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possess any information upon the subject, have any well-grounded confidence that they shall not themselves be afflicted with this disease; that they shall not have their most ardent feelings and affections perverted so as to hate those they now most love; that they shall not be brought by it to blaspheme their Maker and God, or murder themselves, or those now most near and dear to them? When the person before alluded to expressed the warmest feelings of true devotion, which I am assured he once did, could he suppose that he should, at a future day, be brought to trial for blasphemy, under the influence of a disease so disguised as to consign him to the ignominy and sufferings of a common prison, instead of an asylum for the insane?

Insanity, as I have said before, is not any deprivation of knowledge, or of the reasoning powers; on the contrary, knowledge, and the powers of reason, may receive improvement under the excitement of it. It is a disease which, at times, and upon some subjects, prevents the exercise of the reasoning powers, or excites them to a disordered excess; but take away the disease, and the reasoning powers are left uninjured, if not improved; which could not be the case, if the faculties of the mind

had been diseased.

The most perfect state of sanity is that in which the involuntary thoughts and feelings are the least acted upon by adventitious and improper impressions, and are at all times in the best state of temperance. Still, as we are all troubled with wanderings, absence of thought, and visionary ideas, and also are subject to over strong feelings and passions, we have all the germ or seed of mental disease, and it is only in degree we differ,-the excess becomes insanity.

In some, confusion of the ideas, and the violence of the passions, are a thing of habit, and do not produce actual insanity, or permanent madness. I know a man whose violence of temper, vindictiveness, and horrid oaths, upon the most trifling occasions, would stamp him a madman, were it not that he has been so all his life and it is in the changes which take place in the temper and habits, that we are to find matter for apprehending the approach of insanity in others. Those who attend to their own involuntary thoughts, and feelings, and habits, as all should do, may be well aware of its approach, long before it is visible to

others.

Admitting that the remote cause of insanity may be mental, I must still contend that the immediate or proximate cause is always physical. For extreme grief or joy,

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(Continued from Vol. IX. col. 1111.)

ESSAY III. On the Powers by which the Operations of the Organic Frame are carried on.

We have stated, that every organized body is endowed with that principle, to which we have given the term sensibility; and we would now, in continuance of the subject, observe, that the sensibility of each part, or organ, is peculiar to itself; that is, although sensibility is universally diffused throughout every part of the frame, yet each possessing only its own peculiarly modified sensibility, lives, feels, and moves, after its own way. Thus, for instance, stimuli which affect one organ, produce no impression on others; as the eye is insensible to sound, the ear to light. Still, although the sensibility of all the organs is thus modified, and peculiar to themselves, the whole conjunctively work together to one common end, their mutual preservation and improvement, and the preservation of the individual.

With regard to contractility, which may be said uniformly to accompany sensibility, there is one modification which I have hitherto omitted to mention, -a modification, which organs in a healthy state never exhibit, when influenced by their natural and proper stimuli, namely, contractility at the same time involuntary and sentient, or perceived, that is to say, an action which occurs independent of the will, over whichr the will has no power, and of which we have at the same time complete perception; as in the example of an electric shock, which, as every one knows, will produce powerful muscular contractions, perfectly involuntary, of which, however, we are as perfectly aware. Voluntary and perceived contractility attends upon, or is associated with, percipient sensibility; or, as it may be termed, perceptibility. Involuntary and insensible contractility is associated with latent sensibility.

In childhood and youth, these two properties are in the greatest activity and perfection; but as age advances, they diminish more and more rapidly till death. The livelinesss and frequency of impressions quickly wear out, and exhaust the sensibility; and in organs, as, for instance, the muscles that have been long exercised, contractility shares the same fate, and rest and repose are necessary, as it were, for their refreshment, when the properties are again restored to their natural energy.

obedient to the will, exercise the contractions which it determines; the other, independent of the will, and which manifests itself by actions, of which we have no more intimation than we have of the im

Under particular circumstances, sensibility appears to forsake every part of the system, and to become as it were concentrated in one part or organ; the rest appearing at the same time almost totally deprived of it.

pain, or agony, and uneasiness or pain of a more moderate degree be inflicted in another part, -this, (which otherwise would have been felt as irksome,) during the continuance of the more violent, will not be

This latter modification of sensibility and contractility, is that which we see manifested by vegetable life, and which many species, as the sensitive plant, the fly-trap, and others, so remarkably exhibit.

The latent sensibility, however associated to animal life, at least in the higher orders, differs considerably in one of its characters from that of the vegetable world, viz. the power it has of being altered and modified by circumstances, and of elevating itself to perception; and we would observe, that when organs endowed with this species of sensibility become the subjects of disease, they assume a new character, and manifest a percipient sensibility-often acute to the highest degree. The stomach, for example, when in health, possesses no conscious perception of the presence of natural food, which, when that organ is suffering under inflammation, produces the most intense pain.

