The herald., 1898-10-16
MONOMANIA, AN INCURABLE MALADY

those that were In an ancient catalogue
made in 174s by an Englishman. John
Winthrop. F. r. g., classed as unripe
pearls. The real value Of these dead
pearls u very small. their worth lying only
In their oddity and rarity. Many Of them
are OF dark brown, or nearly dead black.
color. and they vary from these through
the shades Of lighter brown and very dull
yellow. some of them having streaks and
blotches Of nearly pearly white. very
few Of them have points that are almost
brilliant, and these would make fairly
good settings for studs or other ornaments.
In shape they are most oddly at variance
and difficult of description. One IL a little
larger than the cross section Of a common
lead pencil, and looks as II two small
specimens of the pictured old-fashioned
beehive had been fastened together by their
bases; another resembles a toy top, and an.
other miniature walking stick. Some
are cone shaped, some. irregularly elon-
gated, some banded by a raised section Of
a lighter hue ,and some look as II they
had been turned out by lathe.
Buttons-buttons from the coats
OF great and distinguished army and navy
men in particular-have been the ideal hob
bies of the women of every land, and SO
regardless of one OF the commandments
have been some delightful monomaniacs
that the malady Of kleptomania has been
added to their fashionable complaints.
General Sherman once said that he was
well provided with kisses, but that he
hadn't a button left on many coat There
was delicious as we'll as delicate pathos in
poor Cervera's reply to a little girl who had
besought him for coat button. that he
did mot even have a coat" The greatest
number Of buttons owned by single per-
son Is In the possession of an English lady
who has them from Off garments known to
have been worn by Marat, Robespierre. Ma
poleon, Wellington. Talleyrand. Washing.
ton, Franklin, Dickens. Thackeray, Byron.
Bismarck, Georges the Second and Third.
Nelson. Defoe. Walter Scott, Washington
Irving, Grant, Garfield and other illustrous
persons Of both sexes. The lady has twen-
ty-one thousand specimens ir ALL the coll
lection being valued at $26O.000. Boston
woman prides herself upon the ownership
OF seven hundred pairs OF shoes, more than
one hundred Of them having been worn by
criminals. Another Boston woman has
hundreds Of slippers, a number OF which
have been worn by Josephine. Victoria.
Eugenie Mrs. James K Polk Mrs. Sheri-
| dan. Mrs. Farragut, Fannie Davenport.
Mrs. Oates, Judic, Bernhardt and others.
There Is a young lady in Boston who has
more than two hundred labels of European
hotels taken from her trunks and one IN
Los Angeles who has six hundred menus
taken from as many leading hotels and
cafes she has stopped at in Europe and
America during the past eighteen years.
Another young lady of Los Angeles has .
| trunk with forty two labels Of ocean steam
ers and hotels, the latter representing
China. Japan. Alexandria. Jerusalem. Con-
stantinople. Athens, London, Paris Venice.
Rome Nice Vienna. Edinburgh. New York.
Washington, Boston, Chicago. st. Louis,
New Orleans. San Francisco, Pasadena,
Riverside and other prominent places.
| Only short time since I saw an account
Of two old Penneylvanians-one Of whom
had read the Bible through 100 times with
out skipping a word and the other forty
eight times and the New Testament ninety
six times These two old fellows were
harmless monomaniacs I know a gentle
man who has more than a hundred editions
of Shakespeare; another who owns 200
canes of as many kinds of woods; another
| who has collected room keys from hum
| dreds of first.class hotels In Europe and
llAmerico: and still another who has nearly
| a thousand old door latches. I once knew
gentleman in Washington who for years
| carried home an oyster shell after every
Indulgence in n raw. Another man of my
| acquaintance has every theater coupon he
! has purchased since the BLACK Crook
was brought out at Niblo's garden in New
| York, some thirty years ago. A lady OF
nv acquaintance In Boston claims to have
600 buttons from army and navy officers
| of many governments. Robert Bonner Is a
monomandac on the ownership OF the fast
| eet trotters. The late George w. Childs
spent nearly $4,000 on clocks, and at the
| time Of his death owned nearly 1000 ancient
| and modern timepeces from all parts OF
the world Jules Jacquemart. the famous
| etcher, who for years collected boots and
shoes that had been worn by famous men
and women, once cried like child on ac-
count Of the loss Of a slipper that had be-
longed to an actress Of note.
| once met DR.. Harkness Of the San Fran
Disco academy Of sciences on a railway
train near Los Angeles and he showed mo
| some spiders that he had ridden on stage
400 miles to capture and which he had found
near Calabasas Southeastern Arizona.
This delightful monomaniac is one of the
most distinguished and energetic entomol-
| OgtSt0 In the country, anu HesS cHaScu hioi o
horned toads and tarantulas, butterflies
and beetles and other reptiles and insects
than could have been crowded into a mod
crate sized drawing room. The most
learned entomologist in England Is Miss
Eleanor Ormerod. whose mania for insect
study Is so excessive that she spends whole
days of rainy weather fiat on the ground
studying grain and fruit pests. and has
| 4 hoo 10 a
Agricultural society.
The million getters and the riddle makers
are many Of them monomandacs. and SO
also are many autograph fends; but the
determined autograph letter seeker Is
nearer the asylum door than the more mod
est nuisance who merely waylays Its VIC
| tim with album in hand.
These are all monomaniacs, as are also
those who assiduously collect portraits Of
columbus and Pico del Ia Mirandula, me-
dtaeval ink horns, etchings with remarks.
editions of eminent authors dueling ps-
tolls and swords. photographs. programs Of
entertainments and menus, souvenir
spoons, epectacles, mouchoirs, No.
gloves and No. shoes These, and many
others, ore victims, more or less. Of this
peculiar malady. upon which no pilules,
potions or plasters are capable of relief
| Call the malady what you will, then, and
diagnose 1t as you may. you will surely
find that in Its treatment you may throw