19I3-] 



BRAIN CELLS AND BRAIN FUNCTIONS. 



405 



Insanity. — Our researches have shown that in the course of a 

 fatal disease and in fatal exhaustion, however produced, death does 

 not ensue until there is marked disorganization of the brain tissue. 

 In the progress of disease or exhaustion one may see in different 

 patients every outward manifestation of mental deterioration 

 — manifestations which, in a person who does not show any 

 other sign of physical disease, rtiark him as insane. Take, for ex- 

 ample, the progressive mental state of a brilliant scholar suffering 

 from typhoid fever. On the first day of the gradual onset of the 

 disease he would notice that his mental power was below its maxi- 



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m & 



Fig. /. Area from cerebellum, woodchuck, after fright. 



mum efficiency ; on the second he would notice a further deteriora- 

 tion, and so the mental effect of his disease would progress until he 

 would find it impossible to express a thought or to make a deduction. 

 No one can be philanthropic with jaundice ; no one suff'ering from 

 Graves' disease can be generous ; no mental process is possible in 

 the course of the acute infectious diseases. Just prior to death from 

 any cause everyone is in a mental state which if it could be continued 

 would cause that individual to be judged insane. If the delirium 

 that occurs in the course of certain diseases could be continued the 

 patient would be judged insane. In severe cases of Graves' disease 

 the patient is insane. Individuals may be temporarily insane under 

 overwhelming emotion. Every clinician has seen great numbers of 



