THE MYSTERY OF INSANITY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 108, 8 May 1909, Page 11

THE MYSTERY OF INSANITY.

0 The largest hospital in America, and possibly tho largest in the world, for tho exclusive treatment of mental cases is situated at Islip, Long Island, where the average number of patients ranges between 3000 and 4000. "The study of mental diseases has become one of the most important in the world," writes Dr. Smith, the superintendent of the hospital, "because they are drawn in large numbers from all classes and professions. Just what insanity is has never been satisfactorily answered, except that it consists of fixed delusions which control the actions. Books have been written upon the subject and many new theories have been advanced, but the baffling fact remains that when an autopsy has been performed, and the brain of a chronic disturbed patient is examined, it is found to differ in no way from the normal brain. In my years of experience, and in the examination of thousands of patients who come before us here, tho majority, if they can be induced to explain at all, tell us that at the beginning of their trouble they felt something snap in their brain, and further than that they know nothing. What it is that snaps has never been discovered."

As a remedy for botfly 111 horses, an American farmer advocates chopping up half-a-gallon of small potatoes, salting them well, and feeding them to the bot-affected animal. Not every horse will eat them, but if they will, relief follows in less than an hour. The poison in the potato skins loosens, or kills, the small white worms causing the trouble. Potatoes are also recommended by the same practical authority as instrumental in promoting the welfare of any mare that has not done well in foaling. One quart to half a gallon for one to three feeds will prove efficacious.