| Description Of Item | One leaflet, lined paper, describing the case of Robert Scott – a patient experiencing religious delusions. From the collection of Thomas Laycock.
Background information on the patient Robert Scott was provided by his father. The father describes Robert as having been ‘excitable, restless and impulsive’ from birth and explains that ‘a state of greater excitement of usual was always preceded by a peculiar grinding of his teeth.’ The father recalls that ‘7 or 8 years ago’ Robert became acquainted with ‘religious ranters’ who ‘worked upon his imagination,’ which encouraged him to experience religious delusions and led to his admission to an asylum. A new section begins under the date 1868, describing the author’s perception of the patient Robert Scott. They describe Robert as strong and healthy and not suffering from the same religious delusions that ‘seemed to characterise his first breakdown’. It is noted that ‘he is silly in his manner, at times coherent in conversation but very generally incoherency prevails: he is very restless , constantly on the move, and full of mischievous actions, which seem impulsive, such as suddenly putting his fist through a pane of glass […] he is a good worker and if sufficient employment could be had to keep him hard at it all day he would be one of the most tractable of patients […]’.
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