On the contrary, we find that percipient sensibility may be altered by habit, (with reason termed second nature,) and degenerate into the latent: so that what before was felt, and even occasioned pain or uneasiness, ceases at length to communicate sensation. Sensibility and contractility, which offer very considerable shades of modification and difference in different individuals, according to age, sex, temperament, &c., have been by physiologists not unaptly compared to a fluid flowing from a given source, which may be exhausted and replenished, drained and consumed, distributed equally or unequally, or occasionally even concentrated in peculiar parts.

percipient sensibility and voluntary contraction are in some measure suspended; and this suspension is either more or less complete, according to the healthy soundness of the repose.

In the warm climates of the south, it is observed, that sensibility is more lively, and more easily excited, than in the inhabitants of more cold and northern regions. In the natives of Italy and Spain, and especially of Africa, we find a sensibility irritable to the highest degree: in the latter, it often happens that the slightest wounds produce convulsions, locked jaw, and death; which are of comparatively unfrequent occurrence in these northern climates, as sequels to trifling injuries, and then only in persons of a morbidly irritable constitution.

When the muscular powers are more than usually developed, the nervous powers, if I may use the expression, appear to suffer a proportionate diminution; that is, there appears to exist a kind of opposition between the force of muscular contraction and the sensibility of the nerves. Hence it is observed, that those whose athletic force is immense, are sluggish in their motions, contracted in their intellects, and with difficulty roused to active exertion of any kind: they are, for the most part, but slightly affected by ordinary impressions. It seems as if an extra degree of stimulus were required to rouse the slumbering energy of the muscular powers, which, when once roused, and not till then, display the extent of their efficacy. emcacy.

The sensibility which the higher orders of animals possess, depends, as we have before

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stated, upon the nerves, and is in fact a property connected with them, and essentially inseparable from their nature; but those animals which possess no distinct nervous system, or rather perhaps in whose contexture distinct nerves have not been discovered, appear at once endowed with sensibility (latent,) and its companion, contractility, in all their parts and organs; throughout the structure of which it would seem that they were essentially diffused; and indeed in these orders of beings, the two properties just mentioned are blended, that the separate existence of each as a distinct principle, cannot be conceived or understood, except as abstract qualities.

SO

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render a sensation as impressive as possible, we dispose the organs of sensation in the most advantageous manner, we direct the whole nervous sensibility to one particular part, we receive but a small number of impressions at the same time, applying all our attention to them: -hence, a great difference is established between merely seeing, and regarding attentively; ; between hearing, and listening. On the other hand, when we wish to moderate the vivacity of any sensation, we either generalize (if the term be allowed) the nervous sensibility, or direct it intently to another object;-for instance, if I happen to be in a room where conversation is passing, to which I wish not to listen; if I direct, by a sort of mental force, my attention to some object, as the examination of a painting, or engage myself in thinking on a subject which re quires a more than common exertion of the mind, -I shall not hear a word of what is spoken; and the same effect will be pro

sions to the brain? For the proof of this, we can appeal to observations and numberless experiments; it is found, for example, that if any principal nerve be divided, or even compressed, the part or organ over which such nerve is distributed, becomes at once insensible. Thus, if the optic nerve be injured, loss of vision is the consequence; if the spinal cord be hurt, the limbs below the injury become paralyzed; if the brain be suffering pressure, either from too great a volume of blood circulating in the vessels ramifying over it, or from blood effused upon its surface, apoplexy, paralysis, and death, are the results.

In advancing to direct our inquiries respecting the impressions received through that power of the nerves termed percipient sensibility, we shall observe, in limine, that a distinction is to be drawn between the vividness of sensation, and the accuracy with which the mind judges of objects by sensation, or, as it is termed, accuracy of feeling.

The first time that any stimulus acts upon the senses, it in general produces a vivid sensation; but the liveliness and vividness of impressions become diminished in proportion as the action of such stimulus on the senses is repeated; and by these means, the sensation may be at length almost annihilated; which effect is produced in common language by habit. Sensations can, in some degree, be rendered, at will, more vivid and intense; and the author of our frame has also endowed us with the faculty of moderating and diminishing them. Thus, if we wish to

from every thing around me, and fix my thoughts, as it were, on vacancy, assuming a state of mental abstraction, called reverie.

