The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1901-10-08
DRIVEN TO MADNESS.
TIMES WHEN AN EXCESS OF JOY Is
LINKED WITH INSANITY.

Some of the Saddest Cases of LunRcy
Are Those where the Mind Il I'm
able 10 stand the Shock of sudden
Good Pidings.
1t is no eXaggeration to assert, said
an asylum doctor of long and varied
experience. that there are scores of men
and women in our asylums who have
literally been sent there through excess
Of joy. Many Of these cases which are,
in my opinion. the saddest of all have
come under my own observation.
l remember in the very first asylum
with which was connected one OF the
patients was a strikingly handsome
and very well educated man, who was
rs sane as you or l except on one point
He was really man of considerable
wealth. but his delusiOn was that he
was a pauper and he would tell the
most pitiful tales of his restitution,
begging. with tears in his eyes, for a
few coppers with which to buy bread.
According to the story told me, he
was the only son Of wealthy mer-
chant. In his youth he had fallen
among evil companions and had lei
such a disSolute life that his father
not only threatened 10 diSinherit him,
but forbade him ever to enter his house
again. After that he seems to have
4 of
until he was glad to earn a few cop
pers by selling papers or matches III
the streets
1t was at this last and lowest stage
that news came to him that his father
had died inteState and that he was heir
to all his vast fortune. The sudden
news completely turned the mans
brain and brought on such a condition
of excitement that he had to be sent
TO an asylum, and when he Gained
down again he had lost all recollection
Of his good fortune, and nothing can
shake his delusiOn that he is on the
verge Of starvation.
Another patient in the same asylum
was a young and in his lucid moments
a most intelligent fellow, whose brain
was turned" as the saying is. on learn
Ing that he had passed an examination.
He had sat for the matriculation exam
ination at the University of London, on
passing which he had set his heart
and had asked a friend In London to
wire the result as soon as the names
were screened at Burlington House.
About three weeks later came fatal
telegram. "Failed-SOrry. which sent
the young man into the lowest depths
Of despair. for he was too old TO sit
again. Not many hours later, however.
came another telegram. Passed honors
very sorry crush so great did not sve
name this morning" The reyulsion
Of feeling was so great that the stu
dents reason gave way, and he be-
came so violent in his excitement that
he had to be confined Fortunately he
was not with us long and is now. am
glad to know, doing very we'll as a So
llcitOr.
Disappointed love sends many peo-
pie to asylums, but it is very seldom
that success in wooing drives a man
mad. 1t had this strange effect how
ever. OH one Of my late patients. The
girl he loved had gone out To India to
keep house for her brother before he
had screwed up his courage to the point
Of proposing to her. but an offer fol
lowed 10y mail very quickly after her
Weeks and months passed. and no an
swer came to the impatient lover until.
after waiting two years in despair, he
became engaged TO a girl who had
nothing but her money bags to recon-
mend her and for whom he had not
particle Of love. Scarcely, however, was
his fate sealed than he received the
long despaired Of letter from India, ac-
cepting his offer and explaining that
the girls brother had received and mis-
laid the letter, which had only just
been found and had come into her
hands.
Within an hour Of the receipt Of this
letter the man was a raving maniac,
and although his condition Is improved
| doubt whether he will ever recover
his reason.
In another remarkable case it was
the joy at seeing her husband again
that robbed a lady patient of her rea-
son. Her husband was the captain of
a merchant ship which was reported
to have gone down with all hands. The
widow had deeply mOurned her hus-
band for nearly year, when one day
on returning from a walk she found
him sitting in the drawing room as
hale and robust as ever.
With a Shrek she fell unconscious on
the floor, and when she recovered her
reason was gone. 1t seems that her
husband, after floating for some time,
had been picked up by a passing
tramp" and had been landed on the
west coast Of Africa. from which he
had returned home by the first availa-
Tns