having no occupation and
t32 whose occupation is unaScertained.
Among the same patients the prin-
cipal assigned causes of insanity are
recorded as follows:
Imbecility 26, bodily injury 40, cere-
bral disease q, cerebral hemorrhage
a3, climacteric 167, confinement in
prison SO, congenital defect %, disease
Of skull and brain Is, epilepsy 4OS,
excessive smoking IA, excessive study
IL, typhoid fever 33, general ill-health
500, hereditary predisposition 425, ILL
health following over-work 449, intern
perance in drink, Oil, intemperance in
drink and narcotics III, Ia grippe 96,
moral causes, such as domestic trouble,
loss of friends, business anXieties,
fright, disappointment, ETC., 1,341, old
age 307, opium habit Al, consumption
Is, physical disease 211, priyation and
over-work SO, puerperal 1874, excuses
i6, sunstroke 1873, traumatic 1876, vic
Ious habits and indulgences 40, unas-
certained 2,S19.
It will be seen that among profess
Honal men lawyers suffer most, the
number of patients of this profession
being 45. Physicians rank next at 81,
clergymen at 10, artists at 9 and au-
EhOrs at 2. There are each of edi-
tors and actors, a rather remarkable
showing for the latter considering the
popular belief regarding the prevalence
Of insanity among the members of this
profession. This may be accounted
for in a measure by the knowledge
that many a so-called actor keeps to
the stage after he becomes crazy, but
harmless, as a long-suffering public .
will attest 1t is safer to be plain
editor than Journalist" by just
66 % per cent /;
A further examination of the causes
Of the mental diseases of these pa
tents show that Oil, or nearly 10 per
cent, were made insane by intemper-
ance in drink, while the reason of 164
more was dethroned by intemperance
In narcotics and the opium habit. To
over-work and privation are also &C
credited many of the cases. The moral
causes enumerated, resulting in a great
degree from weak or overtaxed ner-
vous systems, are responsible also for
q very large proportion of the cases.
Almost exactly two-thirds Of the
cases to which after ion has been di-
rected, or 6,225, are of native-born per-
sons. OF the remainder 1850 were
born in ireland, 729 in Germany, 26O
In England and 2OS in Canada. The
remainder are mainly natives Of Sax
ony, Poland, France, Italy, Sweden,
Switzerland and Wales.-Troy Press.
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