S. M. a man, thirty-six years of age, was admitted as an incurable patient
in the year 1790. Of the former history of his complaint I have no
information. As his habits, which frequently came under my observation,
were of a singular nature, it may not here be improper to relate
them.--Having at some period of his confinement been mischievously
disposed, and, in consequence, put under coercion, he never afterwards
found himself comfortable when at liberty. When he rose in the morning he
went immediately to the room where he was usually confined, and placed
himself in a particular corner, until the keeper came to secure him. If
he found any other patient had pre-occupied his situation, he became very
outrageous, and generally forced them to leave it. When he had been
confined, for which he appeared anxious, as he bore any delay with little
temper, he employed himself throughout the remainder of the day, by
tramping or shuffling his feet. He was constantly muttering to himself, of
which scarcely one word in a sentence was intelligible. When an audible
expression escaped him it was commonly an imprecation. If a stranger
visited him, he always asked for tobacco, but seldom repeated his
solicitation. He devoured his food with avidity, and always muttered as he
ate.
In the month of July, 1796, he was seized with a diarrhoea, which
afterwards terminated in dysentery. This continued, notwithstanding the
employment of every medicine usually given in such a case, until his
death, which took place on September 23, of the same year. He was opened
twelve hours after death. The scull was unusually thin; the glandulae
Pacchioni were large and numerous: there was a very general determination
of blood to the brain: the medullary substance, when cut, shewed an
abundance of bloody points: the lateral ventricles contained about four
ounces of water: the consistence of the brain was natural.