The Anaconda standard., 1899-06-09
.LARkIN INSANITY CASE
Effect of Liquor on the Health
and Brain.
EXPERTS ON THE STAND
DR.. Pershing Said Larlxin Was in State
of Dementia Owing to Softening
of the Brain-Lay Wit
nesses Next.

testimony yesterday and this morning
the taking of testimony of lay witnesses
will be resumed. DR.. Pershing, one of
the specialists from Denver. was on the
stand again yesterday. His testimony
was unusually interesting, especially
on the subject Of alcoholism and the eff
feet of liquor on the brain and general
health of the excessive drinker.
DR.. Pershing said, basing his opinion
on the testimony of Drs. Wells, Stevens
and Sheeran and the result of the au-
topsy, that Larkin was in a state of de-
mentia, due to softening of the brain,
from June %, 1894, until his death. De-
mentia is a loss of mental faculties gen
orally, due to some disease of the brain.
1t shows itself mainly in loss of ability
to associate ideas, and that carries with
it the loss of the ability to converse con-
secutively upon any topic and failure of
judgment and failure of memory. The
| most conspicuous sign of it that is
found ordinarily is the loss of memory.
The other forms of insanity are not so
much absence. of mental powers, but
pervension of it. For example, in mania,
the patient may have a good memory,
but he is unduly eXhilarated and ex-
cited, his ideas come too rapidly one
| after the other, and he is apt to have
an idea of extensive and pleasurable
delusions that are altogether absurd for
him. very much in the same state as a
| man who is in an excited, jolly stage of
a champagne drunk only the man with
the mania keeps that up, whereas the
| same condition under the influence of
lntoxicants soon comes to an end. In
melancholia the condition is just the op-
poSlte; the patient, instead of being eX-
hilarated and excited is depressed; in
stead of being talkative, does not want
to talk at all; instead of being active
under the influence of depression he
tends to keep very still and quiet. If
he has delusions they are depressing de-
lusions, that is he is great sinner and
has committed great crimes and is go
ing to be damned and all that sort of
thing. His memory may be quite good
and often is. Then, in paranoia, the
paranoiac may in many respects be ex-
ceptionally keen; the memory is usually
above the average about anything that
affects the deluSionS of the paranoiac,
but the insanity consists in absurd de-.
lusions of the paranoiac. but the in
sanity consists in absurd delusions, US
ually as to being prosecuted in some alb
surd way or of being scme great indi-
vidual like Julius Caesar, Napoleon
Bonaparte. Jesus Christ or some char
acter of that kind. The two forms of de-
fusion generally go together in paran-
ola, the delusion of persecution and also
the delusion. of grandeur. These are the
main. forms Of insanity. The fact that
when LarkiH went ito the hospital he.
was in a filthy condition, he was unable
to take care Of himself and gave evil
dence of not having taken care of him
self for at least some time preceding
his admission to the hospital; the fact
that he had no regard for decency, and
especially the fact that he never could
hNN
| conversation during the whole time
that he was there, makes up a typical
picture of dementia.
DIR. Petshing said that in a good
many cases an impaired condition of
the brain organs follows the excessive
use of alcohol. A man who indulges in
the excessive use of alcohol usually
winds up in some intercurrent trouble
He gets an attack of delirium tremens
does not recover, or succession of at
tacks, or he gets pneumonia and dies
owing to the impairment of his consti-
tuition from alcohol and his mind might
not be impaired, or he gets serosis of
the liver or kidneys, or has an apoplec-
tic stroke, but if he lodges all these
things and keeps on drinking the nat
ural consequence would be dementia in
the end. More of the chronic drinkers
die from some Of the other causes men
toned rather than from dementia, but
..
to a late stage in alcoholism there are
commonly no anatomical changes per-
ceptible in the brain. The brain ap-
pears as any other mans brain would
But after very long continued use Of
alcohol, especially if there have been
attacks of delirium tremens, and with
out attacks of delirium tremens also,
there are certain chronic changes that
may come. Sometimes the membranes
covering the surface of the brain be-
come little opaque, little bit thick
ened, and the vessels are sometimes de-
generated; that, however, is more often
due to other causes, to which the alco-
ho1 contributes, as, for example, ad-
Vanced age or equity condition. Some
times when no outward signs are visi-
BILE to the naked eye, on making micro
scopic sections of the brain and exam
lining them, the small nerve cells and
the hbres that run out of those cells
connecting with each other appear to he
somewhat changed in consistency and
more or less shrunken, and in extreme
cases there may be a very decided dis
appearance, not only of these fibres,
but of the cells themselves, so that the
total number is less than it should be,
and it may be very much less, Those
are the main anatomical changes that
might be found.
Attorney Corbett, during his cross
examination of DR.. Pershing, submit
tea MN 4 FQiuH1e OF W1Cl0auSe &
Becker's work on medical jurispru-
dence, and asked him if the work was
a recognized authority, and the wit
ness said it wassin a general way, but
that the contributed articles varied in
their value Mr.. Corbett then read
to the witness the following from the
book:
'As an etialogical factor alcohol en-
ters largely into the production of va
rious forms of insanity. We find it
frequently associated with other causes
in producing general paresis. mania,
etc"
Does that state the rule correetly?"
asked Mr.. Corbett
1t does" said the witness.
Continuing his quotation from the
book, Mr.. Corhett read
Chronic alcoholism or alcoholic de-
mentia Is a condition characterized by
a progressive dementia associated with
special delusions. especially those of
suspicion. The etialogy of these cases