T. W. a man, thirty-eight years of age, was admitted into the house, May
16, 1795. He had then been disordered a year. His disease was stated to
have arisen, from his having been defrauded, by two of his near relations,
of some property, which he had accumulated by servitude. Having remained
in the hospital the usual time of trial for cure, he was afterwards
continued on the incurable establishment, in consequence of a strong
determination he had always shewn, to be revenged on those people who had
disposed of his property, and a declared intention of destroying himself.
He was in a very miserable state, conceived that he had offended God, and
that his soul was burning in Hell. Notwithstanding he was haunted with
these dreadful imaginations, he acted with propriety upon most occasions.
He took delight in rendering any assistance in his power to the people
about the house, and waited on those who were sick, with a kindness that
made him generally esteemed. At some period of his life he had acquired an
unfortunate propensity to gaming, and whenever he had collected a few
pence, he ventured them at cards. His losses were borne with very little
philosophy, and the devil was always accused of some unfair interposition.
On September 14, 1797, he appeared jaundiced, the yellowness daily
increased, and his depression of mind was more tormenting than ever. From
the time he was first attacked by the jaundice he had a strong
presentiment that he should die. Although he took the medicines which were
ordered, as a mark of attention to those who prescribed them, he was
firmly persuaded they could be of no service. The horror and anxiety he
felt, was, he said, sufficient to kill him, independantly of the jaundice.
On the 20th he was drowsy, and on the following day died comatose. He was
opened twenty-four hours after death. In some places the tunica
arachnoidea was slightly opake: the pia mater was inflamed; and in the
ventricles were found about two tea-spoons full of water tinged deeply
yellow, and the vesicles of the plexus choroides were of the same colour:
to the whole contents of the cranium there was a considerable congestion
of blood: the consistence of the brain was natural: the liver was sound:
the gall-bladder very much thickened, and contained a stone of the
mulberry appearance, of a white colour. Another stone was also found in
the duodenum.