Night Falls Fast

by Kay Redfield Jamison

  82 The explanations for this “deseasonalization”: J. Aschoff, “Annual Rhythms in Man,” in J. Aschoff, ed., Handbook of Behavioral Neurobiology, vol. 4: Biological Rhythms (New York: Plenum, 1981), pp. 475–487.

  83 Emile Durkheim observed: Emile Durkheim, Suicide: A Study in Sociology (New York: Free Press, 1951: first published 1897); L. I. Dublin and B. Bunzel, To Be or Not to Be: A Study of Suicide (New York: Smith and Hass, 1933); A. J. Flisher, C. D. H. Parry, D. Bradshaw, and J. M. Juritz, “Seasonal Variation of Suicide in South Africa,” Psychiatry Research, 66 (1997): 13–22.

  84 far more pronounced: M. R. Eastwood, J. L. Whitton, P. M. Kramer, and A. M. Peter, “Infradian Rhythm: A Comparison of Affective Disorders and Normal Persons,” Archives of General Psychiatry, 42 (1985): 295–299; F. K. Goodwin and K. R. Jamison, Manic-Depressive Illness (New York: Oxford, 1990).

  85 plasma L-tryptophan: L. Wetterberg, D. Eriksson, Y. Friberg, and B. Vango, “Melatonin in Humans: Physiological and Clinical Studies,” Clinica Chimica Acta, 86 (1978): 169–177; T. H. Oddie, A. H. Klein, T. P. Foley, and D. A. Fisher, “Variation in Values for Iodothyronine Hormones, Thyrotropin, and Thyroxine-Binding Globulin in Normal Umbilical Cord Serum with Season and Duration of Storage,” Clinical Chemistry, 25 (1979): 1251–1253; P. R. Perez, J. G. Lopez, I. P. Makeos, A. D. Escribano, and M. L. S. Sanchez, “Seasonal Variations in Thyroid Hormones in Plasma,” Revista Clínica Española, 156 (1980): 245–247; K. M. Behall, D. J. Scholfield, J. G. Hallfrisch, J. L. Kelsay, and S. Reiser, “Seasonal Variation in Plasma Glucose and Hormone Levels in Adult Men and Women,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 40 (1984): 1352–1356; D. J. Gordon, D. C. Trost, J. Hyde, F. S. Whaley, P. J. Hannan, D. R. Jacobs, and L.-G. Ekelund, “Seasonal Cholesterol Cycles: The Lipid Research Clinics Coronary Primary Prevention Trial Placebo Group,” Circulation, 76 (1987): 1224–1231; M. Maes, S. Scharpé, R. Verkerk, P. D’Hondt, D. Peeters, P. Cosyns, P. Thompson, F. De Meyer, A. Wauters, and H. Neels, “Seasonal Variation in Plasma l-Tryptophan Availability in Healthy Volunteers: Relationship to Violent Suicide Occurrence,” Archives of General Psychiatry, 52 (1995): 937–946.

