Case CLXVL

"In 1831," says M. Gauthier, "I was on my way from Lyons to St. Amour. We were four in the coach; a priest and myself in the coupe, and an officer and another person in the interior. This officer had fallen into serious troubles; he had been imprisoned, dismissed from his regiment, and sent to Strasbourg. He entered the coach very quietly; but we had scarcely gone half a league, when he uttered violent shrieks. He said he was insulted, and demanded reparation. He called to the conductor, and made him stop the carriage, when he hastily mounted on the imperial, where he thought he heard the voice of a man named Pouzet, with whom he had had some differences in the regiment; he sought him everywhere. Not finding him, he re-entered the carriage in the greatest agitation; continuing to hear the voice of this individual, who still insulted him, and told him that he had been discharged. He became much enraged, and insisted on fighting him. We arrived at Meximieux at midnight; whilst the horses were being changed, this unfortunate being got out, drew his sword, and exclaimed: 'Pouzet, come out from your concealment! Come and fight! These gentlemen will be witnesses. If you do not show yourself, and I assassinate you, the blame will rest on your cowardice.' As Pouzet did not appear, the officer again mounted the imperial, and thrust his sword several times into the packages with the idea of stabbing his enemy. 'Where has he hidden himself?' he exclaimed: ' I hear the coward; he insults me, but I cannot find him.'

"Finally, he again got into the carriage, but his agitation and fury lasted until our arrival at Buoy, where we stopped for breakfast. The priest endeavored to calm him - begged him to forget his injuries, and pardon his enemy. 'I consent, Monsieur l'Abbe,' said the officer; ' be our mediator. But let him show himself! - let him acknowledge his wrongs! - let him stay his insults ! Do you not hear the coward? He continues to, insult me; he says I have been discharged; it is false - I have only changed my regiment. Pouzet, show yourself! come and fight! If you do not, I will report you everywhere as a villain. They will spit in your face, and tear off your epaulettes.' We offered him breakfast, but he declined. This agitated state lasted until our arrival at Lons-le-Saulnier, where he was taken to the hospital."*

With the progress of the moral affection, all the means employed by these patients to escape the plots of their enemies are ineffectual. They introduce themselves into their dwellings, annoy them constantly; speak ironical, injurious, and menacing words; appear to them in the streets, and in the silence of night. Frequently, illusion is combined with hallucination, and they see enemies in every person whom they meet.

When the disorder has reached this point, the patient becomes so exasperated that he resolves to escape this constant and frightful torment by suicide. This result more frequently takes place when he thinks that his enemies wish to be rid of him by means of poison. He then frequently refuses all kinds of nourishment, because it tastes badly, or has a suspicious odor, and thus he dies of hunger. At other times the insane, furious at these persecutions, form projects of vengeance, strike, wound, or kill the first person whom they meet, and who, as they say, pays for the rest. Under some circumstances, they conceive a hatred for their nearest relative, or the person whom they most frequently see, and their act in this case may impose on inexperienced minds, who look on it as an act of revenge.

Insane hallucinated persons of this class are in general very formidable, and the examples we shall give will justify our assertion.