306 DISEASES CLASS III. 1. 11. 



was persuaded to tell me, that he had got the itch, and had ex- 

 amined some of his servants to find out from whom he had re- 

 ceived it; though at the same time there was not a spot to be 

 seen on his hands, or other parts. The outrages in consequence 

 of this false idea were in some measure to be ascribed to the 

 pride occasioned by unrestrained education, affluent wealth, and 

 dignified family. 



Madness is sometimes produced by bodily pain, particularly 

 I believe of a diseased liver, like convulsion and epilepsy; at 

 other times it is caused by very painful ideas occasioned by ex- 

 ternal circumstances, as of grief, or disappointment; but the 

 most frequent cause of insanity arises from the pain of some 

 imaginary or mistaken idea; which may be termed hallucinatio 

 maniacalis. This hallucination of one of the senses is often 

 produced in an instant, and generally becomes gradually weak- 

 ened in process of time by the perpetual stimulus of external 

 objects, or by the successions of other catenations of ideas, or by 

 the operations of medicines; and when the maniacal hallucina- 

 tion ceases, or is forgotten, the violent exertions cease, which 

 were in consequence of it, and the disease is cured. 



Mr. , a clergyman, about forty years of age, who was 



rather a weak man, happened to be drinking wine in jocular 

 company, and by accident swallowed part of the seal of a letter, 

 which he had just then received; one of his companions seeing 

 him alarmed, cried out in humour, " It will seal your bowels up." 

 He became melancholy from that instant, and in a day or two 

 refused to swallow any kind of nourishment. On being pressed to 

 give a reason for this refusal, he answered he knew nothing would 

 pass through him. A cathartic was given, which produced a 

 great many evacuations, but he still persisted, that nothing pass- 

 ed through him; and though he was frightened into taking a 

 little broth once or twice by threats, yet he soon ceased entirely, 

 to swallow any thing, and died in consequence of this insane idea. 



Miss , a sensible and ingenious lady, about thirty, said 



she had seen an angel; who told her, that she need not eat, 

 though all others were under the necessity of supporting their 

 earthly existence by food. After fruitless persuasions to take 

 food, she starved herself to death. It was proposed to send an 

 angel of a higher order to tell her, that now she must begin to 

 eat and drink again; but it was not put into execution. 



Mrs. , a lady between forty and fifty years of age, 



imagined that she heard a voice say to her one day, as she was 

 at her toilet, " Repent, or you will be damned." From that 

 moment she became melancholy, and this hallucination affected 



