BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM. 375 



dens imposed upon them, so insanity follows the wrong 

 aoplication of the powers or the excessive labors of the 

 brain. When the mind is required to attend to and com- 

 prehend subjects beyond its powers, or manage affairs beyond 

 its control, or when it is compelled to work too long upon 

 any one subject, which it can manage to a moderate extent, 

 it must falter, and be liable to irregular action. 



871. When we fix the eye for a long and uninterrupted 

 period upon any single object, the organ becomes weary, and 

 fails to receive clear impressions, and convey them to the 

 brain. If this is done frequently and perseveringly, the eye 

 becomes weak or diseased, and ceases to perform its func- 

 tions. In the same manner, the brain, by over-exertion, is 

 wearied, and refuses to give its attention. When this undue 

 labor has been continued for a long time, without proper 

 intervals of rest, the mind becomes exhausted, and it loses 

 its self-control and its power of direction, and cannot be 

 roused to any satisfactory exertion. It is then permanently 

 weak and. uncertain in its operations. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Insanity, from misdirected Education, and false Hopes; from un- 

 founded Expectations j religious Anxiety ; perverse mental Habits. 



872. MISDIRECTED education, the preparation for pur- 

 poses which cannot be attained, or stations which cannot be 

 filled, impose upon the mind an excessive burden, and in- 

 volve it in a profitless struggle, and often entail upon it 

 weakness, and sometimes disease. All wrong notions of 

 life necessarily end in disappointment. They are based 

 upon false views of the world and of the relations of society, 

 and lead men to look for such events as will not happen in 

 the circumstances which must surround them. The flat- 

 tered child of popular favor, who expects to find amid the 



