^ 
 
 .^^s^. 
 
 
 ■> 
 
 IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 
 "^o 
 
 1.0 
 
 1.1 
 
 I^IM 125 
 
 ■tt l&i 12.2 
 2.0 
 
 lit 
 
 14.0 
 
 m 
 
 
 Hill — llll^^ li^s 
 
 
 < 
 
 6" 
 
 > 
 
 Fhotographic 
 
 Sciences 
 
 Corporation 
 
 ^v 
 
 23 WIST MAIN STRUT 
 
 WnSTIR,N.Y. MSM 
 
 (71*)t72-4S03 
 
 ^^ ^^"^ 
 

 I 
 
 CIHM/ICMH 
 
 Microfiche 
 
 Series. 
 
 CIHM/ICMH 
 Collection de 
 microfiches. 
 
 Canadian Institute for Hittoricai IMicroreproductions / institut Canadian da microraproductions historiquas 
 
^^-wmw 
 
 Tachnical and Bibliographic Notaa/Notas tachniquas at bibliographiquaa 
 
 Tha Instituta hat attamptad to obtain tha bart 
 originai copy availabia for filming. Faaturaa of thia 
 copy which may ba bibliographicaily uniqua. 
 which may altar any of tha imagaa in tha 
 raproduction, or which may significantly changa 
 tha usual mathod of filming, ara chackad balow. 
 
 HCoiourad covars/ 
 Couvartura da coulaur 
 
 I I Covars damagad/ 
 
 D 
 
 D 
 
 D 
 D 
 
 D 
 
 Couvartura andommagte 
 
 Covars rastorad and/or laminatad/ 
 Couvartura rastaurte at/ou pelliculAa 
 
 I I Covar titia missing/ 
 
 La titra da couvartura manqua 
 
 nColourad maps/ 
 Cartes gtographiquas an coulaur 
 
 Coloured ink (i.a. othar than blua or black)/ 
 Encra da coulaur (i.a. autra qua biaua ou noire) 
 
 □ Coloured plates and/or illuatrations/ 
 Planches et/ou iilustrationa en couleur 
 
 D 
 
 Bound with other material/ 
 Ral!i avac d'autras documents 
 
 Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion 
 along interior margin/ 
 
 La re liure serr^e paut causer de I'ombre ou de la 
 distortion le long de la marge intirieure 
 
 Blank leaves added during restoration may 
 appear within the text. Whenever possible, these 
 have been omitted from filming/ 
 II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajoutAes 
 lors dune restauration apparaissant dans le texte, 
 mais. lorsqua cela Atait possible, ces pages n'ont 
 pas AtA filmtes. 
 
 Additional comments:/ 
 Commentaires supplAmentairas; 
 
 L'institut a microfilmA le meilleur exemplaire 
 qu'il lui a At4 possible da se procurer. Les details 
 da cat exemplaire qui sont peut-Atre uniques du 
 point de vue tibliographique, qui peuvent modifier 
 une image reproduite. ou qui peuvent exiger une 
 modification dans la mAthoda normala de filmaga 
 sont indiqute ci-dessous. 
 
 Th^ 
 to 
 
 r~n Coloured pages/ 
 
 D 
 
 Pages de couleur 
 
 Pages damaged/ 
 Pages endommagtes 
 
 Pages restored and/oi 
 
 Pages restaurAes et/ou pelliculAes 
 
 Pages discoloured, stained or foxe( 
 Pages dAcolortes. tachaties ou piquAes 
 
 Pages detached/ 
 Pages dAtachtes 
 
 Showthroughy 
 Transparence 
 
 Quality of prir 
 
 Qualit^ inAgale de I'impression 
 
 incli:des supplementary matarii 
 Comprend du material supplimenteire 
 
 Only edition available/ 
 Seule Mition disponible 
 
 r~n Pages damaged/ 
 
 I — I Pages restored and/or laminated/ 
 
 PT] Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ 
 
 I I Pages detached/ 
 
 r~n Showthrough/ 
 
 nn Quality of print varies/ 
 
 I I incli:des supplementary material/ 
 
 I — I Only edition available/ 
 
 Th 
 poi 
 of 
 filn 
 
 Ori 
 be( 
 the 
 sioi 
 oth 
 firs 
 sioi 
 or 
 
 Thi 
 she 
 TIN 
 whi 
 
 Mai 
 diff 
 anti 
 beg 
 righ 
 reqi 
 met 
 
 Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata 
 Blips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to 
 ensure the best possible image/ 
 Les pag^s totalement ou partiellement 
 obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, 
 etc., ont At A filmAes A nouveau de fapon A 
 obtanir la meilleure image possible. 
 
 This item is filmed at tha reduction ratio checked below/ 
 
 Ce document est filmA au taux de reduction indiqui ci-dessous. 
 
 10X 14X 18X 22X 
 
 aix 
 
 aox 
 
 X 
 
 12X 
 
 16X 
 
 aox 
 
 a4x 
 
 28X 
 
 32X 
 
• 
 
 fttails 
 • du 
 modifier 
 f une 
 Image 
 
 Th« copy filmad h«r« hM b««n r«produo«d thanks 
 to tha ganaroaity of: 
 
 Library of tha Public 
 Archivas of Canada 
 
 Tha imagaa appaaring hara ara tha baat quality 
 posaibia conaidaring tha condition and laglbillty 
 of tha original copy and in keaping with tha 
 filming contract spacif icationa. 
 
 L'axamplaira film* fut raproduit grica A la 
 gAnAroaitA da: 
 
 La bibliothAqua das Archivas 
 publiquas du Canada 
 
 Laa Imagaa sulvantas ont AtA raproduitas avac la 
 plus grand soin, compta tanu da la condition at 
 da la nattatA da l'axamplaira film*, at an 
 conformity avac las conditions du contrat da 
 filmaga. 
 
