New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-06-02
EDUCATIONAL.
MIsMANAGEMENT OF THE BRAIN.


the subject Of mental and bodily relations, we
cite an interesting historic illustration:
Those who have read the biography of the poet
COwper will remember that he was liable to at
tacks of mental arrangement. He inherited
highly susceptible organization, with morbid
mobility and nervous restlessness, (which, TIL
/" he was 80 years DID, made ii almost essential
" to bis comfort to be perpetually in notion"
With extreme constitutional sensitiyeness and
pOetical delicacy Of neutrality-suspicious.
pointed in loye-a conscientious Calyinist-de-
peDdeDty poor, and With, perhaps, constitutional
predispOsitiOn to brain difIicuy-the fret rude
shock against the realities of life shattered his
reason A relative procured for him the appoint
ment of Clerk of the Journals of the House OF
Lords. The preparation for his examination at
the bar of the House was terror to him: ne
anticipated failure and disgrace; his mind became
the prey of appalling approximations; his brain
failed, and he went insane. lie recovered Dut
repeatedly in the course of his life he aPsed lnto
this state again. His insanity took the form Oh
depression, dependency, and despair; on re-
pested occasions and in various ways, DO at
tempted to take bis own life, and once nearly
succeeded His religious views helped him to an
explanation of his mental state. lie believed
himself iorsaken of Heaven and abandoned 10
the archenomy, and ascribed to demonlacai
agency all his despairng thoughts aud suicidal
purposes. Speaking of his approaching examna-
ton before the House of Lords, he says: Now
" came the grand temptatOn-the point to wmch
Satan had .all the while been driving me-tbe
" dark and hellish purpose of setmurder." lie
thus graphically describes the first access OF
madness while l trayersed the apartment, In
a." the most horrid diimay Of soul, strange and
q" horrible darkness Tell upon ne. If it we're
possible that heavy blow could Light on the
{" brain without touching the skull, such was the
"sensation / felt. / clapped my hand to my
forehead, and cried aloud through the pain 1t
." gave me. AT every stroke, my thoughts and
expressions became more wild and lndlstnct;
all that remained clear was the sense OF sln
and the expectation of punishment. These
4" kept undisturbed possession all through my
% illness, without interruption or abatement"
The theory of the case which fastened upon
him, aud from which his biographer, Southey,
seys he was never relieved, even in his longest
ana best Intervals was this: lie believed the VIII
OF Heaven, made known to him, required that he
should offer up his own life as an act OF obedi-
ence, and that the power had been given him,
bur, having failed to use it, he had been sen
fenced to a state of desertion aud perpetual mis-
cry; that the Lord, having renewed him IN holt
! ness. had doomed him 20 everlasting perditon.
Such a thought appears, Indeed, the hT halluclna-
/ ton of a madmaD, bu. II has deeper signlf'
! canoe when we are told that be entertained It IN
} his intervals Of sanity; and ii acquires YET
darker meauog when We further discover that
/ it was also the view of his friends. He boarded
with an eminent divine the Rev. John Newton,
I VITO regarded his insanity as demoniacal pos
/ sessiun. He says: 90 II was wholly OWING TO the
'power the enemy had of impressDg upon his
" disturbed Imagination that it was the will OF
"Gvd that, after the example OF Abraham, ne
4" should perform an expIatOry act OF obedience,
and offer not son, but himself" Accordingly,
his clerical friend, to dispel his gloom aud keep
Satan at bay, urged the poet to compose reii-
gious hymns. Ii We are charitably inclined to re-
gard those absurd and pernlcious notions as be-
longing to an unebligbtened age, hundred years
back we are again met by the fact that on au.
lucrative public teacher Of the present day,
OF no less p sitlon than DR.. Cheeyer, IN volume
u2on CowPer, published not long ago, Ieaffrms
/ the yiew OF Newton, and describes the effects of
| cerebral disorder as machiI atoms of the devil.
I :, Ill ~ tlas
| was cast off io.eyer from Gods mercy, was
"certaiply from below, anl not from above; the
work of an eLemy, and not Of friend"
| Again: I" Under thus extreme severity Of disci-
"pllne, permitted as Cowper was, to be sifIed
"ss wheat by Satan" Aud agsint :" We do not
| wonder that Newton, aud Mrs. ur@iD, and bic
4" strongest-mlnded and most religious friends
"spoke of it and regarded it as power OF the
" enemy. Justly did they reason add
A" believe that something more than natural
power was here at work, and that only su-
pernatural interp0stiOu would effect o cure. F"
Now, these are not idle notA9ns or eiete su.
per,tiIons; they are incucated With the assumed
authority OF religion by the great majority OF our
pulJils; tAey are among Tie sacred beliefs Of
the mass OF uninquiriDg people, and are not with
ont practical consequences of the most lsmentable
character While the doctrine of Satanic pos.
session is rejected by the better sense of many
there still lnger around the subject the vestiges
of old superstitions which more thorough diff
fusion of physiological science is needed to dis
pei 1t ia not felt that mental arrangement is
bodily disease to be treated like other diseases.
IL is not considered that we have just as much