THE UNIVERSAL FAMILY PAPER FOR INTER-COMMUNICATIONS ON 



NATURAL HISTORY-POPULAR SCIENCE— THINGS IN 8EIERAL. 



Conducted by WILLIAM KIBD, off Hammersmith,— 

 Author of the Familiar and Popular Essays on "Natural History;" "British Song 

 Birds; " "Birds of Passage;" "Instinct and Reason;" "The Aviary," &c. 



"the OBJECT of our work is to make men WISER, without obliging them to turn over folios and 



QUARTOS. — TO FURNISH MATTER FOR THINKING AS WELL AS READING."— EVELYN. 



No, 43.— 1852. 



SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23. 



Price 3d. 



Or, in Monthly Parts, Price Is. Id. 



THE 'VALUE" OF REASON. 



thoughts suggested by a visit 



TO 



HANWELL LUNATIC ASYLUM. 



God, in thy mercy, keep us with thy hand ! 

 Dark are the thoughts that strive within the heart, 

 When evil passions rise like sudden storms, 

 Fearful and fierce ! Let us not act toose thoughts. 

 Leave not our course to our unguided will ! 

 Left to ourselves, all crime is possible, 

 "' And those who seemed the most removed from guilt, 

 Have simk the deepest ! Ethel Churchill. 



IT IS NO LESS SINGULAR THAN IT IS 



painful, to note the great unwillingness 

 that exists among mankind generally, to 

 enter into a consideration of the Philo- 

 sophy of Life. It is this apathy, we ima- 

 gine, that causes all our Public Journalists 

 to keep silence on a subject so universally 

 unpalateable. Still — there are moments, 

 when men do " think," and cannot help 

 " thinking." May such thoughts be fre- 

 quent, and may they prove profitable ! 



When we say, that the idea which prevails 

 touching the " Whole duty of Man," is — 

 that his time should be unceasingly devoted 

 to eating, drinking, sleeping, and the un- 

 restrained enjoyment of pleasure — we speak 

 a fact that no person will attempt to deny. 

 We teach this lesson to our infants and 

 children; and as adults, we practise it our- 

 selves. To what extent the world is bene- 

 fited in its social relations by this ; or how 

 much happier we are rendered thereby as a 

 nation — may be seen from the existing state of 

 society. We care not, on the present occa- 

 sion, to do more than hint at it. " Bad is 

 indeed the best I" We are counselled to 

 " live together like brethren — to love one 

 another — and in honor to prefer each before 

 ourselves." We firmly believe, had the 

 gentle command thus given, been affection- 

 ately responded to, the blessings conse- 

 quent thereupon would have been great 

 indeed : but as we have sought a course of 

 action diametrically opposite to this ; and 

 as we live by preying on each other (from 



the very highest to the very lowest) — there- 

 fore are we what we are. No man can 

 safely trust his neighbor in the present day ; 

 and everybody lives for himself alone. 



These remarks are incidental to the sub- 

 ject, on which we propose to offer a few 

 observations. The human mind is a study 

 — the pursuit of which, so as to thoroughly 

 understand it, would occupy a century.* We 

 were once in conversation with a very clever 

 man, who inclined strongly to the belief 

 that everybody in the world is " mad," in 

 degree. He gave some very excellent reasons 

 for this opinion, and adduced some very 

 unanswerable proofs of the truth of what he 

 said. 



Let any of us look back to the days of 

 our youth, and call to mind the many insane 

 acts of folly we have committed (the bare 

 remembrance of which now makes us blush). 

 We cannot say they were " reasonable " 

 act§, nor would we attempt to do so. Aye, 

 and since the days of our youth — have we 

 not all many similar acts of folly to deplore ? 

 Madness and folly are, no doubt, " here- 

 ditary." They were born, and will die with 

 us. Still, they can be held in check ; and 

 Reason can set her foot upon their necks. 

 How well can we verify this, from our own 

 personal observation ! It is only when people 

 fly to the gin and the brandy bottle that 

 Reason loses her sway. And hence the 

 cause of so very many thousands of inmates 

 in our public and private asylums. 



Excess, our medical men tell us, is the 

 proximate cause of insanity. There can be 

 no doubt of this ; and its aides-de-camp are 

 Ignorance and Superstition. The neglect of 

 early education, and unrestrained appetite, 

 bring in their train all the moral evils which 

 we see so faithfully chronicled, and in such 



* The many causes of insanity — all traceable 

 to our manner of life, education, and pursuits — 

 will form subjects for future consideration. They 

 will be both interesting and important. — 

 Ed. K. J. 



Vol. II. 



