564 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



normal and unsound conditions of the bodily organs sometimes give us glimpses 

 of mental powers and possibilities far exceeding any thing of which ordinary 

 health is capable. The phenomena of some nervous disorders are positive revela- 

 tions, and most startling ones, of what the human intellect, disengaged from 

 matter or under favorable material conditions, might achieve and learn." 



When Greg talks of intellect disengaged from matter, he is led 

 away into poetical metaphor, which is, however, allowable in one who 

 is not a professed physiologist. 



We are all familiar with the effects of alcohol upon the intellectual 

 powers. A gentleman mentioned by Dr. Willis, who was liable to 

 periodical attacks of insanity, said that he expected the paroxysms 

 witli impatience, because, during them, he enjoyed a high degree of 

 pleasure. " Every thing appeared easy to me. No obstacles pre- 

 sented themselves either in theory or practice. My memory sudden- 

 ly acquired a singular degree of perfection. Long passages of Latin 

 authors occurred to my mind. In general, I have great difficulty in 

 finding rhythmical terminations, but then I could write verse with as 

 great facility as prose." 



There are two distinct physical conditions under which the intel- 

 lect seems to possess a power and a brilliancy much exceeding the 

 normal standard. These two conditions are: 1. The initial or pre- 

 tubercular stage of pulmonary phthisis ; and, 2. The condition of 

 chronic gout. Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to the 

 explanation of the cause of this high state of mental activity, there 

 can be none as to the fact. There is, as it were, almost an aureole of 

 intellectual light around the heads of those who are about to enter the 

 fated pathway of pulmonary tuberculosis. To what it is due, it is 

 difficult to say. One factor may be some accession of arterial blood 

 to the cerebral cells in excess of the normal flow. We know that 

 there are usually an accelerated pidse-rate and a heightened tempera- 

 ment in such cases. There may be some nerve-communication be- 

 tween the lungs and the vaso-motor nerves of the cerebral vessels, of 

 which we are as yet but dimly conscious, which may some day ex- 

 plain the matter to us. As to the intellectual power of the gouty, 

 there is less difficulty in explaining it. In the first place, the blood 

 of the gouty is highly charged with nitrogenized matter. Carpenter 

 has pointed out (" Human Physiology," sec. 62) how desirable a nitro- 

 genized diet is for the evolution of nerve-force, while Liebig dilates 

 upon the effect of food upon the disposition, in his well-known " Let- 

 ters on Chemistry." M. Metz, of Mattray, found the value of a liberal 

 dietary in giving strength of will to irresolute boys in his reformatory. 

 An excess of nitrogen in the system, and especially in the blood, acts 

 as a stimulant to the brain-cells in the case of the gouty. This, how- 

 ever, is but half of the matter ; there is an equally, or even more im- 

 portant factor, in the condition of the circulation. 



Careful investigation has demonstrated to us the state of the cir- 



