R. B. a man, sixty-four years of age, was admitted into the hospital,
September 2, 1797. He had then been disordered three months. It was also
stated, that he had suffered an attack of this disease seven years before,
which then continued about two months. His disorder had, both times, been
occasioned by drinking spirituous liquors to excess. He was a person of
liberal education, and had been occasionally employed as usher in a
school, and at other times as a librarian and amanuensis. When admitted he
was very noisy, and importunately talkative. During the greatest part of
the day he was reciting passages from the Greek and Roman poets, or
talking of his own literary importance. He became so troublesome to the
other madmen, who were sufficiently occupied with their own speculations,
that they avoided, and excluded him from the common room; so that he was,
at last, reduced to the mortifying situation of being the sole auditor of
his own compositions.
He conceived himself very nearly related to Anacreon, and possessed of the
peculiar vein of that poet. He also fancied that he had discovered the
longitude; and was very urgent for his liberation from the hospital, that
he might claim the reward, to which his discovery was intitled. At length
he formed schemes to pay off the national debt: these, however, so much
bewildered him that his disorder became more violent than ever, and he was
in consequence obliged to be confined to his room. He now, after he had
remained two months in the house, was more noisy than before, and had
little sleep. These exertions very much reduced him.
In the beginning of January, 1798, his conceptions were less distinct, and
although his talkativeness continued, he was unable to conclude a single
sentence. When he began to speak, his attention was diverted by the first
object which caught his eye, or by any sound that struck him. On the 5th
he merely muttered; on the 7th he lost the use of his right side, and
became stupid and taciturn. In this state he continued until the 14th,
when he had another fit; after which he remained comatose and insensible.
On the following day he died. He was opened thirty-six hours after death.
The pericranium adhered very loosely to the scull: the tunica arachnoidea
was generally opake, and suffused with a brownish hue: a large quantity of
water was contained between it and the pia mater: the contents of the
cranium were unusually destitute of blood: there was a considerable
quantity of water (perhaps four ounces) in the lateral ventricles, which
were much enlarged: the consistence of the brain was very soft.