  86 The effect of seasonal changes: A. Carlsson, L. Svennerholm, and B. Winblad, “Seasonal and Circadian Monoamine Variations in Human Brains Examined Post Mortem,” Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 280 (1979): 75–83; J. Aschoff, “Annual Rhythms in Man,” in J. Aschoff, ed., Handbook of Behavioral Neurobiology; vol. 4: Biological Rhythms (New York: Plenum, 1981), pp. 475–487; M. F. Losonczy, R. C. Mohs, and K. L. Davis, “Seasonal Variations of Human Lumbar CSF Neurotransmitter Metabolite Concentrations,” Psychiatry Research, 12 (1984): 79–87; E. Souêtre, E. Salvati, J. L. Belugou, P. Douillet, T. Braccini, and G. Darcourt, “Seasonal Variation of Serotonin Function in Humans: Research and Clinical Implications,” Annals of Clinical Psychiatry, 1 (1989): 153–164; V. Lacoste and A. Wirz-Justice, “Seasonal Variation in Normal Subjects: An Update of Variables Current in Depression Research,” in N. Rosenthal and M. Blehar, eds., Seasonal Affective Disorders and Phototherapy (New York: Guilford Press, 1989), pp. 167–229; M. J. Sarrias, F. Artigas, E. Martínez, and E. Gelpí, “Seasonal Changes of Plasma Serotonin and Related Parameters: Correlation with Environmental Measures,” Biological Psychiatry, 26 (1989): 695–706; I. Modai, R. Malmgren, L. Wetterberg, P. Eneroth, A. Valevski, and M. Åsberg, “Blood Levels of Melatonin, Serotonin, Cortisol, and Prolactin in Relation to the Circadian Rhythm of Platelet Serotonin Uptake,” Psychiatry Research, 43 (1992): 161–166; D. S. Pine, P. D. Trautman, D. Shaffer, L. Cohen, M. Davies, M. Stanley, and B. Parsons, “Seasonal Rhythm of Platelet [3H] Imipramine Binding in Adolescents Who Attempted Suicide,” American Journal of Psychiatry, 152 (1995): 923–925; R. J. Verkes, G. A. Kerkhof, E. Beld, M. W. Hengeveld, and G. M. J. van Kempen, “Suicidality, Circadian Activity Rhythms and Platelet Serotonergic Measures in Patients with Recurrent Suicidal Behaviour,” Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 93 (1996): 27–34; K. B. Zajicek, C. S. Price, S. E. Shoaf, P. T. Mehlman, S. J. Suomi, M. Linnoila, and J. Dee Higley, “Seasonal Variation in CSF 5-HIAA Concentrations in Male Rhesus Macaques,” Neuropsychopharmacology, in press.

  87 Hospital admissions for mania: P. Pinel, A Treatise on Insanity, trans. D. D. Davis (New York: Hafner, 1806; first published, 1801); E. Esquirol, A Treatise on Insanity, trans. E. K. Hunt (Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, 1845; first published 1838); D. H. Myers and P. Davies, “The Seasonal Incidence of Mania and Its Relationship to Climate Variables,” Psychological Medicine, 8 (1978): 433–440; A. C. Pande, “Light-Induced Hypomania,” American Journal of Psychiatry, 142 (1985): 1146; T. A. Wehr, D. A. Sack, and N. E. Rosenthal, “Sleep Reduction as a Final Common Pathway in the Genesis of Mania,” American Journal of Psychiatry, 144 (1987): 201–204; P. A. Carney, C. T. Fitzgerald, and C. Monaghan, “Seasonal Variations in Mania,” in C. Thompson and T. Silverstone, eds., Seasonal Affective Disorder (London: CNS, 1989), pp. 19–27; F. K. Goodwin and K. R. Jamison, Manic-Depressive Illness (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990); R. T. Mulder, J. P. Cosgriff, A. M. Smith, and P. R. Joyce, “Seasonality of Mania in New Zealand,” Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 24 (1990): 187–190; H. K. Sayer, S. Marshall, and G. W. Mellsop, “Mania and Seasonality in the Southern Hemisphere,” Journal of Affective Disorders, 23 (1991): 151–156; N. Takei, E. O’Callaghan, P. Sham, G. Glover, A. Tamura, and R. Murray, “Seasonality of Admissions in the Psychoses: Effect of Diagnosis, Sex, and Age at Onset,” British Journal of Psychiatry, 161 (1992): 506–511; K. Kamo, S. Tomitaka, S. Nakadaira, T. Kno, and K. Sakamoto, “Season and Mania,” Japanese Journal of Psychiatry and Neurology, 47 (1993): 473–474; J. L. Pio-Abreu, “Seasonal Variation in Bipolar Disorder,” British Journal of Psychiatry, 170 (1997): 483–484.

