5G ON THE EFFECTS OF CERTAIN MENTAL 



his thoughts night and day, which determined his friends to send 

 him to the Asylum. Nothing could exceed the extravagant flow- 

 ings of his heated brain : he sung, he crie 1, or danced incessantly ; 

 and as there appeared no propensity to commit acts of violence or 

 disturbance, he was allowed to go about the hospital without con- 

 troul, in order to expend, by evaporation, the effervescence of his 

 spirits. "Look at these teeth !" he cried, " mine were exceedingly 

 handsome ; these are rotten and decayed. My mouth was sound 

 and healthy ; this is foul and diseased. What difference between 

 this hair, and that of my own head !" The idea of perpetual motion 

 frequently recurred to him in the midst of his wanderings ; and he 

 chalked on all the doors or windows as he passed, the various designs 

 by which his wonderous piece of mechanism was to be constructed. 

 The method best calculated to cure so whimsical an illusion ap- 

 peared to be that of encouraging his prosecution of it to satiety. 

 His friends were accordingly requested to send him his tools, with 

 materials to work upon, and other requisites, such as plates of cop- 

 per, steel, and watch wheels. His zeal was now redoubled ; his 

 whole attention was riveted upon his favourite pursuit ; he forgot 

 his meals, and after about a months labour ; which he sustained 

 with a constancy that deserved a better success, our artist began to 

 think that he had followed a false rout. He broke into a thousand 

 fragments the piece of machinery which he had fabricated with so 

 much toil, and thought, and labour, entered upon the construction 

 of another upon a new plan, and laboured with equal pertinacity 

 for another fortnight. The various parts being completed, he 

 brought them together ; he fancied that he saw a perfect harmony 

 amongst them. The whole was now finally adjusted ; — his anxiety 

 was indescribable — motion succeeded ; it continued for some time, 

 and he supposed it capable of continuing for ever. He was elevated 

 to the highest pitch of enjoyment and triumph, and ran like light- 

 ning into the interior of the hospital, crying out, like another Ar- 

 chimedes, " At length I have solved this famous problem, which 

 has puzzled so many men celebrated for their wisdom and talents !" 

 Grievous to state, he was disconcerted in the midst of his triumph. 

 The wheels stopped ! — the " perpetual motion" ceased ! His in- 

 toxication of joy was succeeded by disappointment and confusion ; 

 though, to avoid a humiliating and mortifying confession, he de- 

 clared that he could easily remove the impediment; but, tired of 

 that kind of employment, he was determined, for the future, to de- 

 vote his attention solely to his business. There still remained 

 another imaginary impression to be counteracted, that of the ex- 



