Amentia and dementia : a clinico-pathological study / by Joseph Shaw Bolton.

  • Bolton, Joseph Shaw, 1867-1946.
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Amentia and dementia : a clinico-pathological study / by Joseph Shaw Bolton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    motions.” All these hard words were carefully spelled and partially explained for the benefit—and to the amusement—of the writer. It may finally be added that these patients as a class (like many other types of ament) only differ from certain “sane” individuals in the absurd and grotesque extremes to which they carry their ideas and their resulting behaviour and actions, and that their stereotypism, which often suggests dementia, also only differs in degree from the stereotypism and prejudice which are often seen in the “ cranks ” of the outside world. It is this type of case, in fact, which most obviously illustrates the con- necting link which exists between normal and morbid psycho- logy, and which most clearly suggests an organic basis and a developmental origin for individual mental peculiarities. Of the 17 patients in this class, a considerable proportion are good workers. Of the 7 males, 4 are good workers, 1 does a little work, 1 refuses to work, and 1 is mentally in- capable of useful work. Of the 10 females, 2 are good workers, 3 are ordinary workers, 1 does a little work, 1 as a rule refuses to work, and 2 are mentally and 1 is physically in- capable of work. The two cases cited are fair and by no means remarkable examples of the type. Case 168.—W. C. S—, male, married, stonemason, set. 53. Certified 3 years. Sister in the asylum, an epileptic idiot, Case 67. An intelligent-looking but excited and garrulous man. He gives his name, and says his age is about 50. He knows where he is and where he has come from and when he came and the present date in full, and at first he talks sensibly. He was at the last asylum about three years, worked well in his ward, and got three half-ounces of tobacco a week. He was taken there as his votes where he was living and the property that belonged to him were forged and returned, one for C— and the other for L. C—. He had two letters of thanks for recording the votes. To hide the forgery the constabulary were “ electropated ” and also the relieving officer, and they came and carried out Secret Service orders worked by the great power electrical mesmerism by Whittaker Wright and Prince Jerome, who “ is the double for the Sultan of Jehore and is the murderer of the whole of my army and navy and that of the whole of the Americans and of the Salvation Army, Church English and Roman Catholic, of the Italians.” He says that he is his own author- ised “ minter ” and poses as Father Almighty. He is simply on his own, and holds the whole deeds of the world, and is, in short, Mephisto- pheles himself. “ A short thick-set man, wearing black optics. He invited me to dine with him, and I was so abhorred and shocked at his blood-curdling form. You have his incubed son here. [He points out a Mongolian idiot in the ward.] He is Pontsfort. He is the American