leave him to act upon these convictions, and the first wave of new impression, or even the recurrence of an old one, will have dissipated all his firmness, and he acts in a way diametrically opposed to that on which he had resolved. There exists in him so intense and craving a desire after sensation, that it is of little consequence whether it may be right or wrong, so it be but sensation; only, if one morbid train of ideas shall have become predominant, it will be certain of claiming its supremacy, so soon as the patient gains time to listen to its suggestions. This supreme agency of one dominant idea is manifested in the history of A.B., which is also mentioned in this place as affording an apt illustration of the progress of cerebral disorder. Family predisposition existed towards insanity; the grandmother, the father, and the sister, had been subject to some one of the varied forms of mental aberration. But surrounded by affluence, and apparent comfort of every kind, A.B. had reached sixty, without being exposed to the operation of exciting circumstances. It then happened, that moral causes of a deeply painful nature, and connected with emotions of intense interest, characterized also by a depressing tendency, assailed the patient on these he brooded, till the brain became irritated by the unnatural goading and oppression, and then a slight deviation from regular habits was observed. But now morbid action had taken place in the room of family predisposition, and the brain became the increasing source of disordered mental manifestation. The fear of poverty was the prominent idea, and the possessor of very large and valuable landed property, as well as from many other sources, suddenly became, in his own estimation, not worth a shilling, and the only prospect before him was that of interminable imprisonment. To reason with him was unavailing; for although at my professional visits

I would demonstrate to him, upon his own shewing, that he was worth many, very many, hundreds a year, yet inevitable ruin impended over him; cerebral disorder increased; irritation of the brain became more conspicuous; other insane ideas were added to the dread of penury, which however always remained supereminent; and after a short and painful attendance, I was summoned one morning in great haste, and learned that he had found means for a single minute to elude the vigilance of his attendant, and was a corpse by his own hands. For the last act of his life, doubtless, he was not responsible; but let us learn a lesson of usefulness from this melancholy relation. In the first place, we see the germ of disease, the origin of cerebral irritation, in the influence of moral causes, and the subsequent history shews that, even in this life, the path of sin is one of unmingled bitterness and misery; it has its providentiallyordained punishment, and though we would be far from limiting the mercy of God, and though we would hope that lucid intervals may be devoted for repentance, humiliation, and prayer, yet we cannot but see that irritation of the brain, and the paroxysm of insanity, must be fearful barriers in the way of seeking God, and turning to him with full purpose of heart. May we watch and pray to be preserved from sin, and all its awful consequences. The Holy Spirit will not always strive with man: may we be saved from tempting that Spirit to depart from us, or from provoking our longsuffering Creator to leave us to an afflictive dispensation, which goes far to quench the light of spiritual life in the soul, by shutting it out through the material veil of diseased organization. Secondly, let us observe, that that which originated in moral causes was continued and extended by the disordered action of the brain; and that then other manifestations of mind became perverted; false premises and inferences usurp

ed the dominion of mind: the patient at length ceases to be an accountable agent, and closes a life of misery in the most melancholy manner; for if we deprecate sudden death at all times, how much more the death of the suicide! Thirdly, we notice, that the brain being once disordered, there is no setting bounds to the distorted images which it will produce, or to the creation of its wild associations. And, fourthly, let us learn the value of religious principle: this would have saved the victim from the first cause of brainular irritation; it would have offered a healing balm in the all-powerful blood of Christ, even after that irritation had commenced, and would have led to peace and reconciliation with God; and even after insanity had been produced, could the bodily disease have been subdued, or could the hope of the Gospel have been embraced by the mind during a lucid interval, it would have given that best medicine, which might have confirmed the results of physical treatment, and afforded a prospect of permanent peace to the wretched sufferer.

But again: perhaps long before the symptoms are fairly cognisable, there is a slight change of character, or manner, or habit, which ought always to excite alarm on the part of friends: as, for instance, where the prudent suddenly become prodigal, or the mild and benevolent vindictive, or the good tempered morose, or the cheerful desponding; or where the manner of confiding openness is exchanged for distrust or suspicion; or the reserved become accessible; or the taciturn loquacious: or where habits of retirement have been superseded by a love of company, or, on the contrary, a desire after society has given place to habits of seclusion, and abstraction from mankind: in fact, whenever in any way a deviation from original and established character is observed, then let cerebral disorder be suspected, and it will almost always be found. As it

