my informant;
for three weeks of abuse, together with my continued inability to get
in touch with my conservator, had so shaken my reason that there was a
partial recurrence of old delusions. I imagined myself on the way to
the State Prison, a few miles distant; and not until the train had
passed the prison station did I believe that I was really on my way to
the State Hospital.

XVIII

The State Hospital in which I now found myself, the third institution
to which I had been committed, though in many respects above the
average of such institutions, was typical. It commanded a wide view of
a beautiful river and valley. This view I was permitted to enjoy--at
first. Those in charge of the institution which I had just left did not
give my new custodians any detailed account of my case. Their reticence
was, I believe, occasioned by chagrin rather than charity. Tamers of
wild men have as much pride as tamers of wild animals (but
unfortunately less skill) and to admit defeat is a thing not to be
thought of. Though private institutions are prone to shift their
troublesome cases to state institutions, there is too often a
deplorable lack of sympathy and co-operation between them, which, in
this instance, however, proved fortunate for me.

From October 18th until the early afternoon of November 8th, at the
private institution, I had been classed as a raving maniac. The _name_
I had brought upon myself by experimental conduct; the _condition_ had
been aggravated and perpetuated by the stupidity of those in authority
over me. And it was the same experimental conduct on my part, and
stupidity on the part of my new custodians, which gave rise, two weeks
later, to a similar situation. On Friday, November 7th, I was in a
strait-jacket. On November 9th and 10th I was apparently as tractable
as any of the twenty-three hundred patients in the State
Hospital--conventionally clothed, mild mannered, and, seemingly, right
minded. On the 9th, the day after my arrival, I attended a church
service held at the hospital. My behavior was not other than that of
the most pious worshipper in the land. The next evening, with most
exemplary deportment, I attended one of the dances which are held every
fortnight during the winter. Had I been a raving maniac, such
activities would have led to a disturbance; for maniacs, of necessity,
disregard the conventions of both pious and polite society. Yet, on
either of these days, had I been in the pr