808 OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



free to exercise itself. Again, the exaggerated tendency may operate (like an 

 ordinary Emotion) either in directly prompting to some kind of action which is 

 the expression of it; or in modifying the course of thought, by habitually pre- 

 senting erroneous notions upon the subjects to which the disordered feeling 

 relates, as the basis of Intellectual operations. The first of these forms of 

 Monomania is that which is known as impulsive Insanity; and the recognition 

 of its existence is of peculiar importance in a juridical point of view. For 

 whilst the Law of England only recognizes as irresponsible, on the ground of 

 Insanity, those who are incapable of distinguishing right from wrong, or of 

 recognizing the consequences of their acts, it is unquestionable that many 

 criminal actions are committed under the irresistible dominance of some insane 

 impulse, the individual being at the time perfectly aware of their evil nature 

 and of his amenableness to punishment. 1 Such an impulse may lead the sub- 

 ject of it to kill, to commit a rape, to steal, to burn, and so on, and this 

 without the least intention of doing injury to another; and many instances have 

 occurred, in which the individuals thus affected have voluntarily withdrawn 

 themselves from the circumstances of whose exciting influence they were con- 

 scious, and have even begged to be put under restraint. It is a remarkable 

 fact, moreover, and one that strikingly confirms the view of the nature of 

 Emotional states which has been here advocated, that the insane impulse ap- 

 pears to be not unfrequently the expression of a dominant idea, with which 

 there is no such association of pleasurable feeling as makes the action prompted 

 by it an object of desire, but which operates by taking full possession of the 

 mind, and by forcing (so to speak) the body into the movements which express 

 it. The individual thus affected regards himself as the victim of a necessity 

 which he cannot resist, and may be perfectly conscious (as when the impulse 

 proceeds from a strong desire) that what he is doing will be injurious to others 



1 The following very characteristic example of the Homicidal form of impulsive Insanity 

 is given in one of the recent Reports of the Morningside (Edinburgh) Lunatic Asylum. 

 The case was that of a female, who was not affected with any disorder of her intellectual 

 powers, and who labored under no delusions or hallucinations, but who was tormented by 

 "a simple abstract desire to kill, or rather, for it took a specific form, to strangle. She 

 made repeated" attempts to effect her purpose, attacking all and sundry, even her own 

 nieces and other relatives ; indeed, it seemed to be a matter of indifference to her whom 

 she strangled, so that she succeeded in killing some one. She recovered, under strict 

 discipline, so much self-control as to be permitted to work in the washing-house and 

 laundry, but she still continued to assert that she 'must do it,' that she was 'certain she 

 would do it some day,' that she 'could not help it,' that ' surely no one had ever suffered 

 as she had done' was not hers 'an awful case;' and, approaching any one, she would 

 gently bring her hand near their throat, and say mildly and persuasively, ' I would just 

 like to do it.' She frequently expressed a wish that all the men and women in the world 

 had only one neck, that she might strangle it. Yet this female had kind and amiable 

 dispositions, was beloved by her fellow-patients, so much so that one of them insisted on 

 sleeping with her, although she herself declared that she was afraid she would not be 

 able to resist the impulse to get up during the night and strangle her. She had been a 

 very pious woman, exemplary in her conduct, very fond of attending prayer-meetings, 

 and of visiting the sick, praying with them, and reading the Scriptures, or repeating to 

 them the sermons she had heard. It was the second attack of insanity. During the 

 former, she had attempted suicide. The disease was hereditary, and it may be believed 

 that she was strongly predisposed to morbid impulses of this character, when it is stated 

 that her sister and mother both committed suicide. There could be no doubt as to the 

 sincerity of her morbid desires. She was brought to the Institution under very severe 

 restraint, and the parties who brought her were under great alarm upon the restraint 

 being removed. After its removal, she made repeated and very determined attacks upon 

 the other patients, the attendants, and the officers of the Asylum, and was only brought 

 to exercise sufficient self-control by a system of rigid discipline. This female was per- 

 fectly aware that her impulses were wrong, and that if she had committed any act of 

 violence under their influence, she would have been exposed to punishment. She deplored, 

 in piteous terms, the horrible propensity under which she labored." 