proceeds, and as the shadows of departing reason are deepened, delirium will be noticed as a frequent accompaniment; sometimes only as a transient symptom for a few moments; at others prolonging its insidious visitation, varying very much as to character from the determined and exclusive raving of the monomaniac, to the ever-shifting mutability of him who wanders hither and thither, without object, without end, without guide, and without purpose. As disorder of the brain advances, there may be increasing mental darkness proceeding to a total suspension of intelligence; and the individual becomes a mere wreck of himself; his glory has departed from him, and he has exhibited the most pitiable example of the wrath of the offended Majesty of heaven against sin. Yet, be it remembered, the case is not hopeless; and even this state of misery and destitution admits of relief. The wretched victim of cerebral disorder may yet be restored to himself, to society, to his duties, and to the enjoyment of intellectual pleasures, as well as to the pursuit of moral worth: but by what means? Not by any process of reasoning-not by moral suasion-not by didactic appeals to his understanding, or by an impression upon his feelings-not by all the arts of rhetoric, the efforts of education, or even, while in that state, the impressiveness of religious motive; all these would of themselves be utterly unavailing; but by remedial measures, directed, not to the spiritual principle, which is not diseased, but to its organ, which is; in fact, addressed to the brain, with all its variously-associated sympathies.

6. But we proceed to shew, that cerebral disorder, and diseased manifestation of mind, are connected with other bodily effects, which cannot in truth be referred to any other than a bodily cause. Thus, for instance, we may mention the great variety of muscular affections which

attend the several forms of malady now under consideration; begin ning with the simplest disturbance of the dance of St. Vitus, and terminating with that wretched state of suffering, in which the patient is doubled up upon himself, and scarcely retains the form of a human being. Among these, also, may be reckoned, feebleness and diminution of the power of the will over the voluntary motions, involuntary actions, tremors, general palsy, palsy of only one half of the body, convulsions, irritation of only one set of muscles, and paralysis of their antagonists, as of the flexor and extensor muscles of a limb, all the varieties of cramp; and, above all, the peculiar expression of the countenance, arising from the constant and exclusive employment of certain muscles to embody the feelings and views. But if all these bodily effects be readily traced to irritation of the brain, it must surely be allowed, that these same disturbances, from whatever cause arising, will exert a reflex influence upon the cerebral organ, and tend to place it in a very unfit state for intellectual integrity of manifestation, and must therefore be easily excited to morbid sympathy.

Lastly, we shall notice the intermittent or remittent character of its maladies; such as in epilepsy, hysteria, and other diseases, more especially belonging to the nervous system. Now this attribute cannot surely be ascribed to the influence of a spiritual immaterial principle; which in itself, as a cause of disease, cannot admit of change, of paroxysm, of increased mischief, and again of improvemnt. It is true that these diseases have been referred to distant sympathies; but the brain is evidently their real source. It must be remembered, also, that epilepsy has been ascribed to possession, and even at the present day, an impression of this kind exists in the mind of the vulgar. I have been frequently told that such

and such an epileptic individual was overseen;" nor can we blame these results of superstition among the vulgar, while their superiors in intellect and acquirement continue to refer similar effects to mental agency. The influence of epilepsy upon the brain is such, as in its progress to destroy altogether the manifestations of mind, and to produce a hideous expression of the countenance, usually a peculiar grin, which, with minds predisposed to such explanation, it would not be difficult to imagine Satanic; but which is manifestly the result of the organ having been rendered unfit for the manifestation of mind: and the semi-human expression of involuntary laughter remains to tell the sad tale of what sin has wrought. But in this case will it be said, that the soul is the seat of disease? Surely not! And if not, if disease of brain can produce a perfect obliteration of mental manifestation, it may be permitted also to occasion its perversion, and to give rise to those unreal images which have been called apparitions.

Before we conclude this part of our inquiry, we must notice some of the causes producing diseased manifestations of mind.

1. Original malconformation will give rise to idiotcy. Instances have occurred which shew that without brain there can be no manifestation of mind: and in old age, that organ undergoes a change which shuts out the operations of the mind from being perceived. But can it be believed that the idiot has no soul? or that the feebleness of old age extinguishes the powers of the spiritual principle, at a period when it is fast approaching its glorious change of immortality; or that the humble faithful servant of God is liable to disease of spirit, just as he is actually entering the confines of the heavenly world? No: the brain may be diseased or enfeebled, but the soul can be subject only to one moral taint, for which a remedy has been pro

vided. A similar effect will sometimes be produced in some cases of water on the brain.

2. Wounds of the brain will occasion a variety of morbid symptoms, differing too according to the precise portion of brainular structure which has become the subject of injury; thus demonstrating, so far as demonstration is possible, the dependence of mental manifestation on brainular integrity.

