, 1842-08-13

D,yden's Vergii.
The great William Shakespeare, who
understood human nature as well, or per-
haps better than any other man the
world has eve produced. remarked in
one of his plays, that .we are made Of
such stuff as dreams are made of" and
SO far as this proposition can apply to
one laboring under a diseased imagina-
lion, it is philosophically correct. A
citizen of The United States may dream
that he is walking the streets of London
but feels not the slightest establishment
on having in 4 few minutes crossed the
broad Atlantic. Whilst traversing the
streets, he may also dream, that he is
converted into a spinning wheel, but he
feels no surprise at the sudden metamor-
phosis. Such is the case with one labor
ing under a distempered imagination
instances of which are daily exhibited, as
in the inflamatory Politician, the reli-
gious Enthusiast and the romantic Low
er. This is a disease, in short, of more
frequent occurrence than is generally
supposed, or recognised, and for this rca-
son,-that many who labor under it, are
unwilling to acknowledge the infrmity,
and the d~istemper having many grades
OF character, is often in the incipient
state so mild as not to prevent the VIC
tim from attending TO his customary avo
cations. But let the second stage arrive
and the disease is exhibited in its naked
deformity. Let US imagine Gas before
remarked) the inllammatory politician
the religious enthusiast and the romantic
lover and say that all three are in the
second stage of the disease. The first.
In his own estimation, is a Jefferson, the
second a Deity, and the third, a Lean
der. Let us now approach the third
stage, and we find their descent as rand
as was their elevation. For the first
imagines himself a Steamboat, the sec
ond, a rail-car and the third-a iackass
On the approach of the fourth stage, we
find all three cnvironed in the cells of a
lunatic hospital.
As this work, in all probability, will
be read by many whose attentions have
never been devoted to mental science.
iwi!l, as succinctly and intelligibly as the
subject will permit, submit 4 few plain
propositions in illustration of what will
ensue in this and other subsequent chap
tiers. That the brain is the Immediate
organ of the mind, is a proposition no
longer disputed by learned Psychologists.
Three of the most prominent functions
of the brain, are the imagination, the
judgment and the memory. That this is
true, is often demonstrated by blows up
on the scull sufficiently violent to sus-
pend the functions of the brain and the
victim will lay days and even weeks
without imagination, judgment or memo
~; and if the machinery of the brain has
not been too violently disorganized, or
disjointed, the patient may be resuscitat-
ed, and the Imagination, the Judgment,
and memory will be again brought into
operation. An ingenious physiological
writer has compared these three func-
tons Of the brain, to the mechanism of a
watch. The handspring which puts all
III operation, corresponds to the %imagina-
tion; the pendulum, or balance, which
regulates and corrects that motion, cor
responds to the judgment, and the hand
and dial, like the memory, record the
operations. Whether these functions are
performed by the brain as a unit Zone
and indivisible) or by different depart
ments thereof, each SO organized as to
perform the task assigned it, is a cues
ton yet remaining unsettled by metaphy-
The weight Of argument how
ever, i'll my humble opinion, ~preponder-
ates greatly in favor Of the latter hypo-
thesis and for this sound reason. In
many persons whose brains have been
injured by disease, intemperance, extor-
nal violence, or impaired by age, we Of
ten find, tie memory, or the imagination
impaired and the judgment sound and
and uice uersa. Any person of
act and discrimination can ascertain the
ruth of the foregoing proposition by con-
gersing with antiquated persons, and as
my W opinion, l feel satisfied
hat there exist in the brain, three dis