9. Scheming. 10. Vain, or self-important. 11. Hypochondriacal. 13. Appetitive. While, however, it is our duty to notice its deficiencies and its redundancies, it would be an unvenial violation of liberality, not to allow this work, its ample and appropriate value. After discussing the definition and arrangement of mental maladies, Dr. A. proceeds to treat of the appearances which they exhibit on dissection; these he principally takes from BONETUS, MORGAGNI, and HALLER. He introduces from the last mentioned author some remarks on the want of correspondence between maniacal symptoms and deranged structure, and concludes with the following observations, which terminate the first volume: "To add to this uncertainty which attends our inquiries into the several specific states of the brain respectively productive of the several sorts of insanity, or other depravations, or defects, of the mental operations, it may be remarked, that there are instances upon record of a total destruction of that organ by disease, without any consequent injury to the faculties of the mind. These instances are indeed as rare, as they are unaccountable, and ought rather, perhaps, to be considered as anomalies which we cannot analyse, than as objections to the doctrine of the general agency of the brain in the production of sensation, of voluntary motion, and of the other perceptions and operations of the mind. Indeed, numberless clear and decisive facts forbid us to conclude with the late ingenious Dr. Simson-- that no bowel is more frequently mutilated, and even quite destroyed, with less injury to the economy than the brainor that sense and motion are not usually derived from that organ:'-or that the objections arising from these extraordinary phænomena against the utility of the brain in the performance of these necessary offices of animal life, and in the exercise of the various faculties of the mind, are not equally valid, or indeed much more so, against his singular opinion, founded chiefly upon these objections, that the sole use of the brain is to keep stores for the equal and ready supplies of nourishment promiscuously to every part' of the body. "Several instances of the defect, destruction, and ossification of the brain, may be seen related at length, and others referred to, in this ingenious physician's inquiry how far the vital and animal actions of the more perfect animals can be accounted for independent of the brain. To which may be added one given by Bonetus, and extracted from Platerus, in which the brain was converted into a thick white fluid pultaceous substance, or as he in another place describes it, into a fluid substance of the colour, and consistence of cream, which was perceived to fluctuate on taking off the upper part of the skull, and flowed out when the dura mater was cut through." While treating on the causes of insanity, our author is regulated by the general principle of systematics, and divides causes into remote and proximate. "The remote causes of insanity naturally divide themselves into two kinds, bodily and mental. "(A) The bodily causes are either (I.) such internal causes as are immediately seated in the brain, its vessels, and membranes: or (II.) such external causes as operate mechanically upon that organ: or (III.) such causes as, while they affect the system in general, at the same time produce insanity, either by acting directly, and immediately, upon the brain; or by effecting such a gradual change in the body, as disposes to insanity by diminishing the healthful tones, occasioning debility, inducing morbid irratibility and sensibility, and exciting uneasy and painful sensations: or (IV.) such as, being seated in, or primarily affecting, some particular parts, give rise to insanity, either by speedily, and sometimes almost instantaneously, disordering the brain, as by sympathy, or translation; or by operating slowly, and introducing, like the third sort of causes, such a gradual change in the constitution as disposes to, and readily terminates in, insanity. (B) The mental causes all consist either in the immediate and intense action of the mind itself (V. VI. VII.); or in such a constitution of mind (VIII.) either natural, or acquired, as disposes it to be easily put into a state of intense action. In the former case, it is earnestly fixed on one, or a few (V. VI.), or busily ranging through a variety (VII.) of objects: in the latter (VIII.) it is in a state of imbecility, which renders it incapable of withdrawing its attention from any train of thinking in which it has engaged (V.), disposes it to be readily carried away by the impulse of the passions (VI), or deluded by the hasty and superficial combinations of imagination (VII.); and is subversive of self-command, rational conduct, and sound judgment. In illustration of the manner in which these causes operate, and of the mutual connection between mind and body, the reader is presented with a preliminary discourse, containing several interesting and important remarks on the general physiology of the animal and intellectual functions. The variations in the proximate causes of insanity, Dr. A. thinks capable of being reduced to the four following heads : "I. The small arteries of the brain may be in too active a state, and may produce-by such undue activity, turgescency, compression, and an approach to inflammation; during which state if an insane person die, not only the veins and arteries are all found turgid with blood, but the brain so expands itself on the taking off of the upper hemisphere of the skull, that no compression can again reduce it within its former boundaries:-Or— II. The brain may be compressed by a gradual accumulation in its veins, and sinuses, without any increased activity of the arteries:-Or " III. Water, or other preternatural substances, may occupy a place which does not belong to them, in the brain; or parts enlarged by disease may occupy too great a space; and, by their bulk, may compress its medullary substance :-Or 66 " IV. There may be a change in the intimate and invisible texture, in what Hartley calls the infinitesimal particles, of the medullary substance of the brain; gradually and sensibly produced; either without the presence or intervention of any of the above obvious causes; or by the mediation of one or other of them, from which it primarily derived its origin. Indeed all these causes may not only be combined with, but may variously originate from, one another. Upon the whole, we may conclude, that the treatise before us will be perused with interest, both by medical and unprofessional readers; it comprehends a multitude of hints with regard to the method of preserving mental health, which must be of peculiar and intimate importance to that class of persons who are called "highly nervous," or in other words, in whose constitution there is a nascent approach, or a latent inclination, towards insanity. PHILOLOGY. 