I N S A 
Is calm and rational, an hour when he is ufually collefted, 
to introduce the phyfician who pronounces him fane. 
Another, in different circumftances, might pronounce 
him mad. It is neceffary therefore to guard againft fuch 
deceptions, to vifit him frequently at different times, and 
at the molt unfufpefted hours. If this is refufed, a col- 
lulion will be evident. Dr. Parr was called in to examine 
a man, ■ who was confined for a crime, and defended on 
the plea of idiotic infanity : he vifited him frequently, 
while unfufpefting any fuch examination, and found the 
plea ftriftly true : yet, “ when called into court for the 
purpofe of acquittal, when cleaned and dreffed, roufed 
alfo perhaps by the novel appearance of the fcene, his 
look affumed a meaning, and he was almojl rational.'" 
Mod. Ditt. 
In the general relations of life, a man may be thought- 
lefs, ridiculous, and extraVagant; yet thefe errors will not 
be fufficient to fix the charge of infanity, which confilts 
either in falfe perceptions or erroneous reafoning on ob¬ 
jects diftinguifhed in their true colours. Many indivi¬ 
duals of this kind require guardians for their property as 
much as perfons really infane; but the law intrufts no 
practitioner with fuch difcretionary power. The difficulty 
Arifes when this wild abfurd conduct is attended with 
fuch inconfiftencies as lead to the l'ufpicion, that the per¬ 
ceptions or the reafon are affected This fituation is a 
queftion of prudence, rather than of jurifprudence or 
medicine. The reflecting phyfician will not fix, nrinecel- 
farily, the ftigna of infanity on a whole race ; nor will he 
expofe a family to ruin by a too-great delicacy. In this 
difficulty, he will rather take the opportunity of a calmer 
moment to induce the patient to adopt fuch plans, as may 
prevent the ruin of the family, and may properly make 
ufe of the alternative as an argument, in cafe of refufal. 
It is aftonilhifig with what management and fagacity a 
maniac, when impelled by a fufficient motive, can keep 
the fecret of his infanity. Dr. Reid mentions a cafe 
wherein he was very nearly itnpofed upon by a patient of 
this defcription, who,'by extraordinary art and exertion, 
had effected his efcape trom the barriers of confinement, 
and, in order to defeat puriuit, folicited profetfional evi¬ 
dence in favour of his lanky. A particular train of 
thought, which for a time, lay filent and i'ecrer within the 
feceffes of his mind, by an accidental touch ail at once 
kindled into an unexpcfted and terrible explcfion. 
Lucid intervals, are a fubjeft deferving of the very par¬ 
ticular ftudy and attention of the legal as 'well as the me¬ 
dical profefficn. There are, in fact, few cafes cf mania 
or melancholy where the light of reaibn does not now. and 
then fnine between the clouds. In fevers of the- mind,, 
as well as in thbfe of the body, there occur lntermiffions; 
but a mere interruption of a diharder is not to be rniftr.ken. 
for its cure, or its ultimate conclufion. Madmen fhow, 
at ftartS, more fenfethan ordinary men. There is perhaps 
As- much genius confined, as at large; and he who courted 
corrufcations of talent, might be more likely to meet 
with them in a receptacle for lunatics than in aim off any 
other theatre of intellectual exhibition. But, the flashes 
of wit betray too often the ruins of wiidom ; and the 
mind, which is powerful in the brilliancy, will generally 
be round deficient in the fteadinefs, of its iuftre. Little 
ftref’s ought to be laid upon thofe occafional and uncer¬ 
tain holidays of intelleft, where the patient is, fora time 
only, difentangled from the labyrinth of his morbid hallu¬ 
cinations. 
The queftion of confirmed infanity muff be decided by 
a companion of the patient’s ftate with the pathognomo¬ 
nic fymptoms. Yet there are many fourees of doubt, 
and often room for hefitation. In many inftances the 
mind wanders, at firft, on one fubject only; and,'when 
the madman has any point to gain, he will, with great 
fuccefs, counterfeit a calm reafonable ftate. Each point 
frvuft be carefully guarded; yet the experienced phyfician 
will not be ealily baffled. A wildneis of the eye, a ten- 
fion of the Ik in of the temples, a dry furred tongue,., often 
N I T T. 123 
a hurried pulfe, will explain the real ftate. The madman 
is alfo a coward, and we have drawn from this a good 
pathognomonic fymptom. If threatened with fome ve¬ 
hemence with any punilhment, however wild and im¬ 
practicable, he will fflrink and tremble, forgetting all his 
art, or returning to his original deviation- of mind. 