  88 Schizophrenia, likewise: E. Meier, “Die periodischen Jahresschwankungen der internierung Geistes kranker in der Heilanstatt Bürghölzli-Zürich 1900 bis 1920,” Zeitschrift für die Gesamte Neurologie und Psychiatrie, 76 (1922): 479–507; K. Abe, “Seasonal Fluctuation of Psychiatric Admissions, Based on the Data for Seven Prefectures of Japan for a Seven-Year Period 1955–61, with a Review of the Literature,” Folia Psychiatrica et Neurologica Japonica, 17 (1963): 101–112; E. H. Hare and S. D. Walter, “Seasonal Variation in Admissions of Psychiatric Patients and Its Relation to Seasonal Variation in Their Birth,” Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 32 (1978), 47–52; M. R. Eastwood and A. M. Peter, “Epidemiology and Seasonal Affective Disorder,” Psychological Medicine, 18 (1988): 799–806; N. Takei, E. O’Callaghan, P. Sham, G. Glover, A. Tamura, and R. Murray, “Seasonality of Admissions in the Psychoses: Effect of Diagnosis, Sex, and Age at Onset,” British Journal of Psychiatry, 161 (1992): 506–511; M. Clarke, P. Moran, F. Keogh, M. Morris, A. Kinsella, D. Walsh, C. Larkin, and E. O’Callaghan, “Seasonal Influences on Admissions in Schizophrenia and Affective Disorder in Ireland,” Schizophrenia Research, 34 (1998): 143–149.

  89 Depressive episodes: E. H. Hare and S. D. Walter, “Seasonal Variation in Admissions of Psychiatric Patients and Its Relation to Seasonal Variation in Their Births,” Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 32 (1978): 47–52; E. Frangos, G. Athanassenas, S. Tsitourides, P. Psilolignos, A. Robos, N. Katsanou, and C. Bulgaris, “Seasonality of the Episodes of Recurrent Affective Psychoses: Possible Prophylactic Interventions,” Journal of Affective Disorders, 2 (1980): 239–247; Z. Rihmer, “Season of Birth and Season of Hospital Admission in Bipolar Depressed Female Patients,” Psychiatry Research, 3 (1980): 247–251; G. Parker and S. Walter, “Seasonal Variation in Depressive Disorders and Suicidal Deaths in New South Wales,” British Journal of Psychiatry, 140 (1982): 626–632; T. D. Brewerton and D. Mclaughlin, “Circannual Cyclicity of Affective Illnesses in Hawaii,” paper presented at the Conference on Recent Advances in Affective Disorders, 1986; M. R. Eastwood and A. M. Peter, “Epidemiology and Seasonal Affective Disorder,” Psychological Medicine, 18 (1988): 799–806; F. K. Goodwin and K. R. Jamison, Manic-Depressive Illness (New York: Oxford University P
ress, 1990); M. Maes, P. Cosyns, H. Y. Meltzer, F. DeMeyer, and D. Peeters, “Seasonality in Violent Suicide but Not Nonviolent Suicide or Homicide,” American Journal of Psychiatry, 150 (1993): 1380–1385; T. Silverstone, S. Romans, N. Hunt, and H. McPherson, “Is There a Seasonal Pattern of Relapse in Bipolar Affective Disorders? A Dual Northern and Southern Hemisphere Cohort Study,” British Journal of Psychiatry, 167 (1995): 58–60; C. P. Szabo and M. J. Terre-Blanche, “Seasonal Variation in Mood Disorder Presentation: Further Evidence of This Phenomenon in South African Sample,” Journal of Affective Disorders, 33 (1995): 209–214; K. Suhail and R. Cochrane, “Seasonal Variations in Hospital Admissions for Affective Disorders by Gender and Ethnicity,” Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 33 (1998): 211–217.

