INSANITY. 627 



We stop, without having yet exhausted the list of possible pro- 

 cesses for preserving food. New ones are discovered from time to 

 time, which may prove practically applicable for general use ; and 

 many are still in an experimental stage, not yet sufficiently tested or 

 sufficiently perfected to justify recommending them to the public. 

 Translated for the Popular Science Monthly from, Die Natur. 



INSANITY. 



BY ONE WHO HAS BEEN INSANE. 



PERHAPS, if some of our most celebrated experts, in cases of in- 

 sanity, had been, for a while at least, insane themselves, it would 

 have been to the advantage of science. Of some diseases, like malarial 

 fever, or small-pox, a physician can doubtless give a better idea than 

 the patient who has suffered from them ; because, these diseases be- 

 ing distinctly physical, the symptoms furnished by the body are gen- 

 erally sufficient data for an accurate diagnosis. But insanity may be 

 said to possess more of a psychological than a physiological character. 

 The brain, being the organ through which the mind communicates 

 with the outside world, can not, if it becomes disordered or diseased, 

 give or receive any trustworthy intelligence. Only the patient him- 

 self can know his condition, and he only so far as he can subsequently 

 recall his experiences. Sometimes his recollections are confused and 

 worthless, and at other times they are remarkably vivid. I have 

 been undoubtedly insane twice, the delusions on each occasion con- 

 tinuing for the space of three or four weeks. These attacks occurred 

 several years ago, and were about six or seven months apart. I pro- 

 pose, in this article, to allude to so much of my experience, during 

 the two periods, as may throw some little light upon a subject that 

 has always been as interesting as it is obscure, and that has occupied 

 the attention of some of the ablest intellects in this country and in 

 Europe. 



In consequence of overwork, excitement, and mental anxiety, my 

 nervous system had become almost totally prostrated, and I suddenly 

 and without warning lost my reason. Neither my friends nor myself 

 had received any such intimations as led us to apprehend a calamity 

 of that kind. So far as we knew, there had never been any insanity 

 among my ancestors or relatives. During the trial of Guiteau, it may 

 be remembered, the question was raised, to what extent insanity could 

 be regarded as hereditary. A distinction without a difference was 

 drawn between inheriting insanity and inheriting a tendency to become 

 insane. Few persons, perhaps, are born insane ; and few are born 

 with consumption. A man whose ancestors have been drunkards is 



