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THE PHILOSOPHY OF INSANITY.*
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PRIZE TEMPERANCE TALE.*
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[ Revolution , but they were far nearer to a philosophical comprehension of that prodigious outbreak against worn-out ideas as well as worn-out forms , than those who take , as Mr . Massey seems inclined to do , the morbid . if not insane sentimentality of Mr . Burke for their guide . Jlr . Massey helps us somewhat with a collocation , of facts illustrating " certain portions' 6 f the transactions of the reign of George III . ' , but lie contributes nothing- to political or social philosophy . He can think no thought that will live , and write no sentence that will be ^ remembered ; but , in an age singularly benevolent to mediocrities , lie will obtain that charitable appreciation which we have endeavoured tfco bestow upon him .
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IT appears from our statistical and other sources that the vice of intemperance , instead of being on the wane , as wo have lizard some sanguine people confidently aahert , it * ntill steadily increasing 1 . Wo uro told that wo nhould be perfectly horrified could wo bub
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disorders are more common , among children than is usually known . He likewise calls earnest attention to what he designates " masked affections of the mind , " and attributes much of the misery so often , found in families to concealed or undetected insanity . ' . This sad state of things he-represents as ¦ " existing , to a frightful extent , " and " unhappily on the increase . " Dr . Winsknv is a good authority upon this deplorable subject , and we fear that his opinions rest upon foundations too strong to be overthrown . "When , persons who have been habitually kind suddenly become brutal , or those who ' have been habitually religious suddenly become profane , the evidence of insanity is very strong ; but Dr . Winslow describes another chiss of cases , in which the ordinary duties of life are regularly perfonned , and nothing indicates to ordinary observers the insidious progress of a disease that ultimately makes itself known by violent perversions of propensities or instincts .
In one case , cited by Dr . "Winslowya lady was subject to paroxysms of passion , during which she tore out h ' andfuls of her husband ' s hair , and occasioned him serious alarm and distress . " She was , " says the Doctor , " clearly disordered in her mind ; but we could not detect evidence sufficient to justify us in signing a medical certificate authorizing her being placed under control . We lamented that , owing to a defective state of the law , we could not grapple with the case . " There will be many who will be very glad of the " defective state of the law , " and who would be very . sorry to see the ' mad doctors" " grappling" with such cases . A divorce
upon the ground of incurable . incompatibility of temper would surely be a preferable remedy to such a widening of the law of insanity , that anybody might be " grappled" with in confinement , whose temper was more fiery than a couple of medical men thought consistent with the absence of disease . We fully- appreciate the services that Dr . Winslow will render by making society aware of the existence of insanity in the insidious forms he describes . Such knowledge will lead the patients , and those in contact with them , to resort to means likely to allay the morbid irritation ; but we should be very sorry to see such cases met by an application of force , except when absolutely necessary to prevent violent crime .
What Dr . Winslow calls " paralysis of the moral sense , " most important subject for consideration , and here we can most readily go with his desire for the early application of restraint . When a boy , as in a case he mentions , systematically behaves with such brutality and cruelty thiit his remaining at sehopl is impossible ^ when he is detected -planning the murder of two other bays whom he does not like , it would certainly be wiser to treat him as a lunatic at once , than wait until , after inflicting upon others a mass of minor miseries he miay at last indulge in some very desperate aet . Dr . Woodward , of the State Asylum , Massachusetts , affirms , that ' ¦ ¦ ' ' moral idiots , " as lie terms them , rarely exhibit ' much vigour
of mind , and our readers will remember cases in which our judges have persisted in treating as responsible criminals , persons who were destitute of moral sense , and of feeble intellectual manifestations . As an instance of the effect of external influences in producing and allaying morbid mental conditions , Dr . Winslow cites the case ' of a military man who was in the habit of walking backwards and forwards on the ramparts of a town . " When lie walked forwards Ins face fronted the east , when the sky was hung with black , and alas ! his poor soul : then he was in deep despair : but when he turned towards the--westr-w 4 ien--t-he--8 etting--t » uii—lef ^ behiud ^ a ^ alo ^ iLglar ^ uid beautiful evening ' s red , his happiness again returned . " Equally curious , although in another way , is the account of a young lady
who was subject to hallucinations , and whose morbid visions in many cases preceded the death of relatives or friends;—andof the gentleman who when drunk declared that his family were in that condition ; -and insisted upon undressing them and putting them to bed . The perversions and abnormal actions of memory are among the most wonderful phenomena of certain , forms of insanity , and in the work before us many cases will be found seeming to prove that all mental impressions are indestructible , jmd that the faintest impression once made may hereafter be recalled ; as when the servant under
I T is one of the triumphs of-the benevolent principle of modern civilization , that our treatment of insane persons is thoroughly reformed . Kindness has taken the place of terror , and agreeable inducement now performs effectually work that was , in former times , attempted to be accomplished by force . As a consequence of the reformation of our mode of dealing with those suffering from mental weakness or alienation , our curative success has greatly increased , and if we must on the one band lament the large numbers of those who fall victims to the wearing excitements and bitter disappointments of our imperfect social system , we n ay , on the other , congratulate ourselves on the valuable efforts which are made to mitigate evils , we areas yet unable to prevent . But while our empirical
