Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

1185

On the Nature and Causes of Insanity.

1186

best way." I have read with attention the work he mentions, but I must confess that I have not hitherto met with any writer who has given me satisfaction. Mr. Ledbrook has fallen into a very usual practice, that of speaking of effects, before the causes are at all investigated: and though, in many instances, we can only argue upon causes from their effects; yet I greatly question whether the closest investigation of all the different phenomena of the human mind, will of itself lead us to right conclusions as to the causes of those phenomena. I admit as perfectly correct, what a ce

flame. I must not omit a striking circumstance, which shews the firmness of his mind. When the executioner was going to apply the fire behind him, in order that he might not see it, he said, Come this way, and kindle it in my sight, for if I had been afraid of it, I should never have come to this place. Thus perished a man, in every respect exemplary, except in the erroneousness of his faith. I was a witness of his end, and observed every particular of its progress. He may have been heretical in his notions, and obstinate in persevering in them, but he certainly died like a philosopher. I have rehearsed a long story, as I wish-lebrated preacher and writer has said, ed to employ my leisure, in relating a transaction which surpasses the events of ancient history. For neither did Mutius suffer his hand to be burnt so patiently as Jerome endured the burning of his whole body; nor did Socrates drink the hemlock as cheerfully as Jerome submitted to the fire!"*

(To be continued.) *Poggii Epistolæ.

ON THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF
INSANITY.

WE learn from the respected writer of the following letter, that, although it has only just reached our hands, it was written so early as the date which it bears; but, through some mistake in the directions, after remaining in the General Post Office nearly two months, was returned to its author, and again forwarded to us. Hence its allusions are to Mr. Ledbrook's first letter, which appeared in our number for September, col. 826. We shall be glad to hear from Mr. Bakewell again, on the afflictive but interesting subject on which he has so ably employed his pen.-EDITOR.

"The proper study of mankind, is man.'

[ocr errors]

POPE.

"Were I so tall to reach the skies,
Or grasp the ocean with a span,
I'd not be measur'd by my size,

The mind's the stature of the man."
WATTS.

MR. EDITOR.
SIR,-I perfectly agree with your able
corrrespondent, Mr. Ledbrook, as to
the importance of the subject upon
which he writes, and allow that "it is
natural to feel a considerable degree of
anxiety to be made acquainted with
those works which treat of it in the

namely, that "in first causes we are ever at a loss;" still, we should go as near to first causes as possible; and without a clear analysis of our subject, we cannot expect to arrive at correct and clear inferences.

[ocr errors]

My situation in life has for a number of years enabled me to make constant observations upon mental diseases; and for a considerable part of the time the complaint was a complete puzzle, so much so as to become a disease of anxiety in myself; I felt uneasy and dissatisfied. Following implicitly the instructions of my predecessors, in the medical and moral treatment which I administered, I had reason to be fully satisfied with my success in the cure, or amendment, of those committed to my care. I saw certain results follow from certain efforts, but I knew neither the why nor the wherefore; and my intense researches in books gave me no information. I saw at times the perfection of reason in those, who at other seasons, were most afflicted with mental aberrations; and often perceived lucid intervals in the most deplorable cases of mental derangement; and even within these last five minutes, I have had a proof of the most correct reason, and the most complete absence of reason, in a female who sits by me. A more confirmed case of mental derangement cannot exist, than that of another lady I have now in the room with me; and yet for quickness of observation, justness of reflection, pertinence of remark, and correctness of memory, I do not think I ever met with her equal. A few minutes ago she was giving me a proof of her scientific knowledge of music, when she made a sudden stop, put her hand to

1187

On the Nature and Causes of Insanity,

her head, and no doubt was giving indulgence to the most absurd and visionary imaginations. I have just spoken to her in a way which experience suggested, and she is suddenly roused to a perfect, (while it lasts,) though but temporary state of sanity. Upon a like occasion, some years ago, I should have said to myself, "How is this? what is insanity? and what is the human mind, which is susceptible of such sudden and important changes? But perfectly satisfied as I now am as to the theory of the human mind, and its various aberrations, I have only to be thankful to the all-wise Giver of light and knowledge, for I cannot say that it arose from any efforts of my own, or others.

1188

eases are not, generally speaking, any defect or disease of the ideas of sensation or recollection, but are simply a diseased excitement of the ideas of imagination.

