The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-07-07
SPREAD OF PARESIS
MORE VICTIMS IN NEW YORK THAN
THE REST OF THE COUNTRY.
Record I'm Last Few Years
OF Bright Minds Giving Way
Through Worry and Dfssipation.

New YORK Herald
A recent statement of Mr.. Howells. made
with an assurance that carries belief Of
its author that the human race was never
so healthy and ctrons as at present, has
caught the eye Of the medical fraternity.
and some OF its members are not slow to
combat the assertion. One very pertinent
example cited to uphold the opposite view
Of the situation and which Will have as
great an interest to the lay as the profess
sional mind, is the alarming increase in one
very deadly disease OF the present times,
which has been brought into exceeding no.
toriety through the prominence OF many Of
its v-ictims-paresis.
Whatever be said OF the increase Of pare
sis throughout the world, is Of double mo-
ment to this city and locality. for the rea-
son that New York is a "hotbed' of the
disease, the storm center, whose rushing
existence is a barometer to the business
activity wi in this country. Author
tiles say there are twice as many victims
spread of the dread disease is, then, of
In a single asylum of this State. for ex-
ample, that at Ogdensburg, there were,
among the 659 admissions, 81 cases Of gen.
eral paresis. This would make the proper
cent.
Among seven State asylums. to which
4.ttl pdElcIlS WtIe ulll III 1871 lutTe
were 66 cases of general paresis, or a lit
tie over 3 per cent. IL 4 per cent. be the
general ratio for this disease in the State
of New York, then the total number OF
paretics among the 10000 insane would be
about $40. AS a matter of fact, the number
is much greater, because the proportion OF
this disease is much larger in New York
and Kings county asylums than in those of
tire State at large. But even If there were
but 1900 cases OF general paresis among
fee an " extra anSShe py enide G0ane Of the ne S %Ouia
opment of a disease which, in the last cen-
fury. was certainly not known, even if it
did exist
PARESIS IN NEW YORK.
Matteawan is the asylum devoted by New
York State to the care Of it's criminal in
sane. One would scarcely expect to find in
this class a very large number of patients.
Yet among the 10 male patients admitted
to that institution during the last year 6
were victims of the malady. There have
been admitted into this asylum during the
twenty years of its existence-from Sept.
20, 1876, to Sept. 80, last year-a total Of
LIB patients, and of these there were 40
p~aretics.
A strong contrast to these figures is fur
nished by the report of a well known Con-
by which it appears that in a total of 102
admissions there was only one case OF gen.
eral paresis, a refreshing proportion. met
most, other asylums outside this city.
Coming again to the local institutions it
may be said that there Is a total popula-
ton of about three hundred victims of this
malady in the public asylum on Wards
island, a number which is being aug
mented each year by the ever-growing list
The exhibit from Bloomingdale is much
worse than this, quite naturally, because IT
is TO this semi-private retreat that many
it's character, is found in much greater pro-
portion among persons able to pay for their
maintenance than in the ranks of those who
must be removed to the public hospitals.
There Is no lack Of it in recent years among
all classes of the city's residents. but busi-
ness and professional worry, together with
dissipation OF various kinds, in which men
and women of means find themselves at
liberty to indulge in the crowded %centers,
plays a large part in making targets for
this subtle disease. These patients are the
ones most likely to be found in such a place
as Bloomingdale.
One hundred and twenty-eight insane per-
sons were admitted to that Institution last
year. OF these, fifteen were suffering from
that general paralysis of the brain and body
than fnUnS Ss p per cent. Of the ADMISSIONS e of pers
sons who had to all the various
forms of insanity to which mankind is a
victim.
l asked DIR. Allen Fitch, Of No. 152 West
~Thirty-fourth street, one of the examining
staff of physicians connected with Belle
vue, yesterday, about his experience of the
increase of paresis. He said:
ALARMING INCREASE.
"Of course, it is becoming more common
daily. / can remember when / began to
practice, ten years or so ago, and served a
year in the Illinois State Asylum, and the
disease was scarcely known. Cases were
really rare. To-day it is very different. The
designations to be found in the big cities
this one particularly-with the worries Incl
dent to our increasing struggle for exist
ence, tear down the mental and physical
strength, the system gives off what, to the
trained eye, are the ashes Of burned out
nerve tissues. and there is your victim.
Here is a curious thing" went on DIR.
Fitch, taking from q drawer of his desk a
card, which he passed to me. THE man
whose name Is on that card was an actor.
1 examined him at Bellevue and he. was
sent over to the Wards Island Insane Asy-
lum. He was suffering from paresis. He
handed me the card when / saw him in
the hospital"
The card was on ordinary pasteboard and
read as follows:
1. /. B.. T. G.. T. T. T..