PART V.

A 3NORMAL MENTAL STATES.

CHAPTER I.

INSANITY.

HAVING examined the intellectual powers in those de velopments which may be considered normal or regular, let us devote some time to those phenomena which may be considered abnormal or irregular. They are mental acts more or less extraordinary, being the result of disease, or of peculiar occasional causes from without. They may be considered under the following heads: Insanity, Mesmeric States, Apparent Death, and Trance. We will begin with the first of these.

Insanity always implies a DISEASED STATE OF MIND. Diseases of the mind, as well as of the body, belong most properly to medical treatises, and, for obvious reasons, it is inexpedient to portray, at length, causes of mental derangement for the indiscriminate perusal of the young. I shall therefore be brief upon this subject.

WHEREIN DREAMING AND INSANITY ARE ALIKE.

Dreaming and insanity are analogous in these two respects in both, the mind's imaginings are mistaken for

realities; and in both, the thoughts succeed each other as suggested by associations, uncontrolled by the rational will. Thus Dr. Abercrombie, whose authority is very good on this subject, remarks, "It appears, then, that there is a remarkable analogy between the mental phenomena in insanity and in dreaming, and that the leading peculiarities of both these conditions are referable to two heads:

"1. The impressions which arise in the mind are believed to be real and present existences, and this belief is not corrected by comparing the conception with the actual state of things in the external world.

"2. The chains of ideas or images which arise follow one another according to certain associations over which the individual has no control; he cannot, as in a healthy state, vary the series, or stop it at his will." *

WHEREIN DREAMING AND INSANITY DIFFER.

Dreaming and, insanity are essentially different in the following respects:

1. In dreaming, a part of the mental faculties is in a state of rest; in insanity, they are in a state of diseased action. Hence the former is transient, the latter permanent. As the former results from only a dormant state of some of the faculties of a sound mind, we only need to arouse them to service, to restore the balance of mental action; but as the latter implies a diseased state, the rousing up of the faculties no more restores sane action to the mind than the waking up of a sick man restores health to his body.

2. In dreaming, we are ordinarily insensible to the ob-jects around us. The eyes are usually closed, and all the other organs of perception are composed to rest. But in cases of insanity, there is ordinarily a high degree of sensibility in relation to surrounding objects and events. Indeed, the perceptions of insane persons are often remarkably keen. All who have been conversant with

* Intellectual Philosophy, p 226.

them must have noticed how quick a word, a look, an action, even a cautious whisper, is by them perceived and interpreted.

Some have supposed that in the higher states of disease the subject becomes insensible, as in dreaming, to external objects. Thus Dr. Abercrombie says, "In the higher states, or what we call perfect mania, we see them exemplified in the same complete manner as in dreaming. The maniac fancies himself a king possessed of boundless power, and surrounded by every form of earthly splendor; and with all his bodily senses in their perfect exercise, this hallucination is in no degree corrected by the sight of his bed of straw and all the horrors of his cell."

But there is still this difference: in dreaming, the subject takes no notice of surrounding objects; in the mania supposed, the subject notices the bed of straw and the cell, but his disordered imagination transforms them to a throne and a palace. The idea that maniacs are insensible to surrounding objects has often led to a neglect of their external condition. The "bed of straw and all the horrors of his cell" is what no maniac should be subjected to: an imagination transforming them into circumstances of power and splendor is the rare portion of the few triumphantly intent on making the best of their wretchedness.

ΜΟΝΟΜΑΝΙΑ.

One of the most common forms of insanity is that in which the mind is diseased in reference to one particular subject, and sound in reference to all others. This is what the name imports—monomania. It is no uncommon thing for men to become highly nervous or excitable on one subject only. It is, perhaps, one on which their feelings have been much tried, or in which they have a special interest.

Disappointed lovers; misers who have met with severe losses; ardent philanthropists who have been thwarted

* Intellectual Philosophy, p. 226.

are

Where

in their prospects of reform; men severely tried in their religious experiencc; persons under deep affliction, all very liable to this disordered mental action. the excitement becomes intense and absorbing, so that the one impression controls the mind, despite of reason, it is monomania. The proper balance of mind, in reference to a particular subject, is lost. The line between that eccentricity, or oneideaism, as some have termed it, which merely magnifies a subject above its relative importance and real monomania, is not distinctly drawn; the one gradually merges into the other.

In cases of decided monomania, the victim of the disease usually continues to be morbidly excited upon one and the same subject, and sane upon all others, until the restoration of health or the close of life. But sometimes the hallucination changes from one subject to another. A man mentioned by some medical authority was haunted several years with the idea of being poisoned; his hallucination became suddenly changed; he imagined himself lord of the world, and enjoyed the pleasing illusion until death. This seems to be accounted for on the

principle of reaction. When the mind has been long pressed to an extreme point in one direction, it sometimes vibrates and passes to an opposite extreme.

ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF INSANITY.

Insanity usually first discovers itself by some slight deviations from the ordinary mental action. The subject of it is unusually depressed, light minded, absent, or irritable. He begins, perhaps, to labor under some illusion. He imagines that some person has attempted to poison him, or to injure his character or property. He becomes exceedingly jealous and suspicious, and sometimes revengeful. At other times his imagination presents a pleasing picture: he fancies himself about to be promoted to distinction and wealth, and embarks in visionary projects. His friends notice these things with surprise, and begin to blame and rebuke him, not as yet suspecting the true

cause.

The disorder goes gradually on, until at length

it develops itself in actions so decidedly irrational as to unmask the disease.

The fact that insanity usually advances slowly is very important, as serving to assist in detecting both the incipient stages of the disease, and also pretensions to it. When a person exhibits symptoms of insanity immediately after being detected in some crime, without having previously exhibited the same, or something approaching them, his case is very suspicious.

There may be sudden derangements of mind from a fall or fright, the death of a friend, or a fever: these are not usually chronic, are clearly traced to their cause, and therefore form no serious exception to the above remark.

PECULIAR CHARACTER OF INSANITY.

"The peculiar character of insanity," says Dr. Abercrombie," in all its modifications, appears to be, that a certain impression has fixed itself upon the mind in such a manner as to exclude others; or to exclude them from that influence which they ought to have on the mind, in its estimate of the relations of things. This impression may be entirely visionary and unfounded; or it may be in itself true, but distorted in the application which the unsound mind makes of it, and the consequences which are deduced from it. Thus a man of wealth fancies himself a beggar, and in danger of dying of hunger. Another takes up the same impression, who has, in fact, sustained some considerable loss. In the one, the impression is entirely visionary, like that which might occur in a dream; in the other, it is a real and true impression, carried to consequences which it does not warrant.” *

Insanity is also, perhaps, always characterized by an unusual stupor, or a greatly increased activity of mind, or more commonly by the alternations of both. The former is an approach to idiocy; the latter, to something superhuman. The latter is by far the more common. Imagination becomes exceedingly fertile, memory quick

* Intellectual Philosophy, p. 250.