We have already previously observed, that it is through the medium of sensation we become aware of our own existence, and the existence of surrounding objects. The sensations by which we acquire this knowledge, various and complex as they may be, have been, by some writers, referred ultimately to two classes, viz. pleasure and pain; and although numberless sensations which we perpetually experience, appear to excite in us neither the one nor the other, we must not too hastily conclude that this arrangement is without foundation; for let us reflect on the modification which habit produces-how soon even pain be comes less irksome, and pleasure a matter of indifference; and remember how those circumstances, which on their first occurrence produced feelings of delight, are now little noticed by their continuance or frequency; at the same time considering also, how in childhood, when the system is as yet new to the crowd of sensations which are about to call forth the exercise of untried faculties, no occurrence is indifferent, but a cause, either of pleasure or of pain, and we shall be more ready to yield our assent. Besides, too, it must be allowed, that although numberless sensations (and it is wisely so ordered by Providence) do not draw us from our duties by the pleasure or pain they communicate, a slight or unusual increase of any of such sensations immediately determines it decisively to the one state of feeling or the other.

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It is by a wise and merciful arrangement, that without any process of reasoning, without the aid of reflexion, we instinctively withdraw from whatever inflicts pain, and are so led to avoid at once whatever militates against the safety and preservation of our animal frame;-and hence arises a natural love of pleasure, which, were we like the brutes that perish, it would be well to indulge in; but which reason and religion teach us to enjoy with moderation, or forego altogether, when (as is too often the case) such indulgence would render us useless and unworthy members of society, or so swallowed up in sensual pursuits as to forget purer and higher pleasures in a world where pain and sorrow are not known.

We have already intimated, that sensation supposes a common sensorium, to which every impression must be referred. Hence certain animals of the lowest rank, we may conclude with reason, feel nothing; or at least, nothing analogous to what we call pain or pleasure; and here again we see proofs of wisdom. These animals are all incapable of avoiding injuries, to which they are continually liable; hence, did they feel, their existence must of necessity be one of unavoidable suffering; but such is their organization, and their tenacity of life, that they are not only divided into parts with impunity to themselves, but the parts in many animals become distinct existences. With respect to accuracy of feeling, (and in this expression we would include all the senses,) we have to remark, that it is acquired only by practice and experience; and hence, the eye is enabled to judge correctly of size and distance, as well as of the minute gradations of colour. For example: to an infant, or to one born blind, but whose sight has been lately restored, distant objects seem as near as those that are so; for a knowledge of perspective, of relative size and proportion, is yet to be gained; -by degrees, however, the eye begins to discriminate with accuracy, and at length the sense is perfect. It is thus also, with regard to the ear, it is, for the most part, practice alone, which enables us to distinguish, by the medium of this organ, between discord and harmony, and every modulation of sound; and by practice, the sense of taste likewise becomes refined and discriminating. An equally complete perfection of all the senses at once, seems almost impossible to be acquired; for it has been observed, that a more than usual development of one is generally attended by a deterioration of the rest; and that when one is lost, some of the others are rendered more acute. Thus, in the blind, we often see

an extreme liveliness and vigour of feeling, so that by the touch alone many are able to distinguish even the varieties of colour: this faculty, of course, is gained only by habit and frequent practice; but were the organs of all the senses perfect, such a result would never arise, even from the most assiduous application.

The different senses, as they are termed, although possessed by all the animals of the higher class, that is, by mammalia and birds, are not disposed among them in the same degree; nor even among all the tribes of which the human race is composed; since it appears, that different nations are more or less gifted in various points, according to their necessities, habits, and modes of life. For instance, man, in civilized society, endowed with vision sufficiently clear and distinct, possesses not this faculty in so powerful and extensive a degree as the Arab or American Indian; but over the most gifted in this respect of the human race, many animals, especially of the feathered tribe, have amazing advantage. The eagle, towering above the clouds beyond our sight, or seen only as a dark speck in the sky, surveys the wide extent of the mountain-range or plain below, and marks his prey at an almost incredible distance. The sense of smell in the dog, the vulture, and many other animals, is extremely acute and discerning; for it is by the exercise of this faculty principally, that they are enabled to procure their food. But to man, having no need of this, and in every climate depending on means far different for his support, Nature, bountiful, but not lavish, has denied gift, which, if possessed in so great a degree, would be of no utility, if not an actual disadvantage.

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In the sense of hearing, as it respects distance, although man is inferior to many animals, none possess an ear so highly discriminating and susceptible; nor does it appear, that in other animals this delicacy (as far as they do possess it) can be corrected and improved ;-among mankind, however, we must allow considerable difference to exist. Some individuals, for instance, are susceptible, from birth, of a peculiar pleasurable emotion from certain successions of modulated sounds, termed music; and the individuals thus deriving pleasure, are said to have a musical ear. To others, on the contrary, music affords no pleasure; and some can scarcely distinguish one tune from another. Still, however, a taste for music may be acquired, provided the ear be capable of discriminating well between each variety and modulation of tone, or, in other words, be, as it is commonly