Religious mania is a very frequent and harassing manifestation of cerebral disease, and one which requires the largest tact and patience in its management. Not a little of the extraordinary self-sacrifice and voluntary renunciation of the common enjoyments and aspirations of existence, so often exemplified under both the true and false religions, is due to disease of the brain, which is brought on by over-exercise, and overexcitement of the religious nature. This form of insanity is so familiar that it is hardly necessary for me to cite instances that illustrate it. It is met with in India, amid the darkness of paganism, among the Mohammedans, as well as in all Christian countries both Catholic and Protestant. It appears among all nations who have any distinct idea of a God and a future state, but is especially liable to visit those who are possessed of a deep and earnest and absorbing religious nature that is wrought upon by trials and the influence of a partial or one-sided mental training.

Among the symptoms of religious monomania are the constant fear of the wrath of an offended God, and a disposition to perform extraordinary acts of self-mortification, extravagant dread of approaching death, and a painful consciousness of sin and unworthiness that can find no consolation in the Divine promise of mercy, persistent and wasting melancholy, and constant temptations to commit suicide. Some have a directly opposite experience, and are subject to agreeable and inspiring hallucinations. They imagine themselves in heaven, in direct communion with God. They declare that they are divinely commissioned to proclaim His will to men, and go forth to found sects and reform the universe. They experience the most extravagant and ecstatic joy, break forth into rapturous songs or ejaculations in the midst of public assemblies, and by gestures, dances, physiçal contortions, recklessly violate the customs of society and public decorum. Sometimes religious lunatics are possessed with the idea that they should not only mortify their own flesh, but, so

far as possible, should persecute to the bitter end all who differ from them in matters of faith. There is no doubt that the cruelty of the religious wars and persecutions of the world has oftentimes been greatly intensified by the insanity of those who were engaged in them. Dr. Winslow thus narrates a typical instance of this manifestation of insanity:

"A person who had been very active in leading and encouraging the bloody deeds of St. Bartholomew's day at Paris, when confessing on his deathbed his sins to a worthy ecclesiastic, was asked, 'Have you nothing to say about St. Bartholomew's day?' He replied, 'On that occasion God Almighty was obliged to me!'"

Some of the most successful founders of religious sects were more or less insane. Francis d'Assissi, Loyola, and Mahomet, and some of the founders of our modern religious orders and denominations, exhibited very suspicious symptoms of cerebral disease. Religious excitements, such as attend the starting of new sects and the advance of proselytism, and even our most useful revivals, give rise, especially among the lower classes, to temporary or permanent attacks of insanity. The rise and spread of Spiritualism and Mormonism have been attended with a very painful increase of religious insanity among all those classes who were influenced by these creeds, or who were drawn into the discussions which they called forth. There are about us, in every walk of life, persons who, in matters of religion, are unable to think a rational thought or speak a rational word, and yet, on all other subjects, uniformly show themselves to be perfectly sane and true. would be hard to conceive of a severer form of earthly misery than is experienced by some of the religiously insane. A gentleman who was at one time under my observation used to depict the horrors of his spiritual condition in language that was at once graphic and appalling. He was harassed, as the religiously insane often are, with fearful doubts and skepticism in regard to the

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truths of inspiration, the destiny of man, and other dark problems of existence, and neither the advice and sympathy of his friends, nor his own honest efforts, seemed to afford him any ray of hope or joy. He would represent himself as "hanging by one arm over the verge of a precipice, that his strength was gradually failing, and that he must soon fall and be dashed to pieces; " as

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surrounded on every side by a cordon of raging fires that were rapidly closing in upon him, and from which there could be no escape." But all this time he was pursuing his regular duties, and not even his intimate friends suspected him of insanity. By my advice he took an interval of rest; but before a year had elapsed it was found necessary to send him to an asylum.

