Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-31
INSANITY EPIDEMIC
MADNESS FOLLOWS IN THE
WAKE OF scoURGEs.
Men and Women Crazed by Fear of
Attack From Deadly Malady-
Impressionable Persons.


Since the days of the great plague of
London. when hundreds of men and women
were driven insane by fear of the terrible
visitation. there has rarely been. either In
this or other countries, a widespread cpl
demic that has not been the means of de-
veloping madness in some impressionable
persons. In this connection it may be men,
toned that the present outbreak OF small
pox in the metropolis is responsible for
several lunacy cases now under treatment
at public asylums, the patients having pom
dered on the possibilities of their catching
the disease until their minds became weak
ened by the constant iteration of the same
thought and madness was the result.
During the typhoid epidemic in the town
of Maidstone some three years since a
young mechanic, foolishly enough, became
possessed by the notion that he was
doomed to be stricken down. His WIFE
with much good sense. endeavored to wean
him from his morbid fancy, but her efforts
were doomed to failure. Gradually he neg
lected his work at the factory where he
was employed, refused to take nourish-
ment and lay awake all night in fever Of
terror, avowing that he was condemned
man and that the disease already had hum
in its grip. Eventually his condition de-
veloped into acute melancholia and he was
placed in an asylum, where he soon recov-
cred, the temporary insanity being attrlb-
uted by the doctors to the stress and ankle
ty produced through the typhoid epidemic
Fear of Cholera.
More painful still were the details con-
nected with the case of Partisan type
setter, who was driven mad by the cholera
epidemic which prevailed in that city less
than a score of years ago. This man at
tended various lectures delivered by physi-
clans on the subject of the outbreak. and,
moreover, perused with avidty every avail
able scrap Of literature concerning it. In
fact, he spoke and thought of naught else,
and presently he conceived the idea that
not only himself but his wife and children
were destined to die of the horrible dis
ease. He accordingly resolved to Kill his
family before the cholera could attack
them, and this shocking determination was
duly carried out On being arrested and
tried for murder he was acquitted on the
ground Of insanity and sent to lunatic
asylum, where he died after a Sojourn of
several months.
Strangely enough, until the advent of the
epidemic this unfortunate individual had
been one of the sanest of men and had won
the affection and respect of his fellow en-
pioyes by his genial manner and pleas sing
conversation. Moreover. he was the most
devoted Of husbands and fathers and but
for the coming of the pestilence he would
in all probability have retained complete
possession of his senses until the end of his
days.
Face Danger Bravely.
Brain specialists are never weary of in
forming us that the fear of any specific
danger or disease is far more likely TO
breed insanity than the actual presence of
the same, and to this fact must be attribut-
ed the insanity which is the inevitable con-
comitant of all forms of epidemic When
Spain was ravaged early in the last CEN
fury by very virulent plague of smallpox
the increase OF lunacy in the infected towns
was SO marked as to be positively appall-
ing, and so crowded were the asylums that
various patients had to be refused admis-
sion. The most extraordinary part of the
business lay in the fact that persons act
ually stricken by the disease retained their
senses. whereas those who merely went in
fear of it became, in many cases partiaIIx-
or wholly insane
During the last cholera outbreak in Eng
land (Which outbreak, let us hone may
never be repeated) many persons of bot h
sexes were terrified into various forms of
monomania by its morbid and powerful in
fiuenee "
One young woman residing in a suburb of
London wandered through the streets Wit h
disordered garments, shouting wildly that
she was suffering from the epidemic,
thougn, as a matter of fact, she was in n
perfect state of health. Another unfortu-
nate girl attempted to destroy herself in q
mt of delirium brought about by the same
dread of infection, and was eventually
placed under restraint, raving incoherentlv
A city merchant. who for years had fol-
lowed humdrum round Of existence and
whose brain appeared sound on all SUBJ
ject, was also driven mad by anxiety lest
he should be attacked by the fell sickness.
ana fingered in private Sanatorium for
nearly Two years in consequence. His In
sanity took the peculiar form of a belief
that every inhabtant of the world was
fated to die by cholera.