INSANITY. 117 
and, fearful of difturbing the perfon? nflembled by com¬ 
pelling him to return home, allowed him to be a fpefta- 
tor of thole folemn administrations. The only reflexion 
he made on the fubjeft, but in disjointed expreflions, was, 
that “ he thought it extremely hard, that the ladies and 
gentlemen fliould eat rolls and drink gin, and never afk 
him to partake.” In his perfon he was clean, and drefl'ed 
himfelf with neatnefs. Having been taught when in the 
hofpital to ufe a bowl for his neceflary occafions, he ob- 
Ilinately continued the fame practice when he returned 
home, and could never be perfuaded to retire to the clo- - 
fet of convenience ; but the bufinefs did not terminate 
here; for, when he had evacuated his iqteftines into the 
bow), he never failed to paint the room with its contents. 
To watch other, boys when they were playing, or to ob- 
ferve the progrefs of mifehief, gave him great fatisfaftion; 
■but he never joined them, nor did he ever become at¬ 
tached to any one of them. Of his mother he appeared 
exceflively fond, and he was conilantly carefling her; but 
in his paroxyfms of fury, he felt neither awe nor tender- 
nefs, and on two occafions he threw a knife at her. Al¬ 
though equally ignorant of letters as when difeharged 
from the hofpital, he took great delight in having gilt 
books ; indeed every thing fplendid attra&ed his atten¬ 
tion,. but more efpecially foldiers and martial mufic. He 
retained feveral tunes, and was able to whiftle them very 
corredlly. The day on wbjch I laft faw him, his mind 
■was completely occupied with foldiers ; when queftions 
were put to him, if he anfwered them it was little to the 
purpofe ; generally he did not notice them, but turned 
round to his mother, and enquired about the foldiers. 
The defe£t of this lad’s mind, appeared to be a want 
of continued attention to things, in order to become ac¬ 
quainted with their nature ; and he poflefied lefs curiofity 
than other children, which ferves to excite fuch atten¬ 
tion ; and this will in fome degree explain why he had 
never acquired any knowledge of things in a connected 
manner. His fentences were fhort, and he employed no 
particles to join them together. Although he was ac¬ 
quainted with the names of many things, and alfo with 
expreflions which characterize paflion, he applied them in 
an infulated way. For inftance, if a fliower fell, he would 
look up and fay, “Rains;” or when fine, “Sun Ihines.” 
When in the ftreet, he would pull his mother, toarreft her 
attention, and point to objedlS, as a fine horfe, or a big 
dog ; when he returned home, he would repeat what had 
attracted his notice, but always fpeaking of himfelf in the 
third perfoii: “ Billy fee fine horfe, big dog,” &c. 
It may be remarked, that all children in the early at¬ 
tempts at language fpeak of themfelves and others in the 
third perfon, and never employ the pronoun ; they like- 
wife never ufe conneffives, or the inflections of verbs, 
until they begin to acquire fome knowledge of numbers. 
Beyond this rude (fate our patient never advanced. 
3. In the month of July 1803, my opinion was requeft- 
ed refpeCiing a young gentleman, ten years of age, who 
was fent here, accompanied by a kind and decent young 
man, to take care of him. Previoufly to his arrival, I had 
correfponded refpefting his cafe with a very learned and 
refpeclable phyfician in the country, under whofe care the 
boy had been placed. From the information furnifhed 
by this gentleman, and that which was collected from the 
keeper, I believe the former hiltory of his cafe is correCtly 
given. The parents are perfons of found mind, and they 
do not remember any branches of their refpeifive fami¬ 
lies to have been in any manner difordered in their in¬ 
tellects. The fubject of the prefent relation was their eld- 
eft fon ; the fecond child was of a difppfition remarkably 
mild ; and the youngeft, a boy, about two years and a 
half, was diftinguilhed by the irritability and impatience 
of his temper. At the age of two years, the fubjeCt of 
the prefent relation became fo mifchievbus and uncon- 
trolable, that he was lent from home to be nurfed by 
bis aunt. In this fituation, at the requefc of his parents, 
and with the concurrence of his relation, (yet we are told 
Vox.. XI. No. 739. 
that his parents were not out of their fenfes,) he was in¬ 
dulged in every wilh, and never corrected lor any per- 
verftnefs or impropriety of conduit. Thus he continued 
until he was nearly nine years old, the creature of voli¬ 
tion and the terror of the family. At the fuggeltjon of 
the phyfician before mentioned, and who was the friend 
of his parents, a perfon was appointed to watch over him. 
