Observations on mental alienation : and the application of its phenomena to the illustration of subjects connected with medical jurisprudence / by Thomas Y. Simons.

  • Simons, Thomas Y. (Thomas Young), 1797-1857.
Date:
1828
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on mental alienation : and the application of its phenomena to the illustration of subjects connected with medical jurisprudence / by Thomas Y. Simons. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    their most degrading and appalling forms. Those who, wb b sane, are moral and religious, when maniacal, hecome blasphe- mous smd licentious ; at once evincing the loss of reason andthe domination of the passions. Maniacs are influenced by sudden alternations of feeling, which arc always intense. Thus love, hate, revenge, are pourtrayed in all their ardour, or all their horrors. The countenances of maniacs strongly denote their malady. Their eyes, which are the first of the organs of sense that give evidence of the approaching paroxysm, suddenly kindle up, be- come wild, penetrating, and flash with fury; an index of the terri- ble emotions and passions which are raging within. The whole of the organs of sense seem to be perverted ; they appear to be unaffected by the most violent noise or offensive eifluvia, and are inattentive, generally, to external impressions ; their appetites and tastes are completely vitiated ; they seem indifferent to hun- ger or cold, and their long watchfulness, at times, almost exceeds credibility ; every thing seems engidphed in the raging fury of the passions. The whole of these symptoms are not observable in every maniac. Melancholia.—Here the unhappy victim, the object of pity, and the solemn and feeling lesson of self-humiliation to all of us. how- ever strong or clear our intellects, exhibits signs diametrically opposite. The melancholic is generally silent and abstracted, dreading the vengeance of mankind, and believing the whole or a portion of his fellow beings arrayed against him. Instead of committing aggressions, he is fearful of aggressions ; and if ever he becomes an aggressor, it is under the influence of the hallu- cination that he was acting in self-defence against an attack. In this manner the melancholic madman is extremely dangerous, and whenever his mind is impressed with the idea of oppression from some particular individual, however apparently calm in other respects, he should be carefully watched. This class of insane persons frequently conduct themselves so well as to induce us to believe them sane, when they are far from being so. The cessation or diminution of the paroxysm has been, by many, aalled a lucid interval, a term which we will have, in another place, to consider. The melancholic has his attention principally directed to things of the world, and is generally fearful of a conspiracy against him- self; he is, therefore, extremely suspicious, and questions the character and motives of every one. He is a greater enemy to himself than his fellow beings, but believes them to be his ene- mies, and the cause of his distress. Hence these unfortunate beings frequently commit suicide under the apprehension of po- verty, or being the objects of revenge or hate. The following case, given by the brother of the person affected, well illustrates this