Page:Medical Inquiries and Observations Upon the Diseases of the Mind - Benjamin Rush.djvu/221



The symptoms of this third and last form of ge- neral madness are, taciturnity, downcast looks, a total neglect of dress and person, long nails and beard, dishevelled or matted hair, indifference to all surrounding objects, insensibility to heat and cold. A remarkable instance of insensibility to the latter occurred in a certain Thomas Perrin, who was admitted into the Pennsylvania Hospital, with manalgia, in March 1765, and who died there in September 1774, during all which time he ate and slept in the cupola of the hospital, and never, in the coldest weather of nine winters, came near to a fire. A fixed position of the body sometimes at- tends this form of madness. Of this there have been two remarkable instances in our hospital. In one of them, the patient sat with his body bent forwards for three years without moving, except when compelled by force, or the calls of nature. In