432 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



human mind to retain distinct images of figures more complicated 

 than rectangles or squares. In the case of curved lines, the mind has 

 a tendency to refer all arcs to circles, since a circle forms as definite a 

 conception as a square. The fact that it is made up of an infinite 

 number of straight lines has significance only to a geometer. 



MODERN LIFE AND INSANITY. 



By DANIEL HACK TUKE, M. D. 



THE relation between modern civilized life and insanity cannot be 

 regarded as finally determined while a marked difference of 

 opinion exists in regard to it among those who have studied the 

 subject ; nor can this difference be wondered at by any one who has 

 examined the data upon which a conclusion must be formed, and has 

 found how difficult it is to decide in which direction some of the evi- 

 dence points. Statistics alone may prove utterly fallacious. Mere 

 speculation, on the other hand, is useless, and indeed is only mislead- 

 ing. It is a matter on which it is tempting to write dogmatically, 

 but where the honest inquirer is quickly pulled up by the hard facts 

 that force themselves on his attention. Nothing easier than to in- 

 dulge in unqualified denunciations of modern society; nothing more 

 difficult than a cautious attempt to connect the social evils of the 

 present day with the statistics of lunacy. Nothing easier than to 

 make sweeping statements without proof, nothing more difficult than 

 to apportion the mental injury respectively caused by opposite modes 

 of life; totally diverse social states of a nation often leading to the 

 same termination insanity. These are closely bound together in the 

 complex condition of modern civilized society. No doubt if we care 

 for truth, and avoid rash assertions, we do it at the expense of a cer- 

 tain loss of force and incisiveness. Dogmatic statements usually pro- 

 duce more effect than carefully-balanced and strictly logical positions. 

 Honesty, however, compels us to speak cautiously, and to confess the 

 difficulties to which we have referred. 



We shall not enter at length into the question which is at once 

 raised by an inquiry into the relation between modern life and in- 

 sanity whether lunacy is on the increase in England. Twenty years 

 ago there was one lunatic or idiot officially reported to 577 of the 

 population; the latest returns place it as high as one in 370. Were 

 we to go further back, the contrast would be far greater. That the 

 increase of known cases of insanity has been very great, no one, 

 therefore, disputes. Further, that the attention paid to the disease; 

 the provision made for the insane; the prolongation of their lives in 

 asylums, and the consequent accumulation of cases, and other circum- 