 IS 
 
 Original coplaa In printad papar eovars ara fllmad 
 baglnning with tha front covar and anding on 
 tha iaat paga with a printad or liluatratad Impraa- 
 sion, or tha back covar whan appropriata. Ail 
 othar original coplaa ara filmad baglnning on tha 
 first paga with a printad or liluatratad impraa- 
 slon, and anding on tha iaat paga with a printad 
 or liluatratad Imprassion. 
 
 Laa axampiairaa originaux dont la couvartura an 
 papiar aat imprlmte sont fiimte an commandant 
 par ia pramlar plat at an tarminant soit par la 
 darnlAra paga qui comporta una amprainte 
 d'imprassion ou d'iilustration, 9oit par la sacond 
 plat, aalon la cas. Tous las autras axamplairas 
 originaux sont fllmfo an commanfant par ia 
 pramlAra paga qui comporta una amprainta 
 d'impraasion ou d'iilustration at an tarminant par 
 la darnlAra paga qui comporta una taiia 
 amprainta. 
 
 Tha Iaat racordad frama on aach microficha 
 shall contain tha aymbol -^ (moaning "CON- 
 TINUED"), or tha aymbol V (maaning "END"), 
 whichavar appllaa. 
 
 Un daa symbolaa suivanta apparaftra sur la 
 darniAra imaga da chaqua microficha, salon la 
 caa: la aymbola — ► signifia "A SUiVRE". ia 
 symbols V signifia "FIN". 
 
 Mapa, plataa. charta, ate, may ba filmad at 
 diffarant raductlon ratioa. Thoaa too larga to ba 
 antiraly includad In ona axpoaura ara filmad 
 baglnning in tha uppar laft hand cornar, laft to 
 right and top to bottom, aa many framaa as 
 raquirad. Tha following diagrama lllustrata tha 
 mathod: 
 
 Las cartas, pianchas, tableaux, ate, pauvant Atra 
 filmto A daa taux da rMuction diff Grants. 
 Loraqua la document eat trop grand pour Atre 
 reprodult en un seui ciichA, 11 est film* A partir 
 da I'anghi supArlaur gauche, de gauche h droite, 
 et de haut en has, en prenant la nombre 
 d'Imagea nicaaaaira. Lea diagrammes suivanta 
 illuatrant ia mAthode. 
 
 irrata 
 to 
 
 peiure. 
 
 in A 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 32X 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
iij!-::^* MS 
 
 'i*mi*^*< 
 
AN ESSAY 
 
 OH 
 
 MADNESSf 
 
 COHTAnmO THS OUTUItKS 
 
 or A 
 
 NEW THEORY. 
 
 BY ROBEirr SPEAB^ 
 
 SAomoK uttt ucBiTMn or mkoicihi, ov tri minmtrn o» OkMniWttt 
 wwan or 1 a* Mt ai> oobuca «r raTswiuif . iomwm 
 
 TORONTO: 
 -H: & W. R0W8ELL. 
 
al- Ht 
 
 AN ESSAY 
 
 y 
 
 OS 
 
 MADNESS 
 
 CONTAIMKQ THE OUTLINES 
 
 OF A 
 
 NEW THEORY. 
 
 BY ROBERT SPEAR, 
 
 •AOHILOK AND MCBMTUTB OF MEDIl'INE, OF THB UMVBR9ITY OF CtMBRIDOP.t 
 MKHIIKk OP THI ROYAL COLLKGB OF PHYSICIANS, LONDON 
 
 TORONTO : 
 H. & W. ROWSELL. 
 
 1844. 
 

 // 
 
 
 ///.^ P-^^ '^^■'^■O 
 
 f^ 4'^-<^, 
 
 
 ROW8KLLB AND TnOMPSON, PRINTEBE. 
 
 f 
 

 AN ESSAY ON MADNESS. 
 
 1. My object in this essay is not to consider 
 the peculiarities of one madness from another, 
 except in so far as such considerations may lead 
 to the solution of the question, What is the 
 nature of a mad fit ? and when madness in a 
 man is mentioned, unless otherwise expressed, 
 the actual invasion of a mad fit is meant, and 
 not a latent madness, as in a madman asleep, or 
 talking rationally and acting with propriety and 
 in concert with sane men. 
 
 A latent madness would appear to refer, 
 either to the bodily type of the disease supposed 
 to be running on, but masked ; or to the very 
 high probability that -). particular man is in a 
 fit state, and from the slightest exciting cause, 
 to shew madness. For it by no means follows, 
 that because a man is mad all his discourse is 
 absurd, or that all his actions indicate madness : 
 he is reasonable enough at times, and on certain 
 subjects ; and when they alone are before his 
 mind, he will often shew discrimination and 
 accuracy in his discourse ; or if they lead to 
 
 B 
 
3 
 
 action, ho will art liko other nuMi. It may sur- 
 prise us that a nuuhuan shouUl have tliis power, 
 that ho should he ahle to think on any other 
 suhject than tho one on which he is heside him- 
 self ; that he shouUl, for instaniu;, (mo moment 
 consider himself misorahle in hell, and shortly 
 after he talking roasonahly with those ahout 
 him, and actin«r in many respects as they do ; 
 or that his com})ani(ms or keepers should ho 
 able, by barely introducing other subjects, to 
 lead him off from tho consciousness of torments 
 which a moment ajifo ho considered real and 
 everlasting. Still, if wc consider our own ideas 
 and feelings, how the most pleasant and painful 
 of them make way for others to which wo are 
 indifferent ; how the most delightful and bitter 
 passions have their ebb as well as flow ; and that 
 the mind appears subject to a law which renders 
 it unable to fix itself for any considerable time 
 to the contemplation of one invariable idea ; 
 then perhaps wc may bo able to conceive how it 
 is that madness should become latent in a man, 
 and that ho should appear to be free from his 
 madness for a while. 
 
