bear upon the question. Mr. Erskine has evidently been influenced by what Locke says of the insane, that, "having joined together some ideas very wrongly, they mistake them for truths, and they err as men do who argue right from wrong principles." That this is not the case those who know [91] the characteristics of mania are aware. But it is true that the person who suffers from mania has sufficient power of reminiscence to be able to recall and describe events which have happened in the remote past, that he knows all that is taking place around him, and he will sometimes remain calm for a few moments, will listen to what is said, and will even laugh at a joke. And some can even reason concerning their state of mind during the continuance of the attack. Jacobi mentions a patient who said, "It is actually terrible when the thoughts so run into one another in one's head." It is necessary-custom is a sort of law-to say something of the illusions and delusions of mania. Most of the explanations of these phenomena which have been given seem to us eminently unsatisfactory.

114. The Psychology of Mania.-We have already said that the mind goes to meet sensation. Even looked at in the light of Professor Bain's system-of what might be called a transcendental physiology, and has been called "a natural history of mind"-this assertion is true. He finds that it is a fact of the human organism, that there is a power of generating active nerve-currents from within outwards, which seems to be a necessity of mere sensation. And it has been remarked that this theory is not unlike that of Kant himself, who showed that intellectual function was, in fact, the greater part, if not the whole, of sensuous affection. If this be so, (and we cannot doubt its accuracy,) the whole question of illusions and delusions becomes clear. Just as in dreams the objective is dissociated from the subjective, so in insanity the individual's subjectivity, being so much strengthened by the progress of disease, impresses its own character upon the objective facts of the universe. It is as if a king said to all foreigners who came to his frontier, "Before

Essay, Book II., ch. xi. § 13. 'Die Hauptformen der Seeleustörungen.

you cross the boundary, you must wear the dress of my subjects." So it is with mind: every sensation is dressed, is shaped-it may be deformed and distorted, by mind, and so it comes to the audience chamber, consciousness, with precisely the same guarantees of reality as any of the sensations which are conveyed to the mind of the insane person. "Error," says Cousin, "is one of the elements of thought taken for the whole of thought. Error is an incomplete truth converted into an absolute truth." The subjective impression of the lunatic has become objective to him. There is a want of harmony between the a priori forms (92) of thought, and the other of thought, which is the outer of mind. Thus Kant is right when he says, "The senses do not deceive us at all, it is only the judgment which deceives us." Thus, when the rustling of leaves is mistaken for whispers, when the child tries to catch at the moon as it would at a bright object on the table, when a shadow is mistaken for a substance--all these things are due to errors of judgment. This is well illustrated by Feuchtersleben, who says, when speaking of illusions of the sense of touch: "Among the illusions of touch of a psychical nature, may be reckoned the wellknown experiment with a little ball of marble, which, being moved between two fingers laid across each other, appears double, because the judgment ascribes the segments of the ball felt in opposite directions to two objects."" So it is with delusions, between which and illusions the distinction is more apparent than real. It is the subjective becoming objective, as in the case of illusions. That this is common even in a healthy state is proved by any popular entertainment of wizard magic, by any popular work on optical illusions, and by the experience of many persons who are quite able to observe their own mental processes with accuracy and intelligence. Thus, Pascal believed in a fiery gulf or abyss close by his writing table. Trousseau mentions a gentleman who, "although perfectly sane, had an irresistible desire to shriek." He yielded to this desire very frequently. Swedenborg saw

1 History of Philosophy. Appleton & Co., New York, 1852, vol. i., p. 146.

2 Medical Psychology, Syd. ed., p. 231.

Mentioned in Conolly's Indications of Insanity, p. 316.

Lectures, p. 151.

spirits,' and Goëthe relates that during a ride on horseback he saw, as in a waking dream, himself riding to meet himself in a light gray dress. And we ourselves know a gentleman who has the power of recalling any scene he has looked upon. He says that this vision is quite different from ordinary memory, and that it is as real as any of the impressions conveyed in ordinary sight. Many children have the power of projecting their own thoughts on the darkness. The painter Spinelte, who had represented the Devil in a most frightful form, at length fancied he saw him in reality. And Blake, who painted demoniacal forms, is said to have had visions of them. That 93 many of the extraordinary phenomena of second sight may be accounted for by the fact of the possession of this power seems to us certain.

