The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-14
OENTTCV DIR. A. E. BUCHANAN
UuN11Ol 1888 When Building.
THE POWER OF MANIA.
People Caught. in the Grip of HaIIu-
observation-disclosures Cures.


New York Mail and Express.
Among the many anomalies of human ma
ture to be met with in medical practice none
is more battling than the mental freak who
Is the slave of hallucination. The field is
huge one to pillow in and plentiful is the
crop Novels, old and new, are literally
peppered with these oddities in character.
Some monomania, of which the victim be-
comes possessed, holds him or her in its
powerful grip until routed from its strong
hold, nearly always by some powerful
shock.
To my mind" said an uptown physician,
who has had much experience with these
unbalanced brethren and sisters. ''the most
illogical and unaccountaoe exhibit in this
line are the folks who fancy themselves
completely incapactated and take perma-
nently to bed | recall case few years
ago on the West Side. She was widow
in independent circumstances. She was
bust, sound as a dollar and in the vigorous
prime of about forty-four. She made her
home in a married sisters family. One day
she colided with the Authorization that she
was an absolute human wreck her useful
ness gone, her health shattered forever and
her days numbered. The only thing left
her was to take to bed and wait patiently
till the end came
And she did it. Physicians, a whole
score of them were called in to discover
her malady. There was not trace of or
ganic disease. She could have climbed
mountain, walked twenty miles or danced
through an Ien{iEe programme gG nm But the
Month and the year. She became, from
thoroughly active, energetic woman, an
inert mass of flesh. apparently helpless as
babe And. you would scarce believe it,
this total eclipse of physical power, all
purely mania, continued for seven long
years.
1t so happened one day. when the serv-
ant and this bed-ridden wreck were alone
in the house that a fire broke out next
door. The buildings were old and dry, and
1t wasn't, long before Aunt Lucy smelled
smoke. The servant had her own private
canoe to paddle in this emergency, and no
one offered to tote the helpless creature TO
place of safety, She screamed and prayed,
but 10 response came, and the flames kept
marching on. Soon it became a question of
skip or roast. and Aunt Lucy snatching
up a shawl, bounded down those stairs and
into the crowd on the street like an ante
Iore with the hounds at his heels. From
that moment she resumed the active duties
of life. The Shock. had done the business
Il had a very curious case few years
ago In N.Y. own practice, the doctor con-
tinued 1t was the wife of wealthy
broker then living in one Of the Westches-
ter suburbs. She had been under the spell
of one of these pedridden Authorizations for
over a year when l called. She was
attended by two nurses. one trained and the
other a sort Of understudy. and somebody
Was always on hand 10 crafty every want
said l to the husband, dismiss those nurses
at once cut the wire that connects her bell
with down stairs and pay no attention TO
her calls Yes it was heoric treatment.
but nothing else will win. The advice was
followed. 1t took her some time TO discover
that. for some mysterious reason, she
utterly neglected; nurses gone and nobody
to answer her calls or cries. At the end CT
about three hours of this desertion it struck
her brain with heavy force that If she
wanted any attention or society she would
have to hustle for it. With the hottest kind
NT9 Cha ffI1O hn had ole ash
jumped 10 the floor and bounced downstairs
at a most encouraging pace for hopeless,
DeoIldden Invalid. Then they all laughed
Are women more subject to these halu-
cinauons than menu was asked
think So" he replied, Though it is
quite difhcult to decide. as this sort of
practice is necessarily limited and each
physician IS guided by what he sees and
hears. You must bear in mind that very.
sharp line Is TO he drawn between these
moreid halucinations and the wild rawlings
of insanity. the weird, disordered con-
the latter remove the alcoholic cause and
away go the conceits; and. if insanity is
cured the mind reverts to normal condi-
tions all around as a rule. But hallucina-
otherwise perfectly sane and sound, and
are extremely difficult to handle. One of
the most curious found in the whole range
of Authorizations is the man with the glass
legs. He lived in one of the New England
States some years ago. A man in active
business perfectly robust and healthy, sud-
denly became possessed of the mania that
his legs were made of glass. If he bent his
knee or wriggied his toes. they would break
like stick of candy. Nothing could shake
II out of him and he positively refused to
a DOCTOR
For several years this fellow kept his
bed horrible burden and nightmare TO his
afflicted family. One day there came along
member Of the tramp fraternity one of
the typical Weary Waggles of the road and
he knocked at the kitchen door of glass
mans residence for a bite TO eat. Despite
his frayed-out appearance. there was an
air abouf the hat SIR he
good wife with surprise. She found. in an
swer TO a few questions that he was far
above the intellectual plane Of the usual
knights Of the road. His language was well
chosen. his manners indicated the had-been
gentleman. It came out finally that. in his