in some lighter form of disorder, may show itself in two aspects, which are entirely diverse from each other, viz either in a morbid aversion to society, or in a desire of society inordinately intense.-Persons to whom the first statement will apply are generally, and for the most part justly, designated as Misanthropes. Under the influence of some sudden revulsion of the mind, of some great disappointment, of some ill-treatment on the part of near relatives and supposed friends, or of some other powerful cause, the natural tie of brotherhood, which binds man to his fellow-man, is snapped asunder, and the unhappy individual flees to the solitude of the rock and the desertnever more to return.

§ 433. Further remarks on the disordered action of the social propensity. There is another class of cases, which in their character appear to be directly the reverse of those which have just been mentioned. Individuals, when they are cut off from society, particularly the society of their friends, are sometimes the subjects of a misery inexpressibly intense. The innocent but unfortunate Foscari, who was banished from Venice in 1450, died, apparently in consequence of the mere mental anguish which he suffered. Cases are also enumerated of death resulting from solitary confinement in prison.* There is an exceedingly painful disease, founded in a great degree upon the disordered action of the social principle, which is termed by physicians Nostalgia, but which is more commonly known under the familiar designation of HOME-SICKNESS. This disease, which is sometimes fatal, is said to have frequently prevailed among the Swiss when absent from their native country. The beautiful sky which shone over them in their absence from their native land, the works of art, the allurements of the highest forms of civilization, could not erase from their hearts the image of their rugged mountains and their stormy heavens. They had society enough around them, it is true; but it was not the society which their hearts sought for, or in which, in existing circumstances, they could participate. They bowed their heads under the influence of a hidden and irrepressible

* See the large ed. of this Work, vol. ii., § 144, 148.

sorrow; and in many cases not merely pined away, but died in the deep anguish of their separation.

In the year 1733, a Russian army, under the command of General Praxin, advanced to the banks of the Rhine At this remote distance from their native country, this severe mental disease began to prevail among the Russians, so much so that five or six soldiers every day became unfit for duty; a state of things which threatened to affect the existence of the army. The progress of this homesickness was terminated by a severe order from the commander, (designed probably, and which had the effect to produce a strong counteracting state of mind,) that every one affected with the sickness should be buried alive *

434. Of the disordered action of the desire of esteem.

There may be a disordered action of the desire of Esteem. This principle is not only an original one, but, as a general thing, it possesses, as compared with some of the other Propensities, a greater and more available amount of strength. It is a regard for the opinions of others, (a sense of character, as we sometimes term it,) which, in the absence or the too great weakness of higher principles, serves to restrict the conduct of multitudes within the bounds of decency and order. This principle is good and important in its place and under due regulation; but it is exceedingly apt to become irregular, unrestrained, and inordinate in its exercise. This view throws light upon the character of many individuals. It is here, probably, that we may discover the leading defect in the character of Alcibiades, a name of distinguished celebrity in the history of Athens. His ruling passion seems to have been not so much the love of POWER as the love of APPLAUSE. In other words, his great desire was, as has been well remarked of him, "to make a noise, and to furnish matter of conversation to the Athenians."

Pope, in the First of his Moral Essays, illustrates this subject, in his usual powerful manner, in what he says of the Duke of Wharton; the key to whose character he finds in the excessive desire of human applause.

* Dr. Rush on the Diseases of the Mind, 2d. ed., p. 113.

Search then the ruling passion. There alone
The wild are constant, and the cunning known;
This clew once found, unravels all the rest,
The prospect clears, and Wharton stands confess'd.
Wharton, the scorn and wonder of our days,
Whose ruling passion was the LUST OF PRAISE.
Born with whate'er could win it from the wise,
Women and fools must like him, or he dies."

The inordinate exercise of this propensity, as is correctly intimated by Mr. Stewart, tends to disorganize the mind. The man who is under the influence of such an excessive appetite for the world's smiles and flatteries, has no fixed rule of conduct; but the action of his mind, his opinions, desires, hopes, and outward conduct, are constantly fluctuating with the changing tide of popular sentiment. It is nearly impossible that the pillars of the mind should remain firm, and without more or less of un dermining and dislocation, under the operations of such a system of uncertainty and vicissitude.-Nor is this all. When persons who are under the influence of this excessive desire are disappointed in the possession of that approbation and applause which is its natural food, they are apt to become melancholy, misanthropic, and unhappy in a very high degree. In fact, numerous cases of actual Insanity, if we look carefully at the statements of writers on the subject of Mental Alienation, may probably be traced to this source.