 This state to which wo have alluded, must not 
 be confounded with that in which the disorder 
 has disappeared or is over-ruled for a time, and 
 in which the mind is itself again ; for if such an 
 one wore mad because he conceived himself to 
 be imperatively called on to kill his neighbour 
 or himself, ho is then sane when he considers 
 
 J 
 
i 
 
 8U(^h a niunlrr jis luijustitinblo arnl with ropnjnr- 
 nnnco, and vvhcni all his actioii>< iiulicatc a drtcr- 
 miiuul and altogether sufficient Helt'-[)()ssesai()n. 
 Tau<,dit by experiijnco, however, that such is not 
 in very many eases a durable sanity, so when it 
 terminates, or when it is supposed that it will 
 tenninate in another tit of madness, it is called 
 a lucid interval. 
 
 A true lucid interval from madness (as from 
 an incurable epilepsy) cannot therefore be con- 
 sidered as the same with a perfect sanity, and 
 also it differs from a latent madness : it is some- 
 where between these. These states, however, 
 in pfreat measure depend on the physical consti- 
 tution of the mind, which is unknown. 
 
 2. Whatever amount of injury a man's body 
 may have received, or whatever natural defect 
 thereof may exist, the diaj^nostic mark of mad- 
 ness is not looked for cith(»r in the one or in the 
 other, but in the actions sprinj[»in«]^ from, or 
 imparted throut^h the mind : hence madness 
 cannot be traced in infants. Moreover all obser- 
 vations prove, that a man must have exercised 
 his mind rightly before he can shew madness, 
 and in this it differs from idiocy. A natural 
 defect of parts may in one human being give 
 idiocy, but the same natural defect of parts in 
 the same human being cannot also give madness ; 
 to produce this, other influences must be added 
 which are acquired, and which are developed in 
 the man at a stated period of his existence, and 
 
wo thereforo iissumo that idiocy and madnosa 
 differ in kind one from the other. 
 
 3. As in the sane mind we have the two ehief 
 powers of the unders ndin^ and the will, so 
 also we have a dorangcntent of the under- 
 standing and a derangement of the will. This 
 two-fold division of the disorders of the mind 
 appears, in a medico-legal sense at least, to 
 he requisite and sufficient. For the ideas in a 
 man*s understanding may be so few, or his 
 associations of them so arbitrary and peculiar, 
 or the signs or terms he makes use of, so mis- 
 applied, or his identity so lost sight of, or con- 
 founded with another person, thing, or quality, 
 that he cannot perform ordinary matters, or 
 discourse rationally, or distinguish between what 
 he is and what he is not, or between that which 
 is real and fantastical, and therefore is con- 
 sidered incapable of managing his own affairs ; 
 or on the other hand he may have lost all con- 
 trol over his volitions, and the impulses to 
 unlawful actions may be paramount or irre- 
 sistible. 
 
 But this division evidently includes other 
 disorders, so called, of the mind, besides mad- 
 ness ; therefore a little further insight is required, 
 that we may understand in what madness con- 
 sists, and in what respects it differs from other 
 actions of the mind apparently allied to it. 
 
 4. It is not the existence of an idea or doc- 
 trine in the mind, however vague, extravagant. 
 
 ' 
 

 bad, or falso, '.vhich ((uistilutt's niadiu'ss. To 
 tliis must 1)0 added, discourses or conduct tvliich, 
 8|)rin^in^ from sucli idea or doctrine, jinivcs tlio 
 hold of citluT on tlio mind and actions of the 
 man, to be the result of conHrmed disease, over 
 the manifestations of which he has no control. 
 If this be 8o, it will be useless for us (following 
 others) to look for madness in a man's under- 
 standing alone. 
 
 For example, suppose first, a man who believes 
 that he perceives an apparition, yet his mind is 
 sufficiently itself, to counteract the influence of 
 that apparition on his conduct, !=ince he is aware 
 that it is only perceived by himself, and more- 
 over ho is assured by his other senses that t\w. 
 apparition has no external reality ; still the sen- 
 sation or phantasm, from some alteration in the 
 brain, or from some irregular motions in it, is at 
 times present, although ]vi is convinced that the 
 object is brain-real merely. Let us suppose, 
 secondly — thot the man feels assured of the 
 reality and exkcrnal v^xistence of that phantasm ; 
 that he flies from it, is caught by it, converses 
 with it, as it may happen. In the first supposi- 
 tion the man was not mad ; that is, so long as 
 his mind had suflicicnt power to consider the 
 phantasm as the result of some bodily infirmity ; 
 but in the second supposition he was mad — that 
 is, when this power failed him, and when con- 
 sidering the object as external and present ho 
 acted accordingly. . . 
 
6 
 
 So a man who in his roasonin<Ts draws cM>n- 
 I'lusions which contradict the knowlcdjj^o of 
 mankind, or which contradict those principles 
 which the man himself previously allowed, is 
 judged to be mad only when his actions indicate 
 derangement. And when a man's reascmings 
 have an immediate reference to action, and con- 
 tradict our perceptions and belief of things — if 
 his will be uninfluenced by his doctrines — if he 
 act precisely like other men — we make no ques- 
 tion of his perfect sanity ; and although ho 
 demonstrates that there can be no motion or 
 matter, time or space, good or evil, mind or 
 idea, &c., in the world, still it suits him to act 
 as if all these things did exist : it ib only when 
 a man's actions coincide with such doctrines 
 that he is considered to be insane. 
 
