The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-12-06

been hideously true to the record in
depicting this once admirable chaTac-
ter, changed almost to a monster by
the smallest clot of blood escaped from
its channel in the minute vessels OF the
brain. Ii is appalling to think on what
"A slender thread hangs our sanity, our
~affability, and even our affections. OF
course, Shakespeare remains supreme
in his p"ortraiture of one form of IN
sanity. He was far in advance of the
medical knowledge of his time. No
modern a~lienist has ever presented
Hamlet's type of mental disorder so
accurately. So exact and comprehen-
sive is this product OF the insight of
genus that Maudsley prefers il to any
other as the basis of a ~study-prefers
it to Esquirol's record of actual cases
Of lunacy in the Paris hospital for the
insane.
The operation Of trephining," said
the surgeon in reply to a question,
was more common at an earlier day.
though there is a strong tendency to
a revival since surgery a been freed
from its worst dangers. Under the pre-
cautions and exemptions of modern
surgery. a great many operations that
were resorted to only when there was
no other hope of the life of the patient
nave been freed from their worst dan
S'Ass ~ NA'AhAf a ~ pt'h ll'fli
breaking the continuity of tissues, but
from the Incidental complications. such
as blood poisoning, erys pelas, gam
creme and so on, If the patient sur
Vived the shock. The tr%ephining of
n skull is now looked upon without
the late fears. II is simple, the instru-
ment being like a circular steel punch.
except that the edge is serrated for
saving out a disk the size Of half n
dollar If has boon GafA that ON Of
the skulls Of the ancient mound build
ers SHOW perforations of this kind and
IL has been asserted that they resorted
TO the operation in cases of injury. 1t
promises most when used for the rad
ical cure OF epilepsy.
The victims of that disorder are
surely among the most unhappy and
pitiful Of all wretched human Great
ures. They may be rational. appar-
entity normal in all their mental pro-
cesscs and with the same affections
and ambitions as other men. Yet they
are condemned to increasing seizures
to more frequent and more violent
outbreaks OF mania in which they are
powerless 10 control themselves-and
they have the melancholy surety OF
becom ng entirely insane or imbecile.
Medical treatment Of the disease has
been hopeful at times. there
HfNt bffu even spec nc rem
edies, but < offers the
only assurance OF relief and escape.
Since the work Of brain oscillations
has advanced, surgery has been more
n more relied upon to effect a radi-
cal cure. The fact tina the disease
does not spare persons 81 unusual
brightness makes the progress toward
imbecility p~eculiarly painful n
shocking. The worst, or rather ,he
most dangerous type. Is shown In con-
nection with a we'll known tragedy
that Is by no means solitary. In a
Michigan hospital for the insane.
where II is cruel to confine epilept.cs.
was one or uncommon quality. He was
a young man Of good family and an
agreeable personality. well educated
and hut for this ain he would have
promised "A useful career. His seiz-
urrs, though not frequent, had been
increasing In violence. end at the sug-
gestion OF the superintendent he was
sent 10 the hospital. which Is also an
asylum. He had contracted a strong
liking Tor the superintendent. who had
given particular attention to the case.
one morning. a. that official was max
ing his rounds. the young man called
! 10 him. He stopped, and as he turned