The Washington times., 1921-02-27

4
Nof insane asylums are told.
He IL Ia good health. his lungs and BROS
chiai tubes ars sound. yet he suffers all
the torture Of real strangulation.
Another strange dslusiou IL that Of n
young woman Who achieved tho heroic
when her husband telegraph operator.
was stricken while at work, and who pre-.
vented train wreck by her courage and
presence Of mind. Later she became In,
sano and possessed Of the delusion that
she y tree and that men are chopping
her down with axes. She seems to feel
the separate blows 40 they fall, crying out
Ut each imaginary stroke Of the axe and
holding out her arms ~ though they were
branches. She IL getting worse and 10
segregated from the other women inmstes.
Not long ago she seemed to infect suuther
woman with her delusion and the other
woman was discovered holding out heY
arms in the same fashion.
In the cases cited above the. delusions
are fixed. and the patients imagination
never varies in ascrihtng the cause Of his
torture Somewhat rarer - the cases
where, the delusion changes from one
thing to another. The patient always
imagInes himself the victim Of a con-
spiracy or OF some painful disease or Of
supernatural misfortune, but his ideas
change from time TO time and with It his
conduct. A comparatively harmless,
weeping lunatic may change into raving
maniac almost instantaneously.
Among the patients suffering from
changing delusions is the case of woman
now about thirty years old. who imagines
that she Is In constant danger from var.
ious natural phenomena, such as land.
slides. earthquakes or volcanic eruptions.
She seems to fear nature in all OF its
phenomena and the fear causes her m
scream so loudly that she can be heard
through the neighboring wards. The
state OF the weather does not seem to In.
nuence her: she is quite likely to believe
that an iceberg is topping over on her In
midsummer In one respect her delusions
arc all OF the same nature-they are all
connected with catastrophes of nature
But after she had suffered for some time
rom fear for her own safety she changed
over night and. like q case cited earlier
.nougnt she was the mother of several
cniidren and that the children were In
danger. She seemed to forget abont ber.
{ self A0ou' heT-
ana with the change in her delusion
cSme change In her actions that made
her dangerous lunatic. She tried to fight
her attendants. imagining that thew were
restraining her children from escaninr
IN another part of the hospital is an
oio man who thought some one was con.
tinually calling him and was in great dis.
tress because he did not answer. He
smagined that something prevented him
from answering. He had no violent mo.
ments, but only asked now and again, sadly
and patiently, that ne be allowedsto 20 ana
search Tor the mysterious caller. whose
ioentity he did not seem to know. After
ne had been In this state for some wears
ne became overnight a dangerous maniac
he forgot all about the voice that had
caIied to him for years; forgot everything,
II was somewhat similar case that
superintendent Wilcox showed the mem.
bers OF the Connecticut Legislature-the
man stripped to the cot in a padded cell
His earlier history is unknown, but he han
been IN the asylum for Ave years or more
and Will never leave It alive. He seemsto
be or foreign birth or descent. and the
modelling of his face and head indicates
that he once possessed considerable intel.
IectuhI power His hair Is shot With gray
but his long beard is stiIl coal black. He
wrifhes continually on his cot. with n
strength and endurance that no normal
person could possess.
His strength is very great and his strue.
giles tend to develop, his physique, II would
seem. Right here is another curious fact
about the insane. The weak mnueu ,,,,-,
ere above the average In strength OF BODY.
and their lives Of agony are thereby pro.
longed.
One more case OF changing delusion. a
case ;faf would seem humorous II II we're
not that he patient suffered perhaps more
from h'- Imaginary ailment than II Z, were
an actual one.
A mar about sixty years old had been
In an asylum for something like twenty
years, In constant agony from the delusion
that he hid swallowed q number OF knives
that were cutting into his intestines. Be-
tween screams of pain he would explain In
great detail Just what parts OF him were
being cut by the sharp steel There was
absolutely nothing the matter with him
physically that could have causetf him
pain He ate and slept well and regularly,
but waking each morning ha fell : regular
victim Of his delusions; he spent tho day
in agony.
(COntinucd on Nert PQ0el