I N S A 
tions, which equally excited his aftonirtiment and admi¬ 
ration. This curious circumftance, all the particulars 
and machinery of which are defcribed at confiderable 
length in the twelfth feCtion of his works, engaged his at¬ 
tention in a very high degree. He thought that he could 
trace great analogy between the novel fenfations which he 
experienced, and certain fymptoms? which he had heard 
defcribed of incipient infanity. Whether his fenfations 
upon this occalion are to be claffed among many other 
phantafms of his brilliant imagination, or were actually 
excited by the poifonous virulence of the vegetable which 
he had tafted, it is certain that the experiment led him 
to theorife upon the morbid hallucinations of the human 
mind, and to propofe feveral important applications of 
the phenomena of Itrong impreflions as connected with 
the laws of afl'ociation to the cure of infanity. His treat¬ 
ment of mental diforders, by prolonged and indifcriminate 
immerfions in cold water, muft, however, appear exceed¬ 
ingly reprehenlible to a well-informed phyfician of the 
prefent day. 
We now advance in our retrofpeCl of infanity to a pe¬ 
riod in medical liiftory which cannot fail to engage the 
warmed intereft of every lover of the healing art—that 
period which witneffed the exertion of the fplendid talents 
of a Stahl and a Boerhaave. Under the direction of thofe 
eminent philofophers and phylicians, the fcience of che- 
miftry and phyfiology affumed a new afpect; obfervation 
and analyfis recovered their primitive importance in the 
ftudy of the human frame, and the volume of nature was 
opened to the contemplation of the naturalift, and con- 
trafted with the literary productions of ages. But the 
ambition by which thefe illuftrious rivals were equally 
diftinguilhed, of eftablilhing their own peculiar doCtrines 
to the exclufion of every other, and of ereCting their re- 
{ mtation upon a brilliant univerfality of profelfional know- 
edge, rendered it impoflible for them to ftudy individual 
difeafes with the requifite attention and profundity. We 
therefore look in vain in the productions of the Leyden 
fchool for inftruCtions in the phyfiology and treatment of 
maniacal diforders. Whilft the moft eminent profeffors 
of the firft medical feminary in the world were-thus ad¬ 
vancing in their career of theoretic glory with unparalleled 
rapidity, the unhappy lunatic was permitted, as in ages of 
utmoft ignorance, to fubfift on his bread and water, to lie 
on his bed of ftraw, chained to the wall of a dark aqd 
folitary cell, a being unworthy of folicitude in his fate, 
and the viCtim of an idle and interefted maxim, that “ In¬ 
fanity is an incurable malady.” The beft information 
which, till of late years, could be obtained upon the fub- 
jeCt, muft have been extracted, with infinite labour and 
pains, from tlis mufty and unwieldy volumes of the older 
jfyftematic writers. 
Of all the diforders to which the human frame is un¬ 
fortunately fubjeCt, it is fomewhat remarkable, that the 
interefting malady under our prefent confideration has 
been moft negleCted. The treatifes which have been pro- 
feffedly written upon it fince the revival of. literature in 
Europe, are all of them of late publication, and, with a 
few exceptions, are mere advertifements of lunatic efta- 
blilhments under the fuperintendance of their refpeCtive 
authors. As exceptions to this remark, the effays of 
Monro, Lorry, Mead, Faucett, Greding, Pargeter, Ferriar, 
Haflam, and Dr. Arhold, deferve to be mentioned. The 
pfychological work of Dr. Crichton exhibits fome curious 
fads illuftrative of the morbid influence of the palfions 
wpon the functions of the intellectual faculties. Dr, 
Cox’s new publication is recommended to the perufal of 
the faculty by what it contains upon the moral and me¬ 
dical ufe of the fwing in maniacal diforders. M. Pinel, 
©f the School of Medicine at Paris, and phyfician to the 
Bicetre, has lately publifhed a very valuable treatife oil 
infanity, entitled Traite medico-philofophique.fur la Manic, 
from which, and from that excellent collection of faCts, 
Ijtfr. Haflam's Obfervations on Madnefs and Melancholy, 
Shis article is chiefly compiled. 
