The Southern herald., 1896-11-20
INSANE RIDE BICYCLES.
wheels introduced with Success At the
Michigan Asglum for the Demented.

wheels Introduced with success At ths
Michigan AsTlum for the Demented.
Bicycle riding has been introduced
into the Michigan insane asylum as a
remedy for insanity, and the scorehers
Of Kalamazoo, Mich, where the asylum
is 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 at the asylum to ride
wheel was DR.. Herman 0strander
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 fol
the wheels in the patients heads there
is a noticeable improvement in theil
condition.
The first wheel ridden by a patient
was sent as present to one Of the con
yalescents, who learned TO ride without
any difficulty. All the other victims o.
delusions soon had the owner of tbs
wheel on the point of a relapse by thcil
attempts TO borrow il, and II was this
it is said, that finally induced the medi
cal staff of the asylum to permit thu
other patients to own wheels.
Most of the patients received theil
bicycles as gifts from friends, but tn,
wealthier made their own purchases
and the craze for riding spread amonl
the victims of chronic melancholia
great deal faster than it did among tn
citizens of Kalamazoo, which is sayinl
a great deal. Nearly 100 of the 100
patients in the institution now owl
wheels of their own.
The bad country roads are given al
most as much credit among the medica
staff for the beneficial effect on the pa
tents as are the bicycles themselves
The paths about the asylum are so no
torious that the patients are obliged +
concentrate all their attention on thei
machines to keep from being thrown.
The citizens of Kalamazoo have nick
named the wheeling parties from tn
asylum "Crazy Parties" and, to tell tn
truth, the antics of some of the rider
deserve the name. 1t is no uncommo
thing for a member of one Of the partic
to take a header, and then attempt I
smash his machine with stones to pa
for the tumble. Often the entire part
has TO stopwhile the asylum attendant
drag an irate rider away from his whee
which is usually blamed for the fall a
though it were a person.
Every week trips are made to Lon
Lake, ten miles away, and to the chai
Of lakes a short distance from the asy
lum, and on these excursions lunch
taken along and the day is spent in III
country. Between repairing puncturt
and cleaning chains the cranks have n
time to get melancholy, and the phi,
sicians are unanimously Of the opinio
That the bicycle is one of the creates
helps to their branch of the medici
profession that has yet been discovere,
Chicago Tribune.