 Occasionally we find that a man has such 
 obstinately rooted belief in his own absurd 
 fancies or principles, that it is impossible to 
 divest him of it. And it mav be asked, how he 
 is to be distinguished from a madman who holds 
 the same doctrines ? The difference between 
 them consists in this, that such belief in the 
 mind of the former, has some restraints over it 
 which are derived from other determinations of 
 the mind influencing the will, and by these the 
 man is enabled to keep his belief within such 
 limits, as to prevent its determining, on all occa- 
 sions when it mav be before him, that sort of action 
 which it requires of him : he is from first to last 
 
 * 
 
aware that lie views some things difFerently from 
 other men, and he is also able to perceive those 
 things as other men perceive them ; and with 
 this knowledge he curbs his volitions, and he 
 acts in a sort of medium, giving some deference 
 to the opinions of others, and reserving to him- 
 self at C(mvenicnt opportunities to let loose the 
 full flow of action which his belief sanctions. 
 But a man who can so bend to the opinions of 
 others, how extravagant soever his belief, having 
 perfect command over the enunciation of that 
 belief and over the actions which it entails, 
 knowingly differing from other men, and seeing 
 well enough his own peculiarities, cannot be a 
 madman ; unless indeed a man can assume a fit 
 of madness and throw it off" again at will, which 
 is scarcely to be conceived, and which, if our 
 theory be correct, cannot be in the power of any 
 one unaided to accomplish, who is not either on 
 the very verge of madness, or at the precise 
 period of his release from it ; and then, and in 
 either case, it would be the product of new or 
 altered motions going on in the body, which 
 would have gone on and established or blotted 
 out madness, if the man at the time had been 
 thinking on something else, or had been asleep 
 and not thinking at all. 
 
 Locke strongly insists on madness being the 
 
 result of wrong associations in the mind, brought 
 
 about bv custom or bv chance, and which are 
 
 Jooked on as naturally and truly connected — that 
 
8 
 
 in this way fallacies are taken for truths, and 
 fancies for realities. But whatever wrong asso- 
 ciations the had or the good, the ignorant or the 
 learned man, may possess, they have not, neither 
 are they considered to have, the same sort of 
 force which they have in the insane. Moreover 
 very many wrong associations give way, and the 
 mind forgets them in madness, and the cha- 
 racter is changed ; also in other cases the asso- 
 ciations were produced at the same time with 
 madness, and are not recollected after recovery. 
 And in the example given by Locke of a wrong 
 association, where a madman takes himself to 
 be a king, and acts as if he were a king, it will 
 surely be allowed, that were we to do all in our 
 power to make this a right association, by 
 placing him on a throne, he would continue to 
 be a madman still. Giving then to wrong or 
 sudden and overpowering associations their ful- 
 lest scope in some cases of madness, we have 
 still to account both for the change in the 
 sensations and character of the man, and also 
 for that loss of power in the mind to think on 
 other and wonted objects ; in other words we 
 still have madness to account for. Thus, a 
 mother from the death of her child becomes at 
 once insane ; she perpetually raves about it, nor 
 has she apparently any power to think on other 
 ideas, or to notice objects ; her dearest relations 
 are as strangers before her, and her volitions 
 may have reference to her dead and buried 
 
9 
 
 i'h\]([ as talkiniT to it, rnrossinir it,, surkling it, 
 layin<r it out, &c. Ask ]u;r to porforni other 
 actions, and sho appears as much at a loss as if 
 she were hiborin^ under a paralysis, or under a 
 total forj^etfulness of the world without her : 
 this is not a great sorrow, or the association of a 
 present sufferin*^ with previous joys, for were her 
 child brought to life again and placed before her 
 she would not know it. In such a case there is 
 an insensibility to impressions, which can only 
 be accounted for by the mind's having lost its 
 directive power ; it still thinks, but it thinks in 
 one direction, and all objects appear as if viewed 
 through one medium. 
 
 Again, a man may be at issue with the rest of 
 mankind on a particular belief or association, 
 and for all that he may be considered sane. 
 Thus the mayor of Queensborough, a man of 
 learning and a friend of Locke's, took himself to 
 be the same person with Socrates of old. Still 
 how could a plea of madness be founded on this 
 most extravagant belief, if he thought and acted 
 judiciously in his capacity as mayor of Queens- 
 borough, and was not constrained by his belief 
 to go back two thousand and odd years for the 
 sake of adopting the life and death which hap- 
 pened to Socrates ? It is reported of the great 
 Pascal, that from a sudden fright, he afterwards 
 at intc^'vals during his life had the sensation of a 
 precipice on one side of him, nor was he for the 
 time at ease till he had placed his chair, or his 
 c 
 
10 
 
 foot, wlioiH! tlio pri'oipico ap])oarp(l. This associa- 
 tion Pascal had sufficient command over himself 
 to correct, and it did not in other respects 
 influence his conduct or actions.* 
 
 These examples will suffice to show, that a 
 man with wr(m<,^ associations merely, is still linked 
 with the rest of his fellows, who on some subjects 
 are all of them })rcjudiced ; hut a madman while 
 in his fit is a man apart, incajjahle of raticmally 
 discoursing, or of acting in harmony with the 
 wise or with the foolish on the subject of his 
 madness. In fine, there are many eases in which 
 the manifestations of madness are so directly tand 
 indisputably connected with physical causes, that 
 there can be no suspicion of wrong associations 
 having had any sh.arc in their production. Thus 
 insanity of (me or other sort often results from 
 injuries to the head, from the so-called metastasis 
 of diseases to the brain, from the suppression of 
 an habitual discharge, from the operation of cer- 
 tain medicines, from the puerperal state, from 
 exposure at sea to the strong heat of a tropical 
 sun — as in the madness termed calenture, and 
 
 * One of tlic most extraordinary niathcinaticians that jK'rhaps 
 over took a senior wrangler's degree at Cambridge, told me that he 
 was puzzled how to get rid of an odd asaoeiation that he often had 
 while over his books and at other times, viz. — of driving a coaeh 
 and four. The same assoeiation has been known to exist in a mad- 
 man : the whole eonduct was influeneed by it ; it was not only 
 a sort of belief but a reality ; and he went about the streets 
 chirping and whistling to his horses — now drawing liis reins on 
 tliis side, now on the other, and thus walking, convinced that he 
 was driving his coach and four. 
 
11 
 
 mor(5 rarely from some unknown constitution of 
 the air rendcrintr it epidemic, as mentioned by 
 Morgani, &c. 
 
