Trial and the First Reported Use of the Term "Brain Storm"
Doctor Britton D. Evans, Alienist (defense psychiatrist)
February 12, 1907
that Harry K. Thaw exhibited a peculiar facial expression, a glaring of
the eyes, a restlessness of the eyes, a suspicious viewing of the
surroundings and me, watching every movement of me. I observed a
nervous agitation and restlessness, such as comes from a severe brain
storm, and is common in persons who have recently gone through an
explosive or fulminating condition of mental unsoundness. I observed in
him a peculiar condition known as logorrhea*."
[N. Y. Times, page 3 (2/13/1907)]
* logorrhea refers to an "excessive flow of words," which was a common
symptom of mania
The word brain storm was frequently
used in the Thaw trial. Dr. Charles G. Wagner, another defense
alienist, testified that "brainstorm" was a good word to describe what
was going on in Thaw's brain after the murder.
Although "brainstorm," emerges in
the 1907 trial as a negative term denoting a form of mental insanity,
by the 1930s it has a more positive meaning, denoting a sudden and
generally creative and helpful thought.
Trial and "Dementia Americana"
Summation of Defense Attorney Delphin M. Delmas
April 9, 1907
“Ah, gentlemen, if
you desire a name for
this species of insanity let me suggest it—call it Dementia Americana.
That is the species of insanity which makes every American man believe
his home to be sacred; that is the species of insanity which makes him
believe the honor of his daughter is sacred; that is the species of
insanity which makes him believe the honor of his wife is sacred; that
is the species of insanity which makes him believe that whosoever
invades his home, that whosoever stains the virtue of this threshold,
has violated the highest of human laws and must appeal to the mercy of
God, if mercy there be for him anywhere in the universe.”