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Introduction.
Previous History.
Psychosis, 3 months.
Convalescence, 4 months.
Aftermath.
Summary.
One day in the receiving ward of a hospital for mental diseases my attention was attracted by a slender, intelligent looking boy of seventeen with clothes and hair awry, whom an attendant had just brought out of an empty room in which he had been confined. The boy seated himself at a table and began writing at top speed, apparently enjoying himself hugely. I asked him what he was writing, and he showed me the following: “And I haven't wearied yet, I really enjoy it—What? reassuring the old folks and amusing the young ones. Efficiency Man says I rank 375% in health—a veritable dynamo of energy. I am under no restrictions—there are no inhibitions—the gentlemen are very kind to me and allow me absolute freedom. I am living under no restrictions, have no D T's, only what 1 cal A T's. They fed me on noodle soup, ABC etc. & believe us, we, the editors and people with hookworms are the cream of the frappe. Home for me is where the heat is, etc.”
Conversation with the boy, whom I will call Adolf Smith, was practically impossible, for he uttered a steady stream of isolated words, phrases and sentences, paying almost no attention to what I said, but his disjointed talk indicated so much intelligence and education and was so full of symbolism, that I took down in long hand as much of it as I could. Deciding to make a special study of the