In my public lecture upon mental affections, I have been in the habit of saying, that insanity is not a disease of the mind; which I have endeavoured to explain, by calling our involuntary ideas thoughts, and our mental attainments or knowledge, mind. Thoughts then would be the materials from which mind is made up, but they are not mind itself, which is a fixed permanent quality; as we say, a firm mind, a well-informed mind, &c. ; the perfection of mind depending very much upon the recollective faculty, which I never found injured by insanity, and of course the reasoning power is only occasionally suppressed, or overpowered, by the disease, but is not permanently destroyed or injured. Mr. Ledbrook speaks of defective or diseased sensations, but in upwards of three hundred of the most confirmed cases of mental derangement that I have had in this house, I have not met with one of defective or diseased sensations; however bad they might be, they could, for any thing I ever discovered, see, and hear, and taste, and feel, and smell, as well as they ever could; nor did I ever discover any loss of memory, as a symptom of the mental affection.

In a sane state we are apt to be imposed on by the force of our imaginations, particularly by those that occur as diseases; and we frequently are much influenced by them in our tempers and feelings; and after we

The obscurity of the subject, seems to have been owing to the not making a distinction betwixt the functions of mind, and the powers of the mind; or rather betwixt the mental functions, and the mental operations. The perceptive faculty is, in all the writers I have consulted, stated as a power of the mind; but that cannot be a power of the mind, over which the mind has no control: and we can neither command an idea, nor prevent it; we are the passive agents of external, or internal, impressions. If our ideas were not involuntary, we should not suffer ourselves to be intruded upon by those that are visionary and disagreeable, which all of us at times are. The perceptive faculty is undoubtedly a power of the vital principle, which is coeval with life itself, and consistent with feeling and sensation; it exists long before the reasoning power, or what I would call mind, is developed. The thinking principle, or perceptive func-have for a long time given indulgence tion, is always in action, whether we are awake or asleep; and is occupied in three sets of ideas, viz. ideas of sensation, ideas of reflection, or ideas of imagination. Were I to see the Regent's Dock, Liverpool, I must think of it at the time, and this would be an idea of sensation; after seeing it I should no doubt frequently think of it, and these would be ideas of reflection, or recollection; but I have hither-health consists in a due balance of the to only heard that there is such a thing, and my conception of it is an idea of the imagination; and as it is vague, it may be very erroneous, while those of sensation and recollection, could not well be incorrect as to the general features of it; and in fact mental dis

to an impression of the imagination, we cease to distinguish it from one made by a sensation, and the excess of this becomes insanity; in which the vague imaginations are insisted upon as realities. Without involuntary imaginations, man would be a dull being; with an over or diseased excitement of them, he becomes a maniac; and the perfection of mental

ideas of sensation, the ideas of reflection, and those of imagination; and the temperate action of the latter must depend upon physical temperature, and a freedom from the power of habit. We cannot have any bodily disease without its producing a morbid

[blocks in formation]

effect upon the imagination. If we but drink a few glasses of wine too much, or are troubled with indigestion, or suffer from the loss of rest; the thoughts are confused, and we have greater difficulty in attending to a given subject; and any train of ideas long continued with anxiety, becomes a disease from the power of habit; that is, the freedom of the mind or will is injured by it; but we well know that knowledge and memory, and of consequence the reasoning power, is frequently found in high perfection, in those afflicted with the most severe and incurable bodily diseases; and for myself I have constant proofs that the involuntary functions of thought, or imagination, may be greatly disordered, without any real disease or loss of the powers of reason.

In the examination of many hundreds of cases of confirmed insanity, I have never met with one which did not convince me that the mental faculties were not destroyed or diseased, but that the free exercise of them was at times merely suspended or overpowered by a disease, which, upon being removed, left the faculties free to act as before; and in a great number of cases, the mental faculties have been much improved while under the discase of insanity; and under a judicious system of treatment it will generally be so, it being understood, that by the mental faculties, or the powers of reason, is meant knowledge, or the mental attainments, and the power of exercising that knowledge through the medium of the recollective faculty or memory.

I would strongly recommend it to Mr. Ledbrook to pursue the subject; and he may rest assured, that any remarks of mine that may follow, shall be made in the true spirit of candour.

T. BAKEWELL.
Spring-Vale, near Stone, 6th Sept. 1821.

ON DANCING.

IN our number for October, we inserted some strictures on dancing, communicated by T, W―m, in which the advocates for this amusement think he has treated the subject with an unmerited degree of severity. Since its appearance, we have received four distinct replies to his animadversions; one from Albert of Islington, one

1190

from J. L. of Oxford-Street, London; one from M. M. of Acton-Place; and another from the correspondent whose signature is subjoined. As it would be incompatible with the limits of our publication to insert all these communications, we select the following, as including most of the remarks which the others contain. In this article, the arguments by which Dancing is supported, and the standard to which its advocates appeal, seem fairly developed. EDITOR.

