376 PHYSIOLOGY AND HEALTH. 



responsibilities and cares of riper age the same adulation 

 and caresses that come to the careless joyousriess of earlier 

 years, and who confidently expects that the future will bring 

 him a measure of success and prosperity for which he is not 

 now making an adequate preparation, must meet with dis- 

 appointment, and suffer the consequences of sorrow and 

 perhaps of mental disturbance. 



873. All those expectations which are founded in hope 

 rather than on calculation, which depend upon uncertain 

 and inappreciable chances for their gratification, and excite 

 the imagination strongly, must often fall short of their fulfil- 

 ment. Speculation in property of variable value, in con- 

 fidence of great profits ; mining in those regions where no 

 human sagacity or foresight can tell whether the ore can be 

 found, or obtained at profitable cost ; the doubtful struggle 

 for situations of honor or profit, are all attended with great 

 anxiety ; and when they fail, as they frequently must, the 

 spirit sinks and the mind may wander. 



874. Religious anxiety, or the struggle of the mind in 

 the transition from old to new conditions or opinions, is 

 occasionally productive of mental disorder. When the 

 mind has given up the old foundations on which it rested 

 its hopes and its confidence, and before it has adopted the 

 new, upon which it can securely stand, it seems to be un- 

 loosed from its hold, and thrown upon uncertainty. Persons 

 in this condition lose their self-control ; the world and its 

 cares and enjoyments, and the future, with its promises 

 and its threatenings, change their aspect, to them, and they 

 may be overwhelmed with distress. If then they can see 

 their way clearly to a better life, the excitement passes 

 away, and the mind is easy ; but if this light does not 

 appear to them, they may fall back to their former con- 

 dition, or become a prey to more abiding and painful de- 

 rangement. 



875. The natural appetites may be so pampered, or arti- 

 ficial appetites may be created and may grow so strong, 

 that we cannot control them. The appetite for intoxicating 



