MAD 
tions them, but merely to fay that vifcofa differs from them 
■both in having fhort roots, and feffile leaves, never embrac¬ 
ing the ftem. 
MA'DIAH, [Hebrew,] A man’s name. 
MA'DIAN, or Mid'ian, in ancient geography, a town 
of Arabia, in the province of Hedsjas, which owes its 
name to one of the fons of Keturah, and was deftroyed 
in the time of Abulfeda. It is feated at a fmall diftance 
from the Red Sea, which at this place is not more than too 
places wide. The Arabs call it Megar el Schmid, of the 
Grotto of Schuaid, or Jethro; and they fuppofe that this 
is the place where Mofes tended his father-in-law’s flocks. 
Ptolemy calls it Modiana, JLat. 2.8. 2.0. N. Ion. 38. 'to. E. 
See Midian. . „ , r 
MADIN'GA, a river of America, in the ifthmus of 
Darien, which runs into the Spanifh Main in lat. 9. 
N. Ion. 78. 48. E. ; .■ 
MAD'LY, adv. Without undemanding; funoufly : 
He wav’d a torch aloft, and madly vain, 
Sought godlike worfhip from a fervile train. Dryden. 
MAD'MAN, f. A man deprived of his undemanding. 
-—He who ties a madman's hands, or takes away his fword, 
loves his perfon while he difarms his phrenzy. South. 
MADMAN'NAH, [Hebrew.] The name of a man, and 
of a country. 
MAD'MAR, a town of Perfia, in Chorafan : twelve 
miles weft of Herat. 
MAD'MENAH, [Hebrew.] The name of a place. 
MAD'NESS, /. Diftra&ion ; iofs of undemanding; 
perturbation of the faculties.—There are degrees of mad- 
E £/tas of folly ; the diforderly jumbling ideas together, in 
Jome more, fame lefs. Locke.— Fury ; vvildnefs of paffion ; 
rage.—The power of God fets bounds to the raging of 
the fea, and reftrains the madne/s of the people. King Charles. 
He rav’d with all the madnefs of delpair. 
He roar’d, he beat his breaft, and tore his hair. Dryden. 
Mental derangement, or infanity, is commonly divided 
into madnefs and melancholy, mania and melancholia, _ ac¬ 
cording to the fyftem of the Greeks; yet molt nations 
have adopted peculiar expre (lions, to fignify the form or 
degree of derangement of intelleflr The term derange¬ 
ment , which we have taken immediately from the French, 
and which means out of rank or order, is metaphorically ap¬ 
plied to the mind, to denote that its ideas are out of the 
rank, or order, generally preferved by intelligent beings. 
Delirium, employed by the Romans, had its origin from the 
procefs of ploughing ; for, when the oxen deviated from 
the line to be purfued, they were faid to be de lira, out of 
the track; and this figure was transferred to the devia¬ 
tions of the human intellect, when it erred from the efta- 
blifhed courfe. Infane, infanus, means merely unfound. 
The Greek y.a.iw was probably from their verb peuvopxt, 
I rage; from black, and bile; 
black bile being fuppofed the caule of this dileafe. The 
fuppofed regulation of the intellect, in certain ftates, by 
the influence of the moon, has produced the term lunatic ; 
which word ftill prevails in all legal proceedings relative 
ta the infane. The vulgar opinion, that in madnefs the 
mind was broken into fragments, has given rife to the 
terms crazy (ecrafe, Fr.) cracked, or fhatter-brained. The 
word mad has been derived by Mr. Haftam from the Go¬ 
thic mod, which fignifies rage. He obferves, “ It is true, 
we have now converted the 0 into a, and write the word 
mad ; but mod was anciently employed.” Of the fimila- 
rity between violent anger and madnefs, the obfervation 
has been general. Cicero fays, “ An eft quicquam fimi- 
lius infanite quam ira ? quam bene Ennius initium dirk 
iafanix.” Dr. Beddoes obferves, that “ mad is one 
of thofe words which means almoft every thing and no¬ 
thing. At firft, it was, I imagine, applied to the trans¬ 
ports of rage; and, when men werf civilized enough to be 
capable of infanity, their infanity, I prefume, mult have 
been of the frantic fort; becaufe, in the untutored, intenfe 
feeling?.feem-regularly* to carry-a boifterotu expreflron,”. 