Self-brooding, and deep-seated, persistent melancholy that is not traceable to any special exciting cause, is always evidence of a tendency to disease of the brain, that may or may not develop into positive insanity. Disease of the moral faculties may assume an entirely different form; and instead of oversensitiveness, and morbid apprehensions, there may be an utter callosity of the moral perceptions. This type of disease is most frequently observed among merchants, speculators, and public men, because these classes are subjected to great pressures that severely task the strength of the moral nature. It is a very suggestive fact that statesmen and politicians who during their early manhood and maturity have been pure, courageous, and upright, become in their old age extremely corrupt, cowardly, and unprincipled. It is clear to me that in some instances, at least, this shocking demoralization of our aged politicians is due to actual disease of the brain. The continuous strain and draft to which the moral faculties are subjected by the temptations and crises. of political life are sometimes sufficient to overpower the brain and render it, to all appearance, insensible to moral impressions. In this way we may account for some of the instances that have been so often and so recently ob

served, of deflection from moral rectitude and desertion of life-long principles on the part of the most trusted and most beloved of our public men.

This leads us to the consideration of insanity in its relation to crime. This subject is too wide for discussion in an essay like this, but I may say in general, that the insanity which leads to the commission of crime is to be adjudged by precisely the same standard as any other manifestation of cerebral disorder. There are certain limits of criminality that no one can overstep without rendering himself liable to the just suspicion of insanity. When men who Lave sustained even a tolerable reputation in community suddenly commit some hideous outrage at which a professed scoundrel would revolt, or execute some great fraud that is certain to be detected, or attempt any sort of crime that is repugnant to the general average of criminals, or from which they cannot reap any advantage, it is pertinent to inquire whether they may not be the victim of some type or degree of disease of the brain. Each individual case must, however, be studied by itself, and both judges and juries should be enlightened by the testimony of competent and reliable experts. The time is certainly not far distant when some of the judicial decisions of the past and the present will be regarded as barbarous. There are sometimes arraigned before our courts unfortunate prisoners whose execution by the arm of law would be a greater crime than that for which they were convicted. We have no more right to take the life of a lunatic whose disease has allowed him to violate the laws of society, than we have to enter an asylum and drag its inmates to execution. The fault in such cases, if there be any, is with society itself, so far as it allows unrestricted and unwatched liberty to citizens of dangerous tendencies. It must be confessed, however, that many of the dan gerous classes give no evidences of men tal disease until they shock community by some terrible fraud or outrage, and therefore cannot in all cases be success

fully guarded against. This fact is, perhaps, the weightiest of all arguments in favor of the substitution of imprisonment for hanging in all capital offences. In cases where, in spite of unprejudiced care and the skill of experts, a lunatic may have been condemned to suffer punishment, a course of imprisonment might give opportunity for a full understanding of the culprit's mental condition, and the subsequent exercise of executive clemency.

The record of judicial murder is at best a dark and gloomy page in the world's annals. Insanity was not as common in the earlier eras and among barbarous nations as at present, but during the past few centuries the number of unfortunates who have been hanged and guillotined for the crime of having a diseased brain must be very great indeed.

Although the advanced minds in both the medical and the legal professions are now agreed that insanity is not only a possible, but a very frequent, cause of crime, yet the great mass of the people are opposed to the acquittal of criminals on any such ground.

When Mary Harris was acquitted in Washington on the plea of insanity, the press and the country were bitterly and sincerely indignant; but the decision of the jury was justified by the facts of the case at the time, and has been more than confirmed by the subsequent career of the unfortunate lady. Miss Harris continued to give positive symptoms of cerebral disorder, and was finally obliged to take shelter in an asylum. It is possible that the decision in the case of Miss Harris was influenced more by her personal appearance and the sympathy that she inspired than by considerations of science and law; but, if so, it is by no means the first instance where justice has been done from the most unjustifiable motives.

