James Tilly Matthews 253195 217989089 2008-06-08T17:29:24Z Iruka 308848 '''James Tilly Matthews''' ([[1770]] - [[1815]]) was a [[London]] [[tea]] [[broker]], originally from [[Wales]], who was committed to the [[Bethlem Royal Hospital|Bethlem]] (Bedlam) psychiatric hospital in 1797, and is considered to be the first fully documented case of [[paranoid schizophrenia]]. ==Voyage to France== In the early 1790s, concerned at the likelihood of war between Britain and France, Matthews travelled to France with the radical [[David Williams (philosopher)|David Williams]] who was acquainted with such [[Girondist]]s as [[Jacques Pierre Brissot]] and [[Charles-François Lebrun, duc de Plaisance|Le Brun]]. Williams made efforts at mediation which failed, whereupon Matthews took the lead. Despite the eccentricity of his statements, he gained the trust of the French government for a short time. On [[2 June]] [[1793]] the Girondists were displaced by the [[Jacobins]] and Matthews fell under suspicion for his Girondist associations and also because he was suspected of being a [[double agent]]. He was arrested and imprisoned for three years during the height of [[Reign of Terror|The Terror]] until 1796 when the French authorities concluded that he was a lunatic and released him.<ref name="parmod">{{cite book | last = Trotter | first = David | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Paranoid Modernism: Literary Experiment, Psychosis, and the Professionalization of English Society | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]] | date = 2001 | location = | pages = | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0198187556}}</ref> ==Committal== Returning to London, Matthews wrote two letters to [[Lord Liverpool]], in which he accused the [[Home Secretary]] of treason and complained about conspiracies directed against his life. After interrupting a debate in the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] by shouting "Treason" at Lord Liverpool from the Public Gallery, he was arrested and held in a secure [[workhouse]] in Tothill Fields, [[Westminster]] before being admitted to the [[Bethlem Royal Hospital|Bethlem]] (Bedlam) psychiatric hospital on [[28 January]] [[1797]].<ref name="parmod"/> Upon examination he declared that he had taken part in secret affairs of state (referring to his efforts in France), but had been betrayed and abandoned by [[William Pitt]]'s administration.<ref name="nth">{{cite web | last = Jay | first = Mike | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Air Loom Gang: James Tilly Matthews and his visionary madness | work = | publisher = Nthposition Magazine | date = 2003 | url = http://www.nthposition.com/theairloomgangjames.php | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-01-31}}</ref> In 1809 his family and friends petitioned for his release, on the grounds that he was no longer insane, but their petition was rejected by the Bethlem authorities. They therefore took out a suit of [[habeas corpus]] and two doctors, George Birkbeck and Henry Clutterbuck examined Matthews, declaring him sane. John Haslam, the resident [[apothecary]] at Bethlem, begged to differ and maintained that Matthews' delusions, particularly on political matters, rendered him a danger both to public figures and the general public.<ref name="parmod"/> ==''Illustrations of Madness''== In 1810 John Haslam produced the book ''Illustrations of Madness'' (original title: ''Illustrations of Madness: Exhibiting a Singular Case of Insanity, And a No Less Remarkable Difference in Medical Opinions: Developing the Nature of An Assailment, And the Manner of Working Events; with a Description of Tortures Experienced by Bomb-Bursting, Lobster-Cracking and Lengthening the Brain. Embellished with a Curious Plate'').<ref>{{cite book | last = Haslam | first = John | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Illustrations of Madness | publisher = [[Routledge]] | date = 1988 | location = | pages = | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0415006376}}</ref> Haslam intended to settle the dispute about whether Matthews was insane or not; his book contains verbatim accounts of Matthew's beliefs and hallucinatory experiences and is considered the original description of the symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia.<ref>{{cite web | last = Howard | first = Robert | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Psychiatry in pictures | work = | publisher = [[British Journal of Psychiatry]] | date = 2001 | url = http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/179/3/0 | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-01-31}}</ref> The book was the first full-length study of a single psychiatric patient in medical history and has become a classic in the medical literature. ==The "Air Loom"== [[Image:Airloom.gif|thumb|right|200px|John Haslam's illustration of Matthews' Air Loom]]Matthews believed that a gang of criminals and spies skilled in "pneumatic chemistry" had taken up residence at [[London Wall]] in [[Moorfields]] (close to Bethlem) and were tormenting him by means of rays emitted by a machine called the "Air Loom". The torments induced by the rays included "Lobster-cracking", during which the