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  OBSERVATIONS ON MADNESS AND MELANCHOLY:

  INCLUDING PRACTICAL REMARKS ON THOSE DISEASES;

  TOGETHER WITH CASES:

  AND AN ACCOUNT OF THE MORBID APPEARANCES
  ON _DISSECTION_.


  BY JOHN HASLAM,

  LATE OF PEMBROKE HALL, CAMBRIDGE;
  MEMBER OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS,
  AND APOTHECARY TO BETHLEM HOSPITAL.

  _The Second Edition, considerably enlarged._

  "Of the uncertainties of our present state, the
  most dreadful and alarming is the uncertain
  continuance of reason."
                          Dr. JOHNSON'S RASSELAS.


  London:

  PRINTED FOR J. CALLOW, MEDICAL BOOKSELLER,
  CROWN COURT, PRINCES STREET, SOHO;
  BY G. HAYDEN, BRYDGES STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
  1809.




  AS A GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT
  FOR MANY FAVOURS,
  AN OBLATION TO SUBSISTING FRIENDSHIP,
  AND A TRIBUTE TO SUPERIOR JUDGMENT,
  EXERCISING THE PROFESSION OF MEDICINE WITH
  SKILL AND LIBERALITY:
  THE PRESENT VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY
  DEDICATED TO
  DR. THOMAS MONRO,
  A FELLOW OF THE COLLEGE, AND PHYSICIAN
  TO BETHLEM HOSPITAL.




Preface.


_The alarming increase of Insanity, as might naturally be expected, has
incited many persons to an investigation of this disease;--some for the
advancement of Science, and others with the hope of emolument._

_More than ten years having elapsed since the publication of the
"Observations on Insanity," a trifle, which the Profession has held in
greater estimation than its intrinsic merits could justify: the present
work is modestly introduced to the public notice, as a corrected copy of
the former, with considerable additions, which the extensive scope of
Bethlem Hospital would have furnished more liberally to a more intelligent
observer._

_To have taken a comprehensive survey of the human faculties in their
sound state; to have exhibited them impaired by natural decay, and
transformed by disease, would have implied an ability to which I cannot
pretend; would have required many volumes to unfold, and perhaps more
patience than any rational experience could have attributed to the reader.
The contents of the following pages are therefore to be considered as an
abbreviated relation, and condensed display of many years observation and
practice, in a situation affording constant opportunities and abundant
supplies for such investigations._

_It is natural to presume, that amongst my professional acquaintance the
subject of Insanity must have been frequently introduced as a topic of
discourse; and I am ready to acknowledge, that I have often profited by
their remarks and suggestions: but I should be ungrateful were I not to
confess my particular obligations to my esteemed friend, Anthony Carlisle,
Esq. Surgeon to the Westminster Hospital, for many corrections, and some
communications, which I shall ever value as judicious and important._

  BETHLEM HOSPITAL,
  NOV. 21, 1808.




ERRATA.


  _Page_ 3, _line_ 7, _for_ controverted, _read_ converted.
         5,        2, _for_ phrenitic, _read_ phrenetic.
        90,        3, _for_ hyatids, _read_ hydatids.
       254, _in the Table_, _for_ manical, _read_ maniacal.




OBSERVATIONS ON MADNESS, &c. &c.




CHAPTER I.

DEFINITION.


There is no word in the English language more deserving of a precise
definition than madness: and if those who have treated on this subject
have been so unfortunate as to disagree with each other, and consequently
have left their readers to reconcile their discordant opinions; yet it
must be confessed that considerable pains have been bestowed, to convey a
clear and accurate explanation of this term. Although this contrariety of
sentiment has prevailed concerning the precise meaning of the word
madness, medical practitioners have been sufficiently reconciled as to the
thing itself: so that when they have seen an insane person, however
opposite their definitions, they have readily coincided that the patient
was mad.

From this it would appear that the thing itself, is, generally speaking,
sufficiently plain and intelligible; but that the term which represents
the thing is obscure. Perhaps, we might be somewhat assisted, by tracing
back this word, in order to discover its original meaning, and shewing
from its import the cause of its imposition.

If the reader, as is now the custom, should turn to Johnson's Dictionary
for the meaning and etymology of this word, he will find that the Doctor
has derived it both from the Anglo-Saxon gemaad and the Italian
_matto_;