The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1898-12-31
MINI icFJRESBY TELEPHONE
The Mistake One Man Made as TO An
other Appearance and the
strange Result.

did you ever notice that when an
Idea becomes fixed in the minlitisy very
difficult to change 1t, especially in the
case OF extremely sensitive and highly
nervous pe~rsons?" asked a BROOKLYN
expert on nerves. mot long ago 1 had
q visit from a man who was afraid he
was losing his reason because of a very
simple Persistence Of a certain thought
or idea which he could not shake on
The history Of the case is one often
found In cases of hypochondriasis de-
Veloped from using the telephone. Ny
patient for about a years time had oc.
casion TO telephone every day 10 a trade
customer IN New York-Alanhattan II
you like. The New Yorker had q pe.
cunar high tenor squeak to his voice
and somehow my friend got to pictur.
ing him as a little chap with a thin face.
This habit grew day after day until III.
customer took a real shape and form in
b mind OF my patient, all based, OF
course. upon his voice. As he talked
over the telephone there always was
mentally pictured that little chap With
the thin face and squeaky voice. Well,
one day my patient called at the oflce
Of his New York customer, and as be
walked into the place and saw a tall.
fat man weighing nearly 800 pounds he
could scarcely believe his eyes. When
the fat man opened his mouth and
talked, my patient says, the saueaky
voice with which he was familiar SOUND.
ed strange and unnatural. He told the
owner OF the absurd voice, in view Of
his size, about having pictured him al a
little thin person, and there was a good
laugh over the odd difference OF the
reality.
But the nezt day when my friend
used the telephone and the squeaky
voice came to him, he had 10 strue0l.
to get away from thinking Of his ia.
patron as being little and thin. He
talked the matter over With his wife
and laughed about II, but soon there
came q time when he forgot all about
the actual existence Of his customer.
n the little thin-faced chap was again
talking TO him over the wire. Then n
was that he came TO me. He feared he
said, that his mind was giving wav. he.
cause OF the persistence of the odd mic
ture OF the thin man. l thought the
case was easily disposed Of, and told nv
friend to go h. New York every day for
a week and visit his fat customer. Tb;.
he did, but every time he telephoned
the squeaky voice would bring up the
mental picture formed before he had
set eyes on its owner.
u was in despair and my patient wa,
growing gray from worrying when hIl
upon the happy expedient Of placing a
photograph OF the fat mar on the teIs.
phone. where the eye Of the patIen,
could rest upon It az he talked. The
result was the disappearance forever q,
the thin chap. Ny patient, in looking
at the picture Of the owner Of the
equeaky voice, got his mind working
upon the same lines that would have
yen iollowed had he met the fat man
faee to face the first time he heard his
voice These cases are common YER
Jay. We form queerly opposite pic.
lures OF men and women we hear over
The telephone and never wee, but in the
great majority Of instances tho lmpre,.
ZION Is n momsntary One, and II Is seI.
dom that tbs mistake Is ever forced
upon Us In the startling way described
by the patient ! told Of.
The telephone. by the way, has pro.
duced very many queer cases Of neuras.
thenla that remain unaccountable or.
eepting on the hypothesis that the new
habit brings them into existence. I
have had very many patients who had
to give up the use Of the phone alto.
gether where ithad been used TO great
extent hsfors"-H.Y Y. Sun.