If the journals give us the real facts in regard to the recent diabolical murder in Eastern Massachusetts, it is clear that the murderer must have been a lunatic. We are told that several of his near relatives were violently insane, and

that his own conduct before and after the horrible deed was extremely inconsistent and suspicious. No disease is more markedly hereditary than insanity, and no single act is more decidedly symptomatic of this disease than the commission of crime from which it is not possible to obtain any temporary or permanent advantage. Similar illustrations almost without number might be adduced from the records of crime all over the country. If it be objected, as it may be by some, that the views here advocated would, if logically followed out, lead to the acquittal of many of our criminals, I can only give the familiar reply, that the worst use a man can be put to is to hang him. Confinement is a sure punishment for the really guilty, and a safe probation for the insane. It should be considered, however, that those who are affected with cerebral disease are oftentimes, and to a certain extent, responsible for their condition. When a man commits crime under the influence of ardent spirits, we hold him responsible for getting thus intoxicated. Insanity is likewise preventible in many instances, and those who from carelessness or wickedness allow themselves to fall into it, are to that degree responsible for the crime they subsequently commit. But the same can be said of all the diseases from which we suffer, and yet it is the recognized custom of our civilization to treat all cases of sickness-even those which directly result from vice and crime-with as much care and attention as though they were produced by causes entirely beyond the patient's control. The intuitions of humanity teach us that any other course would be unchristian and brutal.

In conclusion, I have to speak of the rclation of insanity to genius. It was long ago observed that men of original and creative mind were apt to be eccentric, melancholy, and to commit acts that in ordinary individuals would hardly be tolerated.

Dr. Moreau (de Tours) has written a work in which he contends that genius arises from the same organic conditions

as insanity, and is, in fact, synonymous with it. His theory substantially amounts to this, that genius, like insanity, is a symptom of disease of the brain. Without conceding all that is claimed by Dr. Moreau, it cannot be denied that a very large number of the geniuses of the world have been either melancholic or very eccentric, and, in some instances, have been the victims of violent and repeated attacks of insanity.

Dr. Johnson was hypochondriacal, and in various ways gave evidence of a morbid condition of the brain. At the early age of twenty he became the victim of melancholic delusions, and from that time forward was never happy. On one occasion he exclaimed, despairingly, "I would consent to have an arm amputated, to recover my spirits." Wretchedness like this, when it is temporary or spasmodic, may signify but little; but when it is persistent and lifelong, it must be regarded as the symptom of cerebral disease that may and often docs advance to absolute madness. The violent impetuosity of Dr. Johnson, his unreasonable, almost furious prejudices, may be accounted for on the same theory.

Some of the brightest geniuses in literature have been at intervals subject to attacks of madness. Southey lived for years in perpetual dread of insanity, and when at last he kneeled in the furrow, worn out through mental excitement and fatigue, he composed that most instructive and useful of his works, "The Life of Cowper." That Rousseau was a lunatic will be admitted without question by those who studied his life and writings, however ardently they may admire his genius.

Pascal was one of the most original thinkers of France, but no inmate of any asylum ever presented more indisputable proofs of mental disease than those which characterized his whole career. All his life he walked in darkness, knowing not at what he stumbled, in constant fear both of the present and the future. He was the victim of absurd delusions, was harassed by excessive nervousness, and was the slave of

career.

Our American poet, James Gates Percival, was troubled, I think, with a slow and chronic type of cerebral disease. It would be hard, indeed, to find any other theory on which to account for the thousand and one eccentricities and inconsistencies of his enigmatical His absurd fear of women was certainly full evidence of monomania, but when we take this fact in connection, with his life-long melancholy, his early and repeated attempts at self-destruction, his unnatural ingratitude to those who befriended him in distress, and his anomalous love of solitude, we find it impossible to accept any other interpretation of his life than that he was never an absolutely sane and responsible being.

