734 'THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



cal temperament may lead to this. Which is the cause, and which the 

 effect, it is difficult to assert. From the prevalence of hysteria among 

 prostitutes a class who habitually j^crmit the desires and emotions 

 to pass beyond healthy control of the will I infer th|it this precedes 

 the actual attack of the disease. In some cases, however, hysteria 

 results from organic derangement, iisually of the sexual organs, and 

 then the lack of emotional control may be a secondary instead of pri- 

 mary condition. The criminal resultant, in my experience, is confined 

 to crimes against property, false accusation, and infanticide. It rare- 

 ly leads to the more serious crimes against persons, for the reason 

 that the wrongs of the hysterical are fancied rather than real, which 

 disappear with the usu^ally prompt return of judgment. 



The following history of a false accusation reveals the defective 

 control over the feelings and the perversion of the sexual emotions 

 which coexist with the hysterical tendency : Esther was a young 

 convict, about twenty years old, committed for a term of years 

 to the Onondaga penitentiary for a second offense of stealing. She 

 married very young, and lived with her husband but a short time. 

 Her occupation was that of a domestic, and when not employed 

 always went to her home, which was respectable. She gave con- 

 siderable trouble in the shops, by her moody and disobedient ways, 

 and would often refuse her food, and was then taciturn and despond- 

 ing. Her cell was situated near the centre of the block, on the sec- 

 ond gallery, and was lined with pictures cut from the illustrated 

 newspapers. The collection was remarkable from being made up ot 

 the pictui'es of men and women, some of them neatly framed with 

 straws. A cross, made of the thin shavings of wood used to light 

 cigars with, was prominent among the decorations. She gave me 

 considerable trouble with her great variety of fancied ailments, and 

 I believe the girl actually believed in her diseases. The keepers 

 believed her to be a " beat," a most unfortunate reputation for one 

 to earn while under the discipline of a penitentiary. Esther startled 

 the prison officials one morning, by charging the night-watch a most 

 estimable young man with visiting her cell at night. From the 

 method of locking the cells, this appeared to the officers nearly an 

 impossible thing for the watchman to do. A careful examination of 

 the inmates of the adjoining cells failed to elicit any confirming evi- 

 dence ; yet Esther persisted in her charge, to the gi-eat distress of the 

 young man. As Leander nightly buffeted with the waves ^f the 

 Hellespont for the love of Hero, it was thought possible that love 

 might contend not less successfully with patent locks and prison-bars. 

 It was therefoi'e considered the safest course to remove the young 

 man. When Esther was informed of t])e effect of her charge, she at 

 once retracted. Now, the motive of this accusation constitutes the 

 essence of the story. Esther loved tlie niglit-watch. She had for 

 months fed her passion on the sight of the young man. The class of 



