124 ' INSANITY 
difordered, it is totally fuppreffed. Where the difeafe is 
hereditary, parturition very frequently becomes an excit¬ 
ing caufe. 
From whatever caufe this difeafe may be produced in 
women, it is confidered as very unfavourable to recovery, 
if they fhould be worfe at the period of menftruation, or 
have their catamenia in very final 1 or immoderate quanti¬ 
ties. A few cafes have occurred where the difeafe, being 
connected. with menftruation, and having continued 
many years, has completely disappeared on the ceffation 
of the uterine difcharge. At the firfi: attack of this dif¬ 
eafe, and for fome months afterwards, during its conti-, 
nuance, females moft commonly labour under ameno- 
rhoea. The natural and healthy return of this dilcharge 
generally precedes convalescence. 
Of the organs of fenfe, which become affected in thofe 
labouring under infanity, the ear more particularly fuffers. 
We have fcarcely recollected an inflance of a lunatic be¬ 
coming blind ; but numbers are deaf. It is alfo certain, 
that in thefe perfons more delufion is conveyed through 
the ear than the eye, or any of the other fenfes. Thofe 
who are not actually deaf, are troubled with difficulty of 
hearing, and tinnitus aurium. In confequence of fome 
affection of the ear, the infane fometimes infill that mali¬ 
cious agents contrive to blow ltreams of infefted air'-into 
this organ ; others have conceived, by means of what 
they term hearkening-wires and whiz-pipes, that various 
cbfcenities and blafpiiemies are forced into their minds ; 
and it is not unufual for thofe who are in a defponding 
condition, toafierf, that they diftinftly hear the devil tempt¬ 
ing them to felf-deftruction. A confidefable portion of 
the time of many lunatics is patted in replies to Something 
fuppofed to be uttered. As this is an increaling habit, 
foit may be confidered as an unfavourable fymptom; and 
at lafl the patient becomes fo abftrafted from lurround- 
ing objefts, that the greater part of the day is confumed 
in giving anfwers to thefe fuppofed communications. It 
fometimes happens that the intelligence conveyed is of a 
mature to provoke the madman, and on thefe occafions 
he generally exefciles his wrath on the nearelt by-ftander ; 
whom he fuppofes, in the hurry of his anger, to be the 
offending party. 
A very curious cafe of this nature is related by Mr. 
Haflam. The patient was a well-educated man, about 
the middle age; he always {topped his ears cloiely with 
wool, and, in addition to a flannel night-cap, u/iiallyJlept 
with his head in a tin foucepan. Being afked the reafon 
Why he fo fortified his head, he replied, “To prevent the 
intrufion of the fprites After having made particular 
•enquiry concerning the nature of thefe beings, he gravely 
communicated the following information : “ Sir, you mutt 
know that in the human feminal fluid there are a number 
of vital particles, which, being injected into the female, 
impregnate her, and form a foetus of mufcles and bones. 
But this fluid has other properties; it is capable, by itfelf, 
of producing vitality under certain circumltances ; and ex¬ 
perienced chemilts and hermetical philofophers have de¬ 
ad fad a method of employing it for other purpofes, and 
fome, the moft detrimental to the condition and happinefs 
of man. Thefe philofophers, who are in league with 
princes, and thjeir convenient and proftituted agents, con¬ 
trive to extraft a portion of their own femen, which they 
conferva in rum or brandy ; thefe liquors having the 
power of holding for a coafiderable time the feminal fluid, 
and keeping its vitality uninjured. When thefe fecret 
agents intend to perform any of their devilifh experiments 
on a perfon who is an objeft of fufpicion to any of thefe 
potentates, they cunningly introduce themfelv.es to his 
acquaintance, lull him t-o fleep by artificial means, and 
daring his fiumbers, infufe a portion of their feminal fluid 
(conferved in rum or brandy) into his ears. As the fe¬ 
men in the natural commerce with the woman, produces 
a child, fo, having its vitality conferved by tire fpirit, it 
becomes capable of forming' a fprite ; a term, obvioufly 
derived from the fpirit in which it had been, infufed. The 
ear is the mod convenient nidus for hatching tWe vital 
particles of the femen. The effefts produced on the in¬ 
dividual, during the incubation of thefe feminal germs 
are veiy difagreeable ; they caufe tire blood to mount into 
the head, and produce confiderable giddmefs and confu- 
fion of thought. In a fhort time, they acquire the fize 
of a pin’s head; and then they perforate the drum of the. 