'Agzai; or, the Evenings of Southill. Book I. By Nicholas Salmon, Author of Stemmata Latinitatis, and other Philological Works. 8vo. pp. 171. Price 5s. 1806. IT is evident, on the slightest perusal of this work, that we owe "the Evenings of Southill" to the "Diversions of Purley." The ground indeed, which the authors of both these works have chosen, was first pointed out by that great master of universal science, Aristotle; for, though in his treatise on Poetry that philosophical critic has divided diction (&eέıç) into eight parts, from which circumstance, probably, with a little variation, arose the octonarian division of all languages on which rules have been established by those well-meaning persons called Grammarians, yet in his excellent work on "Interpretation," (g Egunas,) he has distributed all specch or language, which he considers as the interpretation of our thoughts, the sign or symbol of what passes in the mind, merely into two parts; noun, (iroua) and verb, (inμa). All discourse (Ayos) he considers as being compounded of the multifarious combinations, and infinitely diversified modifications, of these two conventional symbols of our minds. Here then we have a truly philosophical definition of the nature of language; and it is a satisfactory circumstance, that the profound labours of all the learned etymologists who have written since, of Vossius, of Schultens, of Walkenaer, of Lennep, of Hemsterhus, have contributed alike to add strength and authority to the conclusions of Aristotle. The author of the small treatise before us, appears to have been led to his design, principally, by some real or supposed errors and imperfections in the "Diversions of Purley ;" and, though we cannot admit, that he has surpassed his predecessor in acuteness of discovery, or accuracy of investigation, yet we cannot deny him the praise of having contributed, in a great degree, to fill up the outline which was previously sketched for him. But we much doubt the necessity of minutely tracing the pedigree, and distinctly marking the important functions, of every adverb, conjunction, preposition, interjection, &c. &c. about which, after all, there will be much diversity of opinion, and such diversity as we should be sorry to see made the subject of serious controversy. It is sufficient, if we know enough to be convinced of the truth of a system, though we cannot pursue it through all its intricate labyrinths, and grasp its evanescent shades. It requires but a very slight acquaintance with philological science to be satisfactorily persuaded that the noun and verb have been, in all languages, the great progenitors and fruitful parents of all those numerous tribes of particles, which have been generally distributed by grammarians into the distinct classes of pronouns, participles, adverbs, conjunctions, propositions, interjections. These last, indeed, in general, can scarcely be considered as parts of speech, being thrown into the midst of our discourse, (as their name implies,) when we have nothing to say, and consisting chiefly of exclamations or ejaculations, used to supply our want of language, rather than forming any constituent part of it. Agreeably to these principles, we find, Mr. Salmion derives all pretended prepositions from nouns or verbs; a point, indeed, which was completely established before by the first volume of the "Diversions of Purley;" but, as Mr. Horne Tooke was frequently satisfied with the first etymology which presented itself, the various shades of meaning attached to the same preposition could not always be distinctly seen; and this seems particu larly to have been the case with the preposition by; which, though composed of two letters only, has been discovered to be an operator, or performer, of considerable importance in the republic of letters! The following quotation will serve to illustrate the plan and charácter of this work: "VI. S. The Author of the Eta gara has allotted to you a subordinate rank, I confess. He was not acquainted with the power you possess. Perhaps it was your fault. Had you hinted to him the different branches of your family, his acute mind would not have suffered him to fall into any error concerning you. He supposed you to be the offspring of the insignificant Bith; insignificant, I say, since cne may, in the cases he has mentioned, do very well without it: is that the subject of your complaint? "6. B. Yes; and what do you intend to say on my account? "VII. S. I mean, contrary to his assertions, to prove that, in very many circumstances, you derive your name from words which do not merely denote existence, but which actually signify operating, creating, making, forming, influencing, or the like; that you appear as a forerunner, to whoever or whatever is causing, has been causing, or will be causing any thing to happen; that, consequently, on many occasions, you act as a forerunner to God himself, the Creator of all things:* I mean to prove that you, and your relatives, whether here or abroad, have always been, and will ever be, the forerunners of those that have performed, or shall perform, such actions as are reputed the most glorious:† but, at the same time, from my wish to be strictly just, I must add that you and your relatives, may be found to be the forerunners of those that perform the basest actions." The important functions of the particle by being thus established, it is not at all surprising, that Dr. Johnson should have allotted thirty-two divisions to his definitions of its meaning! These the author of the present work has reduced to fifteen; but he has dedicated between thirty and forty pages to the purpose! Indeed the difficulty of accurately defining the various shades of meaning sometimes attached to the same preposition, in all languages, appears evident from the following observations: 34. B. That the real meaning of each pretended preposition has been lost sight of, is a fact; the consequence of which is, that the real power of each cannot now, without difficulty, be ascertained: besides, though a word, used as a preposition, may be traced to its origin in one instance, it does not follow that, in other instances, that word must have had the same origin: other words may have been formed or contracted into this one; hence, differences in origin, as well as in meaning, existing in a word, though always written and pronounced in an uniform manner, or very nearly. Can you account for that circumstance? I mean, can you * The universe was CREATED BY GOD.-i. e. The universe was CREATED: (the) OPERATOR (in this wonderful creation, was)-GOD-Both constructions are equal to "GOD CREATED the universe." Darius WAS VANQUISHED BY ALEXANDER-i. e. Darius was VANQUISHED: (the) OPERATOR (of this state of Darius, was) ALEXANDER-Both constructions are equal to ALEXANDER VANQUISHED Darius. Abel WAS MURDERED BY CAIN, his brother-i. e. Abel was MURDERED: (the) OPERATOR (of this vile murder, was) CAIN his brother-Both constructions are equal to CAIN MURDERED his brother Abel. |