  90 Violent suicides: R. P. Michael and D. Zumpe, “Sexual Violence in the United States and the Role of the Season,” American Journal of Psychiatry, 140 (1983): 883–886; R. A. Goodman, J. L. Herndon, G. R. Istre, F. B. Jordan, and J. Kelaghan, “Fatal Injuries in Oklahoma: Descriptive Epidemiology Using Medical Examiner Data,” Southern Medical Journal, 82 (1989): 1128–1134; G. Roitman, E. Orev, and G. Schreiber, “Annual Rhythms of Violence in Hospitalized Affective Patients: Correlation with Changes in the Duration of the Daily Photoperiod,” Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 82 (1990): 73–76; P. Linkowski, F. Martin, and V. De Maertelaer, “Effect of Some Climatic Factors on Violent and Non-Violent Suicides in Belgium,” Journal of Affective Disorders, 25 (1992): 161–166; M. Maes, P. Cosyns, H. Y. Meltzer, F. De Meyer, and D. Peeters, “Seasonality in Violent Suicide but Not in Nonviolent Suicide or Homicide,” American Journal of Psychiatry, 150 (1993): 1380–1385; J. Tiihonen, P. Räsänen, and H. Hakko, “Seasonal Varation in the Occurrence of Homicide in Finland,” American Journal of Psychiatry, 154 (1997): 1711–1714; H. Hakko, P. Räsänen, and J. Tiihone, “Seasonal Variation in Suicide Occurrence in Finland,” Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 98 (1998): 92–97; A. Preti and P. Miotto, “Seasonality in Suicides: The Influence of Suicide Method, Gender and Age on Suicide Distribution in Italy,” Psychiatry Research, 81 (1988): 219–231.

  91 “But these things also are Spring’s”: Edward Thomas, “But These Things Also,” in R. George Thomas, ed., The Collected Poems of Edward Thomas (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978), p. 127.

  ESSAY • THE COLOURING TO EVENTS

  1 “private concerns of the household.”: Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Meriwether Lewis, February 23, 1801, in D. Jackson, ed., Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, with Related Documents: 1783–1854, 2d ed. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), vol. 1, p. 2.

  2 “The object of your mission”: Thomas Jefferson’s instructions to Meriwether Lewis, June 20, 1803, in ibid., pp. 61–66.

  3 “They embrace years of study”: D. Jackson, Thomas Jefferson and the Stony Mountains: Exploring the West from Monticello (Urbana: University of Illinois Pess, 1981), p. 139, quoted in Stephen Ambrose, Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996), p. 96.

  4 “Capt. Lewis is brave”: Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, February 28, 1803, in Jackson, Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, vol. 1, pp. 18–19.

  5 After Lewis died: Thomas Jefferson, “Life of Captain Lewis,” August 18, 1813, in M. Lewis, The Lewis and Clark Expedition, the 1814 Edition (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1961), vol. 1, pp. xvi, xviii–xix.

  218 “Thursday, May 2nd”: From the journals of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, entries by Meriwether Lewis for May 2 and 3, 1805, in G. E. Moulton and T. W. Dunlay, eds., The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, vol. 4 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1987), pp. 100–104.

  7 “Few explorers have undertaken”: R. D. Burroughs, “The Lewis and Clark Expedition’s Botanical Discoveries,” Natural History, 75 (1966): 57–62, p. 58. See also J. H. Beard, “The Medical Observations and Practice of Lewis and Clark,” The Scientific Monthly, 20 (1925): 506–526; H. W. Setzer, “Zoological Contributions of the Lewis and Clark Expedition,” Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, 44 (1954): 356–357; D. W. Will, “The Medical and Surgical Practice of the Lewis and Clark Expedition,” Journal of the History of Medicine, 14 (1959): 273–297; P. R. Cutright, Lewis and Clark: Pioneering Naturalists (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1969); P. R. Cutright, “Contributions of Philadelphia to Lewis and Clark History,” We Proceeded On, 6 (1982): 1–43.

  8 “Never,” declared Thomas: Jefferson, “Life of Captain Lewis,” August 18, 1813, in Lewis, The Lewis and Clark Expedition, vol. 1, p. xxvi.

  9 “I am very often applied”: Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Meriwether Lewis, August 16, 1809, in Jackson, Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, vol. 2, p. 459.

  10 “This day I completed”: Meriwether Lewis, journal, August 18, 1805, in Moulton and Dunlay, The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, vol. 5, p. 118.

