Omaha daily bee., 1910-03-05

mark and had allowed II to become the
dominant thought in his life. resulting In
his having no other desire than to take
baths and wash his hands. While this in
cident can be related briefly, It Is i~llustra-
tive OF the doctors patient methods that
he had to use more than 5000 words in the
course OF many treatments before he set
the mans mind to thinking Of the actual
cause Of the trouble. The successful word
was doctor" although such words as
germ and disease had failed to make
any substantial suggestion to the patients
mind.
One OF DR.. Franz patients was a beaut-
iful young woman who was taken to him
because she had y fear of anything red,
Red curtains, red carpets or anything Of
that color threw her into what amounted
to commissions Of fear. He took her into
the darkened, quiet room. 1t was a sum
mer afternoon, and nothing could be heard
but the smooth hum Of an electric fan on
the table. He allowed her 70 sit perfectly
quiet for more than five minutes. Then
he leaned forward. and, tapping her on the
knee, said sharply: "suicideT" Eyes,
yes" she said, and hesitated a moment.
Then she continued: 1T was at a ball."
"Pistol!' exclaimed the doctor. That
brought back the whole story Of how she
had been at a german one evening and
had seen a man commit suicide in a con-
servatory by shooting himself in the tenn
pie. The sight of the blood on the suicides
shirt front had been the starting point Of
her delusion. She was cured in two weeks.
A peculiar case was that Of a man who
had suddenly forgotten his own identity.
and had Travelled through six different
states without knowing who he was. He
was picked up in the streets Of Washing
ton and sent to the hospital for the insane.
There was nothing to suggest who he was,
absolutely no clue of his home, his occu-
patton or his name. 1t afterwards de-
veloped that he had been away from home
eight months, and had been going down
hill all the time until he looked like the
most miserable Of tramps. The doctor
saw the futility Of trying to suggest to
him his identity by using all the names
he had ever heard. Accordingly, he tried
the employment line. None Of the ordinary
professions brought any response. Mention
Of doctors, lawyers, journalists or ministers
gave no result. The same was true of all
the words referring to such avocations as
plumbers, bricklayers, carpenters and team
stcrs. Finally the doctor said: II am look
ing for somebody to tune my piano" 1t
proved to be the right cue. The patient
was a plano tuner from one OF the middle
western states. After three weeks Of ques-
tioning and prompting, the doctor retraced
with the man all his wanderings, made
him remember his name and restored to
him the complete mastery Of all his mental
faculties.
One of the most battling cases Franz
ever had was the man who was not only
frightened every time he saw a horseshoe,
but who was constantly possessed of the
idea that it would be used as a means OF
killing him. OF course. the natural assump-
ton was that he had been. kicked by a
horse or run over by one, and that the
shock of the accident had unseated his
reason. Working on this theory, the doc
tor wasted many precious sittings and
used up hundreds of words without max
ing any progress toward discovering the
true cause OF the trouble. 1t finally de-
veloped that the fellow had been struck
on the head by a horseshoe, which had
been nailed over a door for good luck,
and which had fallen on him as he entered
a friends house.
A direct opposite OF the man who feared
InS open places was Ine woman VINO
dreaded all closed or dark places. She had
claustrophobia, and had developed the
mania of staying out-of-doors, sleeping
out-of-doors and never entering the house
unless compelled to do so. As is often the
case with mothers, her trouble had come
from an accident to her child. She had
seen 1t, while playing in a big linen closet,
have its land caught and crushed by the
closing of q heavy door, and the shock
Of the child's suffering preyed on her
mind until she had come to fear anything
with doors.
The "phobias" are the most troublesome
durable cases with which the psychiatrist
or alienist has to deal. II any Of these
patients had died while in the worst stage
of their mental arrangements, the autop-
sizes had been performed on them, their
brains would have appeared perfectly nor
NAL. Their sufferings do not come from
any decay or desease of the brain tissues,
and 1t has been demonstrated that were 1t
not for the word treatment" all that could
be done for them would be to allow them
to suffer for months and months. perhaps
years, before they could recover. With
the new method, however, they are often
cured in marvelously short time.
Hx FREDERIC J.. HAsKmT.