The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1895-03-01
NUMBER 9.
DISEASES OF THE Will.
Some Strange Mantle stations OF
Mental Alteration.
Persons Who Wish to Do the Simplest
Acts of Everyday Life Are stopped by
Failing VIII Power-a Man Who
Couldn't Put on His Coat

Persons who are interested in the Gu
rious side of human nature should look
into the work of the French doctor and
scientist RibOt on the diseases of the
human Will. where are to be found some
extraordinary instances of men and
women losing their powers of volition in
regard to certain acts while they keep
fully active and healthy in all others.
Eschewing all research as to first
causes Ribot takes volition as a form OF
activity and studies II in purely path
illogical sense. That strange power in
rs which every day says Il WILL that
power which summons. suSpends or dis
misses as another Frcnchman Renou-
vier. defines ii; that force in US and be
hind US which. In its ultimate posSibili-
ties. can hardly be limited. i shown in
this 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 80
soft and plant that they need the
strength of another Will to be Joined
To theirs before they can act. This
common phase of d weak Will i accen-
tuated IN disease to a degree hardly
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 a desire to act but they
cannot make 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 Il speaker who was seized with mo
nomania in consequence of certain
troubles of the mind. He regained his
reason, but would not 20 into the world
again. though he acknowledged him
self to be in the wrong in not doing 50.
When advised to travel or To attend to
his much-neglected affairs he would
say:
Il know that l ought to do so. but l
am unable. Your advice Il very good,
and | wish l could follow it. 1t Is Ger
tain that | have no will save not to will,
for have my reason uninpaired. |
know what l ought to do. hut strength
fails me when | ought to act"
The case OF the magistrate. however.
Is hardly as strange aS that recorded
by Prof J. H. Bennett of a man who
could not carry out what he wished to
perform, even to the simplest acts of
daily life.
OFTEN. on endeavoring To undress.
this man WAS two hours before ne could
get his coat off. All his mental facul-
ties were perfect. but his viii was i'm
paired Once he ordered a glass OF
water. When the servant brought it
he was utterly unable to take it off the
tray. though he was most anxious to do
50. The servant waited half an hour
before him, at the end of which time
the man overcame the difficulty. seized
the glass and drank down its contents
He described his feelings afterwards
AS if another person had taken posses
sion of his will"
The abuse of opium produces a some
what similar condition. De Quincey
says: The opium eater loses none of
his moral sensibilities or aspirations
He wishes and longs as earnestly as
ever to realize what he believes to be
possible and feels to be exacted by duty.
But his intellectual apprehension of
what is possible infinitely outruns its
power. not of execution only. but even
the power to attempt
Another curious instance quoted by
who was greatly frightened at thirty
years of age by certain civic tumults in
which he, unfortunately. became in
volved- Thereafter, though he retained
perfectly his mental balance. he would
not remain alone, either on the street
or in his chamber, but was always ac-
companied. If he went out it was i'm
possible for him to return alone.
" h.ax IL,
he rarely did. he would soon halt on
the street and there remain indefinite
ly. neither going on or turning back,
unless some one led him
He seemed to have Will, but 1t was
that of those around him. Whenever
the attempt was made to overcome this
resistance of the man he would fall into
s-5.yCCs.'
There are dozens of persons who
every year take refuge in asvlums be-
cause they are. tormented all the time
with the impulse To kill those who are
dear to them.
Sometimes says Ribot. fixed ideas
of a character frivolous or unreason-
able find lodgment in the mind. which.
though it deems them absurd. is DOW
erless to prevent them from passing
into acts"
Westphal tells of a man who was
haunted 10y the thought that he might
perchance commit to writing that he
had been guilty of some crime and
lose the paper. He accordingly care
| fully preserves every bit of paper he
finds and even picks them up on the
! street and examines them" He knows
| it is folly, but he is powerless To dis
| miss 1t.
Lesion of the brain will sometimes
| cause loss of will. \ man who had re
ceived "A violent blow which DESTROYED
| part of the frontal convolutioas lost all
will power. When an operation was
performed and the pressure of the
skull on the brain was removed lac
completely recovered.