ear, which enables them to traverfe the interior of the 
brain, and become acquainted with the hidden fecrets of 
the peifon s mind. During the time they are thus edu¬ 
cated, they enlarge according to the natural laws of 
growth ; they then take wing, and become invifible be¬ 
ings, and, from the ftrong ties of natural affeftion, a flitted 
by the principle of attraction, they revert to the parent 
who afforded the femen, and communicate to him their 
ftureptitious observations and mtelieftual gleanings. In 
this manner I have been defrauded of difcoveries which 
would have entitled me to opulence and diltinftion, and 
have lived to fee others reap honours and emoluments 
for fpeculations which were the genuine cfffprings of my 
own brain.” & 3 
Infane people are faid to be generally worfe in tlife. 
morning; in fome cafes they certainly are fo, but perhaps 
not fo frequently as has been fuppofed. In many in- 
ftances, in the beginning of the difeafe, they are more vio¬ 
lent in the evening,' and continue fo the greateft part of 
the night. It is, however, a certain fact, that the majo¬ 
rity of patients of this defcription have their fymptoms 
aggravated by being placed in a recumbent pofture. They 
feem, themfelves, to avoid the horizontal pofltion as 
much as poffible, when they are in a raving ftate; and, 
when fo confined that they cannot be ereft, will keep 
themfelves feated upon the breech. 
“On the fuggeftion of a medical gentleman, (fays Mr. 
Haflam,) I was induced to afeertain the prevailing com¬ 
plexion and colour of the hair in infane patients. ^Out of 
z6 5 who were examined, 205 were of a fwarthly com¬ 
plexion, with dark or black hair; the remaining fix tv- were 
of a fair fkin, and light, brown, or red, haired. "\Vhat 
connexion this proportion may have with the complexion 
and colour of the hair of the people of this country in 
general, and what alterations may have been produced by 
age, or a refidence in other climates, I am totally unin¬ 
formed. ■ J 
“ Of the power which maniacs poflefs of refitting cold, 
the belief is general, and the hiftories which are on “record 
are truly wonderful; it is proper, however, to ftate that 
the patients in Bethlem Hofpital poffefs no fuch exemp¬ 
tion from the effefts of fevere cold. They are particularly 
fubjeft to mortifications of the feet; anu this faft is fo 
well eftablifhed from former accidents, that there is an 
exp refs order of the houfe, that every patient, under flrift 
confinement, fhall have his feet examined morning and: 
evening in the cold weather by the keeper, and alfo have 
thein conftantly wrapped in flannel; and thofe who are 
permitted to go about, are'always to be found as near to 
the fire as.they can get, during the winter feafon. Some 
maniacs indeed retufe all covering, but thefe are not 
common occurrences ; and it may be prefumed, that, by 
a continued expofure to the atmofphere, fuch perfons 
might fuftaio with impunity a low ’temperature, which 
would be productive of ferrous injury to thofe- who are 
clad according to the exigences of the feafon. Such en¬ 
durance of cold is more probably the effect of habit than 
of any condition peculiar to infanity.” 
Wer have been the more particular in feting what are 
and what are not the fymptoms of infanity, becaufe it is- 
one of the moft frequent fubjefts of forenfic inquiry, in 
which the phyfician is called on-to decide-; and, to’the 
d if grace of Science, we find the moft eppeflte opinions 
adduced by practitioners of eminence. Much depends on 
the period during which the phyfician fees the fuppofed 
lunatic, and more on a few n'eceffary distinctions, which, 
we fear are fometimes designedly neglected. It is poffible 
for an interefled relation to fix on a day when the patient 
4 is 
