Zoonomia Volume Ii Part 33

XIX. and x.x.xIV. 3. and in Cla.s.s III. 1. 2. 2. with further observations on this kind of hallucination; which however is not the cause of reverie, but const.i.tutes a part of it, the cause being generally some uneasy sensation of the body.

3. _Vigilia._ Watchfulness consists in the unceasing exertion of volition; which is generally caused by some degree of pain either of mind or of body, or from defect of the usual quant.i.ty of pleasurable sensation; hence if those, who are accustomed to wine at night, take tea instead, they cannot sleep. The same happens from want of solid food for supper, to those who are accustomed to use it; as in these cases there is pain or defect of pleasure in the stomach.

Sometimes the anxiety about sleeping, that is the desire to sleep, prevents sleep; which consists in an abolition of desire or will. This may so far be compared to the impediment of speech described in Sect. XVII. 1. 10. as the interference of the will prevents the effect desired.

Another source of watchfulness may be from the too great secretion of sensorial power in the brain, as in phrenzy, and as sometimes happens from the exhibition of opium, and of wine; if the exhaustion of sensorial power by the general actions of the system occasioned by the stimulus of these drugs can be supposed to be less than the increased secretion of it.

M. M. 1. Solid food to supper. Wine. Opium. Warm bath. 2. The patient should be told that his want of sleep is of no consequence to his health.

3. Venesection by cupping. Abstinence from wine. 4. A blister by stimulating the skin, and rhubarb by stimulating the bowels, will sometimes induce sleep. Exercise. An uniform sound, as of a pausing drop of water, or the murmur of bees. Other means are described in Sect. XVIII. 20.

4. _Erotomania._ Sentimental love. Described in its excess by romance-writers and poets. As the object of love is beauty, and as our perception of beauty consists in a recognition by the sense of vision of those objects, which have before inspired our love, by the pleasure they have afforded to many of our senses (Sect. XVI. 6); and as brute animals have less accuracy of their sense of vision than mankind (ib.); we see the reason why this kind of love is not frequently observable in the brute creation, except perhaps in some married birds, or in the affection of the mother to her offspring. Men, who have not had leisure to cultivate their taste for visible objects, and who have not read the works of poets and romance-writers, are less liable to sentimental love; and as ladies are educated rather with an idea of being chosen, than of choosing; there are many men, and more women, who have not much of this insanity; and are therefore more easily induced to marry for convenience or interest, or from the flattery of one s.e.x to the other.

In its fortunate gratification sentimental love is supposed to supply the purest source of human felicity; and from the suddenness with which many of those patients, described in Species I. of this genus, were seized with the maniacal hallucination, there is reason to believe, that the most violent sentimental love may be acquired in a moment of time, as represented by Shakespeare in the beginning of his Romeo and Juliet.

Some have endeavoured to make a distinction between beauty and grace, and have made them as it were rivals for the possession of the human heart; but grace may be defined beauty in action; for a sleeping beauty cannot be called graceful in whatever att.i.tude she may recline; the muscles must be in action to produce a graceful att.i.tude, and the limbs to produce a graceful motion. But though the object of love is beauty, yet the idea is nevertheless much enhanced by the imagination of the lover; which appears from this curious circ.u.mstance, that the lady of his pa.s.sion seldom appears so beautiful to the lover after a few months separation, as his ideas had painted her in his absence; and there is, on that account, always a little disappointment felt for a minute at their next interview from this hallucination of his ideas.

This pa.s.sion of love produces reverie in its first state, which exertion alleviates the pain of it, and by the a.s.sistance of hope converts it into pleasure. Then the lover seeks solitude, lest this agreeable reverie should be interrupted by external stimuli, as described by Virgil.

Tantum inter densas, umbrosa cac.u.mina, f.a.gos a.s.sidue veniebat, ibi haec incondita solus Montibus et sylvis studio jactabat inani.

When the pain of love is so great, as not to be relieved by the exertions of reverie, as above described; as when it is misplaced on an object, of which the lover cannot possess himself; it may still be counteracted or conquered by the stoic philosophy, which strips all things of their ornaments, and inculcates "nil admirari." Of which lessons may be found in the meditations of Marcus Antoninus. The maniacal idea is said in some lovers to have been weakened by the action of other very energetic ideas; such as have been occasioned by the death of his favourite child, or by the burning of his house, or by his being shipwrecked. In those cases the violence of the new idea for a while expends so much sensorial power as to prevent the exertion of the maniacal one; and new catenations succeed. On this theory the lover's leap, so celebrated by poets, might effect a cure, if the patient escaped with life.

