§ 243. Of superinduced weakness of Will, or that which is occasioned by wrong mental training,

We are not always to infer, however, from the mere fact of the existence of a weakness of the Will, that it is in all cases natural, and, consequently, something for which the individual is not accountable.-The Will admits of its appropriate exercise, and its nature requires such exercise. And, if it is denied what its nature thus requires; if it is never placed in difficult positions, and never permitted to exert itself, the necessary result is, that it will lose in a considerable degree, and sometimes almost entirely, the amount of power, whether more or less, which it naturally had.

There are sometimes whole classes of people, in whom, not so much by nature as by circumstances, the faculty of the Will, which ought ever to show itself as a decisive and leading principle, appears inert and feeble.-Dr. Rush intimates that slaves are very apt to exhibit this trait of mind; not, however, in consequence of natural imbecility so much as a feebleness and uncertainty of purpose, gradually superinduced by being constantly under the direction. of others, and not being called upon to exercise their own wills.

It may be added also, that these views may essentially aid, in some cases at least, in the explanation of that weakness and uncertainty of purpose which we not unfrequently notice in old people, and which forms an important element in that complex trait of character which we denominate the childish

ness of old age.

Their wills grow weak from the want of exercise; and their passions, showing themselves in the forms of peevishness and fickle ill-humour, grow strong for the opposite reason.

CHAPTER III.

DISORDERED ACTION OF THE WILL IN CONNEXION WITH OTHER POWERS,

§ 244. The action of the Will may be perplexed through the medium of the other faculties.

SOMETIMES the perplexed and disordered action of the Will is relative rather than positive. It stands well in itself. It bears the stamp and gives the evidence of entire soundness, when considered apart from the other powers. Nevertheless, in consequence of its connexion with other parts of the mind, its action may be interrupted and perplexed, and sometimes in the very highest degree. We do not, however, mean to say that it is perplexed and hindered in its action in all respects, which is not the fact; but only when it comes within reach of the influence of this connexion,

$245. Disordered Action of the Mind in connexion with Casual Associations.

As an illustration of this matter, we may very

properly refer to some of those striking facts which were introduced in the chapter on Casual Associa tions. Peter the Great, for instance, in whom energy of the will was unquestionably a very conspicuous characteristic, was utterly unable to bear the sight of a certain insect. La Roche Jacqueline, another individual mentioned in the chapter just referred to, was brave and chivalric in the very highest degree. Few names among the numberless re nowned men of France stand higher on the heroic and patriotic list than his. And yet it appears, from the accounts which are given of him, that he always lost all courage, and was entirely unmanned in the presence of a harmless squirrel. In these, and a multitude of other cases like them, we have instances of men who possessed, in general, great energy and decision, but who displayed in certain very trivial conjunctures the greatest imbecility.

In all cases of this kind, we may probably regard the origin, the seat of the disorder, as existing in the associating principle. This principle calls up, from time to time, certain very unpleasant feelings, which, in the history of the individual, are found to be connected with certain objects. And it does it with great force and distinctness; so much so as to set the regulating power of the will entirely at defiance. Consequently, the individual, apparently without any adequate cause, is thrown into great agitation; his fears, or, perhaps, some other passion, are greatly excited; his will is, as it were, taken captive; and his conduct at once assumes an aspect which can

not be explained in accordance with the ordinary results of a sound mind.

We assert, therefore, that the action of the will in these cases is a disordered one, although the cause of the disorder lays out of itself, because it does not act, and is not able to act, in accordance with the original tendencies and constitution of its own nature. It is not what it should be, and what a truly sound and unperplexed will always is, viz., capable of regulating the feelings and actions, so far as is suitable and proper, or, in other words, so far as is required by a true view of the nature and relations of things,

$246. Additional illustration of the preceding view.

Perhaps we have, in the personal history of Dr. Johnson, an instance of alienation of will, based on a disordered casual association." He had another particularity" (says his biographer), " of which none of his friends ever ventured to ask him an explanation. It appeared to me some superstitious habit, which he had contracted early, and from which he had never called upon his reason to disentangle him. This was his anxious care to go out or in at a door or passage by a certain number of steps from a certain point, or, at least, so that as either his right or left foot (I am not certain which) should constantly make the first movement when he came close to the door or passage. Thus I conjecture: for I have, upon innumerable occasions, observed him suddenly stop, and then seem to count his steps with a deep earnestness; and, when he had neglect

ed or gone wrong in this sort of magical movement, I have seen him go back again, put himself into a proper posture to begin the ceremony, and, having gone through it, break from his abstraction, walk briskly on, and join his company."-With such clear ness of perception, with such vast powers of under standing as Dr. Johnson possessed, we cannot suppose that he would ever have submitted to the utter folly of such a practice, if his will had not entirely lost its power in that particular, in consequence of some early association, which had fastened itself in the mind too deeply for eradication.

§ 247. Of alienation of the Will as connected with a disordered state or alienation of Belief.

There are yet other cases of a disordered action of the Will, resulting from its connexion with other parts of the mind. There is a close connexion, for instance, between the faculty of the Will and that state of the mind which is termed Belief. And this connexion appears, among other things, in this way. It will be found, on examination, that the strength of the will's acts or volitions will become diminished more and more in conformity with the diminution of belief; and that, by the original constitution of the mind itself, there is not even a possibility of putting forth the mental exercise of volition when there is no belief that the thing to which it relates is in our power. Hence it follows as a general truth, that a disordered or alienated state of belief will be followed by a corresponding alienation of the will.

Accordingly, if a man, in the condition of insani