No. 21.—Admitted 1801.
Nothing on record.—He was one of those who was formerly kept naked on loose straw. He has been for years, for the most part, in a moping, poring, and solitary looking state; yet he has had occasional seasons of excitement, when the disposition towards furious revenge seemed to possess him, so much so, that he would, unprovoked, place his back against a corner of the wall in the attitude of self-defence, shaking his doubled fists in a daring and threatening manner. Though these effervescences of his spirits occur as frequently as ever, yet the malicious disposition seems dying away, and instead of which he will, at these periods, sing a little comic air, and give other indications of his mind being happy and full of good-nature, as much so as the little mind he possesses will enable him to be, if, indeed, beings in such a state can be said to have minds at all; for what an appalling difference between them and minds enriched with laborious habits of reading and reflection!
OBSERVATION XI.
In addition to the observations already made on former and present treatment, it is only justice further to say, that amongst recent patients, I have scarcely seen (if indeed I have seen) one instance of continued revenge. Their spirits exhibit themselves in good or ill-nature, according to the direction that is given them, and even in the old cases, as in the one above stated, it appears simply the remains of their former usage; so that if their minds are still agitated in some sort with feelings of revenge, it is only like the sea which will fluctuate awhile after the storm has ceased; but the winds are hushed, and every wave becomes less and less, until it subsides into a calm.
No. 22.—Admitted 1801.
Nothing on record.—I have been informed, that his mind was instantly wrecked by the female of his heart unexpectedly marrying another the very day previous to that on which she had promised to be made his own for ever. He was an idiot, who could barely answer in a low whisper, and to a few very simple questions, “yes” or “no.” He was old, and pale, and thin—had a long face—his head hanging forwards—his stare was ludicrously vacant and goggling—his lower jaw fallen, and saliva flowing over his large hanging lip—though he generally stood quietly in a corner with his face to the wall, yet sometimes he would for some hours together make a strange and disagreeable noise—what was still more disgusting about him, he had the sickening habit of bringing up his food and regorging it, yet, in other respects he was not a dirty patient—perhaps because having been with a better class, he had received more attention.—He had this singular fancy, that if he had one or fifty pieces of bread and butter, he would eat, or secrete, or pocket them all, except one. He gradually declined from old age, and died in December, 1821.
No. 23.—Admitted 1801.
No statement of his case. It is reported that he was a clever man, a hard student, fond of political subjects, and that speculations on the national debt were the cause of his insanity.—This report receives a colouring of probability from two large trunks full of books now in the Asylum belonging to him, almost wholly on subjects of political science, among which is a large collection of pamphlets on the national debt, and it is apparently confirmed by the nature of his hallucination; only I cannot trace the report to any certain source. It is certain he was Superintendant of the Police at Bombay.
His appearance and manners are very peculiar, and very difficult to describe. He holds his head forwards and obliquely upwards in a calculating position; moving his hands in different directions, and working with his fingers like unto one gathering something in the air.—At times he extends and stretches his hands higher than his head, moving and working them in the same manner: he will hold his face directly upwards—open and shut his mouth in a gaping and catching style, as if he were feeding on air; repeating these operations, and intermingling them with a strange gurgling noise in his throat—almost always muttering to himself as if he held busy converse with his own thoughts, with visible appearances of pleasure or anger on his countenance, occasioned by his imaginary operations being successful or otherwise.
Though he is sometimes as immoveable as a statue, yet he is for the most part moving about, and has a singular mode of treading with his feet like one who has been accustomed to a tread-mill, lifting them higher than necessary, and setting them down cautiously,—sometimes pulling off his shoes—sometimes, however, quickening all his motions, as if something required extraordinary haste and dispatch; and thus he marches about like some star-gazer treading on precious and frail materials; seldom more than a few moments in one place, and in all his movements in different rooms and parts and corners of his gallery, stairs, and airing court, and in all his operations and mutterings it is evident that he, in his imagination, is performing some essential part of his mighty task of paying the national debt, for when any of his operations or mutterings are interrupted, like one whose studies are suddenly broken in upon at some unlucky moment, he seems vexed and unhinged; sometimes bursting into a violent passion, when he is most eloquent in the use of scurrilous epithets (a proof that to use abusive epithets requires very little mind) calling the person who has impeded him in his great work, low-bred, mean, dirty scoundrel, rascal, villain, thief, vagabond, madman; accusing him of being the cause of the loss of many millions to the nation, threatening him with the direst punishment, particularly that he shall be whipped in the air. He is otherwise remarkably quiet and inoffensive, and uniformly intent upon this object, except that sometimes, as already stated, he appears unhinged and irritable by the unsuccessful issue of his calculations, and is then more liable to take offence, especially at any disrespectful deportment towards him, for it must be observed that he is still very fond of his title and of that deference due to a man of rank. Occasionally, like some alchemist of old, he fancies that some äerial being, which he calls the clown of the air, plagues him in various strange ways and interrupts his operations, for which mischievous interference he, in his way, severely scolds him.