The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-02-22
YESTERDAYS PULPIT TOPICS
of the Human Mind and
the Causes of Mental Disorders.
An Interesting Lecture by DR.. W. B. Fletcher
Rev. N. l.. Haines's Discourse on the
Rewards Of Self-Sacrifce.
THE MIND DISEASED.

THE MIND DISEASED.
The Lecture Delivered by DR.. W. b. Fletcher
at Plymouth Church Last Evening.
At Plymouth Church, last night, DR.. w. B.
Fletcher, superintendent of the Indiana Hospital
for the Insane. lectured, by request Of the pas
tor, on THE Mind Diseased The music by q
choir Of four-Miss McQuiddy, Miss wenger,
Andrew Smith and Michael Bamberger-was
excellent Mr.. McCulloch read as the evening
lesson selections from the seventeenth chapter
Of Matthew and tenth chapter Of Luke, and
afterwards, Whittiers poem, ''The Brotherhood
Of Mercy"
Dr.. Fletcher said the word mind, as we use it,
10 but word for memory, and memory is in
fact the germ of all our intellectual faculties.
memory, reason and Judgment being the founda-
ton Of all the brain can produce. II We exam
inc the brain we find it composed Of few very
simple elements-a few cells. few fibres. few
tissue-like sheaths and coverings--and that 10
about all. Strength Is . thing you cannot see,
but 1t must have for Its manifestation organized
muscle. You cannot soc in the brain cells that
property called the mind that Is wrapped up In
them. Let the circulation Of the blood stop for
| q moment The brain cells and the fbres are
there but the mind Is gone Mind, as every
thing else has to grow. 1t must start from the
germ. It must have an abiding place in which
to gradually develop to its greatest
power Mind must have been in the Rrst
man. For convenience, prefer to believe that
Adam and Eve were the first Of tho race, rather
than to accept Darwin's theory Of evolution
prefer to believe that God is large enough in his
power to create man and to put him upon the
earth finished and complete. But Adams brain
must have been like the brain Of the child. As
to memory there was nothing to remember He
was an Adonis in form, Eve was beautiful, but
they had no memory-mind had not been
formed. The germ was there for future crea-
ton. Adam had not the remembrance Of q
child; he had no experience. He did not know a
bee would sting, did not know certain fruits
were bitter It was fortunate for Adam that Eve
had laudable curiosity. She made the first
step toward gaining knowledge From that
wa. and winch was
pleasing-was made known. And our whole
pleasure in life consists in finding out things
From that time knowledge grew step by STEP
AS the child to-day learns by observation and
sad experience, so did our first parents learn. and
this acquired knowledge becomes the mind. AS
to the mind diseased. "the mind is" says Cow.
per:
A harp whose cords elude the sight
Each yielding harmony disposed Alright;
The screws reverse Ia task which, If He please
God in a moment executes with easel,
Ten thousand times ten thousand strings go loose,
Lost till He tune them, all their power and use.
The Doctor thought no better illustration .',an
that Of a musical instrument to the mind could
be given and admirably illustrated his position
by reference to the various parts Of the great
organ Of Plymouth Church. He cited the fact
that the organist employed In manipulating it
over two hundred muscles Of his body, besides
his faculties Of eye, and ear, and touch, moving
brain every single nerve-cell is in action. It has
taken years and years for this man to be able to
call into use these numerous acts, and to bring
these muscles to the perfection of action.
II a very small mass should get into this i'm
mense organ it would likely be source of dis
cords. Tones would come in at tho wrong
place. Suppose, on the other hand. very small
atom of blood were difused on the brain of the
do for his mind what the moth or the ant might
do for this musical instrument. Any derange-
ment Of the circulation of the blood in the BRAIN
too much or too little. is brain disease. The
er believed 1t to have existed from the beginning
Of the world. The f1rst mention Of insanity in
tho bible is In the book Of Samuel
where we have, in the tragedy Of
Saul, the most wonderful of tragedies
| ever written, clear description Of diseased
ence in attempting to kill David was a we'll
defined case OF murderous lunacy. David
| thoroughly understood Sauls arrangement and
! put no faith in his promises OF all the writ
| ings we have, those Of Shakespeare are the most
perfect in the delineation Of insanity. No poet
has ever studied from nature and men, and so
| little from books as Shakespeare. The gray hairs
| of Lear are silvered DER with renewed interest
when he raves There is Ophelia and the deep
| melancholy Of Hamlet. None of us can stand
| Shakespeare was 250 years in advance of psy-
chology in the study of insanity. He touched all
phases from the fool to the most complete
meancholic case. as in Hamlet
rarely see an insane child; legally. one cannot
exist. If you were to take the boy of yesterday
| and have him . ll-grown, bearded man to-day,
| you would say he was insane. He was not in
sane yesterday, as child, vet he was the same
| individual except in frame. The mind of the
child is not in state to become insane. It is as
| we come to maturity, from eighteen years of
| age and upwards, when the mind is most apt to
| become diseased Because, in the closing of the
bones Of which the skull is composed, they may
come together o little too closely; the result will
| be a contraction OF the large blood vessels that
| pass over the brain. A small blood clot may
disoIganze the mental action. Such may get
| well by absorption of the blood. Many Of you
nave notceo persons Win pecuhar noses,
fingers lips. etc, which in certain families,
and transmitted 1t is SO in the development of
| the brain and OF the bones that surround the
brain Fifty per cent of the cases of insanity
have it direct from such conformations OF the
skull, that the greater part of the diseases of
the mind come from mechanical causes within
| the BRAIN
The Doctor said his experience was that re-
! lgious excitement does not cause insanity. Any
excitement to certain minds is apt to lead to in
| sanity because Of mental strain. Going
without sleep, without exercise, without proper
food, and the result is the brain does not get the
proper blood nourishment. Statistics do not
| show that drunkenness causes insanity in the
drinker; the great majority of persons in the
| asylums are those who have not used intoxcat.
the habitua user Of alcohol is a different thing.
| Upon women the consequences Of drinking hus
bands is frequently insanity from starvation,
crnal traafmanf crushAd nridA and diseraca