The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-07-21


There seems to be peculiar sensitiveness
in MIR. Ovens family en- tho subject of the
Katie King chicanery, and an apprehension
lest the public shall finally come TO the con-
cluson that his insanity is due to the chagrin
and wounded vanity that may naturally have
resulted from that event. Mr.. Ovens SON
has been heard from on the subject, and now
Rosamond Dale Owen, his daughter, writes to
tho same effect and gives in some iulness the
circumstances attending the lapse from rea-
son, as viewed in the domestic circle. This
lady has made up her mind as to the cause OF
the failure of her fathers brain to perform its
ordinary functions in the usual way and it
is to be observed, especially. that she describes
as the cause of the malady those facts which
we're only its early symptoms. Post hoe
propter hoe is the common error that intelli-
gent people share with other people when
they discuss topics that are within the range
of medical science. Whatever follows in the
relation of time is assumed to follow in other
relations also; and the fact that Immediately
succeeds to another fact is accepted as its
effect and the word consequence is an
evidence of the commonness of this
error Miss Owen conemplates as the cause
of The malady can overworked BRAIN" and
of course there is an overworked brain in the
case, for the crippled organ is overworked by
trivial labor; but the lady, though accurate,
therefore so far as she sees, does not see far,
aud is in error in regarding the mental &c
tivity to which she refers as o cause-using
the word "cause" in any satisfactory sense.
Mr.. OWENS departure from the common path
of mental health is of old date II began at
least as early as the time when he was first
noted as an ''original thinker" for his origi-
nality was only an extravagant view of social
facts. But it is the common history of in
sanity that it is never recognized till it deals
with topics of the meanest familiarity-topics
so small and narrow that they can only be
contemplated in one way. If man comes
who contemplates them in another way peo-
pie say at once he is mad. But he may con-
template the solar system or social science in
ten thousand ways and be esteemed by the
multitude-not merely not mad, but o
wise man of wonderful capacity. II
George III. had talked as Kant and
Hegel have written, and dealt with
the same subjects, he would never
have been considered mad, and he might
perhaps, have passed for an original philoso-
pher but he dealt with an awfully familiar
phrase. He went down to the House of
Parliament and said: -''My Lords and Cen
tlemen-and woodcocks cooking up your
tails" Now, there are never any woodcocks
there, and everybody knows it so he was
caught on a plain fact, and was known to be
mad. In the same way men are mad Tor half
life time on ali the topics out of tho
common way, and are only discovered some
day when they try to wind up watch with
screwdriver. All of Mr.. Owen vagaries grew
out of the same malady that has now only
reached its more advanced and evident stage.
He was not of sound mind when he accepted
lewd damsel of neighboring town as pres
ence from another world-far from 1t ; and
nobody else who accepted the same fact in
that sense was of sound mind, only he has
gone over the abyss that it is not possible to
dissemble Whether the others will follow
may depend upon the advice they get as to
their physical and mental condition.