PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 35 



Mr Abernethy. A lady came to him one day to ask his advice as to 

 the readiest mode of expelling from her interior a spider, which she 

 imagined she had swallowed. He did not attempt to reason 

 with her, but, during her dolorous narrative, amused himself in cap- 

 turing a fly, which upon desiring her to show her tongue, he projected 

 into her mouth, telling her to wait till the spider should come uj> 

 in pursuit of its prey, when she might spit out both together. 



The lecturer alluded to the propensity to suicide sometimes ma- 

 nifested by the insane, which he believes to be innate or hereditary. 

 He remarked that, in all cases of insanity, great care should be taken 

 by those who have the charge of lunatics, not to suggest to their 

 minds, either by act or expression, any idea of self destruction, lest 

 they should be reminded of the possibility of thus terminating their 

 lives. To show what ought to be the treatment in such cases the 

 lecturer spoke of the presence of mind once displayed by Dr. Willis, 

 Physician in attendance on George the third. 



The king one day desired to shave himself, and Willis feared that 

 if he hesitated to give his consent, the king would see that he was 

 suspected of an intention to commit suicide; and thus the idea of 

 such an act would be engendered where it might not exist : he 

 promptly sent for razors, but before they could be brought he enga- 

 ged his majesty's attention with some papers which were on the 

 table. The king continued so occupied with them that his physician 

 felt assured he entertained no design of the kind. After having 

 shaved himself he resumed his papers : the razors were not sent 

 away immediately lest the thought should come across the king's 

 mind that he could not be trusted. The lecturer remarked that 

 such admirable presence of mind, in so responsible a situation, 

 highly qualified Willis for the trust imposed upon him. 



The lecturer now made some remarks on the hallucinations of the 

 insane, which, he said, consisted in some morbid excitement of one 

 or more of the senses, the effect of such excitement not being cor- 

 rected by the application of the judgment. 



Mr. Swain considers that Shakespeare possessed a very clear idea 

 of the nature of insanity, and thinks his insane characters some of 

 the most vivid which he has drawn. He mentioned some facts re- 

 lative to the Toms O'Bedlam, which were to be found in the days 

 of Shakespeare, and from which the poet has copied the character of 

 Poor Tom, in King Lear. Mr. S. read the last stanza of a ballad 

 supposed to have been uttered by a Tom O'Bedlam. 



