Aged forty-six, admitted August 9th 1821. This man had been a labourer
in agriculture, and when he came in was highly disordered and violent.
Judging from the effects, it would appear that his derangement
originated in fanatacism and superstition. His chief amusement was
twirling his head about, like a watchman’s rattle; which, of itself,
would have been sufficient to addle his brain and excite distraction.
His notion was, “that by so doing he kept off evil spirits, sin, and
wickedness.” Sometimes, on being asked why he twirled his head thus, he
answered, “to make bubbles in the water, and keep them off (the evil
spirits); and if I was not to do it, you would soon have them down upon
you, and be all devoured up.”
Sometimes he was doing so “to turn the planets in their proper places,
keeping off fogs, damps, and heat.”
This man had the repute of being much better informed than most others
in his sphere of life: but the poor fellow has exemplified the maxim of
the poet, that
“A little learning is a dangerous thing.”
As a ploughman, a mower, a thrasher, and an agriculturer, he is said
to have no competent rival in his county. His head is conically
formed, like a sugar-loaf, and might afford an eligible topic for the
speculations of Spurzeim, or any other of the craniologists. He was
discharged an ideot, on the 13th December 1821.