§ 435. Disordered action of the desire of power.

Men become disordered in mind, and sometimes actually insane, not only by the inordinate indulgence of the desire of esteem and the desire of possession, but also, perhaps with no less frequency, under the influencé of the exaggerated and intense desire of POWER. They are looking onward and upward, with an excited heart and constrained eye, to some form of authority, honour, and dominion, till this desire, strengthened by constant repetition, becomes the predominant feeling. Instances where the disorder of the mind arises in this way and exists to this extent are innumerable. But it is not al ways that it stops here. If the desire is suddenly and greatly disappointed, as it is very likely to be, the reac

tion upon
the whole mind may be such as to cause disor
der in all its functions, and leave it a wide mass of ruins.
The history of those who are confined in Insane Hos-
pitals furnishes a strong presumption that such results are
not unfrequent. Although the mind is deranged, the
predominant feeling which led to the derangement seems
still to remain. One individual challenges for himself
the honours of a Chancellor, another of a King; one is
a member of Parliament, another is the Lord Mayor of
London; one, under the name of the Duke of Welling-
ton or Bonaparte, claims to be the commander of mighty
armies; another announces himself with the tone and at-
titude of a Prophet of the Most High. Pinel informs us
that there were at one time no less than three maniacs in
one of the French Insane Hospitals, each of whom assu-
med to be Louis XIV. On one occasion, these individu-
als were found disputing with each other, with a great
degree of energy, their respective rights to the throne
The dispute was terminated by the sagacity of the super-
intendent, who, approaching one of them, gave him, with
a serious look, to understand that he ought not to dispute
on the subject with the others, since they were obviously
mad. "Is it not well known," said the superintendent,.
"that you alone ought to be acknowledged as Louis
XIV. ?" The insane person, flattered with this homage,
cast upon his companions a look of the most marked dis-
dain, and immediately retired

CHAPTER II.

SYMPATHETIC IMITATION.

§ 436. Of sympathetic imitation, and what is involved in it. WE endeavoured, in its proper place, to illustrate the natural origin and the prevalence of the propensity to IMITATION. In connexion with the general truth of the existence of such a propensity, it is proper to observe here that there is a subordinate and peculiar form of imitation,

which is deserving of a separate notice, and particularly
30 on account of its practical results.
We speak now
of what has been appropriately termed Sympathetic Imi-

tation.

It is implied, in all cases of Sympathetic Imitation, tha there is more than one person concerned in them; and it exists, in general, in the highest degree, when the number of persons is considerable. Some one or more of these individuals is strongly agitated by some internal emotion, desire, or passion; and this inward agitation is expressed by the countenance, gestures, or other external signs. There is also a communication of such agitation of the mind to others; they experience similar emotions, desires, and passions. And these new exercises of soul are expressed on the part of the sympathetic person by similar outward signs. In a single word, when we are under the influence of this form of imitation, we both act and feel as others. And this happens, not only in consequence of what we witness in them, and apparently for no other reason, but it happens naturally; that is to say, in virtue of an implanted or natural principle. The view which we are inclined to take of this principle is, that, although we may properly speak of it, on account of its close resemblance, as a modification of the more ordinary form of Imitativeness, yet, on the whole, it is so far distinct and specific in its character as to entitle it to be regarded as a separate part of our sensitive nature. As such it might have been treated of in another place; but in its ordinary action it is generally well understood; and we have delayed the consideration of it till the present time, because it is our principal object to give some account of its disordered or alienated action.

§ 437. Familiar instances of sympathetic imitation.

Abundance of instances (many of them frequent and familiar) show the existence of SYMPATHETIC IMITATION; in other words, that there is in human feelings, and in the signs of those feelings, a power of contagious commu nication, by which they often spread themselves rapidly from one to another.

"In general it may be remarked," says Mr. Stewart,