Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB
[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]
[graphic]
[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]
[graphic]

APRIL,

1906

TH

INSANITY

HE word which heads this article is derived from two Latin words, sanus (sound) and the prevative in (not or without,) and literally means the state of being not sound, or not healthy. Therefore, one who is not sound physically, not healthy, is insane.

But through use and custom the word insane has come to mean not of sound mind. And, although idiots or mental imbeciles, who are born that way, are insane in this sense, yet they are not usually classed among insane people. Our insane asylums are exclusively for the treatment and care of those unfortunates who were once normal in mental action but lost their reason or equilibrium through stress of conditions or brain failure. We have other institutions for the "feeble minded" where idiots are taken care of.

The main reason for this division is that idiots are supposed to be incurable, while lunatics are sometimes cured of their hallucinations and wild fancies.

Lunacy is now applied to all types of mental derangement, and our asylums are commonly called lunatic asylums. Formerly the word meant madness with intervals of lucidity, supposed to be governed by the influence of the moon. (Luna is the Latin name for the moon.) But we no longer ascribe any condition of mental unsoundness to the moon's influence.

Crazy and craziness are from an old English word which meant broken or crushed. Persons who are

« ZurückWeiter »