Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-01-14
SEYNESS is SERIOUS.
MEDICAL EXPERTS SAY 1T is A sYMP-
TOM or MELANCHOLlA.
It Takes Various Forms, but Is Invariably
n Ftrerunner of Dementia-A Disease
That should he Carefully Trested In
~Tims-Afyects Men as Well as Women.

AT tNSt III mas bEtU uieCONOI5u tbae th0
reason the girl who seems exceedingly
shy acts IL the fashion she does is that
she Is demented.
This is thc result Of extensive invests-
CATION by insanity experts on both sides
Of the water. Exceptional b~ashfulneEs,
aE il is called, ID really shyness. Ii is a
morbid condition q the mind, a certain
sort Of Gementia.
Often is the expression heard that a
person is painfully shy. Yet in such an
Instance 40 daabt has been raised as to
the mental condition Of the object Of
tbe remark. Neyerthele it is far more
than probable that the individual refer
red 10 was Suffering from insanity jast
as much If uos more. than many per-
gons who are living out a tortured exist
ence within tie walls of a madhouse.
1t is q well known fact that one of
the most notable symptoms Of insanity
ia that which causes tine person afflicted
to sbun the company of others. Loneli-
ness is an incentive to insanity. Con-
fnement in a solitary cell in q prison
often breeds madness. 1t is altogether
an unnatural mental condition which
impels a person to avoid the society of
humanity. No one whose condition is
normal ever consents TO such an exist
ence.
Just how the insanity expert looks at
shyness is shown by the following state.
ment, made by DR.. q. w. Kunz of New
York, whose wide experience makes his
opinion well worth considering:
"Shyness is as much q disease as scar
let fever. 1t is recognized as a symptom
of dementia or m~elancholia, just as an
extremely strong willed person, or il
who is what is termed unusually self
assertiye, is regarded by physicians as a
possible subject for acute paresis.
''This shyness takes various forms,
guch as a sudden feeling of faintness
and weakness on looking down from
any extreme height. 1t is present when
a woman persists IN looking under the
bed before retiring. although she knows
full well that there is no man there. /
know, of one case of q woman who,
when she turns cut the gas, invariably
lights a match to see if she has turned
it completely off, and nine times out of
ten she lights another match 10 see if
she threw the first match into the coal
scuttle or fireplace. That is another form
of what may be termed shyness.
"This shyness is due to a variety of
causes. 1t is very often the case that a
system which is run down leads to this
condition of mind. The continual think
ing upon any subject, or what is termed
brooding over a certain thing, leads to
this. If not checked in time, melan-
oholia results.
"This shyness is as common to men
as TO m Some men seem embar-
raised and i'll at ease when in the pres
enc Of women, while, ON the other
hand, it is often noticed that the pres
ence of gentlemen makes some women
very i'll at ease, only, in justice TO the
sex, it must be stated that this very
rarely happens.
There are many reasons for these
facts, but the most common one is i'll
health. Should a person so troubled go
TO a physician, he or she would be re-
garded as possessing symptoms indicat-
ing q lack Of will power and approach
ing insanity in some form. There ara
waves OF morbid shyness, just az there
are waves CT insanity. There are waves
Of certain KINDS OF suicide, resulting
from insanity. There are waves Of
bridge Jumping, killing with razors or
knives, shooting and death by poison.
MANY suicides axe due to temporary
insanity, brought or by a variety Of
oauses. One az tho FIRST symptoms is
shyness. Persons aflictcd with this
shyness never taso upary.cf the sciences
or professions OF become students. They
lack the viii power necessary Co do so.
Where tho normal mind of man over
comes difficulties and troablcs when
they come, the shy, retiring man seeks
I relief in suicide. =
Dr.. Healy Garnpccll, who is thc ply
stefan ia charge Of the Northwest Lon
don hospital, says that morbid shyness
is, like other mental disorders, an exag
geration Of an unnatural physical state.
1t is among wonen, he declares, that
this symptom Of mental disorder is most
often seen. Lacking TIE physical strength
Of man IN most instances, they are IN
ieeAe'N - NANA.aAUi4A ti1 NtPlScSlO1i tIHG
sometimes seizes then. That depression
gives birth to a desire to be unobserved.
Here is the beginning of the fit of shy
ness which results ia ~Hnbalancing the
inind and creating the idea that the
very sight of others is an affection to be
avoided.
Several New York doctors who dis
eussed the question at length said THAI
they had noticed particularly among
youag ONE whom they had been cali
ed upon to see that thoss who had ex.
hihited the greatest embarrassment in
the presence Of young men were lacking
in that mental equipoise necessary to the
normal brain. Modesty ia one thing,
they said, shyness quite another. The
u causes the young woman to refrain
from action that would bring upon her
Just criticism. The other is simply i'm
PEELED TO II course of action FOR which
there is neither rhyme nor reason, and
Ia that cnly results in general discom-
4 fort--New York Journal.
All Seasons For It's Own.
Zee il an ayfully ~ruinons thing ~