INSANITY. 



151 



receive from others. Some have been suddenly seized 

 ' with this disease in its most dreadful form, 1 1 uufi-tli.it ely 

 after being made the objects of a torrent of ridicule from 

 their companion-*. This effect often follows a long course 

 of ill treatment in those natives of the East who live in 

 the service of harsh masters. They bear it long with 

 ing patience, but at last they are suddenly infuriated 

 to such an extreme degree, as to lay hold of a murderous 

 weapon, with which they |>er pet rate at many outrages 

 t they can, with the certain prospect of terminating 

 their career by an immediate violent death. This is 

 commonly called " running a muck." A person seen in 

 such a state unfortunately n cites no commiseration, 

 bat is pursued ami dispatched as speedily as possible. 



The indulgence of anger, whether secret or open, of- 

 ten leaili to -mania. Moralist* define anger to be " a 

 abort madness," and madness we sometimes know to 

 be nothing more than a lengthened anger. The case 

 of mania which at first sight appeared to the author of 

 this article the worst he had ever seen, was that of a 

 woman in the cells of the Manchester workhouse, 

 whom the mere sight of her attendants always roused 

 to the utmost extravagance of passion. She loudly ac- 

 cused every person who came near her of the most 

 shocking crimes, denounced every sort of threatening 

 against them, and wept over their features and dress, in 

 order to turn every part of them into the most poignant 

 ridicule. All this was done with a rapidity which no 



of others could interrupt; yet in no one 

 did this woman discover any erroneous judg- 

 , farther than what is incident to any irascible 

 fit of displeasure. 



madness arises from a tboughtfulneas 



persons 



' lie apadMUy magnifies, till be 

 fines that he has been guilty of the worst Crimea, and 

 that the matt dreadful punishment awaits him 

 this succeed many <ilheT chimerical terrors, and every 

 kind of extravagance, both of imagination and of will. 



Gloomy notions in religion have proved a frequent 

 cause of marines*. The rational friends of religion 

 take car* to represent it as benignant in it* tendency ; 

 but in times not far removed from the present, it 



r to array it in the most gloomy colours, and to 



bat infinite terror*, and his scanty 



system of anmtatsigibli metaphysics, so difficult in its 

 practical applkaliim, as to leave anxiety, terror, and 

 Jamonrfisuj, predominant in the mind of the worship- 

 per. The mental devastation which this mode of 

 thanking pumlucsJ wa* great. The dread of ui. 

 able evils drove many to marhiass of the worst 

 which very often terminated in suicide. Although 

 this ay stem is now exploded, or its cofsfsxraences) 

 carefully averted, still that enthusiastic imagery, 

 which is often exhibited to the minds of ignorant per- 

 sons, has occasionally the effect of deranging their 

 intellects. Those agitation*, artfully excited. which 

 are ascribed to the cantMrtiag agency of a good and an 

 evil spirit, divert the mind from the acknowledgsmmt 

 of natural causes ; after which wo principle can be ea- 



tablished for stopping the c 



,i:.d. mmat t' ...i .' . M! 



career of 



1 ; 



raanm is in some degree 

 I by the general influence of external objects, 

 pvrwn UIM deluded runs every risk of madness. 



Infidelity, or the renunciation of religious senti- 

 ments, has also produced in this respect its victims. 

 Pains have Mmntane* been taken inhumanly to desolate 



the hopes which religion has inspired ; and, at the Mania. 

 same time, to inflate the mind with the expectation ^^^V*' 

 of much happiness from the indulgence of an ungo- 

 verned expansion of thought, and of all the joys of sen- 

 sual pleasure. On such principles, hopes of a new and 

 happy state of society have been erected. The misera- 

 ble, gloomy, and unconsoled disappointment, which 

 were the unavoidable result of such a system, have 

 been keenly felt in proportion to the hopes excited. 

 To this cause must undoubtedly be ascribed much of 

 the madness which occurred with uncommon frequen- 

 cy in France during the revolution. 



A tendency to mania may be promoted in a certain Influence of 

 state of society, by the prevalence of political and moral irregular 

 liberty, accompanied with a general style of thought mem 

 marked with a spirit of exaggeration and conflict, and 

 a proneness to take an inordinate interest in particular 

 objects. In this way the immmsJM frequency of the 

 complaint in Britain is accounted for. This prevail- 

 ing spirit extends not merely to religion and politics, 

 l't to literature and to morals. The production of 

 strong impressions is regarded as the most important 

 aim of literature, while adjustment and propriety are 

 considered as safely left to the unaided operation of 

 private thought ; and the distraction which is th; 

 iterated is not foreseen. Even morality has been t 

 (<! in a fantastic manner. In the most solu-r circles, 

 virtue is too often cultivated rather as a passion than an 

 intelligent perception of what is right ; and un aver.-ion 

 to vice appears in the form of a strong sensation, rather 

 than a masterly and well-guarded prudence. Among 

 the more ostentatious circles, prudence is confounded 

 with selfishness; and a thoughtless devotedness is plau- 

 sibly represented as generosity. Among sotne of the 

 moralists of modern times, moderation is treated as 

 a word destitute of any conceivable meaning, except 

 when synonymous with indifference. Every thing that 

 passes under that name has been stigmatised as the death 

 of the mind; while ambition has been extolled as the only 

 laalisMU symptom of activity. The whole of the moral 

 which formed the object of the stoical school 

 i* reresented a* an unnatural apathy. By these extra- 

 human mind, instead of being encouraged 

 in cultivating the happineu which belongs to a regular 

 employment of its powers, is hurried abruptly from sen- 

 sitive pleasure and pam|red imaginations to the wail- 

 ings of listless sorrow, or that agitating discontent which 

 generates gloom in private life, and clamour in public. 

 In private economy, the transition from distressing 

 want to ostentation leaves but little scope for a re- 

 gion of leisurely enjoyment A taste for new plea- 

 sures too quickly verges into the creation of additional 

 nicassirias, and becomes a source of unhappiness ; and 

 the love of order itself, by becoming fastidious, fatigues 

 itself with the maintenance of plans pregnant with an- 

 xiety and fragility. Alienation between persons in 

 different situation* in life is connected with the spirit 

 thus fostered, and is promoted by the want of a steady 

 well-understood plan for facilitating social intercourse 

 on terms productive of mutual benefit, and consistent 

 with universal convenience. In so far as important ge- 

 neral opinions are concerned, perhaps it is in the nature 

 of things, that, where differences of profession are mat- 

 ed with mutual toleration, a period of mental warfare 

 hould precede that of sound liberality ; and that the road 

 to the happiest state of the general mind, should only be 

 found by travelling among precipices and thickets, in 

 which many are exposed to trials too severe for human 

 The influence of these circumstances on the 



