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

! TO lfl6 Manufacturing ICSiuho. AhC "
verse is the case in Europe, if the dis
tribution of insanity among the poor may
be considered as criterion of its gener
al distribution. which may be safely
4 done, as a very large majority of the in
sane are of the pau2er class. Accord
( ing to the returns of the Poor Law Com
missioners, the proportion of insane and
idiots among the paupers in the entire
population of England, is, IN 105S-in
seven agricultural countries, in 872-
in Lancashire, manufacturing district,
l in 1890. The proportion between the
agricultural and manufacturing districts
being as 224 in the former to 100 in the
latter, or more than 2 to /. This differ
ence, conceive. finds an easy explana-
| ton in the fact, that agricultural opera
tives are more exposed than the manu-
featuring to the inroads poverty, which,
with its concomitant evils, is every
where the purveyor of the insane asylum.
! Although those restrictions upon free
trade which disgrace the commercial
code of England, operate alike upon the
agricultural and mechanical operative in
rendering employment uncertain, and
equally exposing them by any CONNER
cIal casualty to be deprived of the means
of subsistence, yet the evil falls more
heavily upon the former than the latter,
as the agriculturist is almost the sole sup
porter of his family, the children and fe-
males being mparatively unproductIve
consumers; but to the mechanic. the fe-
males and children are important aids.
being more than able 20 support them
selves. 1t would be more inconsistent
With the character of this article to en-
large upon this subject, but all acquain-
ted with this portion ofpolitical economy,
will, it is presumed, admit that the agri-
culturist of England is more liable to
poverty than the mechanic, and will see
in this the cause of his greater liability
to insanity, when is recolected how
large proportion of the insane of all
countries are paupers. Not only is the
agriculturist of this country free from
unwise governmental interference with
the profits of labor, but owing to a more
equal distribution of land, he occupies
an entire y different position from the
mass Of the agricultural population in
England; he is land-holder, and the
fruits of his daily toll 60 neither to salts
fly the rapacious avarice Of the middle
Daaster, nor the extravaganza of an a6-
seniee, but reward his own industry. To
these causes we are undoubtedl y
indebted for the less prevalence OF
insanity among ou' agricultural popua-
ton. If the statistics of insanity and
education are examined in connection,
no uniform relation will be discovered
between them. Among those States
possessing high status Of education. are
those in which insanity is most abun-
dant. as well as those in which i. least
prevails, and vice versa. This is not to
be attributed to the inertness of eduea
7 ton upon mental disease, but to the op
GRAFTON of existing causes from whose eff
fects it is difficult to separate those o.
education. When the influence of edu.
cation upon insanity shall be more fully
developed, it will doubtless prove, as
upon crime, complex. The Baconian
apothegm, that knowledge is power, is
now received as an axiom; power 1t IN
doubleday is. but it is power for good Oh
evil. In the the thorny path of life, as
in Paradise, good and evil. In the thor
ny path of life, as in Paradise, good ant
+ evil are the fruits of the same tree, anc
the moral tastes of the gatherer will alone
determine the choice. To bestow thi:
power without the moral wisdom tina
can alone control and check it, is to aru
the blind, and to trust to chance for :
proper. use of the power. The re
t mark ofJN. Query, that crime is mos
abundant in those provinces of France
where education is most generally DIFF
, used, or similar statement in ref
!, erence to portions of our own countr,
! by De Beaumont and De Tocoue
vile, IS not, therefore, surprising
e The influence of education upon insanI
t ty, as upon crime, will therefore mos
: probably vary with its nature. and I,
/; secure its ameliorating Influence mus
S be moral as we'll as intellectual-it mus
!, not be merely examining process of fill
: ing the head with ideas, but the hear
: must be formed to habits of virtue-yir
tuous principles must not be ABSTRACT,
: taught, but the pupil must be trained t.
$ their practice, aud it must be ever borne
: in mind, that education is but school
TOR life, and life school for eternity. >
As the power by which mind Influence
) mind, is chiefly derived from education
1T may, IN our country. frequently CO
: operate with our free institutions in nro
ducing mental disease, as it presents the
: ambitious with a ladder. the demaeoeue
with the means of pimping to the pas.
sions and pandering to the vices of the
mob, and adventures, of every kind. a
means of attaining their ends. There
is species of education undoubtedly
prejudiciaI to mental faculties, but which
: weakens them in the same proportion as