bilitation, soon
appeared, and he and I had a satisfactory talk. He gave me to
understand that he himself would in future look after my case, as he
realized that his assistant lacked the requisite tact and judgment to
cope with one of my temperament--and with that, my desire to telephone
my conservator vanished.

Now no physician would like to have his wings clipped by a patient,
even indirectly, and without doubt the man's pride was piqued as his
incompetence was thus made plain. Thereafter, when he passed through
the ward, he and I had frequent tilts. Not only did I lose no
opportunity to belittle him in the presence of attendants and patients,
but I even created such opportunities; so that before long he tried to
avoid me whenever possible. But it seldom was possible. One of my chief
amusements consisted in what were really one-sided interviews with him.
Occasionally he was so unwise as to stand his ground for several
minutes, and his arguments on such occasions served only to keep my
temper at a vituperative heat. If there were any epithets which I
failed to apply to him during the succeeding weeks of my association
with him, they must have been coined since. The uncanny admixture of
sanity displayed by me, despite my insane condition, was something this
doctor could not comprehend. Remarks of mine, which he should have
discounted or ignored, rankled as the insults of a sane and free man
would have done. And his blunt and indiscriminate refusal of most of my
requests prolonged my period of mental excitement.

After my return to my old ward I remained there for a period of three
weeks. At that time I was a very self-centred individual. My large and
varied assortment of delusions of grandeur made everything seem
possible. There were few problems I hesitated to attack. With
sufficient provocation I even attacked attendants--problems in
themselves; but such fights as I subsequently engaged in were fights
either for my own rights or the rights of others. Though for a while I
got along fairly well with the attendants and as well as could be
expected with the assistant physician, it soon became evident that
these men felt that to know me more was to love me less. Owing to their
lack of capacity for the work required of them, I was able to cause
them endless annoyance. Many times a day I would tell the attendants
what to do and what not to do, and tell them what I should do if my
requests, suggestions, or orders were not