The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-04-27

IntTG Is one very common UiStaSt
whereof the patient will never acknowI-
edge the name He insists upon calling
1t something eIse-usuaIIy headache It's
symptoms are as varied as the inventions
OF doctors and the imagination Of man.
This disease is malingering- woTk-sicN-
ness
In its chronic stages it is found chiefly
among soldiers and sailors and in pTis-
ous; but all men are subject to il when
there is anything sagreeable to do It
is no TcspeCter of persons; it attacks the
Pope on Peters throne as well as the
criminal in ais solitary cell We are told
that julius III feigned sickness to avoid
holding a cousistory. According to the
historian Robertson, indeed. the Confne-
meut and change Of diet which he I'M
posed upon himself in carrying out the
deception developed a real disease that
was shortly the end Of him.
Poetic justice of this kind. however.
rarely follows ordinary malingeTing-
Sometimes it is a cold which prevents
the patient from seeing an unwelcome
guest: sometimes It Is a throat trouble
which keeps him at the last moment
from delivering speech; sometimes (as
with Chinese statesmen it is a mysteri-
Gus complaint that units the subject for
signing official documents.
But such malingering requires nothing
more than a certain smothering of con
science; it does not have to pass the scru-
tiny Of 4 physicians eye. The artists OF
the disease are found in armies and in
prisons. in prisons, especially, men VIII
so through uuheard-of scIf-inficted tor
lures, endure pain out of all proportion
to the benefits in store, for the sake Of
a bed at the hospital. and the better fare
which the place affords
The ailments most frequently feigned
are Embecltlty, paralysis ntS, poignant
pains in the chest, splitting OF blood and
bleeding from the nose, but a hand or leg
retained in particular position for
length OF time. resulting in the loss Of
the power of again using II, Is not IN
common The late DR.. Guy, of England,
an eminent authority. mentioned the case
of q man who Sewed uD his mouth and
eyelids with a needle and thread. in an
attempt to prove his insanity after less
violent measures had failed. a writer Of
Revelations OF Prison Life published
in the 'COruhill Magazine in 1863 men
tons soap pills, taken in sufficient guam
titles as being highly productive Of a
large amount OF show but safe sick
ness A simple trick of this nature, how
evsr. would hardly succeed in modern
prison
but most maiingering tricks are by no
means so simple. Chambers Journal
Of April Is, 1896. gives many remarkable in
stances Of feigned sickness and injuries
most OF them from English prisons Cap
tain Harris. a one time head Of DdTJmOOT
prison. tells Of a convict. who, as the re-
suit of a slight fan. was laid up with
severe pains ia the back These pains
developed into complete paralysis Of the
lower limbs, and Cor three years the man
was the most com blaming ara abusive
patient in the hospital He had to be
helped from his bed to the exercise y4Iu.
where he lay every day in the sun At
last one morning. when the attendants
We're coming to take him out the fellow
threw his clutches at them growing out:
I've ad enough o these Tor now,
similar case Is related by Captain Powell
of the Florida convict camp.
a man who was shot while trying TO
escape though he recovered from his
wound, was paraiyzed in the lower limbs
and had to hObbIe about on clutches for
the remaining two years Of his sentence
When at the end OF MS time ne was well
clear OF the prison. but IN full view OF the
guards, he broke his crutches over his
knees and ran unaSSiSted down the road.
Another man at DartmooT was treated
for several months for diseased bones IN
his foot. " hen two needles wound round
with thread were found where he himself
had put them, imbedded in d wound above
One persistent and determined HaIin-
gerer started by running e copper wire
z into his knee until he nearly lost the use
of the joint and when that was healing
kept Up the swelling and Inflammation in
his wounds by means of old rags and
thread
Then he put lime below the skin. and
when stopped from this was found at
night with a baudage wound so tightly
around his thigh as to cause extensive
swelling and IiVidity Of the thigh. At
last the doctor CIICastd his limb in gutJa
percha. so that he could not disturb the
healing wound, but with a strip Of sheet
ing and SkeHer the man made q tour
niquiet and compressed his leg each night
Finally the leg ha6 to be kept outside the
-bedciothes in constant view Of attendants.
Dr. Smalley Of Parkhurst Prison once
had in his hospital a very puzzliug case
Of inhl+ratiOn Of air beneath the skin
He was at q loss for the cause. when
common safety pin Strengthened out was
found In the patients bed With this he
had pricked a hole into his lung, and so
produced MS morbid condition
Perhaps one Of the cleverest maIinger-
ers was a perjurer who had a paralytic
seizure in prison some days before the
time set for his trial The man had to
be brought into court on a litter One
side was rendered entirely helpless. and
he could speak only in thick cultural
tones, IL seemed like Judgment from
heaven In the midst Of the proceedings
me court had TO adjourn The prisoner
had tainted The evidence against him.
however. was conclusive, and the Jury
was forced TO bring in verdict Of guilty.
But says the magazine writer who
tells the story, the sight IF an infirm
fellow-being. trembling on tnS bril- Of
the grave had a visible influence on the
court which II view OF his speedy call to
higher tribunal imposed merely a norni-
nal fine The next day the prosecuting
attorney. who had been extremely solicit
welfare, was greeted on the street by
stranger, walking erect and unassisted,
whose face was not unfamiliar. II was
the paraiyZed perjuTer Of yesterday
But ualingering does not always work
so successfully Even the higher class of
simulatoTs, who eyince a power of OBJ
serving the minIter manifestations Of
disease which wOIId not discredit a, prac-
ti1ioueT Of the healing art fall before the
sharp devices Of experienced army prison
surgeons
LAS a rule says writer in Chambers
Journal Of May :. 1873, ''overacttng IS the
common esthetic vice Of TnalingereTs. The
sham paralytic. though he show no diff
hcuiJy IN protruding his tongue, will turn
IL q trt1e too much to one side: the
spurious lunatic viii be much too incOn-
seqUentiai in his ideas and actions: the
counterfeit deaf mute fails not only to
recognize sounds. but even the vibrations
Of the sound wave produced by striking
a resonant body on which he may be
standing. 20 which a real deaf mute Is
never insensible.--
A threat Of transference to African eli
mate. then, or the application Of the act
ual cautery- nave been the means Of
working many miraculous cures among
Eoldiers and prisoners. A French army
surgeon after watching a soldier in a
spurious epileDtic mt. laid his hand on the