Another example of healthy incoherence is derived from what is so frequently seen in the works of men of genius. Powerful and active minds seize the relations of subjects with so much facility and rapidity, that they are apt to overlook the intermediate steps, every one of which, by the possession of ordinary faculties, requires to be separately considered. Their productions, in this manner, often assume a disconnected and disjointed appearance; and are well exemplified by those works of profound mathematicians, in which the details of a chain of reasoning are omitted, and only a few leading points are introduced, leaving it to the more skilful and practised readers to fill up the vacancies.

Dr. Leuret proceeds to illustrate the relations which these instances bear to insanity by a number of curious examples, for which we have not sufficient space. These seem to point out in a striking manner the connexion between such derangement and the natural states of the mind to which we have just alluded; and to indicate that the mental disorder may be of much less extent, and more within the control of the will of the patient than we frequently are apt to imagine. He remarks, further, that the insane frequently render the apparent incoherence of their ideas much greater than the reality, by voluntary omissions; in some instances, we may suppose, from impatience, and in others from a desire of concealment.

In contrast with the preceding chapter, that which follows is on the irregular coherence of ideas, producing delirious conceptions and a fixedness of false impressions. Dr. Leuret here occupies some space in proving that there is no such thing to be found as an idea essentially insane. All insanity in ideas appears to depend upon their morbid association, their want of association, their presentation under improper circumstances, as by hallucination, &c. &c. This subject leads him into the inquiry, so much canvassed out of the profession, of the distinction between insanity and simple error. But the impression will be more striking, if we let our author speak for himself. He found opinions among philosophers and in common life equal in absurdity to the wildest which he could derive from the tenants of the Salpêtrière.

"A woman who kept chairs for hire in one of the parishes of Paris, and who came under the care of M. Esquirol, insisted on being called Holy Mother Church; she said she had bishops in her stomach, holding a council there.

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Thomas Willis, the same, by the way, who wrote on insanity, says that the animal spirits are in perpetual agitation, and that they sometimes flow so violently to the brain as to produce effects similar to those of gunpowder.

"Descartes considered it as an established fact, that the pineal gland is a mirror, in which the forms of external bodies are reflected.

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According to St. Gregory, a nun, in eating some lettuce, swallowed

the devil with the lettuce, because she had not made the sign of the

cross.

"

Is one of these assertions better proved than another? They are all equal in the eye of reason; but in place of consulting reason let us hear the opinions which they would probably entertain of each other.

"Willis would perhaps condemn the opinion of Descartes and that of St. Gregory. He certainly would reject that of the woman.

"Descartes would perhaps admit that of Willis and that of St. Gregory. He certainly would reject that of the woman.

St. Gregory would perhaps unite in the opinions expressed by Descartes and Willis. He would certainly reject that of the woman.

The woman would not perhaps understand what her judges said; probably she would take them at their words, and admire the profundity of their learning; yet as regarded herself, she would think herself the only competent judge, and consent to no condemnation.

Why is it that they all condemn her? We will reply. She has not the art of supporting her false conceptions by proofs; she is incapable of arranging arguments to demonstrate what she advances; she knows, not how to combine analogies and accumulate quotations; she is not endowed with the talent of deceiving herself and others by processes of reasoning. With her the false conception stands bare; every one perceives its whimsical character; with the learned, on the other hand, it is dressed up, coloured, and loaded with tinsel, and its decorations give it, at least for a time, the appearance of truth.

