Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1844-05-30

l..
they are relatively so, and present the
general feature of insanity in this coun-
try, and afford ar important insight into
the mental and moral influence of our
political institutions. In examining these
statistics, the first inquiry naturally sue-
costing itself, is the relative prevalence
| OF insanity in this country and Europe.
According to the most authentic estim-
ate. the proportion of insane is. in Nor
way, in 55l inhabitants Scotland,
in 573--in England, in 78S--in
Wales. in 9ll-in Rhenish provinces,
! in 1000--in France. / in l750-in
Italy, in 9785: making general aver
age of in 1886 and fraction, showing
the average prevalence in this country,
l in $40, to be greater than in Europe;
and if the fear already expressed be true
that the census undertakes the proper
ton of insanity, there is greater differ
ence in favor of Europe than above sta
ted. We might at first refuse to admit
the existence in our country of any pc
culiar causes, calculated to produce in
sanity, accustomed, as we are, to congrat-
ulate ourselves upon the very general
diffusion among all classes of those bless
ings of existence, which contribute to
mental and physical health and happines
That our country is happily exempt from
many rife sources of insanity. incident
to the dense population, and the social
and political institutions of Europe, is in
disputable; but do not those very institu-
! tons which we so much deprecate. pre-
sent a, check to insanity? And are not
those free institutions in which we glory,
calculated to promote it? Life. in our
! republic, has all the excitement of an
olympic contest. A wide arena is thrown
open, and all fearlessly join in the mad
dening rush for the laurel wreath. or
golden chaplet, which are the guerdons
in that race which is to the swift. and
rarely does any Hesperian fruit seduce
the candidates from the contest. Are
not the bitter rancour OF partisans, the
morbid excitement of politicians, the fe-
versh anxiety of gambling spectators,
the sickness Of hope deferred, ambition
maddened by defeat. avarice rendered
by failure, so many sources of insanity?
! When the darker passions Of the hear
thus rise in mad rebellion. will not rea.
son either be dethroned. or reign in tu-
multuous anarchy? In Europe, on the
contrary. the arena is more limited, the
competitors are fewer, their course is
comp ratively clear, and the mate are
less widely separated. Life is there
rather walk, than a race, and is pursu-
ed in slower gait, rarely presenting
the elbo wing strife and jostling emua-
ton so lamentaby frequent in our over
crowded agora. The excitement of RI
/ vairy is diminished by the different castles
of competitors being confined to their
respective courses, which are separated
barriers rendered sacred, of time -honored
custom. This system, in the same de-
gree that it checks the development OF
the mental faculties, secures them from
arrangement they may suffer from rust
but not, as in the former condition of So
clety, from friction. That numerous ex-
ceptions to these results are to he found
IN both countries, is as undeniable as
that Tie general tendency of tie social
and political institutions of tie respec-
tive countries is that alluded to. am
happy to quote in confirmation of these
views, the opinion of the intelligent su.
perintendent of the Bloomingdale Asy.
lum, who detects a connection between
periods of active commercial specula
ton and those in which insanity mos
prevails.
! /! flom the average of insanity in thi.
country, we proceed 20 examine its dis
irritation in the different States, we shall
find as great variety as in the dlfteren
countries of Europe, and one as Difficult
of explanation. Several of tie State!
enjoying, in common. the same climate
possessing similar topography and soil
whose citizens are similarly distributed
among the different professions, ant
: which apparently are exposed to thu
same physical and moral causes, presen
a wide difference in the relative preva
lence Of insanity in the individual States
and when capa BILE of detection, it i
doubly difficult to so analyze the result
as to refer to each element its due pro
portion. Another source of compexit,
which should prevent hasty general liza
tion, is derived from the fluctuatin.
character of our population. Emisrant
generally leaving behind them the idioti'
and insane, the State receiving the i'm
migration has less than its due proper
ticn, and the parent State more. This
is probably the explanation of the singu
larIy small proportion of insane in sever
al of our newly formed States and Ter
ritories, as exhibited in the table. Ow.
Ing to the compexity of co-existing eau
ses, it is impossible to make numerical
comparison between. the agricultural and
manufacturing portions of the Union,
although it is sufficiently evident that in
sanity is more prevalent in the latter, at
ter making dse allowance for the den.