 Further, we may suppose the understanding in 
 a man to be in a state of integrity, or secondarily 
 aifibeted, and yet that man may be mad ; because 
 he may have lost the power to turn his mind from 
 one thought to another thought, to do or to forbear 
 from doing particular actions ; and he may be 
 constrained to think on a ])articular thought, and 
 to do a particular action. So if one idea be exelu- 
 siyely or for the most part the subjt^ct of a man's 
 discourse — if he cannot turn his mind to the con- 
 templation of other ideas or objects, but is ever 
 and anon harping on that one idea, associating 
 it with the circumstances of each moment, and 
 of every place — he would be mad. So also if 
 those actions which the sane man can, save in 
 extreme cases, conmiand the doing or not doing, 
 such as eating, drinking, or the actions ])roceed- 
 ing from anger, f(»ar, lust, &c. ; if any one of 
 these be indulged in beyond all measure of con- 
 trol — if the will be rivetted to the performance 
 of any one of them day ift(^r day, at intervals, 
 and in all places alike — tliat man would be mad ; 
 for in either case the man is unable to ])erceive 
 objects disassociated from that particular object 
 which occupies in chief his consciousness — the 
 only power which could unsbackle, so to speak, 
 his consciousness, so that lu^ might perceive 
 other objects of sense or of memory disassociated 
 
n 
 
 from thsit one, is held duriiifr the fit sulvjocfc 
 to that Olio ohjcct ; all his discourse runs on it, 
 and it is the only standard oT ideas, whether real 
 or unreal, and of jictions, whether good or bad ; 
 it is for him an object of sense, because objects of 
 sense appear to tally with it, and to be related to 
 it ; or it is a familiar friend, taken as an enemy ; 
 or it is the thunders or the hapi)iness of heaviiii 
 within and about him ; because he has no power 
 to rid himself of that aii^er or fear, or reli'iious 
 enthusiasm, which one or other, as it may hap- 
 pen, draws as into a vortex all other objects. 
 Nay, oftentimes, according to the object which 
 has fastened on the madman's consciousness, his 
 bodily state is lost sight of, he is a dead man or 
 a murderer, &c. ; the idea has giv(m its peculiar 
 coloring to every object without him, and to 
 every idea in his memory ; hence any other 
 object is either not noticed, or if noticed is con- 
 sidered as part of that idea, or train of ideas, 
 from the contemplation of which his mind has 
 no power to shift his consciousness ; he must 
 inevitably then, if he perceive other things at all, 
 perceive them as forming part of or associated 
 with that idea which c(mstitutes for the time his 
 conscious self; and some of these things have 
 often been observed in a well-marked fit of mad- 
 ness. 
 
 Still further, and very analogmis to, and often 
 conjoined with the last-mentioned forms of mad- 
 ness, is one long-continued and unvaried bodily 
 
l.'i 
 
 IV 
 
 action (the body l)i!in<> in an apimrently lioalthy 
 state) : the man stands or sits, or lies down stock 
 still, or he looks in one direction, or listens as if 
 to one sound ; or thinking on an object, he keeps 
 it with a tight grasp ; or he ])erfornis one feat, or 
 sets himself to accomplish one particular Avork, 
 unmeaning or otherwise ; and at times and in 
 cases the actions whith the thoughts of the mad- 
 man entail are full of dangei", being bent on 
 nmrder, theft, destructiim of proi)erty, &c. in all 
 these and the like cases the lixitv of the will 
 
 » 
 
 a})peai's to extend ecpially over the madman's 
 ideas and over his voluntary actions. 
 
 Moreover, the understanding appears to be 
 secondarily affectcul, in other cases of madness 
 opposed to the above ; and instead of the mind 
 being fixed, and immovable as it wore, it cannot 
 fix itself tm any one or other contemplation, but 
 is in per})etual motion and rapid change from 
 one idea to another idea, and the man's discourse 
 is altogether inct)herent, or at any rate perfectly 
 unintelligible to others. With this sort of dis- 
 course co-exists a corres})onding sort of other 
 bodily actions : for the most part, he is unstable 
 as water ; he is all in a hurry — runs one way, 
 stops short, then back again ; begins an action, 
 then leaves it off, goes to it again — again to do 
 something else, and so on perpetually. If you 
 can get him to do anything for you, as for 
 instance to j)ut out his tongue, it will be thrust 
 out and drawn back again in a twinkling, and so 
 
11. 
 
 on for tliroo or tour times ; j^ot him to lio down, 
 and in a moment ho will bb on his Icj^s again, 
 discoursing or acting characteristically as before. 
 
 5. What, then, characterises a fit of madness 
 of any sort ? We have to guide us ( 1 ), The irre- 
 sistible hold of consciousness to some object or 
 objects in the mind ; and ('2), in the same, or in 
 other cases, the irresistible impulse in the mind 
 to perform some bodily action or actions : or, 
 and just the opposite of both these, wc have 
 (3), in other cases, the total incapacity of con- 
 sciousness to fix itself to the contemplation of 
 any object ; and (4), the total incapacity in the 
 mind to order the performance of bodily actions 
 to any definite purpose. In ca(;h of these there 
 is an act by or through a faulty organ of the will ; 
 for the will is well defined by Locke •' that 
 power which the mind has to order the con- 
 sideration of any idea, or the forbearing to con- 
 sider it, or to prefer the motion of any part of the 
 body to its rest, and vice versa." Wc conclude 
 that the organ of this power in the madman's 
 fit is in fault ; and this theorv we also reduce to 
 practice in the moral treatment, for we do not 
 endeavour to reason him out of his madness, but 
 we endeavour to act on the will to direct it, by 
 imparting to it an easy compliance, or a requiste 
 fixity, as the case may require.- 
 
 This theory is also, and justly, acted up to 
 among the most civilised nations ; for he who is 
 mad is not held accountable for those his actions 
 
\r, 
 
 which prorord from msulnoss, for thoso siro sup- 
 posed to arise from an unlioalthy eoiulition of his 
 physical beinjjf, arrivo<l at that dc<^reo of inten- 
 sity, that it acts on and •••ovcu'ns the will ; they 
 are not supposed to arise; from the depravity or 
 purity of his moral [)rincii)les, or fnmi the deli- 
 berate choice t)f evil or of "jfood. And if, as in 
 many cases (the disease sictintr in a determinate 
 way on the mind), the madman is under the 
 influence of a sui)posed divine law, or a law of 
 his own heinjf, requiring him to do an act, which 
 he does — an act which the laws of his country, 
 by the strongest punishments, forbid — he is not 
 held responsible for the act under such influence 
 committed, because he by or through the disease 
 has such volitions forced on him, and is at the 
 time totally unconscious of, or totally unable to 
 keep the true laws of God, find of his country, 
 and of opinion, &c., and thus is deemed for the 
 action amenable to none of these. 
 
