Geographical Distribution of Insanity 



37 



Wright, however, does not go into 

 details nor discuss the causes that have 

 led to this condition of affairs, except 

 to say : " The reason of this I think to 

 be that new settlements are made by a 

 selected population, mostly young and 

 middle aged people of sound minds and 

 bodies. The insane are left behind, as 

 are also those people of bad organiza- 

 tions, from whose numbers the most of 

 the insane will come. The new coun- 

 tries therefore have a small proportion 

 of insanity at the start, and furnish a 

 small proportion of insanity in the first 

 generation. 



" The only exception to this is in the 

 case of the Pacific slope and a few other 

 localities, where masses of homeless 

 men, with few women and children, 

 have gone in search of work or wealth ; 

 where the vices of drunkenness and 

 licentiousness, with the irregularities 

 and the hardships of life in mining or 

 lumbering camps, and the excessive 

 fluctuations of fortune, have caused an 

 excess of insanity. In these cases it is, 

 however, to be remembered that this is 

 a disease of mature life ; and if we add 

 the proper proportion of children who 

 would be found in an ordinary commu- 

 nity, and who rarely have insanity, we 

 should at once halve the ratio of in- 

 sanity in such communities. 



' ' But, in ordinary settlements, where 

 the settlers found homes and live under 

 the ordinary conditions of life, the ratio 

 of insanity in the first generation is 

 small, because they are, as the insur- 

 ance men would say, 'selected lives.' 

 In the second generation all the com- 

 plex and varied causes which produce 

 insanity have been at work ; and the 

 second generation has a much greater 

 ratio of insanity than the first, and so 

 on for several generations, when the 

 balance is restored and the regular rate 

 of insanity is reached." 



After all this, however, Wright says: 

 "It is often claimed that insanity is a 

 disease of civilization, and that it is in- 



creasing because civilization is increas- 

 ing; This I think to be a mistake." 

 Although this is not a very happy way 

 to express it, it seems to me that our 

 figures prove just that, or rather if they 

 do not prove that insanity is the neces- 

 sary result of civilization, they at least 

 prove that the civilized state offers those 

 conditions in greater number which 

 bring it about, and so if the connection 

 be not one of necessity, it is at least 

 one of fact. Instead, therefore, of at- 

 tempting to account for insanity by 

 altitude, temperature, and the various 

 other elements of the physical environ- 

 ment, we should only consider these 

 factors as important because of their 

 influence in creating conditions favor- 

 able to the growth and concentration of 

 population and the evolution of the 

 social organism. Even here this influ- 

 ence is often secondary or accidental. 

 As regards this whole matter of the 

 influence of the physical environment 

 on population, I can do no better than 

 quote Mayo-Smith,* who, in answer to 

 the question, " How far can the statis- 

 tics of distribution be said to contribute 

 an answer to the question of the influ- 

 ence of physical environment upon pop- 

 ulation ? ' ' says : 



"Statistics show us, in a large way 

 and on a grand scale, the general influ- 

 ence of land, climate, and natural forces 

 upon population. The plains attract, 

 the mountains repel. Cold regions are 

 unpopulated. Moist and warm climates 

 are fatal to human life. Commercial 

 position attracts cities. Navigable riv- 

 ers are natural highways, and are util- 

 ized in the migrations of the human 

 race. An indented seacoast is favor- 

 able to settlement and colonization. 

 Statistics confirm the general observa- 

 tions of history. L,evasseur, after a long 

 survey of the topography of France and 

 the history of its population, says that 

 at all periods Paris has been the attract- 

 ive pole and the mountainous region of 

 "Ibid. 