MR. EDITOR. Sir,-In consequence of the extreme rigour of your correspondent, T. W.'s sentiments, col. 939, who declares himself, "in the most unqualified terms, the decided opponent of all dancing ;" and on account of the wide difference which exists between his opinions on that subject, and those which I have cherished from my earliest infancy;-I am induced to enlist under your Imperial banners, and to mingle with the crowd of candidates that will flock to your standard, and contend for promotion to an honourable situation under your government during the election of the ensuing month.

I shall not attempt to deny, that "the youth of both sexes are constantly surrounded by temptation;" neither shall I reject the inference which Mr. W. has deduced from this hypothesis-that it is therefore necessary that "constant care and watchfulness" should be exercised over them. Thus far indeed our opinions bear a kindred stamp; but when he affirms, that amid all the alluring temptations to which young and thoughtless minds are exposed, and amid all the varied pleasures which flatter their fancy and invite their attention, none is more indulged. in, or attended with more ruinous consequences, than DANCING, -all congeniality of sentiment ceases; the bonds of our mental brotherhood are cancelled, and consanguine ideas no longer cireulate in our imaginations.

Let me ask Mr. W. whether the THEATRE and the GAMING-TABLE are not more frequently resorted to than the BALL-ROOM, or any other rendezvous of dancing whatever? I would also inquire, whether the lewd scenes which are there exhibited, and the amorous intrigues which are there

1191

On Dancing.

1192

inculcated, as it were, by precept, pronounce judgment, let us try the as well as enforced by example, and validity of the case; let us examine are represented as being accompanied this "cursed system," and see wheby a never-ending round of gratifica-ther it will not bear the name of an tion and delight, and generally crown"innocent recreation" with a little ed with ultimate success ;-I would more propriety. inquire whether such exhibitions as these are not more decidedly calculated to corrupt the minds of young people than the very worst species of dancing practised in England? and whether that species, whatever it may | be, is not in a measure innocent, and void of cause for reprehension, when compared with the numerous train of evils consequent upon an habitual attendance at the GAMING-TABLE?

Let it be considered, that besides participating in the ill effects arising from Mr. W.'s "cursed system of dancing," midnight assemblies, and mixed company, gamblers must be arraigned before the bar of God, to answer for a direct breach of one of his commandments-"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." And can a man be said to live in the observance of this law, whilst he is endeavouring to enrich himself by depriving his neighbour of the means of subsistence? Or rather, do not his actions betray a willingness to cast him into prison, that he may thereby increase his own respectability by purchasing a pack of hounds?

I could cite many other alluring temptations, more frequently indulged in, and of a more baneful tendency, than the most objectionable genus of English dancing, (such as dishonourable connections between the sexes, novel reading, &c. &c.) but I think sufficient has already been said to shew, that instead of "the index of the misfortunes of youth, generally pointing to the indulgence of this alluring vice," the hand of the compass will be more frequently directed at one or other of the fashionable follies above specified.

I perfectly agree with Mr. W. that "the man who would rob intelligent and rational beings of innocent recreations, must be a total stranger to those fine and noble feelings, which constitute a main feature in the happiness of social life." But as he afterwards declares himself," in the most unqualified terms, the decided opponent of all DANCING, I am afraid his sboulders will smart under the lash of his own denunciation. But before we

[ocr errors]

In order to ascertain this, Mr. W. has requested us to investigate "the grand preliminary interrogatory,— Does the amusement tend to good or to evil?" According to his own evidence, it tends to both;—to good, because it imparts vigour and strength to the bodily organs, throws a gaiety and a life over the drooping or the sorrowing frame, invigorates the muscles, and adds fresh nerve and energy to the whole bodily constitution ;and to evil, because it is carried on at unseasonable hours, and leads young people into mixed company. But is all dancing carried on at unseasonable hours? Are midnight assemblies the only places in which it is practised? Or rather does it not more frequently enter the family circle, and constitute a very prominent feature in the happiness of social life? Is the village-green entirely deserted by rustic swains and country maids? Or are the "merry dance and the mirthawakening viol" banished thence? Is it carried on at unseasonable hours in these places? Is it not then an innocent recreation in these instances? Mr. W. cannot assert that it is not, neither can be object to all dancing on this account.