115. Characteristics of Mania.-One or two more observations may be made with regard to the distinguishing characteristics of mania; and the whole of this description will, it seems to us, throw light upon the phenomena of insanity in general. Thus, it may be remarked that many of the strange actions of a madman or maniac are due to his delusions; but many of these are to be ascribed to the simple overflow of energy, which cannot find vent in any ordinary healthy channel, and which produces excessive muscular activity. The madman's acts and the sane man's laugh are closely connected in their psychological aspects. Again, the acts of the person who is maniacal are very often such as no sane person would believe to be suited to the attainment of the object which may be in view. The insane person gains nothing by the experience of failure. Quoad his insanity, he is not moulded by his faults. These are the characteristics of mania in so far as they seem to be necessary to the application of all the medico-legal questions which can arise, and to the decision of all points with regard to the legal relations of the individual, laboring under general intellectual mania, to the state.

Emerson's Representative Men.

Vol. xxvi., p. 83.

3Some very interesting cases of illusion will be found in Sir David Brewster's Natural Magic.

PART II. PARTIAL INTELLECTUAL MANIA, OR MONOMANIA.

116. The Psychology of Monomania.-Monomania probably is due to an abnormal increase of the rapidity of thought in one direction towards the external objective universe. As in every other case, we find the type of this disease in healthy mental action: we are all conscious of the facility which is acquired in any mental process by the constant exercise of the mental function. Life, like water, runs most easily where it has run before. The will shapes actions in clay, but they are cast in bronze or iron without the intervention of the will. And so it is-as with idols-those gods which we have made with our own hands rule and influence our life. Now, health seems to be a kind of unstable equilibrium of forces. Whenever that equilibrium is deranged, then comes disease-aberration. A top when in motion is resting in a position of unstable equilibrium. But if it has a bias, if it is not symmetrical, it rocks, and it will come to rest the sooner. So it is with life and its symmetry. Too much bias in the flesh is disease. Thus it is that the increased rapidity of mental actions or of thoughts with regard to one object or kind of objects causes a decreased rapidity of the exercise of other important mental functions. But want of use is abuse, and abuse soon causes disease. It is in this way that what in health may lead to discoveries, to the advancement of science, or to the manifestation of genius by means of words, when it becomes automatic or unhealthy leads to exalted predominant ideas and monomaniacal misconceptions. There is no more common form than this, and it is frequently manifested in relation to self-consciousness. When self-consciousness becomes a prominent object of thought, it will invariably lead to pride. And nothing is more frequent in this class of cases than to find individuals believing themselves to be kings or queens, persons of the highest rank and greatest influence, great discoverers and propounders of new systems of philosophy, new creeds, and new sciences. All these beliefs will be found to be intimately connected with the life of the individual. The life, however, is not the events only, but the thoughts. Too many persons, in searching for the causes of morbid impressions, in tracing

the evolution of insane thoughts, have been too much inclined to regard the external environment of the individual as alone. of any importance, and have neglected to study the thoughts, which are not unfrequently antagonistic to circumstances, and are not always the direct reflection of the objective phenomena.

117. Monomania in relation to the Feelings of Pleasure and Pain.-All these beliefs, and the many rapid thoughts which accompany them, are associated with pleasurable sensations. This is common to all states where there is an increased rapidity of thought, and it is equally true that pain is the concomitant of retarded mental activity. Spinoza has said that happiness is always a progress towards perfection; misery a falling back. But that theory does not seem to be borne out by the facts of the disease that is under consideration. Disease cannot be an approach towards perfection, and yet many monomaniacs, when under the influence of disease, will tell you that they never felt better in their lives. If a man is unreasoningly self-conscious, if no rebuke, no indignity, no insult can take from him that intense feeling of self-satisfaction, of great mental and bodily well-being which results from the overflow of energy into a certain mental channel, of course he is happy. Happiness is dependent upon motion for its manifestation. Laughter is an overflow of mental energy into the muscles; and ordinary language marks the commonness of the observation. So it is that there are not unfrequently marked symptoms in monomania which 195 are analogous to the signs of the presence of mania. All strong emotion tends to become external, and in the externalization of feelings the belief in human and personal power has been found, and the pleasureableness of its exercise has been experienced. But there will always be a modification of these maniacal manifestations by other intense ideas, in the form of disease that is under consideration.

"The maniac," says Griesinger, "with simple exaltation of the sexual instinct, seeks to gratify his desire in the most direct manner: he attacks every female who comes in his way, and the nymphomaniac makes obscene advances to every visitor. In monomania, on the contrary, the exalted