Show Kleptomania a Mark of Insanity I The ordinary layman of average intelligence intelli-gence smiles when he hears of or reads about a case of kleptomania He knows better the kleptomaniac Is a thief with a fine name and the name has been invented for the purpose of screening members of the higher classes who are vicious Yet kleptomania is as much an indication of insanity as the unreasoning desire to take human life A case in point is cited in a recent number of The Hospital It is that of a man who was arrested a short time ago in the act of stealing steal-ing a handkerchief from a lady in a Vienna suburb In his sane days he had been a prosperous banker but mania for cambric pocket handkerchiefs seizod i I upon him and proved his ruin It was his i habit to accost ladies in the street and offer to buy their pocket handkerchiefs If they refused he used to get angry and to offer higher and higher prices until a bargain was struck I Many women traded upon his madness until at last all his money was spent and he became a bankrupt But bankruptcy I did not cure his mania for no longer having hav-ing money to pay for pocket handkerchiefs he took to stealing them and was sent to prison For five years nothing was heard of his depredations and it was believed that his imprisonment had curtid himI I But a short time ago he was discovered at his old tricks When arrested he had fifteen i teen cambric handkerchiefs in his possession posses-sion all of which he confessed to having stolen within an hour In his bedroom 434 cambric pocket handkerchiefs found and it is believed that many more were concealed in hiding places which he refused to reveal He had never been known to steal anything else nor does lie seem to have made any use of the cambric hand kcnliiefs The tribunal before which lie appeared veryproperly sent him to madhouse mad-house and not to prison The case declares de-clares a medical authority is absolutely convincing and probably no one who reads it will in future doubt the frict of kleptomania klepto-mania |