Infanity, as well as demoniacal poffeffion, epilepfy, ca- 
talepfy, and other nervous diforders, may be counter¬ 
feited, either from views of intereft or from worfe motives. 
To diftinguifti between the dexterous imitations and the 
real diforder, is a province of medical jurifprudence, 
equally delicate, difficult, and important. We do not here 
fpeakof unfkilful pretenfions and rude artifices calculated 
to impofe only on fimple and credulous people, fuch as 
Wierus quotes; but of infinity counterfeited on a great 
icale, and amidft enlightened characters, as in the exam¬ 
ple quoted by Dehaen of a woman, who, in confeqnence 
of atteftations given in her favour by certain well-informed 
ecclefiaftics, palled for a demoniac, and who, after her ad- 
miiiion into the hofpital of Vienna, vvas convifted of im- 
pofture. A guilty prifoner fometimes counterfeits infa¬ 
nity in order to efcape the vengeance of the law, prefer¬ 
ring confinement in a lunatic-hofpital to the punilhment 
due to his crime. At other times genuine infanity fuper- 
venes in the courfeof a long and involuntary detention in 
a place of confinement. Thofe are cales which it is the 
important province of the phyfician to dillinguilh and to 
afcertain. 
M. Pinel relates the following cafe.—“A man, forty- 
five years of age, confined in the felon department of Bi- 
cetre on account of his political opinions, was guilty of 
numerous ads of extravagance, made many abfurd lpeeches, 
and at length lucceeded in obtaining his removal to the 
lunatic department of the lame pi ice. This happened 
before my appointment. In the courfe of fome months 
aiter my entrance upon the functions of my office, I de¬ 
termined to examine carefully into the hi ft pry and ftate 
of his malady, in order to afcertain accurately the clafs of 
the diforder to which his cafe belonged. For this pur¬ 
pofe I frequently vifited his chambers. At every vifit he 
exhibited fome new antic ; fometimes he wrapped up his 
head in cloths or blankets, and refufed to reply to my 
quefcions ; at other times he poured fourth a torrent of 
unmeaning and incoherent jargon; on other occafions he 
affirmed the tone of an infpired, or aftefled the airs of a 
great, perfonage. The affumption of fo many and oppo- 
Ute characters, convinced me that he was not well read in 
the hiltory of infanity, and that he had not ftudied the 
characters of thole whom he endeavoured to counterfeit. 
The ufual changes in the expreffion of the eyes and other 
features, charaCteriftic of a nervous maniacal excitement,, 
were likewife wanting. I fometimes liitened at the doer 
of his chamber in the courfe of the night, when I inva¬ 
riably found him afleep, which agreed with the report of 
the hofpital watchman. He one day efcaped from , his 
chamber while it was cleaning and fetting in order, took 
up a ftick, and applied it, with great effedt, to the back of 
a domeiiic, in order to imprefs him and others with the 
idea of his violence and his fury. All thefe fails, which. 
I- coilefled and compared in the courfe of one month, ap¬ 
peared to charaClerife no decided variety of mania, but 
rather a great defire of counterfeiting it.” 
Thu s an experienced practitioner will foon deteft the 
abfurdities-which affume the form of infanity.; for, though 
incoherencies, wildnefs, and obfeenity, may be imitated, 
the hurried look, the rapid pulfe, the dry tongue, and 
the fleeplefs nights, cannot be affumed. Above all, (he 
cowardice, the apprehenfion of punilhment, the influence 
of threats, are feldom to be difeovered. A French author 
details the fymptoms of madnefs, for the purpose of this 
distinction,, fo elegantly as to induce us to-copy the pic¬ 
ture. “Thus to negleft- what, molt deferves attention, 
and to value what is leaft deferving of it; to rejoice or 
.weep without an adequate reafon ; to defpife what is ter¬ 
rible,. and to fear what is ridiculous j to admire trifles, 
and 
