3 o2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



was also eccentric, though not in an asylum. Nothing is known of the 

 previous generation, except that the paternal grandfather was success- 

 ful in making money. Lucas was considered a healthy boy in mind 

 and body up to ten years, when he suffered from a ringworm, and had 

 his head shaved, and an ointment, said by a relative to have been very 

 strong, rubbed in. His mother claimed that at this time his character 

 underwent a change. She said that "he was never quite the same" 

 afterward. Whether or not the implied cause 1 be deemed adequate, 

 it is certain that an alteration in his moral character, marked chiefly 

 by waywardness of temper and untruthfulness, occurred at this time. 

 He was spoiled by both parents. It is a striking fact that very many 

 of the patients admitted into York Retreat were unduly indulged 

 when children. 



At seven, he was sent to school. He ran away, but was sent back 

 and kept there until he was fourteen. With a view to moral restraint 

 and discipline, he was next sent to Mr. Hicks, a physician of Whit- 

 well. His stay was short : one day during Mr. Hicks's absence, he 

 escaped and took refuge with a relative, who refused to give him up. 

 Mr. Hicks, who is still living, remembers the lad, and tells me that he 

 regarded him as the victim of ill-judged indulgence and injudicious 

 treatment.. He displayed "incorrigible perverseness and obstinacy, 

 combined with a certain amount of cunning." Mr. Hicks learned noth- 

 ing of his previous condition except that, when driven out for an air- 

 ing, he would, if taken from the carriage, stand still and shut his eyes. 



He returned home, but his father was totally unable to manage 

 him. He was self-willed, obstinate, impatient of restraint. Thwarted 

 in any of his wishes, he took offense, and shut himself in his bedroom 

 for days together, spending therein, it seems, the greater part of his 

 time. He would not refuse to eat his meals if they were left at his 

 door, but he resolutely refused to return the plates, until, at length, 

 his room contained nearly all the crockery in the house. At one time 

 he would put on but little clothing ; at another, dress like a fop. On 

 account of these eccentricities, his father moved into the country, but 

 shortly returned, as he there fell into low company and became less 

 controllable. He next would not allow the cinders to be removed 

 from his grate, thus keeping the family in constant dread that he would 

 set the house on fire. He objected so much to an attendant, that one 

 who had been procured was discharged. 



At his seventeenth year his father died. At twenty, his conduct 

 became unbearable, and by medical advice he was forced to have a 

 constant attendant. This supervision, which lasted two years, showed 

 how his state of mind was regarded by those competent to judge 



1 Mr. Erasmus Wilson states that no case ever came to his knowledge of a mental af- 

 fection resulting from local applications to the scalp. I find from Dr. Russell Reynolds, 

 that ho has had patients suffering from disorder of the emotions consequent on the use 

 of hair-dyes. 



