The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1874-05-19

STATISTICS oE INsANIrY,-The great
master Of statistics, Quetolet, considers
insanity under the universal point tf
view Of the development Of the Mora
and Spiritual Faculties Of Man." set
there seems to be an important disiinc.
ton to be made between the vicious roi-
version Of the mind and heart and mere
y physical disease Of the brain Moral
statistics have mostly to deal with the
moral and mental aspects Of insanity,and
with the influence OF porverse habits in
bringing on the bodily disease. It is
hard to draw the line between the moral
and physical factors Of insanity, although
there is a line of division between them
and in some cases the disease is wholly
physical, the result of inheritance, climate.
or acute sickness, and in other cases it
spriugs from pride, sensuality, debauch.
cry, end habitual vices, and has previous
history, preparatory immortality, which
ends in what is called moral insanity"
The general opinion is that insanity is
on the increase in modern civiization,aud
is multiplying that saddest form Of death,
the ruin Of the intellect but it is not
easy to give positive facts to sustain that
view 1t is not Just 10 base cur estimate
upon the increase Of residents in Insane
hospitals, since the increase may Only
prove that better care is now takeu cf
the insane, and the prejudice against
those institutions has been dying away.
Yet wherever observations have been
made, the increase in the number of the
insane has been reported az 50 constant.
and under all circumstances os 10 such
regular proportion, that we can rot help
believing that this evil grows among Us
decidedly as suicide. The proportion Of
the increase in the different kinds Of ia
sanity, and the closer investigation Of its
distrihlton in city md country. as well
as in the different civil aui professional
classea, leave no doubt that the peculiar
ways and moral mischieis Of cur uodert
civilization favor the progress Of tbis ca
lamiiv Without being able TO declare
the absolute correctness Of the figures VIC
may ascrhr out of the 800 Geo l-auc Of
Euroue INCLUDING IDIOTS the pr,aios;
relative number, two per thousand, to- the
most highly civilized nation, the German
while the Roumanians hold the middle
ground, nearly one per thousand, and the
Sclavic Tar'ars the lowest place, O.G, or
six.tenths Of one, per thousand 1t is
much the same with insanity as with SUI.
eide, more 10 the north and northwest Of
Euroue han in the less civilized southern
ln ~ all -
civilized countries, too, there IS more ir.
crease o insanity than OF idocy aul IL
i, the SANG in cities as compared with
the country, Tor the stir and passion OF
overwrought civilization t,ul moro 10
distract the brain into maire-~ '.au 10
dull it into iliocy.
Among different ca!Inss ;hc r'.e..
sious that are called liberal are most TO-.
clined to delusion and melancholy. While
these constitute ouly about a twentieth
Of the whole population, or 5.04 per
cent, they number among the melancholy
LOO and among the delirious 1879, per
cent, Among the women Of this class
there are among the melancholy IL &c
per cent, and among the delirious 9.4l
per cent. In general, melancholy and
mania prevail more among women ,idiocy
and delusion more among men.
In respect to civil condition, the IN.
married, widows, and, above all, divorced
persons, give larger proportion Of IN
sane than the married. Although chill
D. drcn, who are little, amy, exposed to in
sanity, are reckoned in the percentage oi
the unmarried-sixty.two to sixty.iouI
pei cent.-yet throughout Germany the
proportion of celibates among the insane
is much more unfavorable-about seventy
per cent-and in Bavaria as much Is
eighty.one per cent. Divorced woman arc
especially liable to delusion and mania
Thus, while in Saxony the divorced con
sttutc only 0.16 per cent. or sizteon-
hnndrnd,h0 OF Uue per cent among men
and 0 so per cent, or three.tenths Of one
per cent, among women, they give to the
~ insane asylums in the relation Of ! q
7. and 3.04 PER cent; thus in mania tht
proportion Of divorced women rises a.
d high as Coz per cent, and 10 the cafe
;. CORY OF Individual delusion as high as 6vf
IS per cent.-Dr. SAMUEL OsdooD. IN Hay
is per'S Maya: iae far May
n To ARREST HYDRoPHoDIA.-Inmc5l