The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-07-22
HALF CRAZY WRITER'S.

Inc English men Of letters who have
become insane. or have hautlcinations
and peculiarities sympoto.natic of IN .
sanity. are Swift, Johnson, Cowper.
Southey, Shelley. Bryon, Goldsmith
Lamp and Po?e. Swift was also cruel
IN conduct. but he was hardly respon-
sibie, as his insanity was congentia..
His parental uncle lost speech and
memoy and died insane. Swift was
somewhat erra:ic and wild as a un.
iversity student. Shelley when young
was strange and fond Of musing alone,
and was called Mad Shelley" He
suffered from somnambulism and
dreams. and was excitabie and impe-
tuous. These symptoms inceased with
age; at twenty he constantly took
laudanum for his nervous condition; he
had hallucina.ions he saw a child rise
from the sea and clap its hands, a WIS.,
ion which was difficult to reason away.
charles Lamb was confined In an In
sane asylum. Johnson was hypochon-
diacal and apprehended insanity, fan
cying himself seized with It; he had
convulsions, cramps, and a paralytic
seizure depriving him of speech; he had
hallucinations of hearing. Carlyle con.
sidered Southey the most excitabJe
man CT his acquaintance. Southy's
mind failed and he became an imbecile
and died; a year before his death he
was In dreamy state, little conscious
Of his surroundings. Southey wrote
verses before he was 8 Years of age.
His maternal uncle was an idiot and
died Of apoplexy The mother Of South
ey had paralysis. Cowper was attacked
with a melancholia at 20. which ccp.
tinued year; at another time II re-
turned with greater force,
Keats was an extremely emot,ona,
child, passing from iauEs, TO tears.
he was extremely ~ ssionate. using
laudanum to cali. himself; sometimes
ne zen INTO tsHondency He prophe-
sieu tru. chat he would never have any
res' until he reached the grave. Coler-
iuge was D.ecccious child, self-ab-
sorbed. weakly. and morbid in imag-
iration: this mcrbid.ty was the cause
OF his running away from home when a
child and from college when q student:
he enlisted as soldier and again went
to Malta for no reason. permitting his
family . de-eEd upon charity. Alex
ander the Great had a neurosis Of tho
muscles of the neck. attacking him
from birth and causing his head to
Incline constantly u-on his shoulders
He died at the age Cf go. having all the
cymntcns Of acute delirium tremens.
Els brother Arrchide was an idiot
De Balzac Hcnc-e) died of hypertro-
ply CT tn. heart, disease that can
predisrose one to cerebral congestion.
The eccentriClty CT his ideas are we'll
known. Lamartire says he had pecu-
liar notions about everything: was in
contradiction with the common sense
of this lower world" His father was
as :'eculiar. Lord Chatham did not do
things as others. He was mysterious
and violent. indolent and active. i'm
parlous and charming. Pope was rick
ETY., Lord Byron was scrofulous and
rachitic and club-footed. Sometimes
he imagined that he was visited by a
ghost. This he attributed to the over
eXcitabiiity Of his brain. He was born
ln convulsions. Lord Dudley had the
conviction that Byron was insane. The
Duke of Wellington died of an apop-
lectic attack. Napoleon l. had bent
back. an involuntary movement Of the
right shoulder. and at the same time