ECCENTRICITY AND IDIOSYNCRASY. 479 



In addition to these advanced notions on the subject of ventilation, he had 

 •others equally singular in regard to the arrangement of the furniture in his dwell- 

 ing and the care that was to be taken of it. Thus, there was one room called 

 the "apostles' room." It contained a table that represented Christ, and twelve 

 chairs, which were placed around it and typified the twelve apostles ; one chair, 

 that stood for Judas Iscariot, was covered with black crape. The floor of this 

 room was very highly polished, and no one was allowed to enter it without slip- 

 ping his shod feet into cloth slippers that were placed at the door ready for use. 

 He had a library, tolerably large but of little value, and every book in it which 

 contained Judas's name was bound in black, and black lines were drawn around 

 the name wherever it occurred. Such eccentricity as this is not far removed 

 from insanity, and is liable at any time, from some cause a little out of the com- 

 mon way, to pass over the line. 



Thus, a lady had since her childhood shown a singularity of conduct as re- 

 garded her table furniture, which she would have of no other material than cop- 

 per. She carried this fancy to such an extent that even the knives and forks were 

 of copper. People laughed at her, and tried to reason her out of her whim, but 

 in vain. She was in her element as soon as attention was directed to her fancy 

 and arguments against it were addressed to her. She liked nothing better than 

 to be afforded a full opportunity to discuss with any one the manifold advantages 

 which copper possessed as a material to be used in the manufacture of every 

 article of table ware. In no other respect was there any evidence of mental 

 aberration. She was intelligent, by no means excitable, and in the enjoyment of 

 excellent health. She had, moreover, a decided talent for music, and had writ- 

 ten several passably good stories for a young ladies' magazine. An uncle had, 

 however, died insane. 



A circumstance, trifling in itself, but one, as it afterward resulted, of great 

 importance to her, started in her a new train of thought, and excited emotions 

 which she could not control. She read in a morning paper that a Mr. Kopper- 

 mann had arrived at one of the hotels, and she announced her determination to 

 call upon him, in order, as she said, to ascertain the origin of his name. Her 

 friends endeavored to dissuade her, but without avail. She went to the hotel, and 

 was told that he had just left for Chicago. Without returning to her home, she 

 bought a railway ticket for Chicago, and actually started on the next train for 

 that city. The telegraph, however, overtook her, and she was brought back 

 from Rochester raving of her love for a man she had never seen, and whose 

 name alone had been associated in her mind with her fancy for copper table 

 furniture. She died of acute mania within a month. In this case erotic tenden- 

 cies, which had never been observed in her before, seemed to have been excited 

 by some very indirect and complicated mental process, and these in their tufn 

 developed into general derangement of the mind. 



In another case, a young man, a clerk in a city bank, had for several years 

 exhibited peculiarities in the keeping of his books. He was exceedingly exact in 

 his accounts, but after the bank was closed always remained several hours, dur- 



