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Observations on the Deranged Manifestations of the Mind, or Insanity
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294 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1970
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June 7, 2024
The earliest metaphysicians of Egypt detached the mind from the pursuits of its deranged manifestations.
At Vienna, a melancholy person having seen the execution of a criminal, the spectacle produced in him so violent an emotion, that he was suddenly seized with a propensity to kill.
We saw at Hamburgh a young man, sixteen years of age, the
inferior parts of whose brain were favorably developed, but
whose forehead was scarcely one inch in height.
Pinel speaks of a madman who did not show any mark of alienation, but who confessed that, in his narrow seclusion, his propensity to murder was quite involuntary.
Gall possesses, in his collection, two skulls of such individuals, who were confined in the lunatic asylum at Vienna.
I have one of a man who died at Prague in Bohemia, which Professor Micanun was so kind as to give me.
Pinel states that he has seen
some instances of muscular energy that impressed him with the idea of a strength almost supernatural.
Two instances of a talent for drawing, evolved by madness, have occurred within my
knowledge.
In some an appearance takes place which has not hitherto been noticed by authors.
This is a relaxation of the integuments of the cranium, by which they may be wrinkled or rather gathered up
by the hand to a considerable degree. It is generally most remarkable on the posterior part of the scalp.'
Our appetite may be deranged, and we may be fond of unusual flavors, as of burning coal, chalk, etc.
Some persons cannot distinguish colors, and take red for green.
Vision is often molested with transient clouds, floating insects, flashes of light..
We saw in the poorhouse at Cork, in Ireland, a boy who excels in verbal memory, but as to judgment he is an idiot.
At Inverness, in Scotland,
Drs. Robertson and Niclioli showed me a blind idiot who repeats passages of the Bible, merely from hearing them.
There are also more deaf than
blind among insane people.
The most modest young females are sometimes seized with the feeling, countenance,
and language of a loose libertine. I have seen several who fancied themselves to be pregnant.
In Vienna suicide is rare ; but in one year there were in one week seven suicides, so that the government became attentive, and ordered that the
causes should be investigated.
Pinel says, 'I have nowhere met, except in romances, with fonder husbands, more affectionate parents, more impassionate lovers, more pure and exalted patriots, than in the lunatic asylum.
Pinel says, there are some who feel a blind and ferocious propensity to imbrue their hands in human blood.
Dr. Long had a patient who with her naked hands carried
burning coals to straw, in order to put it in flame.
Mr. "side of his bed" wounded various parts of his wife. A child with its throat cut said he "did not care any thing about it." His wife had been known to tie him with ropes down to the floor.
Willis describes the brain of an idiot from birth, which was not larger than half the
ordinary size.
Professor Bonn, of Amsterdam, possesses two such skulls, and the brain of one ; Pinel has one ; Gall has two such skulls, all taken from nature, and three of them from living persons, in the Lunatic Asylum at Cork in Ireland.
'I could mention,' says Pinel, 'several instances of insane persons, of known integrity and honesty, who had an irresistible propensity to cheat or to steal upon the accession of their maniacal paroxysms.'
Many of the idiots who cannot speak are not deaf;
they can pronounce various words, yet they cannot speak ; and physicians often look for the cause of this want in the organs of voice, or in the tongue, amygdaloid glands, palate, etc.
A maniac took for a legion of
devils every assemblage of people whom he saw.
A female patient of mine, who became insane after parturition, in the year 1807, sang hymns and songs of her own composition, during the latter stage of her illness, with a tone of voice so soft and pleasant, that I hung upon it with delight every time I visited her. She had never discovered a talent for poetry, nor music, in any previous part of her life.
Moreover, in insanity there are often other morbid appearances, such as noise in the ears.
Where is the hospital for mad people, in which elegant and completely rigged ships, and curious pieces of machinery, have not been exhibited by persons who never discovered the least turn for mechanical art previously to their derangement ?
Fodere Gurgulias observed that, among Cretins, that, if during three generations consecutively they intermix, the disease is a certain event.
The Jews, probably less than any other people, have intermarried with strangers, and it is supposed that they are most liable to insanity.
Dr. Rush says, 'I have known a clergyman whose sermons and prayers discovered every mark of a sound mind, but who was constantly deranged when out of the pulpit.'
He speaks also of a judge in a neighboring state who was deranged in a high degree in his family and in company, but who astonished the court by the correctness of his opinions.
Haslam quotes an example where the son had the gait, voice, and hand-writing of his father.
It is, for instance, more probable that an animal born without a tail will propagate young ones with the same defect, than another which has been mutilated by art.