 For all laws, and in each case of their applica- 
 tion, must appeal to principles of action under 
 the command of the man hiniself, without which 
 he is no more to be punished for not keeping 
 them than a blind man is punishable for not 
 seeing, or a paralytic in his limbs for not walking, 
 &c. ; this being so, it is evident thsit a madman 
 in his fit is either altogether removed out of the 
 pale of criminal laws, or if not he must be judged 
 either by those supposed, and to him imperative 
 laws, occasioned by the disease, which determine 
 
If) 
 
 hh net ions in tlic fit — or by tliosc bad bnlnts to 
 wliich In somo cnsos wo cini tnur the first syni))- 
 tonis, jind at'tcr incrc.nso of ilisordor in tlic mind, 
 jis drnnkonncss, dissipation, &c. If bo bo jud<jf<Hl 
 by tbo fornior, bo vvoubl bo dooniod (rul])nblo, 
 bocauso bo had brokon a biw wliicli tbo disoase 
 had rondcTod him for tbo timo totally unablo to 
 fulfil ; if by the othor, thon ho can (mly bo pun- 
 h\u)i\ by those; punisbmonts siwardod to those bad 
 habits which occasioned the disease, and for 
 which the disease itself is considered a suflrtciont 
 punishment. Society, therefore, placing- itself in 
 opposition to the law which in such cases deter- 
 mines the madman's actions, incarcerates him to 
 prevent further mischief ; and not as a criminal, 
 or to deter others from crime, for as an example 
 it would have no force, seein*^ that others could 
 not place themselves in the condition of madness. 
 And hence, if a criminal, after conviction for 
 a capital offence, become a lunatic, he is not 
 executed. 
 
 6. All of those causes* which conspire to 
 produce madness and other disorders of the 
 
 * Ilcroditary niadiioss is a somewhiit coTiiplioatcd subject, and 
 it is not very easy to (liid out its true value, Tliis, atany rate, umy 
 be »iken for granted, — tliat it is illogical to eonclude, because six 
 out of ten individuals, horn of parents who liad been insane, 
 become at certain ages insane, that all these are to be considered 
 as eases of hereditary insanity; unless it can he proved, either that 
 those individuals were not aware o<'the insanity of their parents — 
 or that, being aware of it, they did not regard it as prejudicial to 
 theinselvi's — or that the knowledge of the supposed iiiet (that the 
 insanity of thi' parent increases the eluintes of insanity in the 
 
47 
 
 m hid, can only ho contrived of as actin<> on it 
 through tlic inodiuni of its orjran ; and our ideas 
 result from those impressions on this or<;an, 
 which the mind is const ions of. Pure ])o\vers of 
 the udnd, the understaiulin;^' and tlu? will, we 
 lose sioht of, apart from those ohjects which 
 solicit them ; it is accordinjjf to these ohjoets, 
 and to their inlluenee, that a man is learned or 
 ignorant, jiood or had, sam^ or insane. We 
 cannot conceive! of these powers heino' altered in 
 their nature hv disease, nor vet hv anv other 
 
 • • • • 
 
 ])hysical causes. 1 hey must he for us that 
 
 offspring), nnd tJic (Irt'ad which, for the most part, accompanies it, 
 has no sort of inHuciicc in the j)ro(liictioii of insanity — or, that 
 those excitiiif^ causi s wliicii might j)r()tiuct! it in otiicrs, were 
 absent in tliese. Hut this last case can scarcely liappen, because 
 the doctrine of hereditary insanity fosters tlie very strongest of 
 tiiest! exciting caiisi'S. Many of the cases spoken of by authors as 
 liereditary, seem to carry great doubt witii them ; thus, a daughter 
 goes n>ad at the precise age at which lier mother went nuid. And, 
 again, in a largo tiimily, in whicii insanity is supposed to be here- 
 ditary, we ofU'ii fuid, that tlie first individual afflicted is quickly 
 followed by two, tlwce, or live cases more. Again, it is supposed 
 that if the insanity be on liie side t)f tlie mother, the sons escape; 
 and, if on the side of tlie father, the daughters escape. And so 
 we have more daughtirs insane, when their mother has been so; 
 and more sons when the insanity was on the father's side. IJut, 
 does not this look like a popular prejutliee ? We well know how 
 injurious an influence any idea of a melancholy cast fixed in the 
 mind, and reverted to day by day, has over us. And yet physicians 
 give out to the world that the chances are greatly in favour of the 
 children beeoiiiiiig insane, when their parents have been so. Thus, 
 n sanction, and a seiciititie foundation (as it were) is given to their 
 fears of the distase. And so, when one of a liuiiily in which this 
 hereditary disjiDsitiun is siipi>iisi'd lidls mad, «)thers in the same 
 family quickly follow ; for all of them liavo been taught that if is 
 in their blood, and that, it' they tlo not become insane, tlicy are the 
 excepti(>ns to a general nde. 
 D 
 
