INTRODUCTION.

CHAPTER I.

OUTLINES OF MENTAL PHILOSOPHY.

§ 1. Extent and importance of the subject to be examined.

THE reader will notice that I have entitled this Treatise, Imperfect and Disordered Mental Action. A title designedly made thus general, in order to include all the varieties of imperfect and alienated action of which (and they are almost without number) the human mind is the subject. Our inquiries are not meant to be limited to those more aggravated forms of mental disorder which infringe upon moral accountability, and which are commonly had in view, when what is called Insanity or Madness comes under discussion. We propose to take a more extensive view of the subject; and indulge the hope, that, in thus extending the plan of remark, the Treatise may be found to be more interesting and useful to the common reader at least, if not to the philosopher.

I can hardly consider it necessary to delay for

the mere purpose of attempting to illustrate the importance of the subject which it is now proposed to examine. It commends itself at once to every sober and reflecting mind, as intimately and seriously connected with the well-being of men. Every man ought to have some knowledge of the general structure and action of the mind, and of its irregular as well as its regular action. Nor will it be enough that he has some general knowledge of the more aggravated cases of insanity, such as are characterized by a total confusion of the powers of thought, and sometimes by ungovernable ferocity. There are cases of partial mental disorder, less perceptible to the unpractised eye, which come nearer home. There are mental aberrations and shades of aberration; there are mental imperfections and shades of imperfection, short of a total overthrow of the spiritual fabric, which, although they have seldom had a place in any Treatise designed to be generally accessible, it is nevertheless important, for various reasons, to understand. A person may not be insane, in the ordinary sense of the term insanity, and yet may be the subject of various modifications of mental disorder, which have no inconsiderable bearing upon his usefulness and happiness. He is merely called by his neighbours an "odd man," a "hairbrained man," a "violent man," a "visionary man," or by some other name, indicative, in their view, of some peculiarity of mental structure, although, by no means, of insanity, in the ordinary import of that term. And yet such specialities of intellect and temper, inconsiderable as they may appear, ought

to have their place in the philosophy of the mind's disordered action.

But there are other cases, much more marked in their nature, and more decisively injurious in their consequences. We refer to those instances of mental disorder where the mind is not merely discomposed, not merely temporarily set ajar, but in ruins. No sight is so afflicting, so overwhelming, as that of a mind fundamentally, and, perhaps, permanently unsettled. What, then, can be more important than to understand the facts and causes of its ruin, and the principles on which a restoration may be possible!

§ 2. Necessity of some Preliminary or Introductory

statements.

Before, however, entering directly upon this important subject, it may, for various reasons, be desirable to attempt a brief examination of some matters of a somewhat general nature which are closely connected with it.

I. In the first place, it seems to me just and reasonable to say, that we cannot have a correct knowledge of insanity or unsoundness of mental action, without some knowledge of the laws and principles, which are involved in a sane or sound action. It is necessary, therefore, as a preliminary matter, to give a concise view of the Outlines of the Philosophy of the Mind.

II. In the second place, it is well known that there is a close connexion between the body and the mind, especially between the brain and the mind.

And such are the various influences and results of this connexion, that it is impossible to explain fully the aberrations to which the mind is subject without some reference to it. Here, then, although frequent references will be subsequently made to it from time to time, is obviously another preliminary topic.

III. In the third place, it seems proper, before we go into the facts and details of the Work, to lay down the basis, at least, of a philosophical Classification. In the early history of any department of science, when the facts in relation to it have not been collected in sufficient number, or have not been subjected to a sufficiently careful examination, this course would perhaps be premature. But the facts, or what might properly be termed the Statistics of Insanity, have been so greatly multiplied, and that, too, under the supervision of men eminently fitted for the task, that this cannot properly be said in the present case.

§ 3. The idea of Insanity of Mind predicated on that of Sanity.

The three distinct topics which have now been mentioned will be introduced and examined as Preliminary views; and, consequently, will not occupy a place in the body of the work, except incidentally and concisely. In accordance with these intimations, I shall now, in the present chapter, proceed to give the Outlines or general principles, on which the mind appears to be constituted. If we have a right understanding of things in this particular; in other words, if we know what the regular action of the