Vol. XI, No. 738. 
N I T Y. 1 is 
Cafes of Infanity .—It is a common and very natural 
opinion, that derangement of the functions of the under- 
Itanding confifts in a change or lefion of fome part of. the 
head. This opinion is, indeed, countenanced by the ex¬ 
perimental labours of Bonnet, Morgagni, Meckel, ^nd, 
Greding. Hence _thc popular prejudice that infanity is 
generally an incurable malady, and the cuftoin very pre¬ 
valent of fecluding maniacs from fociety, and of refuting 
them that attention and afliftance to which, every infir¬ 
mity is.entitled. But . the numerous cures which have 
been performed in England and France; the fully-efta- 
blilhed fuccefs of the moral treatment in a great variety 
of inltances ; and numerous refults of diffeCtion, which, 
have Ihown no organic lefion of the head ; appear to ef- 
tablilh a contrary opinion. Indeed a moment’s reflection 
might convince us, that lefions or deformities of the 
fkull, which cannot be acquired in adult age, after the 
complete oflification of the, bones of the head, muft be 
very rarely, if ever, the caufe of accidental infanity. To ef- 
tablilh this faCl by accurate refearches and diflections, is 
a talk which has been undertaken by Mr. Pinel; and w£ 
fliall give the refult in his own words. 
“ It is a very general opinion, that mental derangement 
depends upon lefions of the head, and efpecially upon ir¬ 
regularities and difproportions of the cranium. It would 
be an interefting fpeculation to determine how. far the 
bell proportions of the head are to be confidered as exter¬ 
nal indications of the excellence of the intellectual facul¬ 
ties. That mailer-piece of ancient fculptur.e, the head 
of the Pythian Apollo, might be taken for a prototype. 
Next in order might be placed the heads of men -molt 
fuitably organized for the fuccefsful purfuit of the arts 
and fciences, and progreflively downwards every fueqelfive 
degree of malconformation of the head, with its corref- 
ponding intellectual capacity, to abfolute ideotifm and 
imbecility. But obfervation is far from confirming t thefe 
fpecious conjectures. We fometimes meet with the belt 
poftible formed heads afl'oeiated with’a very contracted 
difeernment, or even with abfolute infinity; while lin¬ 
gular varieties of conformation are united tq,cv'ery attri¬ 
bute of talent and genius. It would therefore be no lefit 
curious than conducive to the progrefs of fcience, to ef- 
tablilh fome faCts as refults of new and accurate refearches; 
to examine the varieties of conformation of the head that 
are indifferent or equally favourable to the free exercife 
of the functions of the underltanding; to mark particu¬ 
larly the deformities of the cranium that are qo-exiftent 
with manifeft lefions of thofe functions; and laftly, t® 
afeertain the fpecies of mental derangement depending 
upon the want of fymmetry of the cranium, or upon the 
fize of its dimenfions, in comparifon with thofe of the 
whole body. 
“ Camper, in his phyfignomonical refearches, in order 
the better to feize the charaCleriftic and conftant traits of 
the human countenance in different climates, has con¬ 
fined his attention to what he calls the falcial line. The ' 
objeCt of my prefent inveftigation refers more immediately 
to the configuration and dimenfions of the cavity of the 
full. My enquiries, therefore, havfe neceffarily taken a 
different direction. I have examined the relation of the 
height of different fkulls with their depth in the direction 
of the great axis of the cranium, and with their breadth 
at the anterior and pofterior part of the fame horizon. 
But many obftacles oppofe the application of mathema¬ 
tical principles to fubjeCts of this nature. Nothing, in¬ 
deed, appears lefs capable of precife admeafurement than 
the cavity of the cranium. At the balls there are many 
irregular eminences and deprefllops. The upper part 
prefents the general appearance of one half of an ellipfoi'd, 
whofe convexity differs at different parts. Hence it re- * 
fults, that a fettion of the cranium, parallel to its bafe, 
prefents but a diftant refe.mblance to an ellipfis, and con¬ 
sequently affords po data for accurate admeafurement. 
We are therefore confined to mechanical means, as the 
beft we can apply for afeertaining the dimenfions of the 
G g cranium.. 