18 
 
 power whirli i> coiiscitms, ami that powrr wliicli 
 (liri'i'ts or wills. IJiit tin- objects wliicli coiiio 
 bct'on' tlu'sc i)owors may oithrr ho such that the 
 mind is rendered unconsciiuia by them, or tht-y 
 may have that appeafance to, and that influence 
 over, the mind, which they have not in a |)ropiM ly 
 workinj,' and sane organ of the min<l. Hv m (u*i •- 
 xions, then, on the brain, not only are tlir powers 
 of the understandni«r and the will drawn into 
 action, but often the brain receives actions which 
 militate a«jfainst, or even de<^^roy percej)tion ; and 
 volitions. Thus, in a fit of epilepsy, the mind is 
 api)arently unconscious. J t is reported of a } oung 
 and learned Englishman, that after his recovery 
 from a fever, he had forgotten all his Latin, 
 which language before the fever he knew per- 
 fectly (at the same time his knowledge of the 
 English language remained unimpaired) ; at the 
 end of the third week, and all at once, his know- 
 ledge of Latin returned. So some idiots have 
 recovered their knowledge during a fever, and 
 when the fever has ended, their idiocy, in many 
 cases, has returned. Other persons have, during 
 a fever, spoken in a language which when children 
 they were familiar with, but which they had appa- 
 rentlv to themsclvo^^ ana to others lonjj since 
 forgotten, and vhki' i. genera ij again forget 
 when the fever declines. And some madmen, 
 when attacked by another disorder, have at once 
 become sane. Again, bodily actions of which 
 we are not immediatelv conscious, alter the mind 
 
 
19 
 
 frorii (lav to (Uv : and in tmr \\;ilk thnmi:li life, 
 fVoiii tlio rnnllc tt) iho ynivi', \mu\\ k>\' our desires, 
 MHSociations, fcflinifs, ploiisuros, >\v., jiit <liiin«;t'dj 
 and others arise by the pliiy ot bodily aetioiis 
 and independently oC any volition or idea on 
 part; for facts like thes<\ we call ^ivo tto otKer 
 n'jison than onr experience that we are mm con- 
 stituted and so traiisrornied. These examples 
 shew that certain species of actions arr and y r. 
 sist in the oriran of the mind, of whirli >t is n'H 
 conscious, which are w»t ideas — therelorc that 
 tliis or^'^an possesses a receptive, different fnWi 
 the mind's perceptive p iwer; the former may not 
 cmly receive an acti<m v\' which the mind is*, hut 
 also (me of wliich it is not conscious ; it may 
 receive an uncons( iwus . ction, which may add 
 jjreatly to the mind's stock of knowledj^e, or 
 which may make the mind almost a blank. 
 
 Now, is it in certain cases, is re«(ards the orj^an 
 of the mind, as we cxperieiue it to be in other 
 parts of the body ? For insumce, an unsha(;kled 
 limb which docs not move when we will that it 
 should move, is said for the time to be paralysed; 
 or a limb which will not follow our volitions, 
 and keep at rest, but continues to move, by 
 virtue of voluntary muscles, any way as it may 
 happen, is said to be convulsed. Is it also 
 in some disorders of the mind, that the or^jfan by 
 which it works, and of the impr.'ssions on which 
 it is at times conscious, is paralyzed or convulsed, 
 or somethinjjf similar ? Indeed, in insanitv, the 
 
'iO 
 
 *' I cannot think on a ])articular ihoviglit," or th»' 
 " 1 cannot do a particular action," would a])pcar 
 to approach somewhat to a jiaralysis ; and tho 
 '* I must think on a giton thought," or tho " I 
 must do a given action," wouhl a})pcar in some 
 respects analogous to a convulsion. Thus, in 
 tlie famous and often repeated ex])erinu'nt of 
 Majendie : he cut down on a determinate part of 
 the hrain in a living animal, and forthwith it ran 
 round and round till it was held still or exhausted. 
 In what respect does this action differ from the 
 irresistihle impulse in the madman, to perform Jl 
 particul.ar action ? So in chorea, the mind can- 
 not achieve through voluntarv muscles wonted 
 actions, nor yet can it put a stop to the convul- 
 sions; so, in incoherent insanity, the mind cannot 
 fix itself on any contemplation. Further, the 
 complication of many, the worst cases of mad- 
 ness, with paralysis, epile])sy, and other convulsive 
 disorders, seems to point to the conclusion, that 
 there is between them all an intimate connexion ; 
 and that they are, in all probability, the results 
 of similar disordered actions in different parts of 
 the nervous organs. 
 
 7. Again : in our passions different bodily 
 actions, which indirectly solicit consciousness, 
 have ])lay ; which actions, ac((»rding to their 
 peculiar nature, render one man |)rr)ne to anger, 
 another to fear; (me to lust, another to chastitv, 
 tVc. Nor can the angry man, l)y willing it, 
 change places with the pusillanimous man, and 
 
21 
 
 become a coward ; nor the coward become coura- 
 j»eous ; nor the chaste man lustful ; nor the 
 histful chaste ; so lonf^ as tliat state of ])ody 
 endurt^s, on which each passion in orcat measure 
 depends. These bodily actions constitute the in^ 
 voluntary part of our ])assions. But we are angry, 
 for some reason, with one or other object present 
 to the mind's consciousness, which we are inclined 
 to hurt or to destroy. In like manner, we fear, 
 for some reason, one or other object, from which 
 wo anticipate injury or destruction. The volun- 
 tary part of our passions arises out of both these ; 
 and the angry man will attack his foe, and the 
 coward will run away, or be fascinated. 
 
