Histories

Newspaper Date : 1/24/1890 12:00:00 AM
Volume : 13
Number : 43
Page : 2
Column : 4
Newspaper : Review
Description : Letter from the Medical Superintendant at Traverse City, declaring that there is little possibility of any recovery by Duncan McArthur, and that he is certainly not malingering.
Transcription : HOPELESSLY INSANE. McArthur's Confinement in the Asylum Imperative. The following letter has been received by Prosecuting Attorney Smith in answer to inquiries concerning the condition and prospects for recovery of D. J. McArthur who was recently sent to the Traverse City Insane Asylum: O. H. Smith, Esq. Dear Sir:--Your letter of recent date, making inquiry concerning the patient Duncan McArthur, is received. Since he has come to us he has gotten on quite comfortably, and has been uniformly pleasant toward us all. To an ordinary observer, with but opportunity for a cursory examination, evidences of his insanity would not be very obvious. On careful examination, however, the mental anomaly becomes at once apparent. When he was received he gave the clearest evidence of being dominated by delusions of persecution, and it was also clear that he was subject to hallucinations of hearing and sight. Since that time he has not made any spontaneous reference to either delusions or hallucinations; but on several occasions, of which the last occurred last evening, he has been questioned, and he has as freely disclosed his mental symptoms as at first. The character of his delusions--which in themselves are of very unfavorable import--when taken in connection with the etiology of his disease, which seems unquestionably to be alcoholic, renders the prognosis in his case, as to recovery, very unfavorable. It is an occasional occurrence for a remission of symptoms to appear, but the usual course of the disease is chronic. The possibility of a remission, as such, renders the care of such a case a matter of great anxiety, for , should he be discharged during one, the old symptoms might return with renewed vigor at any time, and a renewal of criminal acts might take place. Thus far he has looked upon his confinement here in the light of protection, and for this reason he has been contented. He says that he has never been troubled much here, but he presumes that after a time they will begin to bother him here as they did in Alcona county. To one skilled in a knowledge of insanity, the necessity for his confinement here seems imperative, and any question of malingering could not be entertained. Indeed, to any one of fair intelligence it would be possible to demonstrate the man's abnormal mental condition, and the danger to those associated with him could likewise be made obvious. The peculiar language with which he describes his delusions and hallucinations is the distinctive mark of the genuineness of his insanity. I shall be pleased to inform you of his condition at any time you may wish to hear about him. Very Respectfully, James B. Munson, Med. Sup't.