INS A 
Spirent; fince I cannot recollefl: more than one inftance of 
a. cure after the age of forty during my official attendance 
at the Afylum de Bicetre.” 
Whatever may be thought of M. Pinel’s hypothefis, it 
is certain that patients who are in a furious ftate recover 
in a larger proportion than thofe who are deprefl'ed and 
melancholic. A hundred violent, and the fame number 
of melancholic, cafes were felefted by Mr. Haflam ; of the 
former, fixty-two were difcharged well; of the latter, only 
twenty-feven; and fubfequent experience has confirmed 
the fairi : the fame inveftigation, on the fame number of 
perfons, has been twice inftituted, and with refults little 
varying from the above proportions. After a raving pa- 
roxyfm of confiderable duration, it is a hopeful fymptom 
if the patient become dull, and in a ftupid ftate ; inclined 
to fleep much, and feeling a defire of quietude. This ap¬ 
pears to be the natural efteft of that exhauftion, and, if 
the language be allowable, of that expenditure of the fen- 
forial energy, which the continued blaze of furious mad¬ 
nefs would neceflarily confume. When they gradually 
recover from this ftate, there is a profpeft that the cure 
will be permanent. 
As the memory appears to be particularly defective in 
cafes of infanity, it is much to be wilhed, that we pof- 
fefl'ed a correft hiftory and phyfiological account of this 
■wonderful faculty. If in a chain of ideas a number of 
the links are broken, or, leaving out the metaphor, if 
there be an inability to recoiled! circumftances in the or¬ 
der in which they occurred, the mind cannot polfefs any 
accurate information. When patients of this defcription 
are aiked a queftion, they appear as if awakened from a 
found fleep ; they are fearching, they know not where, 
for the proper materials of an anfwer, and, in the painful 
and fruitless efforts of recollection, generally lofe fight of 
the queftion itfelf. Shakefpeare, the higheft authority in 
every thing relating to the human mind and its affeftions, 
feems to be perfuaded that, fome defeft of memory is ne- 
cefiary to conftitute madnefs : 
It is not madnefs 
That I have utter’d; bring me to the tell 
And I the matter will re-word, which madnefs 
Would gambol from. Hamlet. 
Infane people, who have been good fcholars, after a 
long confinement, lofe, in a wonderful degree, the cor- 
redtnefs of orthography; when they write, above half the 
words are frequently mif-fpelt, being written accord¬ 
ing to the pronunciation. It fhows how treacherous the 
memory is without reinforcement. The fame neceflity of 
a conftant recruit and frequent review of our ideas, fa- 
tisfaftorily explains, why a number of patients lapfe 
nearly into a ftate of idiotifm. Thefe have, for fome years, 
been the filent and gloomy inhabitants of the hofpital, 
who have avoided conversation, and courted folitude; 
confequently have acquired no new ideas, and time has 
effaced the impreffion of thofe formerly ftamped on the 
mind. Mr. Locke, well obferves, although he fpeaks figu¬ 
ratively, “ that there feems to be a conftant decay of all 
our ideas, even of thofe which are ftruck aeepeft, and in 
minds the raoft retentive ; fo that, if they be not fome- 
times renewed by repeated exercife of the fenfes or reflec¬ 
tion on thofe kind of objedts which at firft occafioned 
them, the print wears out, and at laft there remains no¬ 
thing to be feen.” 
Patients have not the fame degree of memory of all 
that has palled during the time they were difordered; and 
it has been frequently remarked, that, w'hen they were 
-unable to give any account of the peculiar opinions which 
they had indulged during a raving paroxyfm of long con¬ 
tinuance, yet they well remembered any coercion which 
had been ufed, or any kindnefs which had been fhown 
them. Thus the child, whofe cafe we have detailed at 
p. 116, could very well remember two things that had 
given her great vexation, the fchool and the najly phyj/c, 
Vol. XI. No. 739. 
N I T Y. 
