The Opelousas courier., 1904-06-11

as you know, thousands Of lunatics
with whom you might associate for
months without any suspicion that
their minds are not as sound as your
own, until by chance you happen to
touch on their pet delusion, then you
quickly see how mad they are.
No; quite apart from these. unfor-
tunates there are hundreds who live
and die in lunatic asylums and yet
are no more mad than their keepers.
| myself have known several cases
where men and women have volun.
tarily immured themselves in afy.
lums simply out Of fear that they
might go mad. They are n%eurotics.
people who are always getting strange
fanctes into their heads-chiefy the
result of laZiness-and are haunted
by the fear that some day they will
lose their reason. I know one such
man who has voluntarily made a
~''lunatic'' Of himself for over tIirty
years, without showing the ieast 'igns
of insanity IN
cases are numerousASwh6m Aflk has
Nriven out of their senses aA'Ae time
y another, and who haWl1iRnmitted
deeds of violence. A fAREeeks' re-
treat and treatment has1Ft them all
right again; but, althouaa4ne are as
sane as possible in cafement, it is
not safe to give tkNISleir freedom
for fear of relapse sler temptation
outside. U
In numbers offSes patients who
have been cureETAnd discharged re-
turn to us of tbAK own free will. You
see, Nhen oneA mar has been stamp
ed as insanaAhe is more or less brand
ed for the Remainder of his life. Even
his relati1Es and friends look on him
either VIII pity or suspicion and shun
him asAfar as possible-a condition
of affairs which is intolerable to a
sensitive and quite sane person, so
that one cannot wonder that he is
glad to find a refuge from it all. And
there are others who might go back
into the world, but have become SO
attached to their environment that
they elect to spend the rest Of their
days in it.
There can be no doubt that many
of the sane inmates of asylums are
much safer there than outside and it
is this knowledge which sends many
of them 70 us and keeps them With
us. Among my own people here
very doctor who a few years ago lad
a practice bringing him in a large in.
come. He was, however, the victim
of a strong periodic impulse to intro
duce poison into his patients medi-
cine; and the fear that some day he
would yield to it, and thus become a
murderer. grew SO strong that he sold
his practice and became an inmate
here.
Now, it is quite possible that his
fears might have been realized, and
that by placing himself beyond the
reach of temptation a tragedy has
been avoided.
The most remarkable cases, though,
are those of people who become III
mates Of asylums rather than part
from those they love. We have two
sisters here, one hopelessly insane,
the other as right as any woman liv.
ing. They have always been devoted
to each other, and when it was found
necessary, twenty odd years ago, to
con1ne the former, her sister, who
was on the eve of marriage, broke
off her engagement and decided to
spend the rest of her life with her
relative.
There are also scores Of people In
the criminal asylums who are Of per
fectly sound mind-in fact, many OF
them have never been anything else.
They have, however, contrived to sim.
ulate madness, and thus escape the
hangman or a long term of penal ser
vitude. And in other cases, where
the crime was undoubtedly commit
ted at a time Of Insanity, the Grim
inal has quite recovered his reason
and is spending his life a perfectly
sane man within the walls of a mad
house.-Tit-Bits.