The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1875-11-20
VAGARIES OF THE BRAIN.

only to its possessor. There is stage of
consciousness in which person may be
necessarily at war with himself and with
the promptings of double, urging him to
do and say things abhorred by his better
self. " | am not conscious of the decay"
wrote patient to his adviser, or suspen-
sion of any of the powers of the mind. l
am well able as ever | was to attend to
my business. My family suppose me in
health, yet the horrors of a mad house are
staring me in the face. l am a martyr to a
species of persecution from within which
is becoming intolerable. l am urged to
say the most shocking blasphemies, and
obscene words are ever on my tongue
Thank God, | have been able to resist; but
l often think l must yield at last, and then
| shall be dsgraced and ruined" The
famous Bishop Butler is said to have been
engaged in such a conflict for the greater
part of his life. Akin to this phase of
unsoundness is the desire so commonly felt
to throw ones self from height, Or to
give utterance at inappropriate times, as
when Charles Lamb burst out laughing at
a funeral In such moments of tempta-
ton the mastery of the reason over the
the inclination distinguishes the sane from
the insane, and it is only the sustained
eccentricity of thought and mode of life
which points to a condition of the brain
betokening insanity. Very noteworthy are
some IF tha aorly SyStamS of 6;corIa, nf
one of these, the undue exatation of the
senses, an instance is given, where the
patient felt such an extraordinary acute
ness of hearing that he heard the least
sound at the bottom of his house, and was
able to tell the hour by his watch at dis
lance at which he could not ordinarily see
the hands. Sometimes incipient disease is
indicated by a perversion of the sense of
touch, as in the case of patient who,
from the fancy that every thing he touched
was greasy, was continually washing his
hands. Other well-marked symptoms are
the loss of memory, deterioration in hand
writing, the use of wrong words in CONVEX
saton, and double vision. Kleptomania,
the habit of secretly purloning articles, is
now a recognized form Of brain disease.
Of another more terrible form of madness, |
it is curious to read that it's
victims will drink shoe backing, turpen-
tine, and hair-wash, when they can get |
nothing else to satisfy The demon that pos
sesses them. Sometimes these two forms
of mania are seen co-existent in the same
person under very odd circumstances. Thus
it is recorded of one man that when drunk /
he always stole Bibles; of another, spades,
while third individual invariably pur
Joined tub.
Delicate as the organization of the brain
must be, it is surprising to read of the hard
knocks it can BEAR not only without in
jury, but even to its advantage. One man
who lost half his brain through suppura-
ton of the skull, preserved his intellectual
faculties to the day of his death; and the
brains Of soldiers have been known to carry
bullets without apparent inconvenience,
and to undergo an operation for the extrac,
ton of the foreign bodies without loss of
power. A physician who was afflicted
with an abnormal cerebral growth which |
pressed upon the cavities of the brain, so
as to paralyze one side Of his body and
render him speeches., retained possession
Of his reasoning and calculating powers
until he died One of three brothers, all
IDIOTS, after receiving a severe injury on
the head, gained his senses, and lived to be |
a clever barrister. A stable boy of dull
and subject to fits, had his wits
sharpened by the kick of a horse, which
the abstraction of portion of
his brain; and no less parsonage than
Pope Clement vi. owed the improvement
Of his memory to slight conclusion of the
brain