INSUFFICIENT CEREBRAL EXERCISE. 221 



all that period he spent his time in sauntering, shoot- 

 ing, or fishing, without that excitement to his vari- 

 ous faculties which is afforded by the society of 

 equals. The consequence of this compulsory mental 

 apathy, and the corresponding inactivity of brain, 

 was, that on returning to England his nervous sys- 

 tem had become so weak and irritable, that, although 

 by nature fond of society, he feared to meet even 

 with the members of his own family, and for many 

 weeks would never venture to walk out to take 

 necessary exercise, except in the dark. And it was 

 only at the end of several months that the renewed 

 stimulus of society and employment restored the 

 tone of his nervous system so far as to allow him to 

 regain his natural character of mind, and to return 

 to his usual habits of life. In this predisposed state 

 of the system, a very slight cause would obviously 

 have sufficed to convert the depression into absolute 

 derangement. 



But, as mentioned at first, the most frequent vic- 

 tims of this kind of predisposition are females of the 

 middle and higher ranks, especially those of a ner- 

 vous constitution and good natural abilities ; but 

 who, from ill-directed education, possess nothing 

 more solid than mere accomplishments, and have no 

 materials of thought or feeling, and no regular or 

 imperative occupations, to excite interest or demand 

 attention. Such persons have literally nothing on 

 which to expend half the nervous energy which na- 

 ture has bestowed on them for better purposes. 

 They have nothing to excite and exercise the brain, 

 nothing to elicit activity; their own feelings and 

 personal relations necessarily constitute the grand 

 objects of their contemplations ; these are brooded 

 over till the mental energies become impaired, false 

 ideas of existence and of Providence spring up in 

 the mind, the fancy is haunted by strange impres- 

 sions, and every trifle which relates to self is exag- 

 gerated into an object of immense importance. The 



Ti 



