Class III. i. 2. OF VOLITION- 303 



and thole, whole education has been humble, to greater defpqn- 

 dency. Where the delirious idea, above defcribed, produces 

 pleafurable fenfations, as in perfonal vanity or religious enthufi- 

 afm ; it is ahnoll a pity to (hatch them from their fool's para- 

 dife, and reduce them again to the common lot of humanity \ 

 left they ihould complain of their cure, like the patient defcrib-. 

 ed in Horace, 



— 1 Poi i me occidiftU, amid. 



Non (ervaftisj ait, cui Cc extort a vonipta 



Et demptus per vim mentis gratifiimus error ! 



As infinities arife from excefs of action of the fenforial pow* 

 er of volition, this excefs of action may be owing either to the 

 increafe of motive or ftimulus, or to an increafed quantity or 

 accumulation of that fenforial power. And hence, though the 

 £reate(t number of insanities originate from increafed motive to 

 voluntary action, as to avoid pain or to acquire pleafure j yet 

 there appear to be fome, which have for their cauie an accumu- 

 lation of the fenforial power of volition. 



Thus thofe, who have been accullomed to perpetual exer~ 

 tions of volition in carrying on fome extentive employment or 

 profeffton dining the firll half of their lives, are liable to be- 

 come melancholy, and even to deftroy themielves, if they fud- 

 denly leave off their very active and anxious exertions, and re- 

 tire to a lituation without employment, of which many inftances 

 have occurred. This feems to originate from the pain occafion- 

 cd by the accumulation of the fenforial power of volition, which 

 now ceafes to be expended for want of motive. The taedium 

 vitx defcribed in No. X. of this senus of difeafes affects indo- 

 lent people, who poflefs accumulated fenforial power, but want 

 motive to excite it into fuch actions of the mufcles or ideas, as 

 might in part expend it. 



The accumulation of fenforial power from the defect of ac- 

 cullomed actions feems to give rife to fome inordinate mufcu'.ar 

 motions, as the inceflant jumping of a fquirrel confined in a cage, 

 and fome of the motions of children confined too long in fchools, 

 which are called tricks. See Oafs III. 1. 1. 1. and IV. 1. 3. 2« 

 And I am inclined to think, that thefe infanities, which are term- 

 ed melancholy, where no previous misfortune has occurred, as in 

 grief or difappointed love, but where the patient fits perpetu.-. 

 brooding over fome painful idea, which was not previoully 

 cited bv any external event, as in the tedium vitse, are in gener* 

 al occationed bv accumulations of fenforial power; and th< 

 lent infanities to increafe of motive ; that is, to thofe 

 want of pleafure, which excite werfion or dsftrt. 



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