OBSERVATIONS ON INSANITY 



the scene is uniform or it is infinitely varied. Individuals thus af- 

 fected cannot distinguish one tint from another, or they perceive co- 

 lours in an imperfect or erroneous manner ; they experience a great 

 inaptitude to arrange all their visual impressions into one whole : 

 these start up contrary to the will, in irregular succession and as iso- 

 lated perceptions ; so that, besides being a hallucination, the halluci- 

 nation of such unfortunates is a thing of threads and patches. 



Mania. — This is madness or consummate insanity, and it results 

 from irregular action of all the mental powers. Its ravages are not 

 confined to certain groups of feelings or perceptions, to associations 

 more or lesse extensive ; it implicates the whole. They may not be 

 all equally injured ; but so deeply rooted is their perversion as to en- 

 feeble that which it does not overthrow. Ideas are chaotic, in such a 

 case ; but, amid the confusion, there may be discerned the struggle 

 of maddened propensities and extravagant feelings, with the jarring 

 of the elements of memory and perception. The recollection of some 

 long-past scene is mistaken for a present impression ; there is a want 

 of discrimination between what is reflected and what is felt ; the pas- 

 sions are involuntary; anger bursts forth without provocation; sorrow 

 arises the next moment ; terror succeeds, without a single cause for 

 alarm ; and the paroxysm terminates with the loud hollow laugh of 

 brutal merriment. This is Mr. B.'s most faithful and pathetic out- 

 line of maniacal insanity : he completes the sketch, as underquoted : 



Here, he adds, " are three things to be considered, — the want of 

 power to control or direct the mental operations, — the absence of all 

 harmony or sequence between these operations, — and the excessive 

 rapidity with which these operations are carried on. In whatever way 

 induced, whether by wine or emotion or disease, excessive activity is 

 known to affect the propensities and feelings by increasing their exci- 

 tability and by rendering their suggestions intense, irresistible and in- 

 voluntary ; and, in some cases, they become permanent, if the cause 

 continues to exist. Upon the reflective and perceptive faculties, the 

 effect of overacting is altogether different ; carried beyond a certain 

 point, it disturbs, impedes or arrests the sound exercise of the under- 

 standing. The excited judgment may attempt to compare two facts, 

 but the laws which regulate this step are abrogated. The whole of 

 the intellectual powers are simultaneously active ; and, in place of 

 two, there are twenty propositions to be examined, each of these be- 

 ing distorted by the medium through which it arrived, and withal the 

 power to exclude what is extraneous, or the power to perceive what 

 is essential to the examination, neither of them remains. Violent 



