Arizona republican., 1895-02-06
DISEASES OF THE WILL.
Some Strange Mamie stations of
 Mental liberation.
Persons yVho Wish to Do the Simplest Acts ol Everyday Life Are Stopped by sFaiiins VIII ?ower-a Man Who
 Couldn't Put on His Coat.

scientist Ribot on the diseases of the 6unlnn will, where are to be found some extraordinary instances of men and EE4mnen losing their powers of volition in cegard to certain acts while they keep fully active and healthy in all others. Escaewing all research as to first causes Ribot takes volition as 6 form Cf activity and studies it in g purely path oIogical sense. That strange power in Gswhich every day says T will" that power which ''summOns, suspeudS Or dis alissas, as another Frcnchman, Rcnou- vier. defines t; that force in us and be- tind us which, in it's ultinate possibili- ties, can hardly be limited, is shown in Shfs work to be subject to the strangest diseases and to be modified in the most peculiar manner.
 There are some persons, says the Chi cago Times, and they enter into all the daily circle of life, whose wills are SO soft and pliant that they need the strength of another will to be joined to theirs before they can act This common phase of a weak will is accen-
 
 deemed possible by the nonobscrvant. Persons suffering from this form of diseased volition can will themselves according to the dictates of reason. They can feel desire to act, but they cannot make a move toward that end. They are powerless to translate that desire into an act.
 Esquirol mentions in this instance the case of a magistrate highly distin guished for his learning and his powers as speaker, who was seized with mo nomania in consequence of certain troubles of the mind. He regained his ceason, but would not go into the world again, though he acknowledged him self to be in the wrong in not doing so. When advised to travel or to attend to his much-neglected affairs he would say:
 ''I know that ought to do so, but I an unable. Your advice is very good, and wish I could follow it. It is cer- sain that 1 have 10 will save not to will, dlr ' have my reason uniInpaired. 1 know what ought to do, but strength tails me when I ought to act"
 The case of the magistrate, however, $ hardly as strange as that recorded by Prof. J. H. Bennett of a man whc could not carry out what he wished to perform, even to the simplest acts of daily life.
 CfGen, or endeavoring to undress, this, GzsIl was two hours before he could get his coat off. All his mental facul- lies were perfect, but his will was i'm eaired. Once he ordered a glass of gIaLer. When the servant brought l5 he was utterly unable to take it of the k1ay, though he was most anxious to do s0. The servant waited half an hour Before him, at the end of which time fzla man overcaIne the difficulty, seized stfe glass and drank down it's contents. Ge described his feelings afterwards 'as if another person had taken posses sion of his will-'
 9'he abuse of opium produces a some what similar condition. De Quincey says; ''The opium cater loses none o1 his moral sensibilities or aspirations Ue wishes ard longs as earnestly as eyer to realize what he believes to be possible and feels to be exacted by duty But his intellectual apprehension o1 what is possible infinitely outruns it; power, not Of execution only, but ever the power to attempt"
 Another curious instance quoted by Or. Billed of Nancy is that of mar w.Elo wcs greatly frightercd at thirty years Of age by certain ci7.1 turnults ii which be, unfortunately. became in voiyed. Thereafter, tholtgh he retaineC perfectly his mental balance, he would not remain alone, either on the stree ar in his chamber, but was always ac cDmpanied. If he went out it was i'm possible for him to return alone.
 aWhenever he went out alone, whic1 he rarely did, he would soon halt O the street and there remain indefinite ty, neither going on or turning back unless some one led him.
 GHe seemed to have will, but it wa that of those around him. Wheneve E1le attempt was made to overcome thi resistance of the man he would fall int &6wcos;."
 There are dozens of persons wh every year take refuge in asylums b' cause they are. tormented all the tiIn with the impulse to kill those who al dear to them.
 Sometimes" says Ribot, fixed ides of character frivolous or unreasol able find lodgment in the mind, whicl Enough it deems them absurd, is pov erless to prevent them from passin Into acts"
 Westphal tells of a man who W; haunted by the thought that he migl