3. Concussion of the brain will produce giddiness, sickness, a complete loss of power and of recollection, and generally a suspension of the manifestations of mind. These symptoms may be so intense as to occasion death; and if not, they will be followed by a reaction, which will be attended by inflammation, delirium, or insanity. Still, by the blessing of God, under a judicious management there is an ultimate restoration to the state of health. It is also probable that sea-sickness and sick-headache both owe their origin to some irritation of the brain. 4. Compression of this organ, from whatever cause arising, and however slight in degree, will produce, according to its intensity, more or less alteration, and even extinction, of mental manifestation; and when that compression is suddenly relieved, there will sometimes be an immediate return to health, but more generally it will be through a series of perverted manifestations. 5. The state of fever will occasion large deviations from healthy brainular function. These will vary materially according as the febrile condition shall partake more or less of the inflammatory character; as it shall be more or less characterized by debility or oppression; as it shall be marked by symptoms of a peculiar nature; or as it shall more evidently depend upon the morbid structure of some particular organ, and assume the form of decided hectic. In all these states, however, one feature is to be uniformly found; namely, that of perverted

mental manifestation: visions are seen which have no reality, but which are firmly believed by the patient, who maintains them as never doubting their existence; persons and things appear and act and talk as they would do under the supposed circumstances, and the patient will consistently relate that such has been the case. Now let it be recollected, that we have here traced apparitions of one kind, visions, &c., to a bodily-morbid cause; and if this be indisputable, it can scarcely be denied, that all other supernatural appearances may be refined to some similar, or analogous cause.

6. Local inflammation of a slow character, and consequent disorganization, must be enumerated as another cause of the perversion of mental manifestation, and of the more or less complete destruction of intellectual power.

7. The whole class of nervous diseases contribute to impair, and, under extreme circumstances, to destroy the manifestations of mind. We are well aware, that nervous disorders have been often ascribed to fancy; and from the facility with which they may be simulated, this is likely to be the case in some instances: but still no rational person will deny that the nervous system is liable to disease; and that it produces great distress when so disturbed. None but persons who have thus suffered, or who have witnessed such sufferings, can imagine the misery which it induces, or the perversions of intellect, feeling, perception, and judgment, to which it gives rise. be very transient, or it may continue for years; it may be suspended by a powerful impression upon the system, or it may resist every remedial measure; it may be called into action by mental emotion, or bodily disturbance; it may be opposed by a powerful effort of the will: but it will be cured only by that which relieves the source of

This state may

irritation, and then gives tone to those nerves to prevent their too great susceptibility. How is this to be accounted for, on the supposition of mere mental agency?

The converse of such a proposition is further illustrated by the good effects of cold applied to the head. Wherever there is irritation, thither will blood be determined, and congestion, or inflammatory action, will be the result. In persons so predisposed to cerebral excitement, great advantage will accrue from the application to the head of cold water, suffered to evaporate, which operates in diminishing increased action; carrying off heat as one cause of stimulation; subduing sensibility by its directly sedative influence; relieving fulness and tension, by its condensing effect upon the blood; and preventing conges tion, by giving that degree of tone to the vessels that they will not readily yield to the impulses of the blood, or allow themselves to be distended by it. The good effects of cold applied to the head, in diminishing the excitement arising from wine, or other alcoholic stimulus, is well known to those who take too much habitually: yet we see that the use of this means presupposes a bodily organ in a state of irritation, and is only adapted to relieve the phenomena of mind, by operating on the material organ through which its manifestations are made.

Lastly we will only further notice a few of the different phases of hyphochondriasis. It was formerly supposed, that this malady depended upon a merely disordered state of the digestive organs: and it may be so in some instances. But often where this is the case, it is only that these organs form the first link in the chain of disturbance, and that irritating a too susceptible brain, they produce phenomena which are purely cerebral. Generally it will be found, that the brain is primarily affected, and that the digestive organs only suffer from the interrupCHRIST. OBSERV. No. 329.

tion of a due and regular supply of nervous influence. It is true, that moral causes do generally occasion and characterise hypochondriasis; and they do so by their disturbing operation upon the organ appointed for their manifestation. Thus it will be found, that grief, fear, shame, ennui, and disappointment, become the frequent sources of hypochondriasis: and it will be seen, that these all agree as to their action; namely, that of exciting a depressing influence upon the brain. This depression enfeebles its energies, allows congestion to take place, and, the consequent irritable reaction arises from the disturbance created by such circumstances.

Let us not doubt, or underrate the sufferings of the hypochondriac, or fancy that he might remedy them if he would: he has lost the power of the will over his mental manifestations, and he has become feeble. capricious, changeful, and irritable. One of the first and most remarkable symptoms about the hypochondriac, is the loss of sleep: should he even feel drowsy beforehand, no sooner does he place his head upon his pillow, than sleep quits his eyelids, and seems to mock his wooing; an irritability of brain is produced, which is not easily overcome: in this case, too, opium very frequently fails to induce sleep, because of the state of cerebral excitement which the narcotic cannot subdue, and therefore cannot produce that congested state of its vessels through the medium of which it operates in procuring sleep. And since it fails of its effect, it tends to excite and irritate an already irritated brain, and to increase the symptoms it was intended to relieve. It will be found, also, that this increased action of the cerebral circulation, is attended by headache, and by the perversion of the mental manifestations; sustained attention is impossible; perception is clouded on the one hand, or morbidly acute on the other memory is lost, so that the patient does not recollect what he 20