B04. 
which ean hold only a certain number, or 
to our incapacity to erect premifes fuffi- 
cient to confine the more common, and (I 
will venture to affert, in many refpects) 
the more dangerous kinds of this diforder. 
The latter obje&ion, however, I humbly 
conceive might be obviated in a great mea- 
fure, becaufe the fpecies of lunacy which 
I fhall notice, are principally incident to 
people of fome confiderable rank and for- 
tune, who might eafily fpare a little of their 
wealth for their cure, provided it were at- 
tempted in time: they might then, when 
the delirium of Broekes’s or Newmarket 
had come to its height, be able to fay, 
- When houfe and land are gone and fpent, 
A madbouj: is moft excellent. 
But to proceed to particulars, I fhall 
exhibit the following cafe: A. B. aged 
24 years, hale cgnititution, delicate fhape, 
round head, &e. inherited a clear paternal 
efiate of sooc]. a year, together with a 
very large fum of ready money which had 
accumulatd during his minority. It is 
fearcely the fpace of four years fince he 
came into the poffeffion of this fortune ; 
and it is all fpent, and its furvivor lives, 
if it may be called living, on precarious 
contingencies. And this large portion of 
wealth was diffipated in fo fhort a time by 
the phrenzy of gaming. 
Now, Mr. Editor, let me afk you, of 
rather Jet me afk thofe learned gentlemen, 
Drs. Monro and Simmons, whether they 
ever met, in Bedlam, or St. Luke’s, witha 
more confirmed cafe of lunacy? If rational 
creatures-are to be judges, if the eternal 
principles of reafon, logic, propriety, with 
the natural bias and law of felf-defence, 
are to decide, ought not this perfon to have 
been deemed a lunatic and: put under pro- 
per care, and every thing hurtful removed 
from him, from a pack of cards to a blood- 
horfe, until he had recovered his fenfes? 
Were not his friends very blameable to 
permit him to go about with fuch a difeafe 
on him, in the foolifh hope that it would 
cure itfelf, until his unhappy cafe is paft 
-all remedy, and he has not only murdered 
his property, but laid violent hands on his 
charaéter? What would have been more 
eafy than to prevent all this? The firft 
gamé ougnt to have been carefully watch- 
ed; ftrong fymptoms of anxiety about the 
odd trick might have given the alarm ; fre- 
quent vifits ‘to the race-ground are almoft 
always marks of derangement ; and a fub- 
{cription to one of the gaming-houfes is a 
certain proof that the patient is ina very 
bad way. I have had fome little experi- 
ence in thefe matters, from a difpofition, 
J Lunatics out of Hofpitals. 
“a 
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ay 7. ee os ae 
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perhaps often a difagreeable ‘one, to give 
advice unafked. I’have been able to point 
out the approach of lunacy in a /buffie 3 
[April 1, 
and I have feen it in a fuit of law; fome= ° | 
times I have beheld the fit coming on in 
St. James’s-ftreet; but of all places, the 
moft dangerous for infection is a ttable. 
I have tiated the above as belonging to 
the {pecies of madnefs which are ‘anac- 
countably fhut out of the hofpitals, and 
which are never the object of the Lord 
Chancellor. ‘This is a vaft injury to the 
public, becaufe fuch cales are above all 
others the moft infe&tious. ‘There are 
many others which, however, it might be 
thought tedious to enumerate. I fhally 
therefore, inftead of a dry’ detail of ins 
curable cafes, which ftare us every day in 
the face, offer, with all due deterence, a 
few directions for thé prevention of fuch 
diforders, by timely interference; and, as 
nothing can contribute more to this de- 
fireable end, than the /emeciofis, or know- 
ledge of the fymptoms, I fhall briefly ftate 
what I have found by experience to be in- 
fallibie marks and evidences of approach- 
ing madnefs. ; 
When a young man of great wealthy 
expectations keeps, during his minority, 
a ftud of horfes, and frequenis races, and 
in his converfation betrays much of that 
kind of knowledge which we expe&t more. 
naturally from horfe-dealers and jockies, 
it is a fure proof that he is a Uittle touched. 
When a young man has contratted, 
during his minority, more debts than he 
has the means to pay after coming to his 
eftate, without felling fome part of the: 
fame, and yet, continues a fubferiber to 
gaming-houfest4and in ali his bargains 
with tradefmelt biggles about nothing but 
the day of payment,’ it is a fign that he is’ 
very much deranged. J 
When a lady dits up all night at cards, 
and either-lofes or wins (for there is in 
fuch cafes no difference between lofing and 
winning) a fum difproportionate to the in- 
tereit of the money fhe brought to her huf= 
band, or to the fettlement he has made up- 
on her, or to the allowance he grants for 
her perfonal expences, or, finally, tohis 
whole fortune ; and if, upon a gentle hint 
of the impropriety of thofe rifks, the drops 
any incoherent words, as ‘¢ fafhion—com- 
pany —/!pirit—fhabby—paultry—genteel”” 
—or any fuch expreffions as have no kind 
of meaning, a temporary confinement is in= 
dicated in the clearefi manner. - 
When a young married man fpends 
more of his time per annum in fub{crip- 
tion-houfes, clubs, and on race-grounds, 
than with his family, and neglects his qsfe _ 
for 
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