Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1884-06-12
The Mind and Body.

Alexander the Great behaved like /
lunstic in the latter days of his reign
and the supposition is plausible that i
ne had survived a few years longer he
might have become most implacable
and capriclous tyrant. From being
very abstemious he gave himself up tC
dissipation. His lust for power be.
came disease, and he strove for gi-
gantic impossibilities.
Robspierre and some of the 9th ell
leaders in the French Revolution, were
probably made more or less insane by
the exciting events in which they took
part. 1t is certain that Robsperre
was originally kind-hearted and con.
siderate. fol he began life by endeav.
oring to procure the abolition of capi.
tai punishment.
Louis Xl of France, was insane
both in his despotic cruelty and his
caprices. He shut his mobiles in cages
or hung them ON the trees of the for
eat. He lived in constant fear of death,
kept in seclusion in his castle, was on
intimate terms with his hangman,
amused himself by watching battles
between cats and rats, drank the blood
of young children, and tried various
and abominable compounds in order
to lengthen his life.
King Frederick, of Prussia, without
any reason whatever, treated his son
and sister for long time with the
most unnatural and brutal severity.
He kicked them about the room.
pommeled their heads with chairs,
compelled them TO eat the most repuls-
i've food, and in every way made their
lives wretched. His insanity in this
respect, was absolute. and should have
sent him to the mad-house. But his
unnatural and whimsical treatment of
his family was only one of the symr-
toms of his insanity.
He was inconsistently avaricious,
scrutinizing every houshold expense
with absurd attention, and lavishing
fortunes upon his army of giants. He
would run through the streets Gaming
the loungers and workmen who fell in
his way until they cried for mercy.
DR.. johnson was hypochondriacal,
and in various ways gave evidence of
morbid condition of the brain. At
the early age of twenty he became the
victim of melancholic delusions, and
from that time forward he was never
happy. On one occasion he exclaimed
despairingly:
81 would consent to have an arm
amputated to recover my spirits"
Wretchedness like this, when it is
temporary or spasmodlc, may signify
but little but when it is persistent
and lifelong, it must be regarded as
the symptom of cerebral disease, that
may, and often does advance to abso-
lutte madness. The violent impetuos-
ity of DR.. johnson, his unreasonable,
furious preiudices, may be accounted
for on this theory.
Pascal was one of the most original
thinkers of France, but no inmate of
any asylum ever presented more indis-
putable proofs of mental di sease than
those which characterized his whole
career.
All his life he walked in darkness,
knowing not at what he stumbled, in
constant fear both of the present and
the future. He was the victim of ab
surd delusions, was harrassed by ex-
cessive nervousness, and was the slave
of uncomfortable eccentricities. On
examination after death his brain was
found to be seriously diseased.
The gifted poet Collins was at times
a sad and moaning lunatic.
The eccentrlcities and melancholy
of Lord Byron were probably the un-
controllable manifestations of disease,
and during his short and brilliant
career he gave sufficient evidence of
insanity.
Nothing seems clearer than that the
irritability, hypochondria and mean
ness of Alexander Pope were the re-
suits of organic cerebral conditions
which he could no more control than
he could remedy his physical deform-
ity.
81 shall die at the top first ejacu-
lated Dean Swift, as he sadly gazed
on a tree whose branches were decay
ing, and he realized his terrible pre-
dictlon. He was more or less insane
during all his active life.
Tasso was positive maniac, and,
like many other unbalanced geniuses,
believed that he was always attended
with familiar spirit.
Madame de Stael had masculine
and powerful intellect, but she was a
slave to idle fears and silly eccentrici-
ties that in ordinary persons would
certainly have been regarded as sylnp.
toms of disease of the brain.
Cardinal Richelieu was subject to
maniacal attacks, during which he lost
all his self-control and behaved like a
cillv oh;l,i Whan tho attach WAS