The third stage of this disease I suppose is irremediable; when a lover has previously been much encouraged, and at length meets with neglect or disdain; the maniacal idea is so painful as not to be for a moment relievable by the exertions of reverie, but is instantly followed by furious or melancholy insanity; and suicide, or revenge, have frequently been the consequence. As was lately exemplified in Mr. Hackman, who shot Miss Ray in the lobby of the playhouse. So the poet describes the pa.s.sion of Dido,

----------Moriamur inultae?-- At moriamur, ait,--sic, sic, juvat ire sub umbras!

The story of Medaea seems to have been contrived by Ovid, who was a good judge of the subject, to represent the savage madness occasioned by ill-requited love. Thus the poet,

Earth has no rage like love to hatred turn'd, Nor h.e.l.l a fury like a woman scorn'd.

DRYDEN.

5. _Amor sui._ Vanity consists of an agreeable reverie, and is well ridiculed in the story of Narcissus, who so long contemplated his own beautiful image in the water, that he died from neglect of taking sustenance. I once saw a handsome young man, who had been so much flattered by his parents, that his vanity rose so near to insanity, that one might discern by his perpetual attention to himself, and the difficulty with which he arranged his conversation, that the idea of himself intruded itself at every comma or pause of his discourse. In this degree vanity must afford great pleasure to the possessor; and when it exists within moderate bounds, may contribute much to the happiness of social life.

My friend Mr. ---- once complained to me, that he was much troubled with bashfulness in company, and believed that it arose from his want of personal vanity; on this account he determined on a journey to Paris, when Paris was the center of politeness; he there learnt to dress, to dance, and to move his hands gracefully in conversation; and returned a most consummate c.o.xcomb. But after a very few years he relapsed into rusticity of dress and manners.

M. M. The cure of vanity may be attempted by excess of flattery, which will at length appear ridiculous, or by its familiarity will cease to be desired. I remember to have heard a story of a n.o.bleman in the court of France, when France had a court, who was so disagreeably vain in conversation, that the king was pleased to direct his cure, which was thus performed. Two gentlemen were directed always to attend him, one was to stand behind his chair, and the other at a respectful distance before him; whenever his lordship began to speak, one of them always p.r.o.nounced, "Lord Gallimaufre is going to say the best thing in the world." And, as soon as his lordship had done speaking, the other attendant p.r.o.nounced, "Lord Gallimaufre has spoken the best thing in the world." Till in a few weeks this n.o.ble lord was so disgusted with praise that he ceased to be vain; and his majesty dismissed his keepers.

6. _Nostalgia._ Maladie de Pais. Calenture. An unconquerable desire of returning to one's native country, frequent in long voyages, in which the patients become so insane as to throw themselves into the sea, mistaking it for green fields or meadows. The Swiss are said to be particularly liable to this disease, and when taken into foreign service frequently to desert from this cause, and especially after hearing or singing a particular tune, which was used in their village dances, in their native country, on which account the playing or singing this tune was forbid by the punishment of death. Zwingerus.

Dear is that shed, to which his soul conforms, And dear that hill, which lifts him to the storms.

GOLDSMITH.

7. _Spes religiosa._ Superst.i.tious hope. This maniacal hallucination in its milder state produces, like sentimental love, an agreeable reverie; but when joined with works of supererogation, it has occasioned many enormities. In India devotees consign themselves by vows to most painful and unceasing tortures, such as holding up their hands, till they cannot retract them; hanging up by hooks put into the thick skin over their shoulders, sitting upon sharp points, and other self torments. While in our part of the globe fasting and mortification, as flagellation, has been believed to please a merciful deity! The serenity, with which many have suffered cruel martyrdoms, is to be ascribed to this powerful reverie.

Mr. ----, a clergyman, formerly of this neighbourhood, began to bruise and wound himself for the sake of religious mortification, and pa.s.sed much time in prayer, and continued whole nights alone in the church. As he had a wife and family of small children, I believed the case to be incurable; as otherwise the affection and employment in his family connections would have opposed the beginning of this insanity. He was taken to a madhouse without effect, and after he returned home, continued to beat and bruise himself, and by this kind of mortification, and by sometimes long fasting, he at length became emaciated and died. I once told him in conversation, that "G.o.d was a merciful being, and could not delight in cruelty, but that I supposed he worshipped the devil." He was struck with this idea, and promised me not to beat himself for three days, and I believe kept his word for one day. If this idea had been frequently forced on his mind, it might probably have been of service.

When these works of supererogation have been of a public nature, what cruelties, murders, ma.s.sacres, has not this insanity introduced into the world!--A commander, who had been very active in leading and encouraging the b.l.o.o.d.y deeds of St. Bartholomew's day at Paris, on confessing his sins to a worthy ecclesiastic on his death-bed, was asked, "Have you nothing to say about St. Bartholomew?" "On that day," he replied, "G.o.d Almighty was obliged to me!"--The fear of h.e.l.l is another insanity, which will be spoken of below.

