New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-09-08
TRICKS OF THE MIND.
SOME EXTRAORDINARY MENTAL OR NER-
yOUs PHENOMENA.
NOTEWORTHY CONTRIBUTION TO MENTAL
PATHOLOGY BY SIR JAMES CRIcH-

NOTEWORTHY CONTRIBUTION TO MENTAL
PATHOLOGY BY SIR JAMES erich
TON BROWNE.
o,oror,hv contribution 20 the literature OF
What NAV be tel med mental pathology has been
made by the eminent British authority Sir James
Crichton Browne. in lecture on Dreamy mental
States" which he delivered some weeks ago d. inc
o,rual "Csvendish lecture" and which has just
hoen unfinished in London by Ballere, Tindal COX
II ,ar,ne what he terms a 'by-path OF pathology,
the lecturer points out that the consideration OF
certain mental conditions met with Ill naily ne
nossesses literary and Philosophical interest IN
addition TO their great medical sgnihcance' lie
might have gone further and referred TO the univer-
cal fascination OF the phenomena OF what are
var,ously known as dreamy mental states. vo-
,urirous mental states and intellectual aurae'
unon the popular lay mind as distinguished
from the professional
The earliest least ominous and most FAMILIAR
or,mple OF a manifestation OF symptoms which
~ Isc,urer nroceeds to show are most probably
nromoni,ions OF epilepsy. Is the odd indeiinable
feeling which seems to have been experienced In
greater or less degree by most people OF what we
are saving or doing having been done In remote
time; of our having been surrounded aim ages ago
Inv the same faces objects and circumstances OF our
knowing perfectly well what Will be SAID next. as
a. ,pa suddenly remembered It. To the testimony
OF Charles Dickens In David Copperheid is added
that OF Sir Walter Scott. Rossett' ohVer "enden
Holmes Wordsworth Coler!dse. James Russell
Lowell Tennyson, Coventry Patmore and Thomas
Hardy As TO another form OF dreamy state. Lord
Beaconsaeld is quoted: Il was not always assured
NJ my identity or even existence for | sometimes
found It necessary to be sure that / lived, and
was in the habit very often at night OF taxing down
a volume and looking into 1t for my name to be
convinced that had not been dreaming OF my
self"
hat
dItons are OF universal prevalence does not meet
with the assent OF the lecturer
No doubt these dreamy states are very common
among us at the present that thew are by no means
all-embracing and that while they anouhn among
thev are comparatively rare among the unletered.
the prosaic and the stolid masses OF our people.
The difficulty OF getting information about them IS
considerable for those who have experienced them
generally manifest a dsinciinatlon 70 taik aD S
Them from a not unwarrantable suspicion that they
are somehow morbid in their nature, and those
who nave not experienced them cannot cohlprehend
SearinS on them With levity like that Of the young
American who. when nerr9satea resPectg the m
replied that he never lighted cheroot without me
deepest conviction that ne had done the very same
thing not once but many times peiorei n,,;
little careful investigation az 10 ther GstLIpu ,h
will satisfied. conduct to the c9ncusion mat nat
dreamy mGn'a ninivsrsa and cannot with proprety
he called normal phenomena. The fact Is that they
emerge n cny occurrne in child under eight years
Of age, O.. In a man or woman OF less thah average
mental development
Later on Sir James makes significant compari-
son between specified forms Of mental dream
states and the results OF the inhalation Of certain
anaesthetics notably nitrous oxide. and the dier-
ent effects upon various temperaments are curious
" marked and In singular accord with the foregoing
remarks upon the temperaments affected by the
quas-morbid mental phenomena. After describing
the exalted sensations accompanying nitrous oxide
ntoxicaton. he adds:
But these thoughts and feelings. although al,
r,ngs rom simple sense Of we-being and
ioyment ND 10 the most magnificent conceptions.
determined good deal by the personal equation.
In persons OF average mental calibre they are
able; but in persons Of superior intellectual power
they become thrilling and apocayptc a work
coyery that he felt very Happy just if he had
had too much beer N b ana had been for one
Tapt moment made plain to nm ont Gn 'e
Even more interesting though perhaps little
beside the main question. is the strong confirmation
of this view afforded by the experiments OF Sir
Humphry Davy by means OF this anaesthetc
agent on himself and on his friends:
Describing the effects cts S Gn hms s IF SSSSTy
Dayy says: MY emotions were enthusiastic ana
sOSerss made dars the 70
feeble and indistinct; one collection or terms
pnd prophetie manner excIamed Nothing ex-
lists but thought; the universe Is composed OF i'm,
was awakened from this semi-delrious trance.
Indignation and pride were the first feelings pro-
another occasion Davy remarks: ''The sensations
were SO intense and pure as to absorb existence
But Davy experimental not merely on himself
but on his friends with nitrous OXIDE and or as
worth and DR., Roget we have in their observations
the best possible evidence as to on 0eeTa Of hs
intellectual endowment Well: their evidence is
uniformly to the effect that the gas Induces de-
feelings heroic
Indeed. of all anaesthetics nitrous oxide seems 10
| thoughts il Induces In cultivated people, and there
fore in the lines and order Of the higher nerve
centres In them
| SO far, there is nothing very alarming In the
discourse OF the lecturer. He is not however, adj
dressing a serious body OF professional men for
| the mere purpose OF talking pleasantly about men
tai manifestations OF purely academical interest.
His grave purpose soon takes shape. lie declares;
OF perfect mental health and FIRST
step in series Of changes which extending through
ne en coma or oblteration Of mind hope to show
that these dreamy states, so far from being normal
curing in presumably healthy persons involve dis
order Of mind, triflng and transient no doubt IKE
nevertheiess. dependent on A defect OF conscious
ness In one direction, indicated by vaguencss as
sciousness in another direction, indicated by the
too Vivid revival OF former surr9hndnss mere rs
| OF the highest centres. and a positive element in
the raised activity OF other netgous
| akin ia those which take place during the activity
! OF the imagination and flights OF genius.
| In other words, are solemnly warned against
the dread scourge OF epepsy-remoie, In many
cases no doubt but not so far removed as to allo"
the subjects 10 regard the habit with anything APP
preaching equanimity .
! Ueight-terroi is frequent symptom, and the
lecturer ouotes A notable instance
| -, tr,end Of Arthur Hugh Clough once told me
~, an ono occasion on which the poet was visit
ing him in Wales he took him for walk ana con;
mich formed the parapet OF huge CHI WIN a
heer descent of three hundred four hundred feet