Birmingham age-herald., 1895-02-03

| to parttcuiar1Ze WCulu pTOlOuB HIS
 letter unduly, as l must record other
 achievements of greater merit.
 Let us now return to the hospital and
 briefly recount the practical and scientific
 work of that institution.
 | We now commence our medical inspec- ition accompanied by Drs. Searcy, Wright
 and Vaughan, and ose who has never
 traversed those wards has little concep-
 tion of the physical labor it imposes. | regret that did not inquire the length of
 each that l might b able to compute the
 distance actually travelled.
 | II you will consider the fact that these
 inspections are made daily, to say nothing
 of the night du y, by the three assistants
 supervising 140U patients or more, 1t will
 arouse one to the fact that an assistants
 place in the Alabama Bryce Insane hos pita is no sinecure. While to me it was | one Of the most pleasant visits of my life, | from all points considered, l can imagine
 that might grow weary if it became in- | cumbent that should repeat it daily, yea, | nightly. But, aside from observing purely rental eccentricities, as l saw ex-
 and forms and as they might impress the | layman, l hope my mind was engaged in | higher purpose and aspirations.
 | How brain, diseased, should manifest
 so many protean shapes, forms and differ
 ences were problems, and only to be | even partially solved by the expert neu-
 rologst. "How intricate, how wonder
 ful is man! How, passing wonder He | who made him such. ' Think Of 14OO | dement's, tcrazy psople,'' dwelling to-
 gether under one roof as one happy family. | In this enumeration l should have ex- | cluded negroes, who are just outside of the | main building and the farm. There, in social converse as we passed through the l several wards, were to be seen all grades, degrees and types of insanity. The man l who had slaughteted whole families, 1.-the
 man -eater Briggs" the religious crank
 personating Jehovah Himself, the epieptic l .tei. oh. ootyo most dang gerous of all classes, all as quiet l and docie as lambs. Among this 1 latter class l am as sure as the devil Is l in hell that l found and saw DarWin's
 missing link. He came sideling up to me
 with the very movement of the ''anthro- l poid, ,' eyes glaring with demonlacal fire, l muttering iparticulately something, and
 suddenly seized and broke my watch chain. | I was not even perturbed, as he was hardly
 feet in height, microcephalic in every
 sense of the word. I have not had an oc-
 casion in thirty years to fight, but believe | l conld handle that fellow if he would not bite. He as suddenly left me to engage in | his favorite pastime of twisting some little l posts morticed in wood above and below. l He was certainly "kleptomaniac, ' no | matter what other demon possessed him. l On every floor in each ward inspected | many amusing incidents occurred, and yet | underlying this serio-comic aspect deep | problems of neurologic interest were in- l volved.
 might prolong this letter to inter min l able length descriptive, but l would fall l far short of giving even an approximate l idea until the scence might be subjected to l the faithful eyes. It was sad, but mi nterest- l ing, to meet there patients whom l had l known in boyhood days-one especially l who had been an intimate companion. | recalled to him "reminiscences of that time, | trivial although in character, which were l distinctly rememb bered and excited his hearty laughter. tested him in every way | to develop.his particular form of insanity | without success. III had been summoned | ss al expert before the courts on writ of | 'de lunatico inquirendo" to pass on his l sanity or insanity l should have unhesitat- | ingly declared him sane. And yet he was | insane and victim of nocturnal epilepsy. | That patient con flrmed an opinion have | more than once contended for-the folly of | summoning the general practitioner to l pose as an expert in such matters. l assert | that he cannot inteligently do s0 unless he | is associated daily with the insane, makes a careful study of medico-legal science as bearing on the subject. His testimony, therefore, should carry DO greater weight than that of the eunprofessional. say this respectfully, but with firm conviction of the truth. will now pass out of the wards allotted the whites down the steps into the stcuisine.
 Before doing so let me not forget to briefly allude in passing to the absolute cleanliness of the whole building. Not an unpleasant odor of any character greeted my oifactories throughout. The floors were as white as alabaster, the bed linen immediately clean and the patients neat. The proverb that cleanliness is next to godlness must have had it's origin here. was equally i'm pressed with the order, neatness and cleanliness of the kitchen. lC- was about the hour oi dinner and the food was just being served from the steam pans 10 the dining rooms. Every article pre- pared was of the best quality, plentiful .,,.tr tra ha IT t. only smelled sweet flavors.'' From the kitchen I passed into the ward set aside for the negro male patients. The first aud most curious object of interest there ar- resting my attention was big, G. foot
 "nigger,' whose insanity, to the non- expert, seemed 10 be due to too much pol. | itcs. He was stump speaker of the mod ern political type. Ills took the stand at
 the request oi Dr.. Searcy, and after sa- luting his "feliow ctiz sns'' delivered an address worthy of the average congressman or legislator now serving their constitn ents. His familiarity with most of the political problems of the hour-the tariff, the Nicaraguan canal, the Oklahoma strip,
 the currency queslion-were amusing and intensely interesting. He, too, was in favor of the free and unlimited coinage of silver. He, too, evidently had heard of a treatise on political economy. inno- gently inquired of Dr. Searcy whether he could possibly have ever been member of either body.
 The performance of the negro political speaker was entertain ment enough for me in the male ward, and after viewing the general surroundings was inducted into that of the female. Nothing of special in- terest occurred here, but noted the same order, perfect cleanliness and regard for every sanitary detail.
 l have now finished my inspection and will return to the pathological department inaugurated and presided over by one of the most remarkable young medical men of
 this country, Dr. Eugene Bondurant. Be- fore attending to that interesting feature of scientific work of the hospital, I desire to have free rein to ''jot down'' "currente caiame' whatever thought may intrude, regardless of sequence.
 In years gone by I was especially at- tracted to an apparently refined and hand-
 some lady. known largely to visitors by reason of pronounced eccentricity. She had delusions of grandeur, and imagin ed really that she WAS 'tmonarch of all she surveyed.' She was the wife of deceased doctor, if remember aright, and has been all inmate for twenty five years or more,