The Washington bee., 1895-09-07
THOSE WHO GO INSANE.
Remarkable Statistics Gathered by the
New York Lunacy Commission.

Remarkable Statistics Gathered By the
New York Lunacy Commissions.
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 2,9O1
! 80 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
! farm labOrers are put at LOOP, or near
| ~ 11.2 per cent. or those admitted.
| Among the principal of the remainder
| of the occupations represented are the
following:
Agents, 81 patients; commercial trav-
oilers II. clerks 176, statesmen and
saleswomen 81, actors, "a BARRIERS, IS
barkeepers and bartenders, SO black
smiths, 60 bookkeepers, 40 butchers,
only one Christian worker, AZ cigar
makers, II civil engineers, 10 clergy
men, "a coachmen, "a cooks. 33S do
mestics, 6 editors, "a engineers, sc
factory operatives, 30 firemen, "a gar
deners, IL hotel keepers, 10 journal
ists," p laundresses, y laundrymen,
IS lawyers, 81 leather workers, 81
machinists, 50 masons, II mechanics,
LA merchants, 10 millers, 16 milliners,
Il molders, % musicians, Is nurses, 50
painters and varnishers, 46 peddlers,
81 physicians, II plumbers, AZ printers,
10 railroad conductors, 80 other rail
road employees, 80 sailors, 20 saloon
keepers, 25 seamen and boatmen, 63
seamstresses, II stenographers, 90 stu
dents, 73 tailors and tailoresses, 12O
teachers, IA telegraph operators, II
tinsmiths, 10 walters and mattresses,
So workers in metal, Al workers in
stone, 232 workers in wood, "a bakers.
Seven hundred and Seventy-three are
put down as having no occupation and
132 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 p, cerebral hemorrhage
Do, climacteric 167, confinement in
prison &c. congenital defect %, disease
Of skull and brain Is, epilepsy 4OS,
excessive smoking IA, excessive study |
II, 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 SO, |
moral causes, such as domestic trouble, |
loss of friends, business anXieties, |
fright, disappointment, etc, 1,341, old |
age 307, opium habit Al, consumption
ID, physical disease 211, privation and |
over-work SO, puerperal 134, excuses
Is. sunstroke 1873, traumatic 156, vic
tous habits and indulgenceS 40, unaS-
certained 2,S19.
1t will be seen that among profess
sional men lawyers suffer most, the
number of patients of this profession
being 45. Physicians rank next at 81,
clergymen at 10, artists at 8 and au
thorS at 2. There are 6 each of edi-
tors and actors, 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 so-called actor keeps to
the stage after he becomes crazy, but
harmless, as long-suffering public
will attest. 1t is safer to be plain
editor than Journalist" by just
56 2-3 per cent.
A further examination of the causes
Of the mental diseases of these pa
tients show that OIL, or nearly 10 per
cent, We're made insane by intemper-
ance in drink, while the reason of 164
more was dethrOned by intemperance
in narcotics and the opium habit. To
sver-work and privation are also ac-
credited many of the cases. The moral
causes enumerated, resulting in great
degree from weak or overtaXed ner-
yous systems, are responsible also for
a very large proportion of the cases.
Almost exactly two-thirds of the
cases to which after ton 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 209 in Canada. The
remainder are mainly natives of Sax
ony, Poland, France, Italy, Sweden,
Switzerland and 'Wales.-Troy Press.