The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1895-09-26

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enced, swayed and unbalanced, is task
that often puzzles the most practiced
expert. The cunning and shrewdness
of the monomaniac is sometimes most
surprising, and often proves more than
a match for the avowedly sound mind.
Take, for instance case l have in mind,
of man who was patient here last
year. He believed himself to be the
rightful heir and owner of valuable city
property. And upon his avowal all but
convinced me that he had been made
the victim of mercenary plot to rob
him of his legal possessions. 1t took
the closest analysis to detect the flaws
in his arguments, and for while he
gave the lawyers not little anxiety
about the truthfulness of his claims.
After talking with these inmates, who
are capable of reasoning out their fan.
cies, wonder sometimes, if after all I
am not the real lunatic and my patients
the only reasonable beings in the insti.
tuition"
II should think Doctor, it would only
be question of time when you would
become wild.eyed madman, living as
you do, surrounded by these gruesome
people. Why 1 would 60 stark mad.
Even now am not sure that have not
been decoyed here and that I will not
be allowed to peacefully depart. But
you of course like it,
eyes, to me it is ever fascinating-the
human mind, its strength, its weakness.
es and it's idiosyncracies.
81 often wondered when we were
at college together, why you always
haunted the nervous clinic. By the way,
you carried off the first prize for the best
thesis on nervous and mental disorders,
if 1 remember correctly, did you not ?"
eyes, and 1 suppose it showed my
preference then for this specially, for I
never liked general practice, and when
this position was offered me 1 unhesi.
tatingly accepted"
No, general practice is dogs life,
and often think l will abandon it for
something more congenial-Great hea.
vens! Doctor, what is that? ?"
"Only poor Agnes, again at the death
bed of her husband, or rather her hus.
bands, for in this periodical mania she
becomes the victim of strange halluci.
nation. This case always appeals to me
most pathetically. She is more than a
patient to me, for in her sane days she
was my neighbor. Hear those sobs ?
They are, indeed, most heart rending.
Let us take look at her."
The Doctor lightly turned the knob
of her room door and we silently enter.
ed. To the last day of my life 1 shall
never forget the picture I now beheld.
1 unconsciously removed my hat and
spoke in whisper, so real was the scene
of suffering. On couch lay shawl
rolled into a bundle, by the side of
which, with tears streaming from her
red and swollen eyes, clad in a wrapper
loose at the throat, and with arms barred
to the elbow, crouched this mental
wreck. Every curve of her frail, supple
body was perfect grace. Her waxen
and transparent hand, as it lay limp
across the imaginary corpse, was most
delicately and artistically fashioned.
Her glossy hair, now streaked with
gray, fell in silken waves about her
shou ders. Her pale face was classically
featured, but painfully drawn and pinch.
ed. Her eyes emitted that strange,
wierd light of the lunatic. Her means
and los shook her frail frame like q
wind.blown aspen leaf. She did not
notice our presence, but in voice that
rings in my ears even now, she cried,
"Oh! my God My God he is dead,
dead. have killed him have killed
him! allowed him to die. Oh, God
l didn't give him the medicine and al
lowed him to die. Oh, God! killed
him. My husband, have killed him."
And then with the most piercing, un.
earthly shrek l have ever heard from
mortal lips-a shrek of despair from
the soul depths of the lost and damned
she started up, threw her arms wildly
about, and shouted at the top of her
frenzied voice, "He has shot himself
He has murdered himself! Help! Muir.
der Murder!" Then she sank help.
lessly to the floor in a dead faint. l
stood transixed by this awful sight-a
scene that haunted my dreams for
weeks.
DIR. Thorton, however, seemed to
know what to expect, for directly she
fell exhausted. He stepped to her side,
and gently lifted her to sitting postare.
Then, taking from his pocket hyper.
dermic syringe, he injected into her
frail white arm some nerve stimulant,
after which he tenderly placed her on