Smyrna times., 1901-09-25
DRIVEN TO MADNESS.
TIMES WHEN AN EXCESS OF JOY IS
LINKED WITH INSANITY.


able to Stand the Shock of Sudden
Good FidinEs.
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 b%en 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.
1 remember in the very first asylum !
with which l was connected one of the !
patients was Il strikingly handsome !
and very we'll educated man, who was
as sane as you or 1 except on one point.
He was really a man of considerable |
wealth, but his delusion was that he
was a pauper, and he would tell the
most pitiful tales of his destitution,
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 a wealthy mer-
chant. In his youth he had fallen
among evil companions and had led
such a dissolute life that his father
not only threatened to disinherit him,
but forbade him ever to enter his house
again After that he seems to have
sunk into the lowest depths of poverty
until he was glad to earn few cop
pers by selling papers or matches in
the streets.
1t was at this last and lowest stage
IL, l.; faf
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 calmed
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 Il 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
and had asked 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 see
name this morning" The revulsiOn
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, l am
glad to know, doing very we'll az a So
licitor.
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 by 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 Q
, particle of love. Scarcely, however, was
: his fate sealed than lie received the
long despaired of letter from India. ac
ccpting his offer and explaining tha
the girls brother had received and mis-
laid the letter, which had only jus
S been found and had come into he
hands.
t Within an hour of the receipt of thi
8 letter the man was a ravng maniac
9 and although his condition is improved
l doubt whether he will ever recove
: his reason.
In another remarkable case it wa
the joy at seeing her husband agai
that robbed a lady patient of her rea
: son. Her husband was the captain o
a merchant ship which was reporte
to have gone down with all hands. Th
widow had deeply mourned her hus
II band for nearly a year. when one da
e ON returning from a walk she fOun
!. him sitting in the drawing room a
N hale and robust as ever.
= With a Shrek she fell unconscious o
= the floor, and when she recovered he
~ reason was gone. 1t seems that he
70 husband after floating for some tim
In had been picked up by a passin
I'd tramp" and had been landed on IL
s. west coast of Africa, from which
or had returned home by the first avail
f. BILE vessel-London Tit-Bits.
he