GEN. I.
SPEC. II.

Ecphronia
Mania.

Madness.
Moral

treatment.

valescence,

no benefit

whatever to

so absurd as to attempt devotional instruction of any kind; for the subject of religion can only be addressed to the reason or to the passions: the former of which does not exist in a state to be influenced, and the latter of which, if they could be influenced at all, would only Before con- add to the excitement, and increase the disease. The clear duty of the priest and of the physician is in this case one and the same: it is to bring the mind home to the world around it: to draw it down and fix it upon things of time and sense, instead of rousing it to things invisible Explained. and eternal: to enable it to behold God in the materialities of his works, instead of urging it to a contemplation of him in the spiritualities of his word. To instigate a madman to an abstract and elevated communion with his Creator, who is incapable of holding an intercourse upon ordinary topics with his fellow creature, is to cure a frozen limb by pouring boiling water upon it, or to teach the optics of Newton in a nursery.

be derived

from such means.

Advantage

derived from

mind from all former scenes and connexions.

Yet in a few instances,

and at particular seasons, the

In many cases the cure mainly depends upon withoften to be drawing the patient's mind as much as possible from withdrawing every former scene and every former companion, in setthe patient's ting before him a new world, and giving an entire change to the current of his recollections and ideas. There are particular cases, however, and perhaps particular periods of the disease, if we could accurately hit upon them, in which the sudden admission of a well-known friend or relation, and a sudden recal of the mind to its former images and habits, tend to produce a most salutary excitement, and contrary has disperse the maniacal cloud like a dream. Dr. Gooch has been found given an interesting illustration of this remark in the case serviceable. of a lady, twenty-eight years of age, of good constitution Interesting case in but susceptible mind, who fell into a state of melancholy, in the ordinary sense of the term, a few months after a second child-birth, and at length became furious. was now", says he, "put under the care of an experienced attendant separated entirely from her husband, children, and friends; placed in a neat cottage surrounded by agreeable country (it was the finest season of the year), and visited regularly by her physician. For several weeks she manifested no improvement; sometimes she was occu

illustration.

"She

GEN. I.

SPEC. II.

Mania.

Madness.

Moral

treatment.

pied with one notion, sometimes with another; but they
were always of the most gloomy description. At length Eephronia
it became her firm belief that she was to be executed for
her crimes in the most public and disgraceful way; every
noise she heard was that of the workmen erecting the
scaffold; every carriage, the officers of justice assembling
at the execution. But what affected her most deeply was
that her infamy had occasioned the disgrace and death of
her children and husband, and that his spirit haunted her.
As soon as the evening closed, she would station herself
at a window at the back of the cottage, and fix her eyes
on a white post that could be seen through the dusk ;
this was the ghost of her husband; day and night he was
whistling in her ears. Several weeks passed in this way;
the daily reports varied, but announced nothing happy;
at length her husband became impatient and begged to
have an interview with her, thinking that the best way to
convince her he was not dead was to show himself. This
was objected to; he was told the general fact that patients
are more likely to recover when completely separated
from their friends; and that if she saw him she would say it
was not himself but his ghost. But the husband was ob-
stinate, and an interview was consented to. When he
arrived at the cottage he was told that she had had a
tolerable night, was rather more tranquil, but that there
was no abatement of her gloomy notions.
"As soon as

I entered the drawing-room, where she usually spent the
day (I copy his own statement which I have now before
me and which he wrote down at the time of the occur-
rence), she ran into a corner, hid her face in a handker-
chief, then turned round, looked me in the face, one mo-.
ment appearing delighted at the thought that I was alive,
but immediately afterwards assuming a hideous expression
of countenance, and screaming out that I was dead and
come to haunt her. This was exactly what Dr.
had anticipated, and for some minutes I thought all was
lost. Finding that persuasions and argument only irri-
tated and confirmed her in her belief, I desisted, and tried
to draw off her attention to other subjects. It was some

GEN. I. SPEC. II. Ecphronia Mania. Madness. Moral

treatment.