 These and other passions exist both in the 
 sane and in the insane ; for both are angry, 
 fearful, lustful, &c. ; but the sane man can for 
 the most part command his passions, and he is 
 continent or incontinent, temperate or i'ntempe- 
 rate, according to that degree of command which 
 he imposes over them. Whereas, in the mad- 
 man, the bodily action is so int^ense that, while 
 under its influence, he is like one possessed. — 
 Thus, he starts from a sleep or a reverie, or at 
 the sight of a person or thing, or for a trivial 
 remark or circumstance, with his bodv fraught 
 w 1th those actions which are peculiar to him who 
 is angry, fearful, lustful, &c, ; and any object 
 before the mind arrests and fastens on the will, 
 and the impulse to consummate the particular 
 passion becomes irresistible. And the madman 
 
'22 
 
 perhaps, like Ajax, kills a flock of sheep, taking 
 them for his enemies ; or rushes with rage on 
 his dearest friend, ^c. ; or is horror-struck by 
 some imaginary, that is, brain-real objects ; or is 
 fearfully persuaded that heaven and mankind 
 are leagued against him, &c. ; • he is lost in 
 the fury of a satyriasis or nymphomania, &c. It 
 is not, however, said that the madman is intem- 
 perate on account of these things, because he 
 has no power to be temperate, and no preference 
 for intemperance ; the will is led captive. 
 
 Doubtless there are many other disorders in 
 which the will is constrained to particular voli- 
 tions. He who is suffering under a severe peri- 
 tonitis, or asthma, or painful ophthalmia, &c., 
 is forced to perform certain actions by voluntary 
 muscles ; and it is just as much out of a man's 
 power in the first of these diseases to walk erect 
 — or, in the second, to breathe at ease — or, in 
 the third, to look at an object in a strong light 
 stedfastly — as it is out of the madman's power, 
 in the fury of the disorder, to think or to act in 
 opposition to that madness which at the time 
 oppresses him : and, as in the bodily disorder, 
 we note as symptoms the results of such volitions; 
 so, in the mental disorder, we note as symptoms 
 the volitions themselves, expressed or acted up to. 
 
 8. A madman's actions, then, so far as his 
 madness extends, are involuntarv ; but not in 
 the same sense that a sane and healthv man's 
 actions are sometimes so. For what the sane 
 
Q3 
 
 man does, lu; does for the most part voluntarily ; 
 but otlier things wliich he cannot command, or 
 is ignorant of, mar the result, — as when a fond 
 parent permanently injures his child by a slight 
 chastisement — as when a man who has under- 
 taken a journey falls and is crippled by the way 
 — as when one taking his accustomed food ia 
 (;hoked thennvilh, &c. But a madman''s actions, 
 in the commencement, and as regards the causes 
 which produce them, are involuntary. Thus, 
 one of them, foreseeing the return of a fit, exhorts 
 his friends to get out of the way or to strap him 
 down, or he straps himself down, in the horrid 
 conviction that otherwise he may k II some of 
 them : thus, another taking himself to be a dead 
 man, acts as if he were so ; and another, being 
 poor, enjoys wealth ; or, being moral and chaste, 
 he is licentious — in his madness. 
 
 These thoughts and actions, although in the 
 above sense involuntary on the part of the mad- 
 man, are nevertheless often accompanied with 
 pleasure or pain, and he is not in some cases 
 iljnorant of their tendencv, else he could not 
 knowingly accomplish those actions which, in 
 sane men, <md being voluntarily performed, are 
 worthy of praise or blame ; but he is held or 
 driven by those causes which turn his thoughts 
 in a way peculiar to madness into strong deter- 
 minations of action, and which surpass all the 
 efforts of his conscious nature to get rid of. So 
 that the particular action, whatever that may be,. 
 
u 
 
 which ho feels he must acc()m[)lish, is in a manner 
 inevitable, it being, so far as the mind is con- 
 cerned, already determined on and completed. 
 Hence, the difficulty, in some ca>?es, of discover- 
 ing- the madman in his actions, for these ap])ear 
 to be voluntary ; he makes use of voluntary 
 muscles, of proper instruments, with a definite 
 end in view, which he, like other men, may or 
 may not accomplish. Here the circle of volun- 
 tary actions appears complete ; and if we con- 
 sider these tilings merely, he would seem to be a 
 good man, or a bad man ; that is, to have acted 
 from the deliberate choice of evil or of good. 
 But the causes which made these actions invo- 
 luntary, are for the most part sudden, fitful, and 
 obscure. One moment the madness is considered 
 latent, the very next moment it is in full play ; 
 an over excitement — an opportunity — an object 
 of any sort — a mere sound, as of a clock at a 
 given hour — or sight as of a razor — a change of 
 position, &c., has developed it. Contrariwise, it 
 is again made latent by similar slight and, for us, 
 almost inappreciable causes to so great results : 
 the voice of his physician or keeper — the dinner 
 bell — a kind word — the attempt, successful or 
 abortive, to perform an action, &c., has eclipsed 
 it. In such cases, the will would appear as if on 
 the confines of, and oscillating between, two 
 forces — the voluntary and the involuntary : any, 
 the least increment, pn the one hand, making a 
 latent madness evident ; and, on the other hand, 
 
•> 
 
 25 
 
 any, the least decrement, making it again latent; 
 or the bodily disease now incrciises on the mind, 
 so as to force the madness to appear, and now 
 again decreases, so that the madness becomes 
 latent. 
 
 It often happens, that the impressions on the 
 organ of the mind given by the disease, partake 
 so much of it, that the man's consciousness can 
 make very little out of them ; and they are well 
 termed by the madmen themselves, in their sane 
 intervals, as mere impulses, urging the will to 
 particular actions, such as a roar, a run, a noisy 
 gabble, &c., continued throughout the fit. It is 
 no wonder, then, in these cases, that the madman 
 should do an action whether he will or no, seeing 
 that the disease in the organ is, in great measure^ 
 doing it for him~is acting in lieu, as it were, of 
 his determinations. 
 
 9. In conclusion, a fit of madness appears to 
 be a disease of the organ of the mind, arrived at 
 that degree of intensity, that it determines the 
 will. 
 
 THE END. 
 
Preparing for Publication, 
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR, 
 
 THE STATISTICS OF INSANITY. 
 
Preparir^ / r Pvblicatioiu, 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR, 
 
 THE STATISTICS OF INSANITY. 
 
Y.