452 Insanity. . [ Nov. 
an instance of melancholy, from apprehension of inability to execute with 
propriety a very simple and honourable, but public duty. 
Terror and horror produce similar effects. But here the face is pale 
—the blood is driven from the extreme vessels back upon the heart—the 
motions of the heart become thus embarrassed—a violent struggle ensues 
—and the organ may suddenly cease to beat, or may burst. In the 
reaction, too, the functions of the brain may be overwhelmed by the 
force of the blood rushing back into its vessels; and then insanity 
ensues. 
In anger, again, the blood flies to the capillaries, and reddens the sur- 
face ; but sometimes the effect is just the contrary, and the cheek is per- 
fectly blanched. In the latter case, it is of the more deadly, though less 
impetuous character, coupled perhaps with the chilling checks of hatred 
and revenge—a sudden and forcible control, effected partly perhaps by 
the promise of future and more effective vent. But madness may follow, 
in the one case, the accelerated movement of the blood ; and apoplexy, 
in the other, the violent reaction upon the exhausted vessels. 
The effects of fear, and terror, and anger, even upon the muscular 
powers, are equally obvious. Anger augments them prodigiously—fear, 
on the contrary, paralyses. Sudden alarms, as we learn from physicians 
of respectability—and we may safely trust to such facts—by their chilling 
effects, have removed the symptoms of incipient fever. Fear, again, may 
check, as well as cavse insanity. A pail of cold water dashed on the 
patient by surprise, has been known to cure mania; but there must 
always be danger of the reaction destroying the equilibrium between the 
nerves and the circulation; and thus producing fatuity or apoplexy. 
Terror, again, may stimulate, as well as paralyse. It will rouse to 
extraordinary efforts of self-preservation ; but the ultimate effect may 
work the subversion of the mind. Dr. Burrowes records the effect of 
terror upon a British naval officer, who had an intrigue with the wife of 
a native of Monte Video. Returning from an interview, in the night, 
he was attacked by assassins; the sudden fright and peril acting as a 
powerful stimulant, he defended himself so vigorously, that he escaped 
unhurt, and took refuge in a place of safety; but scarcely had he 
reached it, when he was seized with furious mania. The reaction de- 
stroyed the equilibrium—the circulation had been too much quickened 
to calm quietly down to the point of steadiness. 
The tendency of excessive grief to force blood to the brain, and con- 
sequently to bring on madness, is familiar to every one—tears give 
relief. Sudden joy, again, and more likely, apparently, than grief—it 
has no natural vent like grief. Transitions from joy to grief occasion 
the greatest shocks, and produce the most durable effects. Yet actual 
losses, or disappointments, in pecuniary speculations, do not appear, 
observes Dr. Burrowes, to occasion insanity so frequently as unexpected 
or immense wealth. In the six months succeeding the numerous failures 
of the winter of 1825-6, there were fewer returns to the commissioners 
for licensing madhouses, of insane persons in the London district, than 
in any corresponding period for many years before. 
Distinct effects, again, are produced on particular organs, by particular 
passions. To give an instance or two—the smell, or even the expectation of 
food, excites the saliva—maternal feelings, the secretion of milk—dislike, 
both inthe woman and the brute, prevents the flow of it—fear excites the 
intestines, kidneys, and skin, producing diarrhoea, incontinence of urine 
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