An experiment thus bold and fortunate,

not to be rashly copied.

time since she had either seen me or her children; I put her arm under mine, took her into the garden, and began to relate what had occurred to me and them since we parted; this excited her attention, she soon became interested, and I entered with the utmost minuteness and circumstantiality into the affairs of the nursery, her home, and her friends. I now felt that I was gaining ground, and when I thought I had complete possession of her mind, I ventured to ask her in a joking manner, whether I was not very communicative for a ghost; she laughed; I immediately drew her from the subject, and again engaged her attention with her children and friends. The plan succeeded beyond my hope; I dined, spent the evening with her, and left her at night perfectly herself again." He went the next morning in a state of intense anxiety to know whether his success had been permanent; but her appearance at the window with a cheerful countenance soon relieved his apprehensions. While he was there Dr. ——— came in; he went up stairs without knowing the effect of the interview, and came down, saying, "it looks like magic!" With a view of confirming her recovery, she was ordered to the sea-side to bathe. As soon as the day of her departure was fixed, she began to droop again, the evening before it she was very low, and on the morning of her setting off was as bad as ever. This state continued for several weeks in spite of sea-air and bathing, and ceased as suddenly as it had done before, apparently in consequence of interviews with friends, calculated to remove the apprehensions by which her mind was haunted. She has since then continued perfectly well, and has had another child without the slightest threatening of her former malady” *.

This was a bold venture, and the physician must be of a temper more than ordinarily sanguine who would predict a like success upon every similar attempt. Yet we have already had occasion to observe, that puerperal insanity is more easily recovered from than most other forms of the disease.

* Med. Trans. Vol, vi.

GENUS II.

EMPATHEMA.

Ungovernable Passion.

THE JUDGEMENT PERVERTED OR OVERPOWERED BY THE
FORCE OF SOME PREDOMINANT PASSION; THE FEA-
TURES OF THE COUNTENANCE CHANGED FROM THEIR
COMMON CHARACTER.

sepa

Derivation of the gene

GEN. II.

ric term.

All the fa

the mind as liable to dis

ease as those of the body. The pas

sions of the mind equally liable; and

THE term EMPATHEMA is derived from the Greek Tábua, passio", "affectio", whence iμalès, "cui insunt affectus seu perturbationes; affectû percitus vel commotus." We have already had occasion to observe that the culties of various faculties of the mind are just as liable to be rately diseased as those of the body: for as the faculty of digestion may be impaired while that of respiration or secretion remains in perfect health, so may the perception or the judgement be injured while the memory or the imagination continues in its former activity. It is the same with the pathetic faculties. These I have stated are to the mental part of the human frame what feelings properly so called are to the corporeal; and hence both may be excited pleasurably or painfully; they may be in morbid excess or in morbid diminution: and their influence may equally vary according to the peculiarity of the passion or the sense affected. Each will therefore furnish a distinct division of diseases: the first constitutes the genus before us; the second will be found in the ensuing passions

order.

are to the

mind what feelings are

to the body. May be in morbid ex

cess or di

minution; may be pleasurably excited or painfully.

Morbid

constitute the present genus.

SPECIES I.

EMPATHEMA ENTONICUM.

Empassioned Excitement.

THE PREDOMINANT PASSION ACCOMPANIED WITH IN-
CREASED EXCITEMENT, ARDOUR, AND ACTIVITY; EYE
QUICK AND DARING; COUNTENANCE FLUSHED AND
TUMID.

GEN. II.
SPEC. I.

The passions are direct

stimulants

THE varieties are innumerable: the chief are as follow,

All these, and, indeed, all other passions whatever, are as much direct and indirect stimulants to the mind as to the mind: provocative foods or drinks are to the body. Employed occasionally and in moderation both may be of use to us, and are given to us by nature for this purpose: but when urged to excess they throw the system off its healthy balance, rouse it by excitement or depress it by exhaustion, and weaken the sensorial vessels by the wear and tear they produce.

and hence may be useful or mischievous:

Hence pos

sess some

symptoms

As those we are now contemplating are attended with increased action, they have some few symptoms in comin common: mon, how widely soever they may differ in others; of which the chief are an augmented temperature and an accelerated pulse. If carried to such a degree that the judgement loses its power, or in other words the man has no longer any command over himself, they betray them