COMMUNICATED INSANITY. 829 



An interesting discussion upon the subject of communicated 

 insanity was brought out at the meeting of the Association of 

 Asylum Superintendents in 1887 by the reading of the history of 

 the Pocasset letter-carrier. Freeman, who, with the consent of his 

 wife, who had become possessed of his same fanatical ideas, offered 

 up their son as a sacrifice, in the manner of Abraham. The in- 

 sanity of the mother was not detected at the time, but in a month 

 she became manifestly insane. As will be seen, this case can not 

 be considered a typical one of communicated insanity, for the re- 

 morse and grief which necessarily followed the participation in 

 her husband's fanatical act were sufficient to account for her in- 

 sanity aside from any influence which he might have had over 

 her. The discussion, however, brought out the interesting fact 

 that several of the superintendents j)resent had had experience 

 with cases which would appear to justify the use of the term " com- 

 municated insanity," although others objected to its adoption. 

 One particularly interesting instance was related by Dr. Fletcher, 

 of Indiana, where two brothers and a sister, living on a farm 

 isolated from the rest of the community, became, one after the 

 other, controlled by the same insane delusion. They were Ger- 

 mans, industrious and thrifty, but uneducated and superstitious. 

 The elder brother conceived the idea that the devil had taken 

 possession of their farm and was secreted under a certain bowl- 

 der in the barnyard. He imagined that no good crops could be 

 raised until his Satanic majesty had been unearthed. He began 

 searching, and worked for several days rolling up great bowl- 

 ders until the younger brother, and finally the sister also, be- 

 came possessed of the same idea, and lent their assistance. They 

 all worked for about six weeks, making an excavation about 

 twenty feet square and fifteen feet deep. They worked so hard 

 and became so emaciated that the neighbors interfered and had 

 them sent to an asylum, where, happily, under the influence of 

 treatment, change of surroundings, and good diet, they ultimately 

 recovered. 



Within the past year two sisters have come under my observa- 

 tion whose histories support more fully than any cases with which 

 my reading or observation have made me acquainted the theory 

 that under certain conditions the insane mind may mold the 

 sane mind just as is common with those that are working nor- 

 mally. These two sisters were aged respectively forty-three and 

 thirty ; both were unmarried, and, unlike the cases reported by 

 Dr. Fletcher, they were quite well educated and possessed of some 

 literary taste, and were more than ordinarily accomplished in 

 music, both instrumental and vocal. The elder was large, some- 

 what masculine in appearance, rather aggressive, and possessed 

 of considerable personality. The younger, on the contrary, was 



