be accelerated by artificial or violent means, punishment with a view to produce this development, is wholly inadmissible.

On the other hand, children who have been born in perfect health, and who have continued for some time to improve in body and in mind, have then gradually fallen off, and have lost the manifestations of mind already displayed.

A case of this kind is related by Dr. Haslam, that of a girl, in whom, when nearly three years old, an attack of small-pox was followed by Idiocy, although no sign of mental deficiency had previously existed.

IMBECILITY.

The term Imbecility, has been applied to that state of mental deficiency, in which the mental faculties are to a certain extent, developed; and are, therefore, capable of partial education. There is, however, no exact line of demarcation between it and Idiocy; the two states pass by insensible shades, into each other, as Imbecility likewise gradually approaches to perfection of understanding, there is no possibility of saying where precisely one state of mental deficiency ends and the other begins, or where the latter ceases, and sound understanding takes its place.

In the imbecile, as in the idiot, it is in the power of attention that deficiency is most remarkable. From this cause, the perceptions are often incomplete; so

that it is only by frequent repetition, that they are retained. It is by memory, and not by reflection, that their knowledge is acquired.

As they are possessed of a limited degree of understanding, they, in like manner, have affections and passions. A proof of the existence of the passion of grief, in an individual of this class, occurred in a female,—who, having been affronted by a companion, took it so much to heart, that she absolutely died, apparently of vexation and grief. It is well known that fear and timidity, form a striking part of the character of Imbecility; physical love, too, shows itself about the time of puberty. The imbecile frequently exhibit amorous propensities, and are very much addicted to self-pollution. They are, likewise, subject to fits of violent excitement and fury. Some have strong propensities, as to stealing, others to music, and according to Dr. Gall, some have even a murderous propensity; in proof of which he cites the case of an individual who, after having killed two of his brothers, exultingly told his father that he had done so.

These poor creatures, are sometimes made the tools of designing men, and have been enticed or bribed to set fire to stacks of corn, &c., and even to houses. Under circumstances of this description, a medical man may be called upon to decide whether or not, the culprit is responsible for his actions-a question, the solution of which is sometimes attended with difficulty.

CAUSES OF IMBECILITY.

273

The imbecile, like idiots, have been arranged in different classes, according to the greater or less degree of deficiency of their mental faculties-without, however, any very practical result.

The causes of Imbecility are the same as those of Idiocy.

Hereditary predisposition, scrofula, rickets, convulsions, epilepsy, and severe illness in early infancy, or falls on the head, and chronic hydrocephalus. It has also been ascribed to effects produced on the fœtus, in the early stage of pregnancy, by the mother having been terrified, or otherwise violently agitated. To these causes must be added incomplete organization.

In giving an opinion, whether or not a person of weak mind, is in a state of sanity, the test which ought chiefly to influence us, is the consciousness of deficiency on the part of the individual himself, and his desire to remedy it. As consciousness of delusion is, under ordinary circumstances, considered as affording proof of the absence of insanity, so consciousness of deficiency ought, in most cases, to exempt the person from the imputation of unsoundness of mind, verifying the old adage of "that fool is no fool who knows himself to be a fool."

CHAPTER XV.

CAUSES OF INSANITY.

THE views of the ancients respecting the causes of insanity, were chiefly confined to proximate. They wholly excluded the numerous moral causes of morbid excitement, and were ignorant of mechanical causes, produced by malformation of the bones of the cranium, &c. They placed the seat of the passions in the præcordia, because thereabouts a certain feeling is always produced when any strong emotion, such as of joy, grief, pain, or pleasure, is experienced.

In more modern times, the causes of insanity have been variously arranged by different authors; as

PHYSICAL AND MORAL.

275

into predisposing, and exciting,-hereditary predisposition, the puerperal state, and the cessation of the menstrual discharge being considered examples of the former; whilst moral emotions, as fear, grief, remorse, or jealousy, have been regarded as forming the exciting causes.

They have likewise been divided into direct and indirect; the direct causes, being those which act immediately on the intellectual organ, the brain; whilst the indirect, are those which act upon it through the medium of the other organs of the body.

The division, however, which I shall adopt, is that of physical and moral causes-an arrangement which does not materially differ from the last mentioned, with this exception, that moral causes do not always act directly upon the brain, but sometimes indirectly produce insanity. All emotions of the mind, it is evident, are capable of disturbing the corporeal functions; and though in themselves moral causes, may become physical in their operation. Hence, physical causes grow out of moral causes, and these frequently lead to insanity; not, however, by direct impressions, but through the means of those morbid changes in the system which they gradually effect.