THINKS HE IS A HORSE. Strange Hallucination of an Iowa Lunatic.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 215, 13 August 1887, Page 7

THINKS HE IS A HORSE. Strange Hallucination of an lowa Lunatic.

A peculiar case of insanity, caused by a wound in the head, is leported from Shelby county. A fanner is said to have been kicked by a horse some twenty years ago, the scar being fetill a isiblc ju»b beneath the right eye. He has now gone crazy, his mental ailment taking 1 the form of an occasional spell of acting like a horse — sleeping with horses, working in harness with them, and finally prancing about the room and snorting and whinnying the moment the subject of horses is mentioned in his presence. The story goes on to say that an appeal to the doctor suggested that there might be something still the matter in the old wound— a loose piece of bone or an indentation of the skull. A consultation of doctors Avas held, the skull trepanned, and a piece of horse shee nail about three-quarters of an inch long, was found imbedded in the brain. It was taken out, and at last accounts recovery seemed likely, the delirium having entirely disappeared The most incredible part of the btory is that the nail should have ever got in there. We do not see how it should nave been attached to the shoe on the bare foot in such a manner as to completely penetrate the skull, leaving no external projection. After that the rest is simple enough. Such cases have often happened. But the fact that it was a horseshoe nail instead of a pebble in his braiti had nothing to do with the form of the malady, or the peculiarity of the delusion. This may have been caused by the fact that the wound was caused by the kick of a horse. In the original delirium caused by his wound the patient would most likely dream of horses more than anything else. People who have been nearly drowned sometimes retain all their lives a dread of water which approaches insanity. A man who was nearly killed and quite demented by a horse migh.t go crazy on that subject. The editor of the Shelby •' News " offers to exhibit the nail in substantiation of his story.