The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-07-14
THE INSANITY GERM.
DR.. Babcock Says the Dread Disease
is Curable.
by Marvellous Operations He Can Re-
store Deranged Minds.

bad brains can be fixed now. INSANITY
Is a contagious disease. Tho spinal rSar-
row may be drained without death These
arc some of the amazing statements mado
by DIR. Warren l.. Babcock of ST. Law
renee State hospital, scientist of high
standing.
III DIR. Bacbock is not mistaken, his Is
the greatest medical discovery of the half
century.
The first detailed statement of these
wonderful things follows;
Insanity, that dread malady, hitherto
impregnablc, for the reason that even tho
specialist did not know just whcro 10 at
tack and could never got at it's root, has at
last begun to yield to scientific inycstiga-
tion and somo of its greatest dangers TO
totter before medical advance.
Enough has been completed even now 10
prove that the new discovery is ono OF us
tonishing value
Acute delirious mania, the most terrible
and fatal form of insanity, seldom result
ing in anything but death, has been dis
covered TO be germ disease, and tho germ
itself has been found. Not only this but
it has been identified as n germ well known
in bacteriology--thc micrococcus pncu-
moniD croups1, the common germ or
croupous pneumonia and Of several forms
Of meningitis
In a curious way these germs wero taken
from the brain of living man and exam
ined under the microscope. There they
wcro recognized and their character seen.
To settle the question absolutely, rabbits
were innoculated with the germ laden
fluid drawn from the man, a hospital pa
tient close TO deaths door with this dis
ease, and these animals plainly showed the
effects expected.
With this knowledge of the cause OF
acute delirious mania before it the medical
profession can for the first time fairly fight
this awful disease. Regis, one OF the great
est authorities on medicine, says OF it: Ia
reality it may bo considered the highest
degree of mania, of which 1t forms by its
peculiar character u special variety and is
usually the sequence OF grave moral or
physical disturbances. Hitherto in thcso
cases oven tho most learned physicians
have had 70 work in the dark and against
blank wall. ~'Ihcir treatment had to be
of the most general nature, for they had
no idea of the true cause of tho malady.
Ii is a different matter now in the light
of this new discovery when there is germ
alone To be warrcd against, germ all of
whose characteristics have been studied
over and over again by the most expert
psychologists In n word, the seat of The
evil is now TO be reached and cures are
more than possible
Such, setting it down briefly, is tho first
chapter OF what seems certain TO be the
new science of insanity. Were the germ
theory proved in the case of acute delirious
mania only applicable TO that it would
still be great discovery; but far moro Is
looked forward TO. Acute delirious mania
occurs in about l out of every 35 cases
of insanity. No other form of madness
has had such an enormous death rate and
30 little chance of cure. To the many other
forms Of insanity the discovercr Of this
germ is now turning his attention in the
hopes of fresh success
Common acute mania, which In many
of its characteristics much resembles acute
dclirious mania, and Is the most frequent
of all the forms of insanity, may very like
ly be germ disease Arguing from the
standpoint of what has been already dis
covered, the chances seem To bc that IL Is.
Paresis may be, though that is not at all
certain. The discoveries already made
place the science Of insanity on the border
land Of the future, wherein all things are
possible. Already by this one discovered
germ tho treatment of insanity is COM
mencing TO be rcvclutionized. Nothing, as
matter of fact, could be discovered now
any more remarkable and unlikely than
the finding of this first germ.
And yet there are certain forms OF In
sanity that are known now To be cnused
by the wasting away and the degeneration
Of tho brain cells, such as dementia, cl-ron-
&c mania ana paranoia, and thes> can
hardly be connected with germs in any
way. Such Is tho verdict Of tho man who
has discovered this ono insanity germ, yet
he would he n bold scientist who would
hesitate now 10 deny To- almost any men,
tai trouble "a possible germ. origin.
Hardly less important than this great
discovery, and alongside of it in the opera
tions and experiments In the course OF
which tho germ mentioned was found, is
tho draining Of the spinal column of Its
watcry fluid, which has just been done for
the first time. This fluid acts as IA sort OF
water cushion for the brain and the spinal
cord, and in certain cases presses upon the
brain, particularly In paralysis and stu
porous nlelancholia u was In this 0uid,
taken from man afflicted with acute de-
liriors mania, that the germs wcrc found
Twenty-Five operations Of this sort hayo
been performed by the discovercr of the
method, and in all Of tho cases the brain
pressure was relieved
This, it is not contended, is permanent
cure. 1t always relieves, but frequently
The person operated upon sinks back into
his former condition and n fresh puncturc
has TO be made. Then ms large an amount
of Guid will bc drawn of as before. Nor
mally there are about / y ounces Of this
fluid, but with the insane, on whom these
operations have bccn performed, from three
60 four ounces have been drawn out and
the normal quantity left. Any interfcr-
once with the spinal marrow has hitherto
meant death.
Ihc man who has made these astonish-
ing discoveries, which have at oncc given
him high ranking aud reputation over the
state and will make him famous over tho
two continents very soon, is DR. Warren
l.. Babcock, the second assistant physician
Of ST. Lawrence State hospital nt Ogdcns-
burg, " Y. He has been there less than
year, but IL being the policy of DIR. p.
Nj. Wise, the superintendent, to let his as
tistants devote themselves 90 original work