The poet Cowper declared expressly that he translated Homer in order to relieve his wretchedness, and we are led to believe from the facts of his biography, that if he had been a happy man he would not have been a poet. Some of his finest poems were written while he was suffering the bitterest form of melancholy. Burton wrote his "Anatomy of Melancholy" out of his own experience, and as a means of intellectual diversion. The great positive philosopher, August Comte, was attacked with insanity in 1826, and for one year was compelled to withdraw from his usual duties. Two years afterwards he published the work on “Positive Philosophy" that has immortalized his name. Haller, the distinguished physiologist, was a religious monomaniac, and, in the latter part of his life, he sought relief in opium-cating. Swedenborg was a brilliant writer and thinker, but he was subject to hallucinations that are never experienced by those of sound mind. His fantastic visions of heaven and hell, and his imagined interviews with the Almighty, find their counterparts in the experience of many in our asylums. Cardinal de Richelieu was subject to maniacal attacks, during which he lost all his self-control, and behaved like a

silly child. When the attack was over he had no recollection of what had passed. It is said of Fourier, the chimerical social reformer, that he passed almost his entire life in a state of hallucination. Zimmerman, the author of the essay on solitude, was a wretched hypochondriac, and, in the latter portion of his days, was practically insane. Lavater was always characterized by an overplus of enthusiasm, that of itself was symptomatic of an unnatural condition of the brain; and, as is so often the case with such geniuses, became more and more absurd and inconsistent as he grew older. According to Dr. Moreau, he came to believe that by the power of prayer he could identify himself with Christ. I think it may be said in general that all those who imagine themselves to be angels or gods, or that they visit heaven or hell, and have direct revelations from the Almighty, are to an extent insane, how ever brilliant and rational they may be in all other particulars. Therefore Francis d'Assisse, who passed days and nights in communication with God, Francis Xavier, to whom Saint Jerome appeared in a vision, Savonarola, who fought with imaginary demons and professed to have revelations from Heaven, are to be classed among the religiously insane. The inspiration of Joan of Arc was the inspiration of cerebral disease, and was only a remarkable symptom of organic conditions that in various degrees of advancement are to be found in everyday life. Tasso was a positive maniac, and, like many other unbalanced geniuses, believed that he was attended by a familiar spirit. "I shall die at the top first," ejaculated Dean Swift, as he sadly gazed on a tree whose branches were decaying; and he realized his terrible prediction. He was more or less insane during all his active life.

Beethoven was one of the most despairing of hypochondriacs; and the gifted poet Collins was at times a sad and moaning lunatic. The eccentricities and melancholy of Lord Byron were probably the uncontrollable manifestations of disease, and during his short

and brilliant career he gave sufficient evidence of insanity to more than justify the suspicions of his wife at the time of their separation. Voltaire was precocious, brilliant, and original; but the general conduct of his life can hardly be made consistent with perfect soundness of mind.

The phrase "mad poet" has passed into a proverb, and has from time to time been applied to a number of eccentric geniuses. It was applied to Nathaniel Lee, who was for a time confined in Bethlehem Hospital, in England, and to McDonald Clarke, in our own country.

Lucretius wrote his celebrated "De Rerum Natura" while suffering from an attack of insanity, and Cruden compiled his "Concordance" while in the same mental condition. Madame de Stael had a masculine and powerful intellect, but she was a slave to idle fears and silly eccentricities, that in ordinary persons would certainly have been regarded as symptoms of disease of the brain. Nothing seems clearer than that the irritability, hypochondria, and meanness of Alexander Pope were the results of organic cerebral conditions which he could no more control than he could remedy his physical deformity. Lady Stanhope and Balzac, Hood and Chatterton, all displayed eccentricities that are hard to be reconciled with perfect sanity, and the latter, as is well known, died by his own hand.

The public would be astonished if it were known how much that is interesting and valuable both in our ephemeral and our permanent literature is the work of minds partially insane. A few years since considerable excitement was occasioned by the report that many of the editorials of one of our daily journals were written by the inmate of an asylum. The story itself may not have been literally true, in the instance there adduced, but it was based on probability, nay, on actual fact. Some time since one of the most prominent of our magazines published an essay of great interest and value that was prepared by one of the inmates of an insane-retreat.