8. _Superbia stemmatis._ Pride of family has frequently formed a maniacal hallucination, which in its mild state has consisted in agreeable reverie, but when it has been so painful as to demand homage from others, it has frequently induced insane exertions. This insanity seems to have existed in the flourishing state of Rome, as now all over Germany, and is attacked by Juvenal with great severity, a small part of which I shall here give as a method of cure. Sat. 8.

Say, what avails the pedigree, that brings Thy boasted line from heroes or from kings; Though many a mighty lord, in parchment roll'd, Name after name, thy c.o.xcomb hands unfold; Though wreathed patriots crowd thy marble halls, Or steel-clad warriors frown along the walls; While on broad canvas in the gilded frame All virtues flourish, and all glories flame?-- Say,--if ere noon with idiot laugh you lie Wallowing in wine, or cog the dubious die, Or act unshamed, by each indignant bust, The midnight orgies of promiscuous l.u.s.t!-- Go, lead mankind to Virtue's holy shrine, With morals mend them, and with arts refine, Or lift, with golden characters unfurl'd, The flag of peace, and still a warring world!-- --So shall with pious hands immortal Fame Wreathe all her laurels round thy honour'd name, High o'er thy tomb with chissel bold engrave, "THE TRULY n.o.bLE ARE THE GOOD AND BRAVE."

9. _Ambitio._ Inordinate desire of fame. A carelessness about the opinions of others is said by Xenophon to be the source of impudence; certainly a proper regard for what others think of us frequently incites us to virtuous actions, and deters us from vicious ones; and increases our happiness by enlarging our sphere of sympathy, and by flattering our vanity.

Abstract what others feel, what others think, All pleasures sicken, and all glories sink.

POPE.

When this reverie of ambition excites to conquer nations, or to enslave them, it has been the source of innumerable wars, and the occasion of a great devastation of mankind. Caesar is reported to have boasted, that he had destroyed three millions of his enemies, and one million of his friends.

The works of Homer are supposed to have done great injury to mankind by inspiring the love of military glory. Alexander was said to sleep with them always on his pillow. How like a mad butcher amid a flock of sheep appears the hero of the Iliad, in the following fine lines of Mr. Pope, which conclude the twentieth book.

His fiery coursers, as the chariot rolls, Tread down whole ranks, and crush out heroes' souls; Dash'd from their hoofs, as o'er the dead they fly, Black b.l.o.o.d.y drops the smoaking chariot dye;-- The spiky wheels through heaps of carnage tore, And thick the groaning axles dropp'd with gore; High o'er the scene of death ACHILLES stood, All grim with dust, all horrible with blood; Yet still insatiate, still with rage on flame, Such is the l.u.s.t of never-dying fame!

The cure must be taken from moral writers. Woolaston says, Caesar conquered Pompey; that is, a man whose name consisted of the letters C. ae. s. a. r.

conquered a long time ago a man, whose name consisted of the letters P. o.

m. p. e. y. and that this is all that remains of either of them. Juvenal also attacks this mode of insanity, Sat. X. 166.

--I, demens, et saevas curre per alpes, Ut pueris placeas, et declamatio fias!

Which is thus translated by Dr. Johnson,

And left a name, at which the world grew pale, To point a moral, or adorn a tale!

10. _Maeror._ Grief. A perpetual voluntary contemplation of all the circ.u.mstances of some great loss, as of a favourite child. In general the painful ideas gradually decrease in energy, and at length the recollection becomes more tender and less painful. The letter of Sulpicius to Cicero on the loss of his daughter is ingenious. The example of David on the loss of his child is heroic.

A widow lady was left in narrow circ.u.mstances with a boy and a girl, two beautiful and lively children, the one six and the other seven years of age; as her circ.u.mstances allowed her to keep but one maid-servant, these two children were the sole attention, employment, and consolation of her life; she fed them, dressed them, slept with them, and taught them herself; they were both s.n.a.t.c.hed from her by the gangrenous sore throat in one week: so that she lost at once all that employed her, as well as all that was dear to her. For the first three or four days after their death, when any friend visited her, she sat upright, with her eyes wide open, without shedding tears, and affected to speak of indifferent things. Afterwards she began to weep much, and for some weeks talked to her friends of nothing else but her dear children. But did not for many years, even to her dying hour, get quite over a gloom, which was left upon her countenance.

In violent grief, when tears flow, it is esteemed a good symptom; because then the actions caused by sensitive a.s.sociation take the place of those caused by volition; that is, they prevent the voluntary exertions of ideas, or muscular actions, which const.i.tute insanity.

The sobbing and sighing attendant upon grief are not convulsive movements, they are occasioned by the sensorial power being so expended on the painful ideas, and their connections, that the person neglects to breathe for a time, and then a violent sigh or sob is necessary to carry on the blood, which oppresses the pulmonary vessels, which is then performed by deep or quick inspirations, and laborious expirations. Sometimes nevertheless the breath is probably for a while voluntarily held, as an effort to relieve pain. The paleness and ill health occasioned by long grief is spoken of in Cla.s.s IV. 2. 1. 9.

