Hints on insanity / by John Millar.

Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hints on insanity / by John Millar. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    44/165 (page 28)
    food through a catheter inserted a short way in the nasal cavity. It is well known that the great majority of cases of suicide occur where mental derange- ment and a suicidal tendency have not been previously suspected. After the event, how- ever, many circumstances come to light which lead to the conclusion that the mind must have been affected ; and the evidence brought forward at the inquest almost invariably shows that the deceased had been exposed to some mental anxiety or irritating annoyances. It then also appears that he had not been quite himself for some time, that he had been de- pressed and out of sorts, that his appetite had been impaired, and he had not been able to sleep as well as usual. The disturbance, how- ever, was too slight to create any anxiety on the part of his friends, or to induce them to seek the assistance of their medical adviser. The propensity to suicide often shows a marked hereditary tendency, and it becomes necessary, therefore, to watch that family in which any member of it manifests such a propensity. This becomes more important if either of the parents has so fallen ; for there are many instances recorded of a portion, and