sensations and perceptions of smell, is the organ which is termed the olfactory nerve, situated principally in the nostrils, but partly in some continuous cavities. When any odoriferous particles, sent from external objects, affect this organ, there are certain states of mind produced which vary with the nature of the odoriferous bodies. The facts of the existence and of the nature of these states of mind are made known by our consciousness. And as the intimations and the leading facts of Consciousness are unquestionably common to all persons, we take it for granted that no one is ignorant either of the existence of the sensations and perceptions of smell, or of their general nature. Among other things, it is well known that, in a sane or sound mind, acting in connexion with a sound state of the outward organ, the perceptions of smell, and the sensations which, as their antecedents, are involved in them, always have a definite and well-known character; and which, in accordance with this character, we properly describe as sane or sound sensations and perceptions. But if either the mind, considered in itself, be disordered, or if such be the case with the outward organ, in connexion with which the mind acts, the sensations and perceptions, under such circumstances, will be found to vary, in a greater or less degree, from the standard of soundness. In other words, they will have the character of disorder, unsoundness, or alienation. That such unsound sensations and perceptions, connected in their origin with the sense of smell, sometimes exist, is sufficiently verified by facts. Some of these facts we shall now proceed to mention, although it may not be proper to delay, since there are other views of mental disorder of greater importance, in order to bring forward instances and illustrations at great length. § 42. Statements Illustrative of the Preceding Section. There is a remark in the valuable Treatise on Mental Derangement of Dr. Andrew Combe, which, not improbably, his own personal observations had verified to this effect, that "the senses of taste, hearing, sight, and SMELL may be perverted; and then odours are felt and tastes perceived which no healthy organs can recognise."* Speaking of insane persons, Dr. Neville remarks, "Some are tormented wherever they go by bad smells, and may be seen compressing their nostrils in order to escape the annoyance from which they suffer." Buffon, in his Natural History of Man, has given an account of a priest of Guyenne, by the name of Blanchet, who had experienced a violent attack of insanity, and who himself, after his recovery, made a statement in writing of the peculiar sensations he had during the continuance of his disorder. Blanchet states, in general terms, that his senses became so exceedingly quick and delicate as to subject him alternately to exquisite pleasure or the greatest suffering. The sense of smell, as well as the other senses, was disordered. He says expressly, "I * Observations on Mental Derangement, Boston ed., p. 216. † Neville's Insanity, London ed., p. 24. seemed at times to perceive odours and delicious perfumes, whose exquisite savours neither nature At other nor the art of the chymist could equal. times, insupportable odours, nauseous and bitter tastes drove me almost to desperation. Even the sense of touch was affected with these extremes of pleasure and pain." The celebrated Esquirol mentions the case of a young female under his care in the Hospital La Salpétrière, whose sense of smell was disordered. She would frequently request the removal of the cause of some disagreeable odour. At other times she spoke of enjoying the most fragrant perfumes, although in neither case was there any odoriferous body near. "It is a circumstance worthy of remark" (says Dr. Adams, who has referred to this individual in a recent valuable article on Psycho-Physiology), "that she had lost the sense of smell so as to be insensible of the presence of natural odours, while the disordered state of her brain was giving her the most vivid impressions of odours when none were present to impress the organ of smell."* Dr. Burrows mentions the case of a sea-captain, who, in consequence of being wrecked, was compelled to suffer the extremities of famine. "The latter part of the time, when his health was almost destroyed by privation and long suffering, a thousand strange images affected his mind; every particular sense was perverted, and produced erroneous impressions; fragrant perfumes had a fetid odour, and all objects appeared of a greenish or yellow * American Biblical Repository, No. xxxiv. hue."* Dr. Conolly mentions the case of a woman who experienced simultaneous illusions of sight, smell, and hearing. "All kinds of animals seemed to be scampering before her; the smell of brimstone, and the continual sound of singing voices, conspired to trouble her."+ Here, then, are cases, as we understand the subject, of really disordered mental action; very trifling ones, perhaps, in themselves considered, but still actually existing. The mind does not, in these cases, correspond to the intentions and the undisturbed tendencies of its own nature; it is impelled by a wrong bias; and, under this unnatural impulsive influence, is the subject of an operation which, to say the least, is not a sound one. § 43. Of Disordered Sensations and Perceptions connected with the Sense of Taste. The mental action which takes place in connexion with the organ of Taste next proposes itself for consideration. It is the tongue, covered with its numerous papillæ, which essentially forms this organ, although the papillæ are found scattered in other parts of the cavity of the mouth. The application of any sapid body to this organ immediately causes in the organ itself a change, an alteration, or an affection; and this is at once followed by a mental affection or a new state of the mind. In this way we have the sensations and perceptions, to which we give the various names sweet, bitter, sour, acrid, &c. * Burrows's Commentaries on Insanity, p. 320. The sensations and perceptions of Taste, as well as those of Smell, may be disordered. FIRST. If, in consequence of actual bodily disease, an organ of sense is brought, without the presence of an outward object, into that particular state into which it is ordinarily brought by the application of its appropriate external object, the same sensation, attended also with its resulting perception, will arise in the mind in the former case as in the latter. In other words, the person will seem actually to smell, or taste, or hear, as much so as if some object of smell, taste, or hearing were actually present. The sensation will be so well defined, and the perception, of which it is the basis, so distinct, that the belief will be controlled; and he will have no doubt of the real existence and presence of odoriferous, sapid, and other external objects, corresponding to the inward sensations and perceptions, unless he is aware of the peculiar state of the outward organ, and is in that way kept from error. SECOND. If the disordered action which we have supposed to exist in the outward organ, or external sensorial developement, should be found to exist exclusively in that part of the great sensorial organ which we denominate the Brain, the effect upon the mind will be the same. That is to say, the person will have the sensation or perception precisely as if the object were present. The case of the woman in the Hospital La Salpêtrière, mentioned in the preceding section, is an instance in point. It appears that, while the outward organ of smell had so lost its power as to render her insensible of the presence |