insane character of their thoughts. These lucid moments, and transitorily sane conditions of mind, were, however, of an evanescent character, appearing like a flash of lightning across a dark, and dreary heath.

In some cases of insanity, of long duration, and apparently of a chronic character, the reason has been known suddenly to be restored to its sovereignty, not only during the course of the malady, but immediately before death. I have witnessed some remarkable illustrations of the kind. When referring to this phenomenon, an accomplished writer observes :

"There are few cases of mania or melancholy where the light of reason does not now and then shine between the clouds. In fevers of the mind, as well as those of the body, there occur frequent intermissions. But the mere interruption of a disorder is not to be mistaken for its cure or its ultimate conclusion. Little stress ought to be laid upon those occasional and uncertain disentanglements of intellect, in which the patient. is for a time only extricated from the labyrinth of his morbid hallucinations. Madmen may show, at starts, more sense than ordinary men. There is, perhaps, as much genius confined as at large; and he who should court coruscations of talent, might be as likely to meet with them in a receptacle for lunatics as in almost any other theatre of intellectual exhibition. But the flashes of wit betray too often the ruins of wisdom, and the mind which is conspicuous for the brilliancy, will frequently be found deficient in the steadiness of its lustre."*

A young woman, who was employed as a domestic servant, became insane, and at length sunk into a state of apparently perfect dementia. In this condition, she continued many years. Late in life she had an attack of typhus fever. The physician who was in attendance * Dr. Reid's "Essays on Hypochondriasis."

upon her, was surprised to observe, that as the fever advanced, a development of the mental powers took place. During the height of the fever, when delirium generally exists, this patient was entirely rational. She recognised, in the face of her medical attendant, the son of her old master, whom she had known so many years before, and she related many circumstances respecting his family, and others that had happened to herself in earlier days! But, alas! the reign of reason was but of short duration. It came like a flash of lightning across the intellectual desert, leaving behind a hopeless state of mental obscurity, and obliviousness! As the fever abated, and her bodily health returned, dark clouds again enshrouded her mind, and she sunk into her former deplorable state of idiocy, and continued so for many years, until death terminated her sufferings.

CHAPTER IV.

Confessions of Patients after Recovering from Insanity; or, the the Condition of the Mind when in a state of Aberration.

THE autobiography of the insane, embodying a faithful record of the state of the intellect, emotions, and instincts, whilst fading into a condition of alienation, as well as an accurate account of the condition of the mind after its complete subjugation by disease, proceeding from the peps of persons who have passed through the terrible ordeal of insanity, opens a new, and profoundly interesting page, in the history of the pathology, as well as philosophy, of the human mind.

It may be asked, is it possible for the insane, accurately to describe the state of their mind, during a paroxysm of mania? Can they have any recollection of their incoherent ramblings, wild and fanciful imaginations, horrible and frightful hallucinations? In many cases, such is the fact. Insanity does not invariably overthrow, and alienate, all the powers of the understanding. It is often a mixed condition, a combined state of reason, and insanity. This idea does not at all militate against the view, that I have elsewhere propounded, respecting partial insanity, using this phrase in its strictly legal acceptation. The mind is "one and indivisible." A part of the intellect cannot be affected, without, to a certain extent, influencing and modifying the whole of the operations of thought; nevertheless, there are in derangement of the mind occasional lucid moments, when the patient is conscious of his state of

disorder, and is able to describe his sensations clearly to those about him. Again, after recovery, patients who have passed through acute attacks of insanity, are occasionally able to recollect, with remarkable clearness, everything that occurred during their long, and painful illness. Patients, however, have frequently very confused and incorrect notions of events that have transpired, in connexion with themselves as well as with others, whilst insane. We are bound, therefore, to exercise extreme caution in admitting and acting upon evidence of this character, particularly if it materially affects the motives, and compromises the actions, of others.

With a view of analysing the phenomena of morbid thought, I have often requested patients to detail the actual operations of the mind during the incipient, as well as advanced stages, of its disorders. In many cases, I have not been able to obtain any trustworthy representation of facts; in other instances, the patients could not, without considerable and painful revulsion of feeling, revert, even for a single moment, to the past. In a few instances I have had no difficulty in persuading patients not only to talk about their past condition, but to write, with great minuteness, an account of their sensations, mental and bodily, whilst insane.

I cannot, without a violation of good faith, and a breach of professional confidence, publish some of these remarkable confessions. I may, however, revert to them in general terms. Before doing so, I would briefly refer to the fallacy pervading all the poetic, dramatic, and artistic descriptions of insanity, save and excepting our own illustrious, and immortal Shakspeare, whose wonderfully truthful delineations of the different types of disordered mind, embodied in passages of rare and matchless beauty, must ever entitle him to the distinction of holding the foremost rank among the most eminent

psychologists that have conferred lustre on the annals of this, or any other country.

The descriptions of insanity proceeding from the pens of novelists, as well as of poets, constitute, unquestionably, strikingly clever and graphic melo-dramatic sketches; but I hope, the accomplished writers to whom I refer, will not be offended by my suggesting, that their portraits of insanity, do not exactly correspond with the character of the disease, as exhibited in modern times. Thanks to the immortal PINEL, who effected a great revolution in the moral treatment of the insane, a lunatic asylum no longer resembles a bastile surrounded by high serrated walls, and protected by iron-barred windows. We are not shocked at the sight of the straw bed upon which "Poor Tom" of former days, was in the habit, like a wild animal, of crouching, with little or no covering to protect him from the cold, during the most inclement seasons of the year. We cease to observe the dens in which lunatics were formerly caged like ferocious beasts; we no longer witness the iron chains with which their attenuated and palsied limbs, were frequently manacled. The sense of hearing is not pained by the wild and unearthly wailings of bitter anguish, caused by the whip of the keeper, as it fell unmercifully across the back of the unruly and excited patient. Thank God! Pinel, and those who have followed humbly in his wake, have given the death-blow to such brutal proceedings, and to such horrible barbarities. Pari passú with a liberal, and enlightened recognition, of the great principles of treatment, which the genius of the illustrious Frenchman conceived, and boldly carried into effect, has the character of insanity been altogether deprived of many of its most painful and repulsive features. The modern principles of moral treatment, based upon kindness, gentleness, and

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