The physiognomy of mental diseases / by Sir Alexander Morison.

  • Morison, Alexander, 1779-1866.
Date:
1840
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The physiognomy of mental diseases / by Sir Alexander Morison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    Much diversity of opinion exists as to the classification of mental diseases: that mode which arranges diseases ac- cording to the different morbid states of the organs giving rise to them, that is, to a proximate cause, as it has been termed, certainly appears to be the most rational, and ought to be adopted wherever it is practicable. The imperfect knowledge we as yet possess of the con- nection of mind and body, prevents its adoption in ar- ranging mental diseases, in which, if it could be done, our distinctions ought to be founded upon the Cerebral affection giving rise to the morbid phenomena manifested in them. Such an arrangement is suggested by those who advocate the doctrine of the mind, promulgated by Dr. Gall, by whom the different kmds of partial insanity have been referred to different morbid states of particular convolutions of the brain, in which different propensities and affections are sup- posed to reside, and they direct topical treatment to the supposed organ. If, however, in examining the brains, after death, of those who have laboured under only one variety of partial insanity, diseased appearances, such as those of inflammation or its consequences, be found, they are very seldom confined to one convolution, but are, more or less, diffused over a number, and are more particularly observed in the mem- branes covering them. The divisions of Mania, Monomania, Dementia, and Idiotism or Idiocy, being founded upon the diseased or defective manifestation of the mental functions, appears to me to be better suited to our present limited knowledge of the subjecjl^^iii^ the cases are therefore arranged under those heads. *^