Connected with lofs of memory, there Isa horrid-form 
of infanity which occurs in young perfons; and, as far as 
thefe cafes have been the fubjedt of my obfervation, fays 
Mr. Haflam, they have been more frequently noticed in 
females. Thofe whom I liave feen, have been diftinguifhed 
by prompt capacity and lively difpofition; and in general 
have become the favourites of parents and tutor's, by 
their facility in acquiring knowledge, and by a prematu¬ 
rity of attainment. This diforder commences about, or 
fhortly after, the period of menftruation; and in many 
inftances has been unconnected with hereditary taint, as 
far as could be afcertained by minute enquiry. The at¬ 
tack is almoft imperceptible; fome months ulually ejapfe, 
before it becomes the fubjedt of particular notice ; and 
fond relatives are frequently deceived by the hope that it 
is only an abatement of exceffive vivacity, conducing to 
a prudent referve, and fteadinefs of character. A degree 
of apparent thoughtfulnefs and inactivity precede, toge¬ 
ther with a diminution of the ordinary curiofity concern¬ 
ing that which is palling before them ; and they there¬ 
fore hegledt thofe objedts and purfuits which formerly 
proved fourcesof delight and inftrudlion. The fenfibility 
appears to be confiderably blunted ; they do not bear the 
fame aftedtion towards their parents and relations ; they' 
become unfeeling to kindnefs, and carelefs of reproof. 
To their companions they fliow a cold civility, but take 
no intereft whatever in their concerns. If they read a 
book, they are unable to give any accounts of its contents ; 
lometimes, with fteadfaft eyes, they will dwell for an hour 
on one page, and then turn over a number in a few mi¬ 
nutes. It is very difficult to perfuade them to write, which 
molt readily develops their ftate of mind ; much time is 
confumed and little produced. The fubjedt is repeatedly 
begun, but they feldom advance beyond a fentence or two i 
the orthography becomes puzzling ; and, by endeavouring 
toadjuft the fpelling, the fubjedt vanifhes. As their apa¬ 
thy increales, they are negligent of their drefs, and inat¬ 
tentive to perfonal cleanlinefs. At length the urine and 
fseces are pafled without reftraint; and, from the indolence 
which accompanies it, they generally become corpulent. 
“ Thus, in the interval between puberty and manhood, I 
have painfully witneffed this hopelels and degrading 
change, which in a fhort time has transformed the molt 
promifing. and vigorous intelledt into a Havering and 
bloated ideot.” Such cafes we believe are very rare. 
In our climate, women are more frequently afflified 
with infanity than men. Several perfons, who fuperintend 
private mad-houfes, have teftified, that the number of fe¬ 
males brought in annnually confiderably exceeds that of 
the males. From the year 174.8 to 1794, compriling a 
period of for,ty-fix years, there have been admitted into 
Bethlem Hofpital, 4832 women, and 4042 men. The na¬ 
tural procefles, which women undergo, of menftruation, 
parturition, and of preparing nutriment for the infant, 
together with the -difeafes to which they are fubjeft at 
thefe periods, and which are frequently remote caufes of 
infanity, may, perhaps, ferve to explain their greater dif¬ 
pofition to this malady. As to the proportion in which 
they recover, compared with males, it may be ftated, that 
of 4832 women affedted, 1402 were difcharged cured ; 
and that, of the 404.2 men, 1155 recovered. 
To fhow how frequently infanity fupervenes on partu¬ 
rition, Mr. Haflam informs us, that from the year 1784 
to 1794 inclufive, eighty patients were admitted into Bed¬ 
lam, whofe diforder fhortiy followed the puerperal ftate. 
But women affedted from this caufe recover in a larger 
proportion than patients of any other defcription of the 
fame age: of thefe eighty,.fifty perfedtlv recovered. The 
firft fymptoms of the approach of this difeale after deli¬ 
very are—want of fleep; the countenance becomes flulhed j 
a conftridtive pain is often felt in the head ; the eyes af- 
fume a morbid luftre, and wildly glance at objedts in ra¬ 
pid fucceffion ; the milk is afterwards fecreted in lefs 
quantity; and, when the mind becomes more violently 
I i difordered s 
