El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-09-16
INSANITY
VICTIMS SAVED
Almost a Third Get Well
Nothing to Hereditary
Insanity at All.

St Elizabeth's Hospital D. c, sept
15.-Insanity. even OF violent types
{ is often cured. and insanity is not al
ways hereditary.
These are two facts. points out by
DR.. J. c. Hassall, Of this institution.
which are Of great significance 10
many men and women. who stand in
/ constant fear Of insanity.
As a matter Of fact. most OF Us
could probably discover q faint in our
ancestry if we could trace II back Tar
enough. And IL is true that any OF
US might inherit some conditions Of
the brain which would make US liable
I TO insanity. But ones heredity is not
a thing to worry about. Lie Is ful
I Of greater dangers Nor, in the opin-
ion of Dr. Hassall. SHOULD the indi-
ity. but who has psychopathic hered-
ity. but is himself normal, hesitate TO
marry. Even those who have been
insane and who have recovered. he
thinks have a perfect right to marry.
Nearly = Third Get Wen.
In support OF the fact that many IN
sane persons recover. DR.. Hassal cites
the fact that about 80 percent Of those
who enter St Elizabeth's hospital are
discharged as cured Out Of SIS pa
tents admitted one year, 245 were dis
charged as cured, and Jos, after
short time. were discharged as not
having been really insane at all
These patients who were cured. II
should be understood. were not men
tally defective. Before they became
afflicted with mental disease. they
were persons Of at least average men,
tai capacity
It is very necessary TO distinguish
between mental defect and insanity.
A mentally defective person may be an
idiot or an imbecile, or he may be
one who at the age OF 20 has. for ex-
ample, only the intelligenece Of a boy
OF Il Such an individual cannot be
made normal, and his children are al
most sure 10 be mentally defective.
Here is a typical case Of a man who
recovered from insanity. A lawyer
by profession, who had served in the
army he came to the hospital showing
au the classical textbook symptoms
OF dementia praecox." as one OF the
physicians put It He fought wildly
at all who tried to approach him. lay
for days at time with his eyes closed
and had to be fed through a tube. Yet
in few months he became normal
under careful treatment. For four
years now he has been practicing law.
What Causes Insanity.
While science is making good pro-
gress in diagnosing insanity. in car
ing for insane patients, and in sympa-
thetic understanding OF them. IL has
erig the basic causes OF mental dis
eases. Thus It is q moot question
whether most forms of insanity are
due to actual physical arrangement Of
the brain and nervous system. or other
parts Of the body or whether thew
are purely physical in their nature. A
case Of dementia praecox often shows
certain marked physical symptoms,
such as impaired circulation. But II
Is hard TO tell whether these physical
conditions are the cause or an effect
Meantime the important thing ac-
cOrding to the scientists, is TO provide
proper refugees both for mental de-
fectives and for persons suffering
from mental disease The detectives
should be permanently isolated, so
breed The insane must be given CON-
Portable homes. where they can re-
cover II possible. and where otherwise /
they can live in comfort and do no /
harm
Neither Of these thinEs Is being reg
ularly OF extensively done in the /
United States.
More Insane Now.
Lie IN modern America city to-
day IS Tar more strenuous and diff
cult than was life in the rural towns
which passed for cities in this coun- /
might have passed for sane and lived /
harmless and even moderately useful ]
lives a hundred years ago, now crack |
under the strain. There are no sta
lSllcs Hnlcn may De relied upon as 10 ]
the Increase Of insanity, but the SCI 1
entists believe that il Is increasing |
because the environmental conditions !
that bring it out are increasing.
During the war a man came TO 1
Washington from somewhere in the 4
Allegheny mountains. He said that /
he was Jesus Christ, and that he had I
come to tell the president how to stop
the war.
This asylum has had patients who 4
believed they were Christ and who got ]
over the Illusion and were DISCHARGED /
as cured, but such a delusion IS gen 1
orally incurable
Environment COunfs.
In the workshop at the asylum there 1
Is short, rather good looking chap /
with black beard and mustache who /
IS an expert brush maker. Here he 4
SPENDS all his time industriously max
ing brushes He seems 10 believe that /
ne is the victim Of a conspiracy on the /
part OF the government to get brushes /
for nothing.
II this man went into the city and I
set himself up In business. say the ex- l
perts, he could not get along. He 1
would be quarrelsome. unstable and 4
possibly dangerous. But it is conceiv-
able that he might get along in some 1
little country community. where his
peculiarities were understood and /
humored- There are such men in most /
county communities
Thus II all comes back 10 the fact /
that insanity Is nothing more than a
failure to make a successful adj I
5ustment TO environment
f~OIrNCTT. MEETING POSTpOvED