The same may be said with regard to mixed company. Is dancing carried on no where but in the ball-room, or in public assemblies? Are there no select companies? no private parties? no family circles, in which it is practised? But if the term "mixed” should include any of these, may not the same objection be raised against sending children to boarding-schools? The former are generally under the control of a parent; the latter under that of an hireling. Neither, therefore, can he object to all dancing on this account.

"Yet," he may say, "there is much evil left in the system, and it has already been productive of many bad consequences:" but has not the art of printing been productive of still worse consequence? And is it not in reality one of the greatest blessings God ever bestowed upon mankind? Will he prohibit the use of wine, because some

[blocks in formation]

drink it to excess? Or will he abolish | the laws of the country, because the innocent sometimes suffer by them? Then why abrogate the whole system of dancing, (notwithstanding the numerous benefits which are derived from it,) because a few objectionable branches have been grafted into the upper parts of its stem;-those which are the most distant from its roots? Or why pronounce an anathema on Terpsichore and her favourite art, merely because a few of her votaries have gone astray, and have been pu- | nished for their disobedience.

1194

classes of the community, most either deprive themselves of much gratification by avoiding the parties of their juvenile friends, or, by attending them, must expose their ignorance and appear ridiculous.* Let him, for once in his life, divest himself of his severity, and enter, as a spectator, one of those private circles where dancing is the amusement of the evening; there he will find every countenance cheerful; and on them will read the happiness of every heart; he will see every eye sparkling with gladness, and every face dimpled with a smile; he will discover hilarity in every step;" he will behold "the perfection of personal proportion;" his attention will be arrested, his heart will be softened, and, with a pleasure communicated by sympathy, "he cannot but acknowledge that dancing is one of the most innocent and rational, as well as the most elegant, amusements of youth." Then, instead of echoing the sentiment of the gentleman who declared, "that he would rather see a child of his fall down and break both its legs, than it should ever learn that cursed system of dancing;"

66

that when "well guarded against all the temptations and abuses that may attend it, it is profitable to many

But it is not merely a salubrious exercise, it is also a most elegant and dignified accomplishment; and has been deemed such by all times and nations. In the most civilized eras of Greece and Rome, we find it was a favourite amusement with the chief ranks of society; kings, heroes, and unbearded youths, together with queens, and stately virgins, alike mingled in this graceful recreation. If we refer to yet more early ages, still we shall find it to be the "happy pastime of nature," and the universal "celebration of festivity." It is even sanctioned by the scriptures them--he would agree with Dr. Watts, selves. We are told, that, when the children of Israel had crossed the Red Sea, "Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and DANCES:" We are informed, that "David DANCED before the Lord with all his might,” near the ark of the covenant; and that "the virgin shall rejoice in the DANCE, both young men and old together." The return of the prodigal son was celebrated with "music and DANCING;" and we are directed to " praise the name of the Lord in the DANCE." May it not then be an “innocent recreation" in these instances? in those of civil as well as in those of sacred rejoicing? And if the children of Israel were permitted to dance when they were glad, why may not we be allowed to follow their example, especially as it accords with the custom of the present age?

Still Mr. W. will not admit, that it is " indispensably necessary" for а young person "to be initiated into the system of dancing" before he "is fit for polite society." But he must allow, that the youth of either sex who are incapable of participating in this diversion, so much in vogue with all No. 35.-VOL. III.

*They will resemble a young man who is well read in his vernacular tongue, and tolerably acquainted with the classics, and with many of the arts and sciences. But with all theology, and has perhaps never perused any this knowledge, he is an entire stranger to part of the scriptures with attention during his life. This, however, does not prevent him from associating with learned men. He is frequently invited to their assemblies, where he joins in their debates, and occasionally illustrates the accuracy of his opinion by a mathematical demonstration, or by an apt quotation from Horace or Homer. A short time past, on entering one of these assemblies, he found the whole company earnestly engaged in impulse of his feelings, skulked into an obscure a theological dispute, and obeying the first part of the room, in order that he might elude the observation of the company. He had not remained long in this situation, before he was discovered; and being generally considered an erudite man, was immediately invited to come forward, and to take a part in the debate. After many fruitless attempts to excuse himself, he was at last obliged to confess his igncrance, and to declare himself void of all scriptural knowledge. This forced declaration has greatly lowered him in the esteem of his com panions; and, although they continue to assc ciate with him, they evidently regard him as a man of very ordinary attainments.

4 G

« ZurückWeiter »