It being the very natural opinion of tlie-doilor that the 
cafe originated in, or was aggravated by, over indulgence 
and perverfenefs, a different fyllem of management was 
adopted. The fuperintendant was ordered to correct him 
for each individual impropriety. At this time the boy 
would neither drefs nor undrefs himfelf, though capable 
of doing both; when his hands were at liberty, he tore 
his clothes; he broke every thing that was presented to 
him, or which came within his reach, and frequently re- 
fufed to take food. He gave anfwers only to fuch quef¬ 
tions as pleafea him, and ailed in oppofitioii to every di- 
reflion. The fuperintendant exercifed this plan for fe¬ 
veral months, but perhaps not to the extent laid down ; 
for it may be prefumed, that after a few flagellations his 
humanity prevailed over the medical bypothelis. When 
he became the fubject of my own obfervation, lie was of 
a very healthy appearance, and his head was well formed; 
this was alfo the opinion of .feveral gentlemen, diftin- 
guiflied for their anatomical knowledge, to whom the boy 
was presented. His tongue was unufually thick, though 
his articulation was perfectly diftinct. His counte¬ 
nance was decidedly maniacal. (This is a term for which 
Mr. Haflam entreats the reader to give him credit, 
becaufe .he finds himfelf unable adequately to explain it.) 
His ftature, for his age, was fliort, but he-was well com¬ 
pacted, and poflefied great bodily ftrength. Although his 
fkin was fmooth and clear, it was deficient in its ufual 
fenfibility ; he bore the whip and the cane with lefs evi¬ 
dence of pain than other boys. Another circumftance 
convinced me of this fact. During the time he refided in 
London he was troubled with a boil on his leg ; various 
irritating applications were made to the tumour, and the 
dreflings were purpofely taken off with lefs nicety than 
ufual, yet he never complained. His pulfe was natural,- 
and his bowels were regular. His appetite was good, but 
not inordinate, and he bore the privation of food for a 
confiderable time without uneafinefs. Although lie flept 
foundly, he often awoke as if fuddenly alarmed, and lie 
feemed to require a confiderable duration of fleep. He had 
a very retentive memory , and had made as great proficiency- 
in fpeech as the generality of boys of his own age. Few 
circumftanceS appeared to give him pleafure, but he would 
deferibe very correftly any thing which had delighted 
him. As he wanted the power of continued attention, 
and was only attracted by fits and ftarts, it may be natu¬ 
rally fuppofed he was not taught letters, and ftill lefs 
that he would copy them. He had been ieveral times to 
fchool, ,and was the hopelefs pupil of many mailers, dif- 
tinguiflied for their patience and rigid difeipline ; it mar 
therefore be concluded, that from thefe gentlemen he hai 
derived all the benefits which could r'efult from priva¬ 
tions to his ftomach, and from the application of the rod 
to the more delicate parts of his Ikin. 
On the firft interview I had with him, he contrived, af¬ 
ter two or three minutes acquaintance, to break a window 
and tear the frill of my fliirt. He was an unrelenting foe 
to all china, glafs, and crockery-ware; whenever they came 
within his reach, he fhivered them inllantly. In walking 
the ftreet, the keeper was compelled to take the wall, as 
he uniformly broke the windows if he could get near 
them ; and this operation he performed fo dexteroully, and 
with fuch fafety to himfelf, that he never cut his finders. 
To tear lace and deftroy the finer textures of female orna¬ 
ment, feemed to gratify him exceedingly, and he feldoin 
walked out without finding an occafion "of indulging this 
propenfity. He never became attached to any inferior 
animal, a benevolence fo common to the generality of 
children 3 to thefe creatures his conduct was that of the 
II h brute j 