"Is it then so uncommon an occurrence for things as impossible as these to be so widely diffused and publicly taught, for whole nations to give them implicit faith, and continue to do so for a long series of ages? Do we not still find, among modern nations, without a single exception, traditions generally received, which, when examined by a mind free from all subjection to opinions, respectable merely from their antiquity, would be justly placed in the same category with the delirious idea of this woman? Whether it be owing to the confined range of the human understanding, or to a want of accuracy in its operations, or whether it rather arise from indolence, we receive almost all we learn without examination. If we except the mathematical sciences, which contain an element of certainty that enables us to estimate the value of what they teach, human knowledge is composed of facts, the truth of which is taken for granted rather than proved, and of theories which we accept ready made in preference to incurring the trouble of analyzing them and examining the deductions upon which they profess to be founded. And when it occurs to us, amid our inquiries, to investigate the evidence of these systems, surprised at the disenchantment we incur, at the fall we experience after having deemed ourselves at such an elevation, and at the labour necessary to realize a well-founded science, we recoil from the task, and return to the ancient routine which we find so convenient and agreeable."

Error alone, then, according to Dr. L., is altogether insufficient as a means of discriminating insanity. To the erroneous character of the idea must be added, fixedness and an irregular or abnormous cohesion. The lunatic who is the subject of these qualities, is distinguished by the term an "arranger.". He falls of course under

the general head of monomaniacs, as indeed do all the cases described in this volume, with the exception of the chapter just completed. The class monomaniacs also includes those who have visions, those who are insane from pride, the hypochondriac, &c. &c...

Our author here proceeds to illustrate this subject by a series of cases, the analysis of which will not come within the bounds of our essay. We will proceed to sketch an outline of the distribution of the work as rapidly as we are permitted by those temptations to diverge, which its interesting pages continually present.

Abnormous cohesion of ideas is divisible into three classes, giving rise to as many sections of the present chapter. The first of these relates to mental things. Under this our author includes imaginary conspiracies, persecutions, &c., of which he inserts several curious examples. His first case, that of the military officer at Charenton, appears to us to exhibit rather a morbid excitement of anger and pride, than a morbid association of ideas. He apologizes for the similarity which his mental arrangers bear to the manufacturers of systems in science; rather an unfortunate resemblance, certainly; but we will add that conspiracies and persecutions equally imaginary may occasionally be met with in common life. Section 2, relates to arrangers of matters which are objects of sensation. This process takes place compatibly with health, when passions, which have the effect of directing our attention forcibly to an object, deprive us of the freedom of thought necessary to estimate the real value of our sensations. To him who is frightened with darkness, the void is peopled with giants and phantoms; to the criminal every one appears an accuser; to the exile, every thing recalls the memory of his absent country; and to the lover, every thing speaks of love. Among the insane cases, we are somewhat amused to find one from America. It is communicated by M. de Tocqueville; and is that of a negro at Baltimore, who fancied that a noted slave-trader was continually employed in following him, and tearing off portions of his flesh. How much of this may have arisen from the patient having heard the figurative language in which slave-dealers are denominated traders in human flesh? We well recollect a fellow in a slight delirium, who, apparently in consequence of a confused recollection of the inquiry whether "his bowels had been opened," entertained the consulting physician with a piteous detail of our enormities in forcibly removing his intestines from his body, and washing them in a basin. Dr. L. gives us several amusing stories of demonomaniacs, and a catalogue, extracted from another work, of epidemic manias which had at different epochs prevailed among the population of France. The distinction between this species of morbid association and real hallucination, is, according to M. Esquirol, cited by our author, that the present class erroneously connect and consequently misunderstand, sounds and other sensations which have a real existence; while persons in hallucination imagine

that which has no existence at all. The one party hear reproaches in the wind and the rustling of the leaves; the other in the midst of the most profound silence. Section 3, relates to cases of erroneous association with regard to the patient's own individuality. This includes those who imagine their limbs to be made of glass, &c., as also that more formidable class, recorded in ancient times, as having imagined themselves converted into wolves, and became murderers and cannibals in consequence. Besides these lycanthropi of history, he cites a horrible case of murder and cannibalism from Georget, committed in 1823; and a case of vampyre appetite from Berthollet. At the end of this chapter is a discussion of the opinion expressed by Professor Broussais, that the general palsy of the insane described by M. Calmeil and others, is the natural termination of insanity. M. Leuret decides in the negative. The proportion of paralytic, among a given number of insane, varies excessively, and is frequently so small as to render the opinion alluded to altogether improbable.

