INSANITY INSURANCE. 



541 



ter, to accomplish this without sending insane 

 patients to large lunatic establishments. If medi- 

 cines are serviceable, these should be made known, 

 and the cases in which they are necessary de- 

 scribed. In this way, such information might be 

 imparted, as would enable many to be restored, at 

 home, or at the onset of the disease. We are of the 

 opinion, that in a majority of cases of insanity, 

 proper treatment in the commencement of the dis- 

 ease would remove it ; and it will be very unfor- 

 tunate for the community, if the impression be- 

 comes general, that insanity cannot be cured except 

 at Lunatic Asylums. Cases of relapse, and we 

 fear they are not few, should be ascertained as far 

 as possible ; and, together with the apparent cause, 

 made known. The public desire the whole truth ; 

 and not merely to be informed that a large number 

 of patients were considered cured, and discharged 

 after a short residence in the hospital. They wish to 

 know how many of these were original cases, how 

 many of them re-admissions, what were the means 

 of their restoration, and every particular calculated 

 to throw additional light on the nature and cure 

 of this mysterious disease. In this way, public 

 Asylums, in addition to their present utility, will 

 become valuable schools of instruction for all me- 

 dical men, and be of incalculable benefit to the 

 country and mankind. 



But is the cure of insanity all that can be done 

 to prevent its extension in this country? Cannot 

 the causes of this disease frequently be ascertained 

 and avoided ? We believe they may. According 

 to most writers on insanity, moral causes are far 

 more operative than physical ones in producing the 

 disease. " The observations," says M. Georget, 

 " which I have had it in my power to make, the 

 more numerous ones which I have compared 

 in authors, have convinced me, that among 100 

 lunatics, ninety-five at least have become such 

 from the influence of affections and moral commo- 

 tions. It is an observation become almost prover- 

 bial in the hospital, (the Salpetriere,~) ' qu'on perd 

 la tete par les revolutions d'esprit.' The first 

 question that M. Pinel puts to a new patient, who 

 still preserves some remains of intelligence, is, 

 ' Have you undergone any vexation or disappoint- 

 ment?' Seldom is the reply in the negative." 

 This opinion derives support from the fact, that 

 the disease mostly occurs at that period of life, 

 when the passions are excited by the strongest 

 interests, and is chiefly confined to the civilized 

 and intellectual communities. Insanity is a dis- 

 ease of the material organ of the mind, the brain ; 

 and never occurs unless this organ is affected. It 

 is, therefore, theoretically probable, that moral 

 commotions, mental anxiety, and the excitement 

 of the feelings and passions, which disturb the 

 natural action of the brain, should most frequently 

 produce this disease. 



It is, however, extremely difficult to determine 

 with accuracy the cause of insanity in many cases. 

 In examining the records of Lunatic Asylums, we 

 find intemperance in the use of intoxicating drinks 

 mentioned as a very frequent cause. No doubt it 

 sometimes is ; but we are not without suspicion 

 that there is some other primary and predisposing 

 cause, that is essential to the production of in- 

 sanity in the intemperate. Intemperance has long 

 been, and is now, very prevalent in some countries 

 where there is but little insanity ; and the instances 

 are so very numerous of long and habitual intoxi- 

 cation without any tendency to this disease, that 



our suspicion is strengthened that some other 

 cause predisposes the brain to the disease we call 

 insanity. Intemperance is very common among 

 the negroes and the Indians, yet insanity is rare 

 among them. The few cases of which we have 

 heard among the former, appeared to arise from 

 excitement of mind. Besides, the excessive use 

 of intoxicating drink is not unfrequently the con- 

 sequence, not the cause, of the mental derange- 

 ment, and among the first symptoms of the dis- 

 ease. This fact has been often noticed. Still we 

 do not doubt, that some cases are correctly attri- 

 buted to intemperance ; and still less do we doubt, 

 that, as a secondary cause, it is of quite frequent 

 operation, and has much increased this disease of 

 late among the labouring classes. When there is 

 an hereditary tendency to insanity, or when the 

 brain has been much disturbed by anxiety and 

 mental excitement, then the use of intoxicating 

 drinks unquestionably tends to develope it ; and 

 we have no doubt that very many thus circum- 

 stanced would escape the disease, if they would 

 entirely abstain from stimulating drinks. 



But altogether the most frequent cause of in- 

 sanity is hereditary predisposition. Even if one 

 sane generation has intervened, there is not, then, 

 a certainty the next will continue so. It is much 

 to be feared, that if marriages are contracted in 

 disregard of this fact, the numerous cures effected 

 of late will but serve to increase the number o t 

 the insane in another generation. In those born 

 of insane parents, much may be done towards pre- 

 venting the developement of the disease, by atten- 

 tion to their education, both physical and mental. 

 "Predisposition to insanity," says M. Esquirol, 

 " may be traced from the age of infancy; it fur- 

 nishes the explanation of a multitude of caprices, 

 irregularities, and anomalies, which, at a very 

 early period, ought to put parents on their guard 

 against the approach of insanity. It may furnish 

 useful admonitions to those who preside over the 

 education of children. It is advisable, in such 

 cases, to give them an education tending to render 

 the body robust, and to harden it against the ordi- 

 nary causes of madness ; and particularly to place 

 them under different circumstances, from those 

 with which their parents were environed. It is 

 thus we ought to put in practice the aphorism of 

 Hippocrates, who advises to change the constitu- 

 tion of individuals, in order to prevent the dis- 

 eases with which they are threatened, by the here- 

 ditary predisposition of their family." 



INSURANCE, (a.) The improvements which 

 have been made in the details of Insurance generally, 

 the increased interest now taken in, at least, one 

 department, that of Life Insurance, and the im- 

 portant effects produced on the commercial and 

 social relations of this country, by the various pro- 

 tecting Insurances offered to the public, seem to 

 demand a more lengthened exposition of the prin- 

 ciples on which these contracts are based, than 

 will be found in our former article under this 

 head. 



The elementary principles of Insurance, under 

 its several varieties of Marine Insurance, Fire 

 Insurance, and Life Insurance, are thus lucidly 

 stated by Mr M'Culloch in his Dictionary of Com- 

 merce : 



" The loss of a ship, or the conflagration of a cot- 

 ton mill, is a calamity that would press heavily 

 even on the richest individual. But were it dis- 

 tributed among several individuals, each would feel 



