508 PRACTICE OF PHYSIC. 



BOOK. IV. 



OF VESANIJE, OR OF THE DISORDERS OF 

 THE INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS. 



CHAP. I. OF VESANI^E IN GENERAL. 



" The theory of whatever relates to our intellectual func- 

 tions as connected with our corporeal part, is involved in much 

 obscurity and difficulty, and was I to attempt it, I should ex- 

 pect to be addressed in the language of Terence : 



' Incerta haec si tu postules 



Ratione certa facere, nihilo plus agas 



Quam si des operam ut cum ratione insaiiias.' 



This I must own should not terrify me, for with respect to the 

 difficulty I should not regard the opinion of those who them- 

 selves have never tried it, and that is the case of most physi- 

 cians with respect to our present subject. 



" I should not therefore be turned aside by the despondency 

 of indolent and ignorant persons. I am persuaded that diligent 

 inquiry and a cautious collation of facts will bring out some in- 

 struction from the most dark and intricate subjects ; and in par- 

 ticular on the Vesaniae, I think we have obtained something to 

 relieve us in part from the random empirical practice which has 

 hitherto prevailed."" 



MDXXVIII. The Nosologists, Sauvages and Sagar, in a 

 class of diseases under the title of VESANLE, have comprehended 