treatment of the insane has improved , we can scarcely claim a corresponding improvement in the pathology and philosophy of mental disorders , or to speak more strictly , of cerebral and nervous diseases ; for we must never forget that if disease of the mind be possible , we possess no means of proving its existence Or investigating its effects . The operations of the rnind , whether they be healthy or morbid , may be considered apart from organization ; but .. insanity , as a medical subject , is a branch of physical science , and connected at every point with the condition of the apparatus , which , during mortal life , Undergoes some definite change whenever thought , consciousness , or sensation occur . For generations anatomists and physiologists have examined brains and nerves , and watched with eagerness the
performance " of their functions , and the perfection of modem imcroscdpes has facilitated an acquaintance with minute details of structure , but we haye not ^ yet settled som e of the foundation points of cerebral science . _ £ To physiologist of reputation would contend in opposition to Gall , that the multifarious operations ^ of 4 he brain are performed by that organ acting as a mass ; and yet few even among the most ardent phrenologists , would affirm that more than an . approximation , known and felt to be imperfect , has yet been made towards a distribution of functions to particular parts . We have advanced little in determining * the relation of the brain to the spinal marrow , to theJvarious gaiiglia and the general system of nerves , and we have scarcely a guess as to the causes or nature of the
changes which substitute morbid action for healthy performance . In the practical treatment of the insane , it is our humanity , not our medicine that has improved ¦ and we are as far as ever from possessing a sufficiently complete knowledge of symptoms , to decide at what point restraint and compulsory medical measures ought to begin . Dr . Winslow and other gentlemen , more popularly than politely ^ le ^ nftlia ^ rc ^ R ^ allowing persons in the early stages of insanity to enjoy full liberty , until at last some desperate act obliges the law to interpose ; but , although we fully admit with Esquirol and other eminent authorities that nature gives warning of coming danger , we do not believe that the " mad doctor , " with all his skill / really does know so much more than the rest of the world , as to constitute him a safe guide . Nor is this impression weakened by the common fact that one set
of doctors are arrayed against the other , in a manner utterly inconsistent with the existen ce and recognition of sound rules of observation and decision . If n man breaks his leg and a dozen surgeons are sent for , they will all give pretty much the same account of the nature and extent of the damage ho has sustained ; but in cases of reputed insanity there will bo no longer agreement , and only extreme manifestations of disorder will elicit anything like uniformity of opinion . Moreover , we are not agreed as to the amount of insanity a man may be said to have a constitutional right to without suffering molestation , and we by no means sympathize with Dr . Winslow when ho laments that juries return verdicts of " temporary insanity" in cases of suicide , when they would ¦ require stronger evidence to consign a living man to the tutelage or imprisonment of doctors and friends .
The book before us is a proof of the imperfection of medical science as far as it relates to insanity , for , notwithstanding the long experience and eminence of its author , it is little more than a collection of cases arranged with very little attempt at philosophy , and scarcely differing from what a non-medical reader might compile as the curiosities of a reading which had extended among the stories of mental alienation . We do not say this out of any disrespect for JDr ,- _\ Vinfllow ,-fo ^ . we . arejC 0 fl 8 cio » HL ^! lA ^ lLI > rofojinderjthJnker would not have done much more with ' the flame '" niirter ! iU 8 /' nltliougIi "' lio ' ~ would have avoided explaining abnormal and morbid excitations of the animal faculties b y suggesting that they were ebullitions of innate depravity or original sin . Dr . Winslow ' has collected nn important nine ' s of materials tending " to illustrate tho mental condition of persons before , during 1 , and alter attacks of insanity , and ho adduces many facts to show that mental
girl repeated sentences of . Hebrew and other learned tongues , the influence of disease , and long after sho had heard them spouted by a clergyman with whom she had lived . Equally wonderful are the phenomena of "double consciousness , " such as those exhibited by Miss K/—— , who , after an attack ' of profound sleep , quite forgot all her acquired knowledge , and had to learn even spoiling afresh . A second fit of somnolency came on , arid after recovering from it she remembered all that belonged to her original states , but was ignorant of'what happened afterwards . For more than four years these attacks and transitions occurred , and friends regulated ti . eir intercourse with her according as their acquaintance dated from tho
old or new state . We have only been able to notice a few of tho topics discussed by Dr . Winalow , and have beencompulled to omit many of greut interest and importance . What wo have said , however , will direct many of our readers to the work itself , which belongs as much to philosophy as to medicine , and will be found capable- of entertaining , and instructing all who lovo to speculate on tho wonderful nuturo and destiny of iiianr ~ : ' - ; - - ;—; ~; ~~ ¦ ~ ' - \ .- ; -- - " •¦ -- ; - 7
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July 7 , 1860 . J The Saturday Analyst and Leader . ~ 63 &
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* Oft Obscure Diseases of the Brain and Disorders of tho Mind . By FoiujesWikscow , M . D . John Churchill . ,
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* JMncaburj / IJovM . A Title . l » y Mrs . Hknuy \ Vooi > . " Scottish Temperance Lmu / tte , Uoulston L Wright , mid W . lwoodlo .
The Philosophy Of Insanity.*
THE PHILOSOPHY OF INSANITY . *
Prize Temperance Tale.*
PRIZE TEMPERANCE TALE . *
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 7, 1860, page 633, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2355/page/9/
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