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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    spiteful, impulsive, treacherous, destructive, and often degraded and filthy in their habits. This type includes the very worst examples of refractory patient, some being like savage wild beasts, with few or no redeeming features, and it is this variety of case which, under prolonged sulphonal treatment, dies suddenly of hasmatoporphyrinsemia. Other patients are full-blooded, exuberant adults, who are constantly quarrelling with some one; or they are querulous, complaining, and irritating, and constitute the cases who, if at large, would drive their husbands to drink or to wife-beating. Many of the older cases differ from the above in the fact that the loss of control affects chiefly their intellectual functions, and the result is a quite abnormal garrulity. Their association of ideas is normal, except for its extreme rapidity and complexity, and during conversation the illustrations of their meaning flow in such an overwhelming torrent that the listener can be excused for becoming bewildered and exhausted and doubting the coherence of their ideas. They talk continuously whenever a listener can be found and whether he be interested or not. They devour the contents of all the books and periodicals available, and abstract and learn by heart apparently for the mere enjoyment of the exertion entailed. They are frequently very inconsequent, and show a marked tendency to parenthesis during their descriptions; and at times they return to the original subject after the listener has become quite confused and has forgotten all about it. One of the most marked examples of the type seen by the writer was a retired professor of natural science, whose mental state, except in general terms, it was practically impossible to obtain. The rapid but orderly association of his ideas, his extreme erudition, and the ease with which he could, in a relatively short period, cause exhaustion in cultivated listeners without the least effect on himself, were the most prominent features of his case. He was an excellent linguist, and did a large amount of translation for the writer from several languages, both extremely rapidly and absolutely correctly. One of the most interesting features of his case was his knowledge of insanity and his exact appreciation of his own mental condition. A similar example, Case 121, of the female sex, is inserted below. Of the 36 cases in this class several were good workers. Of the 4 males, 3 worked well as a rule, and 1 constantly refused to work. Of the 32 females, 9 were good workers, 5 were ordi-