SCIENCE. 



365 



SCIENCE: 



A Weekly Record of Scientific 

 Progress. 



JOHN MICHELS, Editor. 



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SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 1881. 



The crime of Guiteau has directed public attention 

 to the subject of mental diseases ; we will therefore 

 endeavor to explain the teachings of some of the most 

 prominent of modern alienists who have recorded the 

 results of their investigations, and classified the vari- 

 ous phases of this, the greatest curse of humanity. 



The first point of interest to be discovered is, can 

 any line be drawn between partial and absolute insan- 

 ity; if one faculty of the mind is affected do all suc- 

 cumb ? 



On this point, as on most others bearing on this 

 subject, there is much difference of opinion ; but the 

 most advanced alienists appear to be now satisfied 

 that a partial form of insanity exists, which is termed 

 monomania. The German and French alienists have 

 long since recognized this distinction and invented 

 terms to exp.ess it, but it appears to be due to Dr. 

 Edward C. Spitzka to have introduced this term with 

 its proper modifications into English psychological 

 literature. 



The delusions of the monomaniac are what would 

 be day-dreams in other people, " but which have be- 

 come fixed realities for the former, owing, it is said, to 

 a faulty cerebral association system, which permits 

 collateral circumstances to act as supports for the 

 patient's erroneous conception." 



The general intellectual status of monomaniacs, 

 though rarely of a very high order, is moderately fair, 

 and generally the mental powers are sufficient to keep 

 the delusion under check for the practical purposes of 

 life, and although many are what is termed crotchety, 

 irritable and depressed, yet the sole mental symptoms 

 of the typical cases of this disease consists of the fixed 

 delusions. 



Without describing in detail the various features of 



monomania, let us take an imaginary case of this 

 character, and sketch its leading characteristics. To 

 protect us from any reproach of exaggeration or ot 

 drawing a fictitious image, we will take an extract 

 from a paper by Dr. Edward C. Spitzka read before 

 the New York Neurological Society, as far back as 

 November 1880. 



The monomaniac after experiences incidental to the 

 early stages of the disease at length concludes that he 

 is a person of some importance. 



" Some great political movement now takes place, he 

 throws himself into it either in a fixed character that 

 he has already constructed for himself or with the 

 vague idea that he is an influential personage. He 

 seeks interviews, holds actual conversations with the 

 big men of the day, accepts the common courtesy shown 

 him by those in office as a tribute to his value, is re- 

 jected, however, and then judges himself to be the 

 victim of jealousy or of rival cabals, makes intemperate 

 and querulent complaints to higher officials, perhaps 

 makes violent attacks upon them, and finally is incar- 

 cerated in a jail." 



The writer of this paper had no intention of being 

 prophetic in his utterances, but our readers cannot 

 fail to observe the very close relation the above picture 

 bears to any mental portrait which might be drawn of 

 the assassin Guiteau. 



It is curious that all through this train of ideas to 

 which the monomaniac abandons himself there is seen 

 a chain of logic and inferences ; there is no gap any- 

 where. If the inferences of the patient were based 

 upon correctly observed facts and associated with a 

 proper correlation with his actual surroundings, his 

 conclusions would be perfectly correct. 



We have therefore in the monomaniac an individ- 

 ual with full reasoning powers, and intellectually the 

 equal of most men. In what respect does his status 

 differ from the sane man ? The answer is, that he is 

 possessed with a fixed delusion or insane project. 



To follow the subject intelligently, let us now en- 

 v quire what an alienist terms a delusion, and analyze 

 its nature. This can be done profitably, for we are 

 told that such a preliminary investigation is the most 

 direct step for those who would be initiated into the 

 mysteries of the insane mind. 



Genuine delusions are divided into two funda- 

 mental classes ; the first styled Systematized delu. 

 sions as contrasted with the second class of Unsys- 

 tematized delusions. 



It may be here stated, that assuming Guiteau to be 

 a monomaniac, his delusions would be of the first 

 class. 



The highest general mental development among con- 

 stitutional lunatics is found among those who cherish 



