INSANITY AND ALCOHOLISM. 71 



disease, but a vulnerability of the nervous system as 

 a whole, which is transmitted, so that under the influ- 

 ence of even a comparatively slight strain the weak- 

 ness may manifest itself in one or other of several 

 ways." Speaking of the suicidal tendency, Dr. 

 Maudsley remarks : " It is, indeed, striking and 

 startling to observe how strong the suicidal bent is 

 apt to be in those who have inherited it, and how 

 seemingly trivial a cause will stir it into action. 

 Persons affected by it will sometimes put an end to 

 themselves on the occasion of a petty contrariety, or 

 when they are a little out of sorts, and with almost as 

 little concern as if they were taking only a slight 

 journey." In half his cases Dr. Maudsley traced an 

 inherited fault of organisation. And again, speaking 

 of the many ways in which a neurotic taint may mani- 

 fest itself, he says : "In families where there is a 

 strong predisposition to insanity, one member will 

 sometimes suffer from one form of nervous disease, 

 and another from another form : one perhaps has 

 epilepsy, another is afflicted with a severe neuralgia, 

 or with hysteria, a third may commit suicide, a fourth 

 become maniacal or melancholic, and it might even 

 happen sometimes that a fifth evinced remarkable 

 artistic talents." 



It is generally supposed by the members of the 

 medical profession that insanity is on the increase, 

 and this is in accordance with the fact that deaths 



