Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1907-12-24
.s5R5351s2R52ra575351515152S25I.
/ SAYS KNIFE CAN !
! ! CURE INSANITY. /
I Dr.. Bernard HOlandsr, Of London, :
9 Causes Selsatiol by HsE Taeo.y /
I HE Reform: a Thiel----T Theory I
2 Of LOCalizltion Of kalady In Brain {
! Advanced Before British Phreno- I
! logical Society. {

0du 1uSdA4lg DC AulCQ DE
cal Operation? was the subject of
lecture delivered before the Incorpor
ated British chronological Society by
Dr. Bernard Hollander, well known
physician for mental diseases, who
early this year caused sensation by
the publication in the Lancet and 9TH
er medical journals of a report of a
successful cure of mental derange-
ment by trephining, writes the Lon
don correspondent of the New York
Herald.
DIR .Hollander created another SEN
sation in the course of his lecture
by describing the case of a boy, aged
sixteen, who was a liar and thief.
but who, after the removal of strip
of bone from his skull was restored
to state of perfect morality.
This boy had to be constantly
watched to keep him from destroy
ing things. from thrashing his fellow
pupils and throwing stones. He told
falsehoods and had tendency to
steal; he had No sense of decepcy and
grew more dangerous the older he
got until his deeds brought him be-
fore the police court.
Dr. Hollander proposed the remov-
al of 2 strip of bone from the centre
line of the head. This was carried
out An incision was made from the
top of the head vertically down 20
each ear, when the tissues above the
right ear revealed signs of an old
injury. After several trephinings had
been made the bone was cut away or
the right side. where the membrane
of the brain showed signs of an old
hemorrhage.
Shows High Moral Feeling.
After being treated antiseptically
the wound was closed and healed
successfully. The patient got grad
ually better and behaved properly.
and not only did he lose his bad pro
pensities, but showed high moral
feeling.
Dr. Hollander is convinced by this
experience that many sufferers might
be rescued from living tombs to take
their part again in the worlds walk
by a simple surgical operation. He
is reported as having said
Reform of lunatic asylums can
only come from without, but it is
hindered by the popular idea that
all insane people are raving and des-
perate, and that most visitors to asy-
lums enter the wards with the expec-
tation of meeting violent maniacs
whom it would be dangerous to APP
proach.
'"They need not take May steps
before this Illusion vanishes, as they
see nothing but groups of patients
seated round a fire or lolling about in
a dreary sort of way"
He thinks that newly arrived and
durable cases being brought into an
atmosphere that is already saturated
with lunacy become aggravated in
stead of cured.
Dr. Hollander recommends the re-
moval of durable patients from asy-
lums to places where they may have
an association of healthy minds. Fifty
years ago, he says, there was doubt
as to the possibility of localiZation,
but today it is an accepted doctrine
that there is a plurality of centres
in the brain with definite functions
and that injury or disease of cir
cumscribed portion of the brain can
cause arrangement of the mental
power which is located there OF
course, when insanity is due to some
toxic substance, some poison that has
got into the system, then the whole
brain may suffer and all the mental
powers may become deranged
No CocaIization of Mischief.
There is no possibility of localiza-
ton of mischief, and it Is not fair to
produce such cases in evidence
against chronological doctrine, but
that insanity may be due to cir
cumscribed lesion on the brain is
still receiving little recognition, al
though early phrenologists produced
plenty of evidence in its favor, and
recent observations have confirmed
this view
ed cases." says DR.. Hoilander, has
shown me that whenever an injury
affects the same locality, the same
mental power suffers, and in this
manner I have arrived at the localiza-
ton theory.
There is no case more common
than that of faculty to be develop
ed, in consequence of wound, to a
degree never manifested in health.
Thus, blows on the temple have
caused kleptomania; blows on parie
tai eminence, melancholy; on the
vertex of the head, religious insanity,
and so on, and if the source of irri-
tation is removed the excited faculty
is reduced to its normal activity.
"There are a great many cases on
record of blows on the parietal emf
nence that have been followed by such
morbid anxiety that the victim has
committed suicide when a post-mor-
tenn examination has revealed the re-
suits of past Inflammation in the SUI
pramarginal and adjacent convolu-
tons.
'sThus DR.. ". Gallus Mictie men
lions the case of a soldier who had
been struck by a rifle ball on the
head and lay insensible for several
days. He got we'll and gained promo
ton. Then worries and anxieties
overwhelmed him and he became de-
pressed and melancholy and gradual
r. xxan@ mod and died
"The best proof that my localiza-
ton theory is right is furnished by
these cases of traumatic lesion in
which an operation has been under
taken and the patients cured in men,
tai functions of the brain. / have
published twenty-eight such cases and
recovery from melancholia. In a case
three months ago was consulted by
a man who had been hit by a billiard
ball with great violence over the left
eye. He suffered such excruciating
pain that sometimes he lost conscious