270 ON INSANITY IN THE DOMESTICATED QUADRUPED. 
and easiest means of detecting insanity, namely, by the incohe¬ 
rence and singularity of conversation ; and also because, while 
all the cerebral functions connected with thought, like all the 
intellectual faculties, are less developed than in man, their de¬ 
rangements will be more likely to escape observation; and, chiefly, 
because from the absence of speech they are less easily recog¬ 
nized, studied, or described. If, however, insanity may exist in 
animals, it is much more rare than in the human being; and 
which is doubtless owing to the imagination, that has so great a 
share in the development of the intellectual aberrations of men, 
being less active, and less capable of excitation in the inferior 
portions of the creation, than in him. 
Let this, however, be as it will, the following facts, although 
too isolated for any medical conclusions to be drawn from them, 
may prove that affections analogous to insanity may really 
exist in the domestic animals; and, even although they may 
not be admitted to be veritable maladies of this kind, yet they 
will, perhaps, attract the attention of observers to derangements 
of the intellectual faculties of animals more numerous and more 
frequent than is generally supposed. 
CASE I. 
I saw, at the commencement of 1824, a horse, seven years old, 
belonging to the first regiment of Chasseurs, then in garrison at 
Rouen. He was remarkable for an habitual air of stupidity, and 
a peculiar wandering expression of countenance :,his head was 
usually carried very high, and his neck was stretched out; but 
there was nothing else that could lead to the suspicion of any 
particular nervous affection. Whenever he saw any thing that 
he had been unaccustomed to, or heard any sudden and unusual 
noise, or heard a horse struck, whether it was near to or at a dis¬ 
tance from him, or even, sometimes, when his corn was thrown 
into the manger without the precaution of speaking to him, or 
caressing him, he was frightened to an almost incredible degree; 
he recoiled precipitately, every limb trembled, and he struggled 
violently to escape. After several useless efforts to get away, he 
would work himself into the highest degree of rage, so that it was 
dangerous to approach him. This state of excitement was followed 
by dreadful convulsions, and which did not cease until he had 
broken his halter, or, at least, detached himself from his tram¬ 
mels ; and then, as soon as he felt himself free, when there was 
nothing to constrain his convulsive movements, he became calm, 
dismissed all his apprehensions, and suffered himself to be 
caressed and led back to his stall, where he immediately began 
to eat, and there was not a trace of agitation remaining. During 