The melioration of grief by time, and its being at length even attended with pleasure, depends on our retaining a distinct idea of the lost object, and forgetting for a time the idea of the loss of it. This pleasure of grief is beautifully described by Akenside. Pleasures of Imagination, Book II. l. 680.

----------Ask the faithful youth, Why the cold urn of her, whom long he loved, So often fills his arms; so often draws His lonely footsteps at the silent hour To pay the mournful tribute of his tears?

Oh! he will tell thee, that the wealth of worlds Should ne'er seduce his bosom to forego That sacred hour; when, stealing from the noise Of care and envy, sweet remembrance soothes With Virtue's kindest looks his aching breast, And turns his tears to rapture.

M. M. Consolation is best supplied by the Christian doctrine of a happy immortality. In the pagan religion the power of dying was the great consolation in irremediable distress. Seneca says, "no one need be unhappy unless by his own fault." And the author of Telemachus begins his work by saying, that Calypso could not console herself for the loss of Ulysses, and found herself unhappy in being immortal. In the first hours of grief the methods of consolation used by uncle Toby, in Tristram Shandy, is probably the best; "he sat down in an arm chair by the bed of his distressed friend, and said nothing."

11. _Taedium vitae._ The inanity of sublunary things has afforded a theme to philosophers, moralists, and divines, from the earliest records of antiquity; "Vanity of vanities!" says the preacher, "all is vanity!" Nor is there any one, I suppose, who has pa.s.sed the meridian of life, who has not at some moments felt the nihility of all things.

Weariness of life in its moderate degree has been esteemed a motive to action by some philosophers. See Sect. x.x.xIV. 2. 3. But in those men, who have run through the usual amus.e.m.e.nts of life early in respect to their age; and who have not industry or ability to cultivate those sciences, which afford a perpetual fund of novelty, and of consequent entertainment, are liable to become tired of life, as they suppose there is nothing new to be found in it, that can afford them pleasure; like Alexander, who is said to have shed tears, because he had not another world to conquer.

Mr. ----, a gentleman about fifty, of polished manners, who in a few months afterwards destroyed himself, said to me one day, "a ride out in the morning, and a warm parlour and a pack of cards in the afternoon, is all that life affords." He was persuaded to have an issue on the top of his head, as he complained of a dull head-ach, which being unskilfully managed, destroyed the pericranium to the size of an inch in diameter; during the time this took in healing, he was indignant about it, and endured life, but soon afterwards shot himself.

Mr. ----, a gentleman of Gray's Inn, some years ago was prevailed upon by his friends to dismiss a mistress, by whom he had a child, but who was so great a termagant and scold, that she was believed to use him very ill, and even to beat him. He became melancholy in two days from the want of his usual stimulus to action, and cut his throat on the third so completely, that he died immediately.

Mr. Anson, the brother to the late Lord Anson, related to me the following anecdote of the death of Lord Sc----. His Lordship sent to see Mr. Anson on the Monday preceding his death, and said, "You are the only friend I value in the world, I determined therefore to acquaint you, that I am tired of the insipidity of life, and intend to-morrow to leave it." Mr. Anson said, after much conversation, that he was obliged to leave town till Friday, and added, "As you profess a friendship for me, do me this last favour, I entreat you, live till I return." Lord Sc---- believed this to be a pious artifice to gain time, but nevertheless agreed, if he should return by four o'clock on that day. Mr. Anson did not return till five, and found, by the countenances of the domestics, that the deed was done. He went into his chamber and found the corpse of his friend leaning over the arm of a great chair, with the pistol on the ground by him, the ball of which had been discharged into the roof of his mouth, and pa.s.sed into his brain.

Mr. ---- and Mr. ----, two young men, heirs to considerable fortunes, shot themselves at the age of four or five and twenty, without their friends being able to conjecture any cause for those rash actions. One of them I had long known to express himself with dissatisfaction of the world; at eighteen years of age he complained, that he could not entertain himself; he tried to study the law at Cambridge, and afterwards went abroad for a year or two by my advice; but returned dissatisfied with all things. As he had had an eruption for some years on a part of his face, which he probably endeavoured to remove by external applications; I was induced to ascribe his perpetual ennui to the pain or disagreeable sensation of a diseased liver. The other young gentleman shot himself in his bed-room, and I was informed that there was found written on a sc.r.a.p of paper on his table, "I am impotent, and therefore not fit to live." From whence there was reason to conclude, that this was the hallucinatio maniacalis, the delirious idea, which caused him to destroy himself. The case therefore belongs to mania mutabilis, and not to taedium vitae.