Mania and melancholia do not propagate their respective types : maniacs beget melancholiacs, and vice versa.
At Vienna, a melancholy person having seen the execution of a criminal, the spectacle produced in him so violent an emotion, that he was suddenly seized with a propensity to kill.
We saw at Hamburgh a young man, sixteen years of age, the
inferior parts of whose brain were favorably developed, but
whose forehead was scarcely one inch in height.
Pinel speaks of a madman who did not show any mark of alienation, but who confessed that, in his narrow seclusion, his propensity to murder was quite involuntary.
Gall possesses, in his collection, two skulls of such individuals, who were confined in the lunatic asylum at Vienna.
I have one of a man who died at Prague in Bohemia, which Professor Micanun was so kind as to give me.
Pinel states that he has seen
some instances of muscular energy that impressed him with the idea of a strength almost supernatural.
Two instances of a talent for drawing, evolved by madness, have occurred within my
knowledge.
In some an appearance takes place which has not hitherto been noticed by authors.
This is a relaxation of the integuments of the cranium, by which they may be wrinkled or rather gathered up
by the hand to a considerable degree. It is generally most remarkable on the posterior part of the scalp.'
Our appetite may be deranged, and we may be fond of unusual flavors, as of burning coal, chalk, etc.
Some persons cannot distinguish colors, and take red for green.
Vision is often molested with transient clouds, floating insects, flashes of light..
We saw in the poorhouse at Cork, in Ireland, a boy who excels in verbal memory, but as to judgment he is an idiot.
At Inverness, in Scotland,
Drs. Robertson and Niclioli showed me a blind idiot who repeats passages of the Bible, merely from hearing them.
There are also more deaf than
blind among insane people.
The most modest young females are sometimes seized with the feeling, countenance,
and language of a loose libertine. I have seen several who fancied themselves to be pregnant.
In Vienna suicide is rare ; but in one year there were in one week seven suicides, so that the government became attentive, and ordered that the
causes should be investigated.
Pinel says, 'I have nowhere met, except in romances, with fonder husbands, more affectionate parents, more impassionate lovers, more pure and exalted patriots, than in the lunatic asylum.
Pinel says, there are some who feel a blind and ferocious propensity to imbrue their hands in human blood.
Dr. Long had a patient who with her naked hands carried
burning coals to straw, in order to put it in flame.
Mr. "side of his bed" wounded various parts of his wife. A child with its throat cut said he "did not care any thing about it." His wife had been known to tie him with ropes down to the floor.
Willis describes the brain of an idiot from birth, which was not larger than half the
ordinary size.
Professor Bonn, of Amsterdam, possesses two such skulls, and the brain of one ; Pinel has one ; Gall has two such skulls, all taken from nature, and three of them from living persons, in the Lunatic Asylum at Cork in Ireland.
'I could mention,' says Pinel, 'several instances of insane persons, of known integrity and honesty, who had an irresistible propensity to cheat or to steal upon the accession of their maniacal paroxysms.'
Many of the idiots who cannot speak are not deaf;
they can pronounce various words, yet they cannot speak ; and physicians often look for the cause of this want in the organs of voice, or in the tongue, amygdaloid glands, palate, etc.
A maniac took for a legion of
devils every assemblage of people whom he saw.
A female patient of mine, who became insane after parturition, in the year 1807, sang hymns and songs of her own composition, during the latter stage of her illness, with a tone of voice so soft and pleasant, that I hung upon it with delight every time I visited her. She had never discovered a talent for poetry, nor music, in any previous part of her life.
Moreover, in insanity there are often other morbid appearances, such as noise in the ears.
Where is the hospital for mad people, in which elegant and completely rigged ships, and curious pieces of machinery, have not been exhibited by persons who never discovered the least turn for mechanical art previously to their derangement ?
Fodere Gurgulias observed that, among Cretins, that, if during three generations consecutively they intermix, the disease is a certain event.
The Jews, probably less than any other people, have intermarried with strangers, and it is supposed that they are most liable to insanity.
Dr. Rush says, 'I have known a clergyman whose sermons and prayers discovered every mark of a sound mind, but who was constantly deranged when out of the pulpit.'
He speaks also of a judge in a neighboring state who was deranged in a high degree in his family and in company, but who astonished the court by the correctness of his opinions.
Haslam quotes an example where the son had the gait, voice, and hand-writing of his father.
It is, for instance, more probable that an animal born without a tail will propagate young ones with the same defect, than another which has been mutilated by art.
Mania and melancholia do not propagate their respective types : maniacs beget melancholiacs, and vice versa.
Displaying 1 of 1 review