of natural odours, and also when no odoriferous bodies were present to impress the organ, if it had been susceptible of impressions, there were, nevertheless, distinct and very vivid impressions of odours, which may probably be ascribed, as is suggested by Dr. Adams, to a disordered action existing exclusively in the brain.

THIRD. Furthermore, it will be kept in recollection, that there is not only an action of the body upon the mind, but also of the mind upon the body. The influence in the two cases may properly be regarded as reciprocal, though not, perhaps, in an equal degree. Hence it is possible (and, in some instances, is undoubtedly the fact) that a very excited and unnatural state of the mind may, unaided by the presence of an outward body, produce in some part of the sensorial organ the precise state or affection which the presence of such a body would produce. And the natural consequence of this state of things will be a reaction upon the mind itself, and the production of false sensations and perceptions; that is, of sensations and perceptions without anything external corresponding to them.

The conceptive power, for instance, sometimes becomes unnaturally excited; so much so as to control our belief. In other words, we may have such distinct conceptions of smells, tastes, sounds, and the like, that we cannot help fully believing in their actual existence and presence, and that we are truly the subjects of them. At such a time, certainly, the mind will be likely to have an influence on the outward organ, and to bring it into a position

precisely corresponding to the internal vivid concep

tion.

These explanatory views, although they are introduced in connexion with the sense of taste, are applicable to the disordered action of all the senses.

§ 44. Illustrations of the foregoing Views in connexion with Disordered Taste.

It

To apply these views to the sense of Taste. is well known that insane persons not unfrequently ascribe some peculiarity of taste to objects which does not belong to them, and which they would not ascribe to them if the sensorial organ in all its parts, and the mind also, were in a perfectly sound state. The priest of Guyenne, mentioned in a former section, gives us to understand, that in his case the sense of taste, as well as the other senses, had its vicissitudes of pleasure and pain. Sometimes the savours were exquisite, exceeding the capabilities of nature and art. Sometimes nauseous and bitter tastes drove him almost to desperation. In the statement of Dr. Combe, introduced in the section illustrative of disordered smells, we are informed, in general terms, that the sense of TASTE, as well as the senses of smell, hearing, and sight, may be perverted; and that then tastes may be perceived which no healthy organs can recognise.

Dr. Neville, in some remarks upon insane persons, makes the following statement, which involves some facts illustrative of the subject under consideration. "The feeling by which we are admonished of the necessity of taking meat and drink, is very

commonly either blunted or very much exalted. Many insane persons never show the slightest signs of feeling either hunger or thirst. They voluntarily pass days without food, and would sometimes perish of inanition, were they not compelled to feed ; others, on the contrary, seem insatiable in their appetites; and their whole minds are, apparently, concentrated on the pleasures of the table."* Dr. Good mentions the case of a young woman who was wholly destitute, or nearly so, of the power of discriminating either the smell or taste of objects. In this instance, as in most others, it is probable that the disorder existed primarily (although it is possible it might have been internal and mental) in the outward organ, and thence communicated itself to the internal sensations and perceptions. Whatever may have been the true cause, the resulting states of mind could not be regarded otherwise than as really disordered.

Instances similar in their results to those which have been mentioned might be multiplied from the writings of individuals who have had charge of institutions for the insane, or have enjoyed other favourable opportunities of judging. The general principles which have been laid down, and the facts which have been mentioned, will probably enable the intelligent reader to understand the subject, so far as it is connected with the lower senses of smell and taste, without going farther into particulars.

* Neville's Insanity, p. 27.

CHAPTER III.

DISORDERED SENSATION AND PERCEPTION.

(II.) THE SENSE OF HEARING.

§ 45. Of Disordered Sensations and Perceptions in connexion with the Hearing.

In the prosecution of this part of our general subject, we proceed to remark farther, that there may be imperfect and disordered sensations connected with the sense of Hearing. The causes of disordered auditory sensations and perceptions, like those of other mental acts connected with the senses, are threefold; distinct in their nature, but yet susceptible (and this is, perhaps, generally the fact) of acting in combination.

In the first place, disordered auditory states of mind may arise from a disordered condition of the auditory nerve. It is well known, as we have already had occasion to intimate, that an unusually strong or inordinate affection of any of the organs of sense may be followed by actual sensations, when the usual outward cause of such sensations is no longer present. If the eye be fixed for any length of time upon some bright object—the sun, for instance the optic nerve is found to be powerfully and unfavourably affected. And when we turn our eye from the bright object, we find that its image, in consequence of the excited state of the retina, still

remains. In other words, the retina, owing to the great power of the first impression, continues to be affected in the same way as when the object was before it. And the mind, consequently, is in a corresponding state; that is, it seems to see the object, although it is no longer present. So, when the auditory nerve has been for a long time affected by a loud and continuous sound, the physical affection remains after the sound (that is, the outward cause of the sound) has ceased. The movement of the tympanum, which was so powerfully affected in the first instance, has not ceased; and, so long as this is the case, the mind is affected in the same manner as if the outward cause of sound existed.

§ 46. Facts Illustrative of Disordered Auditory Sensations and Perceptions.

These are cases, it is true, of merely occasional or temporary disorder of the physical organs; but facts of this kind evidently go to show that there is a possibility, at least, of these organs being permanently disordered. And other classes of facts evince, beyond all question, that this possibility is sometimes realized. Accordingly, persons (probably in consequence of the organ having been unduly affected at some previous time, and thus thrown into an unnatural position) are sometimes troubled with a ringing noise, which seems to them the sound of bells. At another time they hear, for hours and days together, the rumbling of carts or the explosions of cannon. At other times, again, their ears are affected with what they imagine to be the voices and songs of H