Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1868-11-14
4 WILD THEORY OF INSANITY.

In the November number Of Put
mans Magazine is an interesting article
by George N. Beard, NJ. D., on the SUBJ
ect, "Who are the Insane ~ in which he
contends that "ungovernabIe attacks Of
passion, violent temper and unnatural
cruelty are the results Of insanity far
more frequently than will probably be
admitted by those who have not given
this subject close and special attention
Their disease has its exacerbations, its
paroxysms Of attack, and during the in
tervals their bearing may be entirely
courteous and their whole disposition
sweet and tender He adds
Howard, the philanthropist, who
crossed seas and mountains to relieve the
distressed, was a brute and tyrant in his
own family. DR.. Winslow says Of him
His cruel treatment caused the death Of
his wife. He was in the habit for many
years OF doing penance before her
picture. He had an only son whom
for the slightest offense he punished
with terrible severity, making him
stand for hours in grOtto in the garden.
The son became a lunatic as the result Of
this brutal treatment l am strongly
inclined to the opinion that even the eX-
traordinary benevOlence Of Howard was
one of the symptoms of the disease in his
brain, for insanity may have good as well
as evil manifestations, and such eXcep'
uOnal Self-SaCrifce as hiS--sO blind, so
persistent, 50 life enduripg-is Just as
liable TO proceed from a morbid state as
the directly opposite qualities. OF ungov-
| eraable rage, intense hate, or cruelty.
There is a point beyond which net only
forbearance, but also the manifestations
of benevoIence, charity, self-sacrifice, de-
votion, spirituality-of al the higher and
nobler qualities Of humanity-may cease
TO be virtues.
Very much Of the cruelty that we
meet with in every day life is the work Of
the partially insane. know some really
good men who sometimes, under peculiar
circumstances, act more like lunatIcs than
reasonable beings. ! knew a farmer a
conscientious and worthy man, who was
at times attacked with parOXysms Of
rage so violent and irresistible that he
would beat his oxen most numerically,
and without proyocati0n. An acquaint-
ance Of mino told me that his father, who
was one of the kindeSt Of men IN his
family, very often whipped his children
almost to death, and that, too despite the
fearful appeals Of his wife, to whom he
was most devOtedly attached"
Dr.. Beard then proceeds to give his
opinion that much Of tho tyranny and
despotism Of the world have been the
result Of cerebral disease, and if justice
had been done, not few Of the rulers Of
history would have been confined in
asylums for the insane. Among these
he classes CaliguIa, Nero, Domitian, He'll
ogobalgs, of all them monsters Of cruelty;
Alexander the Great, in the latter days
Of his reign Robespierre, and some Of
the other leaders ia the French reyolu-
ton: Queen Christina, Of Sweden
Frederick William Of Prussia and
Catherine de Medici. 1t also the OPin-
ion Of DR.. Beard that Theodore, the late
Kin Of Abyssinia, was probably mad
man, which may very likely have been
the case" says the Baltimore Sun, eS-
pccially when Gen. Napier got after
him; and finally, ascending to the pima
Gle Of the temple Of human iniquity,
the Doctor suggests that cere-
bral diseases may account for hat