circulation of the blood was prevented by a magnetic field; "Stomach-skinning"; and "Apoplexy-working with the nutmeg grater" which involved the introduction of fluids into the skull. His persecutors bore such names as "the Middleman" (who operated the Air Loom), "the Glove Woman" and "Sir Archy" (who acted as "repeaters" or "active worriers" to enhance Matthews' torment or record the machine's activities) and their leader, a man called "Bill, or the King". Matthews' delusions had a definite political slant: he claimed that the purpose of this gang was [[espionage]], and that there were many other such gangs armed with Air Looms all over London, using "pneumatic practitioners" to "premagnetize" potential victims with "volatile magnetic fluid". According to Matthews, their chief targets (apart from himself) were leading government figures. By means of their "rays" they could influence ministers' thoughts and read their minds. Matthews declared that William Pitt was "not half" susceptible to these attacks<ref name="parmod"/> and held that these gangs were responsible for the British military disasters at [[British invasions of the Río de la Plata#Second invasion - 1807|Buenos Aires]] in 1807 and [[Walcheren Campaign|Walcheren]] in 1809 and also for the [[Nore Mutiny]] of 1797. In 1814 Matthews was moved to "Fox's London House", a private asylum in [[London Borough of Hackney|Hackney]], where he became a popular and trusted patient, the asylum's owner, Dr. Fox, regarding him as sane. Matthews assisted with book-keeping and gardening until his death in 1815.<ref name="nth"/> ==Conclusions== *Although it is impossible to make an unequivocal diagnosis of a long-dead person, Matthews' description of his torment by the "Air Loom Gang" reads as a classic example of [[Paranoia|paranoid]] [[delusion]]s brought on as part of a [[psychotic]] episode. From this, it can be concluded that his disorder was most likely [[schizophrenia]], although retrospective diagnoses should be treated with caution. *It should also be noted that while Haslam kept notes on Matthews, Matthews kept notes on Haslam and his treatment in Bethlem. This formed part of the evidence looked at by a [[Select Committee]] of the House of Commons in 1815, the findings of which led to Haslam's dismissal and reform of the treatment of patients in the Bethlem Hospital. *Matthews was also important in the history of psychiatry for more practical reasons. During his involuntary confinement he took part in a public competition to design plans for the rebuilding of Bethlem hospital. Bethlem's governors thought so well of the 46 pages of designs submitted by Matthews that they paid him £30 and the drawings finally used to build the new hospital show some features proposed by Matthews.<ref name="parmod"/> ==Fictional representations of Matthews== *Greg Hollingshead's 2004 novel, ''Bedlam'' concerns the changing relationship between John Haslam and Matthews and is narrated in first-person from the perspective of Haslam, Matthews and Matthews's wife. *Alex Varley Winter and Vassili Christodoulou's theatrical adaptation of Haslam's ''Illustrations of Madness'' presents James's life history through the perspective of the "Air Loom Gang" and focuses primarily on the justifications and problems with compromising state security for liberty of the individual. *''Haslam's Key'', a play written by journalist [[Danny O'Brien]] and performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1993, re-imagined Matthews as a forerunner of modern science fiction authors. Haslam's Key was a wooden spoon-like device invented by John Haslam, documenter of Matthew's delusions, which was used to force-feed Bedlam patients. *In 2002, the British artist [[Rod Dickinson]] built a recreation of the air loom from Matthew's original plans. *Richard Hayden's novel ''The Influencing Engine'' is a fantasy loosely based on aspects of James Tilly Mathews life. *In the ''[[CSI: Crime Scene Investigation|CSI]]'' episode ''[[Lab Rats (CSI)|Lab Rats]]'', [[Gil Grissom|Grissom]] uses Matthews' condition as an analogy in describing the miniature killer. *In the 2007 novel, ''[[The Da-da-de-da-da Code]]'' by [[Robert Rankin]], this particular case forms the basis for much of the plot. ==See also== * [[Homokaasu]] * [[mind control]] * [[paranoia]] * [[schizophrenia]] * [[Francis E. Dec]] ==Notes== <references/> ==References== * Carpenter, P.K., "''[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=2667883&dopt=Abstract Descriptions of Schizophrenia in the Psychiatry of Georgian Britain: John Haslam and James Tilly Matthews]''". Comprehensive Psychiatry, 30 (4), 332-338. 1989. ==External links== * [http://www.collphyphil.org/HMDLSubweb/Pages/H/HaslamJ/illmadPgAccess.htm Online version] of Haslam's "''Illustrations of Madness''" * Varley-Winter, Alexandra and Vassili Christodoulou (2007). "''[http://www.codpiecetheatre.org/illustrations Illustrations of Madness]"'' *[http://www.theairloom.org/ Rod Dickinson's recreation of the Air Loom] {{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, James Tilly}} [[Category:18th century births]] [[Category:1770 births]] [[Category:1815 deaths]] [[Category:English businesspeople]] [[Category:People with schizophrenia]]