‘ 
450 Insanity. [Nov. 
venience. No attempt to hoodwink the public will be any longer of 
service. 
And, in the name of common sense, why should the subject of insa- 
nity be supposed within the reach of one set of men, and out of the 
reach of all others? What is there supposed to be in insanity, or in any 
thing it concerns us to know, which we may not, as to all general princi- 
ples, understand as well as the professional craftsman? Governors and 
priests have each, in elder times, wrapped their craft in mystery, and 
would still willingly withdraw from the public gaze the machinery of 
their labours. These, however, have at length become open subjects ; 
and though every body does not—simply because not every body cares 
about them, or because most people are otherwise engaged—every one 
may understand them. The pursuits of the scholar and the man of 
science, in like manner, are now every where accessible. Every body 
knows that clues to wind the labyrinths are within his grasp, though he 
may not actually thread them. The general anatomy and physiology 
of the human frame—its uses and purposes—may be as well understood 
by the unprofessional as the professional—or to what purpose is the mul- 
titude of books, which are every day published expressly to instruct and 
inform? Distinctly and ably as many of them are composed, we have no 
manner of doubt, the matters thus communicated are often as thoroughly 
comprehended by the reader as the writer. 
Why, then, should not insanity be regarded as equally intelligible as 
any other subject, which once exclusively engaged the attention of pro- 
fessional persons? ‘To them we must look mainly for facts—to the men 
who have the more opportunities for observing ; but why the professional 
man is better able to combine these facts, and infer from them, than 
another, it would puzzle any body, perhaps, to establish. An inference 
is not always matter of sagacity—of penetration—springs not up, we 
mean, as an effect of the will. Put two or more facts together ; and their 
several relations, if any exist, present themselves spontaneously, we know 
not how. All that we, apparently, can do, is to place things together— 
and observe ;—and what. is there here that one cultivated man may not 
do as well as another? The superiority of one man over another—sup- 
posing the organization equal, which, though perhaps never precisely the 
case, is often sufficiently so for rough equalities—consists in observation. — 
The more observant, in short, will know more than the less observant— 
every truth comes at last to a truism. 
It is our intention to throw a glance over this appalling, but most 
interesting subject, mainly as to the causes which originate or lead to its 
development. We profess no close, no minute, no complete, no technical 
analysis ;—we shall draw together facts, the reality of which every one, 
on being reminded, will recognize ; and these are the only bases on 
which the medical man himself has to build. If once causes are tho- 
roughly ascertained, and found to be at all within human control, we are 
forthwith put in the way of discovering how to guard against the out- 
break of those causes, and shall, moreover, surely be better qualified to 
check and thwart their operation, when they do break out, and better able 
to construct and apply the possible remedy. The process of cure will cease 
to be merely tentative on the part of the professor, and of stupid wonder 
on that of the laity. What is the final object of all inquiries and discus= _ 
sions, but to increase the individual’s knowledge, and, of consequence, 
his “ power ;” and thus to take the management of himself and his 
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