Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1896-10-22
INSANE RIDE BICYCLES.
Wheels introduced with success mt the
Michigan Asylum for the Demented.


Wheels introduced with success mt the
Michigan Asylum for the Demented.
Bicycle riding has been introduced
into the Michigan insane asylum as .
remedy for insanity, and the scorchers
Of Kalamazoo, Mich, where the asylum
Ia located, are rejoicing over their vim
dication.
Every day when the roads are passa-
BILE from five to eight insane men or
women, under the espionage of one or
two attendants, are allowed to pedal
over the country roads, sometimes eight
or ten miles from the asylum, and the
physicians are doing all they can to en-
courage the fad.
The first person ut the asylum to ride
q wheel was DIR. Herman Ostrander,
one. of the assistant physicians. He be-
came an adept two years ago, and the
rest of the medical staff caught the
fever.
The patients, however, were COM
PEELED to look on, and the only wheels
they were allowed to have until few
weeks ago were those they are sup
posed to carry in their heads, and even
these the staff tried hard to take away
from them. Now the staff has found
that by substituting racing wheels for
the wheels in the patients heads there
is a noticeable improvement in their
condition.
The first wheel ridden by patient
was sent as a present to one of the con-
yalescents, who learned to ride without
Lo kn, ~; -
delusions soon had the owner of the
wheel on the point of relapse by their
attempts to borrow it, and it was this,
it is said, that finally induced the medi-
cal staff of the asylum to permit the
other patients to own wheels.
Most of the patients received their
bicycles as gifts from friends, but the
Weather made their own purchases,
and the craze for riding spread among
the victims of chronic melancholia a
| great deal faster than it did among the
citizens of kalamazoo, which is saying
a great deal. Nearly 100 of the 1000
| patients in the institution now own
wheels of their own.
The bad country roads are given al
most as much credit among the medical
staff for the beneficial effect on the pa
tients as are the bicycles themselves.
The paths about the asylum are so no.
torious that the patients are obliged to
concentrate all their attention on their
machines to keep from being thrown.
| The citizens of Kalamazoo have nick
named the wheeling parties from the
asylum "Crazy Parties" and, to tell the
truth, the antics of some of the riders
deserve the name. 1t is no uncommon
thing for q member of one of the parties
to take header, and then attempt to
smash his machine with stones to pay
for the tumble. Often the entire party
has to stop while the asylum attendants
drag an irate rider away from his wheel,
which Is usually blamed for the fall as
though 10 were person.
Every week trips are made to Long
Lake, ten miles away, and to the chain
of lakes short distance from the asy-
lum, and on these excursions lunch is
taken along and the day is spent in the
country. Between repairing punctures
and cleaning chains the cranks have nc
time to get melancholy, and the ply,
sicians are unanimously of the opinion
that the bicycle is one of the greatest
helps to their branch of the medical
profession that has yet been discovered
| Chicago Tribune.