M A D 71 
Under the article Insanity, vol. xi. we have detailed 
the general fymptoms of theapproaches of that dreadful 
diforder, chiefly from Mr. Haflam’s Obfervations on Mad¬ 
nefs and Melancholy. But thebe fymptoms have been va- 
rioufly related by different writers. The late Dr. John 
Monro, in a pointed and elegant reply to Dr. Battle's 
Treatife on Madnefs, has remarked, that “ high fpirits, as 
they are generally termed, are the firft fymptoms of this 
kind of diforder; thefe excite a man to take a larger quan¬ 
tity of wine than ufual; (for thofe who have fallen under 
my obfervation, in this particular, have been naturally 
very fober ;) and the perfon thus affected, from being ab- 
ftemious, referved, and modeft, (hall become quite the con¬ 
trary; drink freely, talk boldly, obfeenely, fwear, fit up 
till midnight, deep little, rife fuddenly from bed, go out 
a hunting, return again immediately, fet all his fervants 
to work, and employ five times the number that is necefi- 
fary ; in fhort, every thing he fays or does betrays the mo it 
violent agitation of mind, which it is not in his power to 
correfl; and yet in the mid ft of all his hurry he will' not 
mifplace one word, or give the lea ft reafon for any one to 
think he imagines things to ^xift that really do not, or that 
they appear to him different from what they do to other 
people. They who fee him but feldom, admire his viva¬ 
city, are pleafed with his faliies of wit, and the fagacity of ' 
his remarks; nay, his own family are with difficulty per-- 
fnaded to take proper care of him, until it becomes ab- 
folutely neceffary, from the apparent ruin of his health 
and fortune.” 
The following is a cafe in point.—A gentleman- 
farmer was brought to a houfe for the reception of luna¬ 
tics, his friends grounding the neceflity of his confine¬ 
ment on his conducting his affairs in fuch a manner as 
mult foon bring him to ruin. On fpeaking to the patient, 
he faid, if his friends could date any circumftance which 
he could not defend on principles of reafon and equity, 
he would confent to be confined for the reft of his days. 
He was then afked. Do you not give more wages than ■ 
other farmers ? Yes.—Why do you ? Becaufe I am of 
opinion that the ftanding wages of labourers is much too" 
fmall; and the neighbouring farmers agree with me in 
that opinion, but have not integrity enough to follow my 
example, although they know their labourers to be almoit 
ftarving.-—But have you not had it dearly demonftrated 
to you, that this proceeding muft terminate in your ruin ? 
Yes, but a queftion in my turn ; Am I to be deemed a 
madman becaufe I will not fave myfelf from ruin by ftarv¬ 
ing a number of my fellow-creatures?—Well, but your 
friends fay, that you have thoughts of leavingryour farm 
to your fervants, and to make a tour over Scotland, fet- 
ting out with only a crown in your pocket. Is that a ra¬ 
tional intention ? Yes: I have certainly a right to make 
what tour I pleafe t it will be a more rational tour than ' 
your fparks of quality make, for I go So inform myfelf of 
the agriculture of the country I pais through!-—But you' 
leave your farm to the mercy of your fervants. So do 
other farmers, and more madly than I (hould, fince, by ‘ 
my generality, I have a (lured myfelf of the fidelity of my 
fervants.—But was it not madnefs to think of fetting out- 
on this excurfion, with only a crown in your pocket ? 
Sol extravagant generality is firft brought as a proof of 
my madnefs; and, this failing, you mean to prove it by 
my parfimony. But I can explain this part of my con- 
duff alfo. I know I injure myfelf by the wages I pay, , 
and therefore I judge I can fpare but little for myfelf— 
fo much for my parfimony.—But how is this crown to 
carry you through ? Thus : I (hall take one of my horfes 
for the firft thirty miles, and then travel on foot the next 
twenty; and thus, with care, my five (hillings will carry 
me fifty miles from home. Now the objeft or my jour¬ 
ney i& agricultural knowledge, and my wi(h is to obtain 
it as cheap as I can ; therefore I will hire myfelf as a la¬ 
bourer until I have got five (hillings more, and then let' 
off again. I have got fuch recommendations as will in- 
fure me employ and extra wages. In this manner I ffiaii ‘ 
jfe- ptriOMQt--. 
