225 



INSANITY. 



THE many definitions of Insanity are the best proof 

 of the little of practical value which has been gained 

 from the attempt. If broad in principle, they are lost 

 in particular applications. If resting on individualities, 

 these. are so numerous that definitions can neither com- 

 pass nor connect them. There are as many varieties 

 of insanity as of human character, as many forms and 

 degrees of disordered mind as of the intellectual and 

 moral qualities in their sane, state. The transitions 

 from sanity to insanity, and the changes incident to the 

 latter, are endlessly varied, yet even here we can gene- 

 rally recognise that law of continuity which so largely 

 prevails in the world around us. 1 



The medical man who comes into a witness-box 

 with a formal definition of madness is generally tor- 

 tured into contradictions or doubts. In some legal 

 cases of this kind, beset with grave difficulties, it might 

 be better if the medical examination could be taken 

 out of open court. A clever barrister, however igno- 

 rant himself, may readily put questions perplexing to 

 the most upright and experienced physician. The 



1 A recent classification of the forms of insanity, by Ludesdorf of 

 Vienna, into aberrations by exaltation, by depression, and from weakness, 

 may be considered among the best, simply because the least definite in 

 details. 



