Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1878-06-08
some Causes Of Nenial z llnre.

some Causes OF Eenial ? iiurr.
We have before Ia two .u.ges.iye
documents which furnish data .or con.
slderslion.
The 6rs, j. the ileeuth biennial re.
port Of the trustees OF the Illinois Cen
.sI3 hospital tor the insane; the second
paper en- ModeEn Lie and Insanity
contributed by Mr., u. Hack luke T.
Macmillan's Magazine, which has at.
tracted considerable attention from s1ci
ologists in England The report cover
The years 1875 and 1876, during which
p,nlod j2l patients were admitted. OF
these 226 were unmarried (l60 male.
and e. femsIes) and PSI married I2l
msles and 1873 temales). Tne total nun.
Der Of men was 30l against 220 wJmen
A. " the occupation 2l0, the plurality
ara quoUed 81 having simple domestic
duties, and probably are all women; l49
were far nerz, 81 laborers, and the re
mainder scattering through all the 7ayi.
Gus cauings, As to the exciting cause
Of insanity, this !. reported az uuznowu
In $50 cases, in IS instances Al owing 10
Ill health, In 32 70 female ailments, and
10 on scattering
Mr. luke ia hit pape, goe4 over a
vide range Of statistics which il is un-
necessary here to recspiGul8te, our 0b,
jeCt being chiefly to direct attention to
the concordance OF some Of the data
obtained in this Illinois a.ylum with
those coilSted in England. And the
first p0ln! 10 be noticed is the plurality
OF farmers over men Of other gccurr.
tioL.. There has already been much
discussion "a TO the relative liability Of
manufacturing and agricultural districts
TO mental disease, and the 2 neral de.
duCt!On sppeats to BE- th2. farmers anq
agricultural workers are atH CITE! Ia ex-
Cess The reason even iGr this hy The
lun8Cy commissioners Of Scotland j.
significant They refer, says Mr.. luke,
the persistent rural iuuacy chiefly 10
the constant migration Of the strong
from the rural 10 the urban districts,
the necessary exodus Of the physically
and mentally healthy leaving Behind al
altogether dispropOrtionate uumb-r OF
cOngenital idiots, imbeciles and chronic
insane in the agricultural counties
Even i in This country We are not dis.
posed to admit that there is any 80 ex,
tensiVe au exodus rom country D CRY
az il here Observation-Disclosures the
governor Of New York in his last mes.
sGge takes occasion 70 advise agsinst
this very movement, and auongly u
point out It's di.advantages-- there
still appear, according to M Tuse, y
large amount Of insanity and idi0Cy iu
country districts, whatever may lie its
relative proportion 10 ths. elsewhere
From the Illinois asylum dqta u will
also be observed tJs, the rumber OF
single malos Is largely in excess Of lba.
OF single fgusils, ba, that the numbers
OF married people o! both sexes closely
approximate Despite the increased
responsibilities 81 family support upon
the men, the proneness to insanity de-
creases, while on the other hand the
domestic aud physical troubles incident
to Tellock more than double the per.
centsge of women This sccofds again
with Mr.. Tukes statements Of the large
proportion OF those engaged in domestic
occupations in English aeylums.
The percentage ni iHtempeF3uCe noted
in the Illinois yepor. - Is out OF
52l--is exceedingly small. IN Great
Britain this cause uHmisakably takes
the lead, some su.hofities going so far
as 10 attribute hall OF all the cases
thereto. In the United States, DR. Rush
has stated that il produces July 0ue.
third Ol al the mental failure. ir
luke place the percentage Ga low a- L..
after taking into consideration al, The
asyl0ms in England. DR.. Dickson, OF
st. Luke's Hospital, IN London, bas,
however pointed ont that whi,a iu.5m.
persnce IL often an exciting eau 70 in.
sanity, yet the incentive to Drunkenness
is The result rather than the cause of
brain deterioration in the BIst instance.
Regarded in this light, or rather !. We
consider as il perhaps mos. logical
inebYiety as di.easc, and classify it
with other ailments, it will probably
appear sa indeed i, ioas from the -.atis-
tics ct the asylum we are considering,
that the road to insanity lies chiefly
through Ill health, and that those who
Iose their minds through other causes
are much In the minority.
The brain, it would appear, !. more
apt gradually to follow physical deterior-
alton than to te impaired suddenly by
physical causes or, in other words, az
anything which will produce 8 hypefe.
mia of portion or the whole Of that
organ by which its normal functions may
be interiertd with msy become al ex,
citing cause, that condition is perhaps
more readily superiuduoed by the direct
physical connection Of the brain wish
other impaired organs
Hence 1t follows that anything which
debilitstes the bodily constitution is
liable to affect the mind and hence, as
might be expected, any form of iulems
perancs, whether in drink, In mental
or physical Oyerwork, may react upon
the brain as well as upon the rest Of the
system. II We knew how lar this excess
OF strain might be carried before insanity
became likely. a probable safeguard
WOald IN al hand, bat this is not the
case, and it is quite possible for person
70 heap up predisposing causes to a limit
beyond which an accidental condition,
in itself utterly incapable OF affecting his
normal unimpsired mind, may carry
him.
The logical conclusion obviously is
that upon the gool health OF the COM
munity depends its immunity from in.
sanity. Every man, says Mr.. luke,
will break down at his weak point,
be 1t what il may but clearly il his
lie be so ordered as not to continually
carry him up 10 that weak point, the
breaking down cause viii have to be
phenomenally great perhaps in the
majority of cases to render it efficient.
There is, therefore, such thing as un-
preventSble lunacy, bnt preventable lu.
macy occurs most frequently, and this,
Mr.. luke thinks, "may be reduced t.
a minimum by the widest extension of
thorough but not oppressive and too
early commenced education, BY the
practical spplicstion OF the asoertaiued
truths Of physiological and medical
science, aud by the influence of moral
culture. Scientific American.
~
Two French ladies were looking at the
pictures in the Paris salon. so hear"
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