Chapter IV. is clearly distinguished, and treats of passive inspirations. We would here submit that we cannot comprehend how inspirations, as regards man, can be any other than passive. By the very meaning of the word, it implies that he is influenced by an extraneous agency; and how can his predicament be any other than passive? In active inspiration, according to Dr. Leuret, to whom we return, the favoured or afflicted individual is elevated above himself; but he still retains the continuity of his existence, the personality of his thoughts, and the responsibility of his actions. In passive inspiration, on the contrary, he is partially or entirely placed under the control of another and an immaterial agent-he feels that the thoughts and words presented to him are those of a higher power, and in many instances is forced to obey commands issuing from a similar source. In this and the chapter on visions, we feel obliged to say that Dr. Leuret has followed a course which we regret. Difference in religion, or the belief in it of one individual, and the disbelief or doubt of another, ought, cer tainly, not to retard the progress of science, or to prevent any quirer from observing and recording facts, and drawing all reasonable inferences, by the comparison and discussion of them. But why endanger, or at least circumscribe, the utility of a body of philosophy, by needlessly placing it in collision with the most solemn beliefs and dearest hopes of the great majority of the civilized world? Insanity has examples enough in modern times and profane history, to render it quite unnecessary to bring in question the pages of the prophets and evangelists. M. Leuret ought also to concede weight to a remark which we not unfrequently hear from the pupils and admirers of modern French pathology, viz. that modern cases are more useful than ancient ones, because they are observed with the improved lights of science; and he could have easily added more to

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the mass of his facts, by spending the same hours in the yards of Charenton or the Salpêtrière. We hasten to our conclusion, however, from a want of time and space; and though abundantly willing to quit the branch of the subject of which we have just been speaking, we sincerely regret the want of power to dwell at more length on his remaining chapters.

Chapter VII. is on the monomania of pride-and this begins the general division, delirium of the passions; Chapter VIII. on ascetic insanity; IX. on hypochondriasis; and X. and last, on insanity from the terror of damnation. Under the head of pride, is recorded the case of a young man, who imagined himself to be the son of the Emperor Napoleon, and at a subsequent period, of Murat ; and who would not speak to his physician without prefixing the particle of nobility to his name, calling him M. De Leuret. He was cured under the attendance of our author, and with the advice of M. Esquirol, by mental treatment exclusively. Under the head of ascetic insanity are comprised the mystics, who attained a variety of excited conditions of the nervous system by the severity of their discipline, their abstinence, and the prolongation of their prayers. These conditions M. Leuret identifies with hysteric, cataleptic, and other familiar states. We wish we had space for the narrative of Therese, the dealer in slippers. The name hypochondriasis is attributed to two distinct affections, the one situated, as its name imports, in the hypochondrium, and principally in the stomach and duodenum, only affecting the mind in a secondary manner, and with uncertain frequency; the other a disease of the brain. It is easy to distinguish the symptoms of the two classes. Our author divides cerebral hypochondriasis under the heads of cases produced by a physical cause, cases produced by a gradual decline in the mental faculties, and cases occurring without any prior affection of the mind or body. Those who are familiar with the writings of Georget will perceive how far Dr. L. here lays claim to originality.

The title of the last chapter explains itself. The anecdotes related as illustrations are curious and amusing; but do not seem to us to form themselves into a system, or induce any general conclusion.

ART. XV.-Rudiments of Physiology, in three Parts.-Part I. OnOrganism. By JoHN FLETCHER M.D. Lecturer on Physiology in the Argyle Square Medical School. Edinburgh: Carfrae & Sun. 1836. WE view with no little pleasure each new attempt that is made to render more clear the study of physiology. In all that relates to his own organization and the vital laws to which it is subjected, every member of the human family has a deep and abiding interest. Many of the most pernicious errors and customs of society, in relation to education, dress, occupation, food and drink, and the Jocation and construction of dwellings, as well as to the opinions