INSANITY. 



INSANITY. 



liB 



' There is no doubt that the animals which we have subjugated possess many of tbo 

 same mental iaculties as the human oeing volition, memory, attachment, gratitude, 

 resentment, fear, and hatred. Who has not witnessed the plain and manifest display 

 of these principles and feelings in our quadruped dependants 1 The simple possession 

 of these faculties implies that they may be used for purposes good or bad, and that, 

 as in the human being, they may be deranged or destroyed by a multitude of causes 

 which it is not necessary to particularise. In the quadruped as in the biped, the lesion 

 or destruction of a certain part of the brain may draw after it the derangement, or dis- 

 turbance, or perversion of a certain faculty of the mind. It is only because the mental 

 faculties, and good as well as bad properties of the inferior beings, have been so 

 fately observed and acknowledged, that any doubt on this point can for a moment be 

 entertained. The disordered actions, the fury, the caprices, the vices, and more par- 

 ticularly the frenzy and .total abandonment of reason, which are occasionally shown 

 by the brute, are in the highest degree analogous to certain acts of insanity in man. 

 It is merely to complete our subject that they are here introduced. 



The reader is indebted to Professor Rodet, of Toulouse, for the anecdotes which 

 follow : A horse- seven years old, was remarkable for an habitual air of stupidity, 

 and a peculiar wandering expression of countenance. When he saw anything that 

 he had not been accustomed to, or heard any sudden or unusual noise, whether it was 

 near or at a distance, or sometimes when his corn was thrown into the manger with' 

 out the precaution of speaking to him or patting him, he was frightened to an almost 

 incredible degree ; he recoiled precipitately, every limb trembled, and he struggled 

 violently to escape. After several useless efforts to get away, he would work him- 

 self into the highest degree of rage, so that it was dangerous to approach him. This 

 state of excitement was followed by dreadful convulsions, which did not cease until 

 he had broken his halter, or otherwise detached himself from his trammels. He 

 would then become calm, and suffer himself to be led back to his stall : nor would 

 any thing more be seen but an almost continual inquietude, and a wandering and stupid 

 expression of countenance. He had belonged to a brutal soldier, who had beaten him 

 shamefully, and before which time he had been perfectly quiet and tractable. 



A Piedmontese officer possessed a beautiful and in other respects serviceable mare, 

 but which one peculiarity rendered exceedingly dangerous that was a decided aver- 

 sion to paper, which she recognised the moment she saw it, and even in the dark if 

 two leaves were rubbed together. The effect produced by the sight or sound of it 

 was so prompt and violent, that she several times unhorsed her rider. She had not 

 the slightest fear of objects that would terrify most horses. She regarded njt the 

 music of the band, the whistling of the balls, the roaring of the cannon, the fire of the 

 bivouacs, or the glittering of arms. The confusion and noise of an engagement 

 made no impression upon her; the sight of no other white object affected her. No 

 other sound was regarded; but the view or the rustling of paper roused her to 

 madness. 



A mare was perfectly manageable and betrayed no antipathy to the human bemg 

 nor to other animals, nor to horses, except they were of a light-grey colour ; but the 

 moment she saw a grey horse, she rushed towards it, and attacked it with the greatest 

 fury. It was the same at all times, and everywhere. She was all that could be 

 wished on the parade, on the route, in the ranks, in action, and in the stable ; but if 

 she once caught a glimpse of a grey or white horse, she rested not until she had 

 thrown her rider or broken her halter, and then she rushed on her imagined foe with 

 the greatest fury. She generally contrived to seize the animal by the head or throat, 

 and held him so fast that she would suffocate him, if he were not promptly released 

 from her bite. 



Another mare exhibited no terror except of white inanimate objects, as white man- 

 tles or coats, and particularly white plumes. She would fly from them if she could ; 

 but ii she was unable to accomplish this, she would rush fu/iously upon them, strike 

 at them with her fore feet, and tear them with her teeth. 



These instances are selected from various others, because they appioach so nearly 

 to vhat would be termed insan'ty in the human being. It is confined to one obieci, 



