428 
fo remarkable in dreams, cannot but tend 
to counteract in fome meafure that habit 
of unvaried theaght ; which, when it oc- 
curs, has been tco generally found the me- 
lancholy prelude of infanity. 
Sleep regularly fufpends, and by this 
means preferves in vigour, the voluntary 
power which in our waking flate we 
poflefs over our thoughts. 
It is reafonable to fuppofe, that- the 
power of the wiil over. the current of 
thought, like that which it.exercifes over 
the voluntary mufcles, fhould require, in 
erdex. permanently to, retain its influence, 
to be recruited by frequent and regular in- 
tervals of repofe. . Where. fuch repofe 
therefore has been denied for any confider- 
able period, it feems inevitable that this 
power fliould gradually decline, and be at 
length altogether deftroyed. 
Sleep often affords a temporary relief 
from thofe tumultuous paffions or gnaw- 
ing folicitudes, which, if their operation 
were not in this way frequently interrupt- 
ec, would, in no long time, induce a dif- 
order of the mental‘taculties... 
Confiant vigilance will be likely to pro- 
duce infanity, by fubjeCting the mind ha- 
bitually to that increafed violence of feel- 
ing, which we muft have obferved to take 
place during the darknefs, the filence, and 
the folitude of the night. Really it is 
aftonifhing, in how. much more lively a 
manner we are apt in thefe circumftances 
to be imprefled by ideas that prefent 
themfelves, than when the attention of 
the mind is diffipated, and its fenfibility 
in a confiderable degree abforbed by the 
action of light, found, and that variety 
of objeéts which, during the day, operate 
upon our external fenfes. 
From fuch confiderations it will be evi-. 
dent, that any ftrong feeling or any fa- 
vorite idea will be’apt to acquire an af- 
cendency, and in fome inftances a demi- 
nion completely defpotic, over the mind ; 
when it becomes a fubje&t, as in cafes of 
ob{tinate vigilance it iftevitably will be, 
of an habitual no&turnal meditation. 
In {peaking of the caules which produce 
infanity, it would feem an unaccountable 
aver-fight to fay nothing concerning the 
influence of the paffisas. 
No mental emotion is there which, if 
indulged to excefs, may not induce ma- 
niacal derangement. 
But there 1s no one perhaps which more 
frequently occafions it, than avarice. At 
the peculiar tendency of this paflion to 
diforder the intellectual health, we thal! 
not be furprifed when we confider, 
‘That its power is not confined to the 
On Infanity, by Dr. Reid. “3 
[ June fy, 
: 
earlier periods of life, but’ continues to 
operate when almoft every other feeling 
is extinguifhed, that might have tended 
to counteract its influence : y 
That it is cherifhed mof& frequently by 
that clafs of perfons whofe minds have 
not been ftored by education with a variety 
of ideas; in which cafe it is evident, that 
there muft be greater danger of the atten- 
tion being engroffed by any favorite feel- 
ing or purfuit : 
And laitly, that the exceffive and un- 
feafonable exertions to which men are in- 
fiigated by a defire of gain, as well as the 
corroding anxiety by which thefe exertions 
are almoft neceffarily attended, will be 
likely, in a courfe of time, to wear out 
the vigour of tke intelleétual faculiies. 
~ Were we to credit the authority of 
poets and novel-writers, we might believe 
that, of allthe paifions, love is that which 
has moft frequently proved fatal to the 
reafon of man. But whatever may in 
former times have been the cafe, fearcely 
can it feem neceflary now to inveigh 
much againft the intemperance of a feel- 
ing, the natural and reafonable indulgence 
of which is, at the prefent day, almoft 
uniformly facrificed to the low and frivo- 
lous qualifications of avarice or vanity. 
Far is it from my with, to detra&t in any 
way from the merit of fo amiable and fo 
delightful a fentiment. It is only when 
carried to fuch a height, as becomes in- 
compatible with a proper difcharge of the 
duties, or a taite for the mifcellaneous plea- 
fures of life, that I fhould ever be at all 
difpofed to deplore its tendency, or to con- 
demn its cultivation. 
By moft writers on the fubjecét of mania, 
we have been advifed to expel from the 
mind one domineering paffion, by intro- 
ducing into it another of an oppofite na- 
ture. It is not without a degree of diffi- 
dence, that I attempt to difturb a doétrine 
which has {co long reputed under the fhade 
of venerable authority. But although 
this precept has been inculcated by men 
of high reputation, I cannot help harbour- 
ing a fufpicion with regard to its foundnels 
and propriety. 
The new paffion you would infufe, can 
fcarcely fail to poflels either more or lefs 
ftrength than that which at prefent pre- 
dominates. If the latter, inftead of being 
able to counteract, it will be likely to be 
abforbed by, and thus to give-an addi- 
tional force to, the prevailing emotion. 
If the former be the cafe, furely it cannot 
appear expedient to expole the mind toghe 
eperdtion of a feeling ftill more violent 
than that by which it has already been teo 
much 
