CHAPTEE VII. 



HEREDITY IN INSANITY. 



" Legislative enactments regarding the inter- marriage of persons 

 tainted by disordered intellect are greatly to be desired ; and the 

 concealment of such disorder, with a view to marriage, ought to 

 render marriages null and void which are concluded under such 

 circumstances." SIR WILLIAM AITKEX.* 



INSANITY has been at all times in the world's history 

 the most dreaded of infirmities, and rightly so, for no 

 other diseased condition whatever inflicts so grievous 

 suffering, not only upon its victims, but upon all those 

 nearest and dearest to them. We look upon the 

 disease as cruel which tears the innocent child from its 

 mother's breast ; which chills the warm blood and for 

 ever stops the bounding heart of youth, or lays the 

 young father or mother cold in death before the eyes 

 of the terror-stricken children; such disease we look 

 upon as cruel, and with eyes blinded by tears for those 

 we loved, it is sometimes very difficult for us to see in 

 all this the hand of a kind and merciful Providence. 

 But if we contrast the brief suffering of the dear ones 

 we have lost with the lifelong agonies of many of the 

 insane, we must rejoice, and say, in truth, that death 



* " The Science and Practice of Medicine," p. 490, vol. ii. 