  11 “Several of his Bills”: Letter from William Clark to Jonathan Clark, September 1809, published in J. J. Holmberg,” ‘I Wish You to See & Know All’: The Recently Discovered Letters of William Clark to Jonathan Clark,” We Proceeded On, 18 (1992): 10.

  12 unloaded Lewis’s boat: Letter from James Howe to Frederick Bates, September 28, 1809, Missouri Historical Society Collections, 4 (1923): 474.

  13 “In this condition”: Letter from Captain Gilbert C. Russell to Thomas Jefferson, November 26, 1811, in Jackson, Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, vol. 2, pp. 573–574.

  14 “It is with extreme pain”: Letter from James Neelly to Thomas Jefferson, October 18, 1809, in Jackson, Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, vol. 2, pp. 467–468.

  15 “Governor Lewis, she said”: Letter from Alexander Wilson to Alexander Lawson, May 28, 1811, in E. Coues, ed., History of the Expedition Under the Command of Lewis and Clark (New York: Dover Reprint, 1965; first published 1893), vol. 1, pp. xliv–xlvi.

  16 “I fear O!”: Letter from William Clark to Jonathan Clark, October 28, 1809, in Jackson, Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, vol. 2, p. 727.

  17 “Governor Lewis had”: Thomas Jefferson, “Life of Captain Lewis,” August 18, 1813, in Lewis, The Lewis and Clark Expedition, vol. 1, pp. xxvii–xxviii.

  18 But others have felt differently: In addition to O. D. Wheeler, F. W. Seymour, R. Dillon, C. Skinner, and A. Furtwangler, there have been many others weighing in for either murder or suicide. Among these are D. A. Phelps, “The Tragic Death of Meriweather Lewis,” William and Mary Quarterly, 13 (1956): 305–318; V. Fisher, Suicide or Murder: The Strange Death of Governor Meriwether Lewis (Chicago: Sage Books, 1962); P. R. Cutright, “Rest, Rest, Perturbed Spirit,” We Proceeded On, 12 (1986): 7–16; E. G. Chuinard, “How Did Meriwether Lewis Die? It Was Murder” (pt. 1), We Proceeded On, 17 (1991): 4–11; E. G. Chuinard, “How Did Meriwether Lewis Die? It Was Murder” (pt. 2), We Proceeded On, 18 (1991): 4–10.

  19 “It seems impossible”: O. D. Wheeler, The Trial of Lewis and Clark, 1804–1904 (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1904), p. 193.

  20 “Many believed that Governor Lewis”: F. W. Seymour, Meriwether Lewis (New York: D. Appleton–Century, 1937), pp. 237–238.

  21 “Is it likely”: R. Dillon, Meriwether Lewis: A Biography (New York: Coward-McCann, 1965), pp. 344, 350.

  22 “beclouded”: “But, at least, the theory of suicide no longer beclouds his name,” wrote C. Skinner in Adventures in Oregon (New Haven, 1920), p. 70.

  23 “tainted by dishonor”: A. Furtwangler, Acts of Discovery: Visions of America in the Lewis and Clark Journals (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993).

  24 “It seems to me”: E. G. Chuinard, “How Did Meriwether Lewis Die? It Was Murder” (pt. 3), We Proceeded On, 18 (1992): 4–10, p. 4.

  25 “Thomas Jefferson’s complicity”: D. L. Chandler, The Jefferson Conspiracies: A President’s Role in the Assassination of Meriwether Lewis (New York: Morrow, 1994), pp. 325–326.

  26 there may have been instability:
S. M. Drumm, Luttig’s Journal of the Fur Trading Expedition on the Upper Missouri, 1812–1813 (St. Louis: Missouri Historical Society, 1920), pp. 150–151. Meriwether Lewis’s mother, Lucy Meriwether Lewis, remarried after the death of Lewis’s father. It is unclear whether the mental instability reported in Dr. John Marks came from the Meriwether or Marks side of the family or both. If it came from the Meriwether side and there was instability on the Lewis side as well, it would not be at all surprising that Meriwether Lewis suffered from a severe form of mental illness.