The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1850-11-29

insanity, ITS Causes ana re Trsas~sne.
The American Josswal of Insa~ity, published b
the New York State Lupstic Aulum. Utic.. Coz.
tains variety Of valuable information upon the
interesting subject of insanity, its causes and treat
ment The following obsery, atoms from an srtic,.
on insanity, in the sexes, are worthy of peru,aI
The character Of insanity is not one and The
same in all persons is very various in its orisin.
its development, its progress and its reults in dn
ferent individuals. Ii may arise out of lesion OF
the brain, or merely functional disturbance
There may be structural change, as softenins
growth Of bone, or perhaps maformaiion Of the
skull which produces pressure on its contents; or
there may be merely u arrangement Of functla6,
from excessive or maynard mental action or ems-
mons, connected with no organic change. This ID
the most common condition of insanity.
functional arrangement may be produced tW
some cause which does not act directly the brain,
but through some sympathetic irritation from dis
turosnce IN other and even remote organs
Among the prolific sources of the last description
are the arrangements Of the stomach and the bow
els, including all the nutritive fuuctioDs the rrts-
lions OF the excretory organs the urinary APPARATUS
the skin, and the lungs, and also some diseases
levers, measles, inflammation, &c. These are
common to both sexes but all the various ana
manifold arrangements Of the reproductive system,
peculiar to females, add to their iuses of mental
disorder
1t will readily be supposed that these causes of
insanity are very numerous. The ueatises upon
this disease speak of its causes many. The re-
ports of lunatic hospitals int nded to state all
the circumstances, conditions, habits, or events,
that seem to the physician. or are supposed by the
friends of the patients, TO be the real causes Of their
lunacy. The reports Of the Bioomingdale Hospital
mention So causes those OF the Western Virginia
Hospital mention rs causes; those of the Utica
New York Hospital, 65 those the Pennsylvania
Hospital, "a and all the reports Of all the lunatic
Ia a n he Sfafe mi
causes of insanity.
The reports OF some hospitals reduce there causes
to classes, of which are reported from the hospi
tai at Worcester, Mass. 9 from the hospital at
Columbus, Ohio The British hospital reports
state fewer causes than the American The re-
port of the Metropolitan Commissioners of Lunacy
give from to 10 causes for each hospital, beside
class termed physical causes. This Glass; in those
reports, usually includes epilepsy palsy, injuries,
and sometimes hysteria, and even puerperal mania,
which, however, are sometimes stated separately.
Yet these causes of insanity, many as they are,
even the lSl OF the American reports, are capable
of still further sub division and II they were re-
duced to their simple elements, they would be
almost as numerous and various as the unkiudy in
fiuences that can be brought TO act mankind.
The term ihealth, as a cause of in sanity, may be
divided into almost the whole range Of the noso-
'g There NAV be error in these statement. o, c..e,
in regard to some .patients. Some of these sup
posed may have been pre-e xistiny, or even
merely co-exiSdng facts, rather than productive
causes. Anu, possibly, SOME OF tncm may nave
been the result of the diseased action, and the first
manifestation or part of the insanity. Yet,
making all due allowance for the mistakes OF
friends the msjudgement Of physicians too eager
to find causes, IL may be assumed, that most Of
these facts conditions had some, il not the prn-
cpal influence, in the production of the mental dis
turbanee.
There is a want of satisfactory data upon which
TO ascertain the comparative liability Of males and
females to insanity.
PiDel says, that there twice as many female
a male lanatics in France.
more women than men liable TO insanity"
Esqurol, that authority above all others in these
matters, says, "that women are more exposed TO
he says. "mana lie more frequent in males than fe-
ferent ages and different places, for he says, shat
il is now tue that in Greece and Italy, females are
less subject to madness Ofoiie) than males. But
in the north of France the contrary is the fact for
there more female than male lunatics"
But in England he says, this is reversed, and
the male lunatcs are the mos, numerous. This he
asc,bes 10 the better educ atoa of females in Eng
land than in France, by which the women Of Eng
land are protected from some OF the causes of lu-
macy that affect women in France
or only one nation is there accurate census OF
the lunatics Of the distinct sexes, and that the
report Of the commission 81 lunaey TO the Minister
OF Justice of Belgium, OF the number of lunaiics In
q at kingdom. There were males 27|t, females
1851, IN the year 1885, which shows an excess Of
about is per cent Of the males over the females.
According TO their report, there were in England
and ali LAT