A new view of insanity. The duality of the mind proved by the structure, functions, and diseases of the brain, and by the phenomena of mental derangement, and shewn to be essential to moral responsibility. With an appendix ..

Front matter

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YALE MEDICAL LIBRARY HISTORICAL LIBRARY

Preface

In looking over the following pages for the purpose of making an index to their contents, I am struck with the conviction, that (were it now to be commenced) it would be easy to execute the task much better. There are occasional negligences which ought to have been avoided, and tautology that in offending the ear is not compensated by additional force and clearness. There are also some errors in the succession of the paragraphs and chapters, and repetitions of inferences which had been already drawn and established.

The last fault, however, is not always unintentional; whenever the facts, arguments, and illustrations, seemed to lead naturally to the conclusion, I have not hesitated to proceed to it at once, although aware that, in other chapters of the book, I had already drawn the same inferences, perhaps in the same terms, from dissimilar facts, imparallel arguments, and totally different illustrations.

I know, by experience, that works of this kind are rarely read consecutively, and therefore do not trust to the desultory reader the task of drawing the conclusion from the whole collocation of evidence. The few men of science who may carefully peruse the book from title-page to colophon, will, I hope, see enough

VI PREFACE.

to convince them that the defects arise rather from an unpractised pen, than from ignorance of the subject, or of the proper mode of treating it, did time and leisure admit of recasting the whole. Should the public be sufficiently interested by the novelty and importance of the theory to call for a second edition, I will endeavour to remove them.

The eminent geometricians who were employed on the trigonometrical survey of the country some years ago, did on one occasion lose their way, and were set right by a ploughman. I do not fancy myself capable of making a trigonometrical survey even of the department I have selected, but shall be satisfied with the concession of the ploughman's degree of merit, if it be found that I have liberated investigators from the quagmires and obscurities of the jungle, and pointed out a clear and practicable road to the object of their hitherto confessedly futile pursuit.

Lest however the possession of this degree of modesty be denied me, I will use another and a different illustration.

If to the rope by which the animal is tethered to the spot we make an addition equal only to one-half of its original length, we have more than doubled the space to which he was previously confined. In like manner if I have added but a few links to the short and galling chain that binds us to the earth, I shall have largely increased the field of discovery, and paved the way, I hope, for better workmen. The only limit to our researches on the nature of the mind, will ultimately be the boundary fixed by the Almighty to the powers of the human intellect — a point from which we are yet immeasurably distant. When we shall have

PREFACE. vii

cultivated all the faculties which He has bestowed upon us, to their full extent and perfection, then indeed will come the Millennium — an issue towards which we are steadily and rapidly advancing.

" God never meant that man should scale the heavens By strides of human wisdom."

Even should it be found that two or three persons have slightly indicated a slight guess at a slight portion of the theory I am attempting to establish, my ideas are not the less original, for no suggestion reached me till more than twenty years after I had completely arranged the whole in my own mind. The previous hints may diminish the merit, but not the value of my demonstration. If I can firmly fix the latter in the convictions of the public, it is all I desire to accomplish. — The originality may be denied without giving me the slightest pain.

He who just indicates or asserts that a certain block of marble contains a beautiful statue is not, however, placed exactly on the same level with the sculptor who clears away the rubbish and gives it form and expression. The simple fact of the vaccine disease being a preservative from small-pox was known a century before the birth of Dr. Jenner, but it was he who elaborated the proofs and established the practice. If my theory be proved beyond cavil, I may surely claim some portion of similar merit; for (if there be no defect in the mental telescope) it involves distant consequences of much greater importance than vaccination.

"It is with theories as with wells" (says Swift), " you may see to the bottom of the deepest, if there be any water there, while another shall pass for

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wondrous profound, when 'tis merely shallow, dark, and empty."

The single point on which I am inclined to modify my assertions is the structure and office of the corpus callosum, respecting which, some new views have been opened to me by very recent dissection — they do not, however, in any respect interfere with the notions I have expressed as to the nature of the mind ; and as the candidates for the college prize of the current year* will probably throw considerable light on this obscure subject, I do not, on the present occasion, put forth my own as yet crude and imperfect opinions.

I will only add, in anticipation and deprecation of critical censure, that a man cannot well be accused of precipitation or presumption who waits till his sixtieth year to promulgate opinions he has held during half his life with daily increasing conviction ; which he believes to be of the greatest importance in medicine, morals, and jurisprudence — in the management of the insane — in the treatment of criminals — the education of youth — and, above all, in the discipline of imperfect, defective, and distorted minds.

ARTHUR LADBROKE WIGAN.

Cray don, November, 1844.

* The distribution of the cerebral fibres.

Contents

PAGE

Chapter I. — Introduction. — Unsettled State of Mental Philosophy

A new Instrument for its Investigation — Mind and Soul . . 1

.Chapter II. — Origin of the Work. — Rev. J. Barlow on Man's Power over himself to prevent and control Insanity. — High Intellectual Cultivation of the Clergy. — There can be no discrepancy between the Word and the Works of God 8

Chapter V Disclaimer of Materialism. — Mind in its popular sense

connected with the Material World by means of our Physical Organization. — Use of the Ganglionic System .... 32

Chapter VI. — Progress of my own Convictions. — Proofs that one Cerebrum may be destroyed, yet the Mind remain entire. — Examples from Conolly, Johnson, Cruveilhier, Abercrombie, Ferriar, O'Halloran, and others. — Reflections.- — Case of Cardinal, from Dr. Bright's Work.— Early Remarks of Dr. Gall . . 38

Chapter VII. — Quotation from Quarterly Review. — Comparison with a Theatre. — Pinel. — Double Volition from Cerebral disturbance, caused by great anxiety 55

Chapter VIII. — False Perceptions. — Errors of the Organs of Sense.

Example of Delusion. — My own Delusion. — Case of Nicolai

and Dr. Bostock.— Case of Cerebral disturbance from diffused Gout.— Double Mind. — Self-Restraint.— Case of Moral Insanity 65

Chapter IX.— Sentiment of Pre-existence. — Explanation.— Princess Charlotte's Funeral.— Impressions on the Senses— Phrenology.— Clergyman with opposing Convictions. — Remarks of Mr. Solly. — Cerebellum. — Antagonism of the two Brains .... 84

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Chapter X.— Examination of the Opinions of Dr. Holland— Comparison of the Theory with a new Railway. — The Brain as a Double Organ.— Examples of the Double Mind.— Inferences.— Mode in which alone they can he drawn from Examination after death of the Insane .... .... 100

Chapter XI. — Power of resting one Brain. — Castle Building.— Case of Delusion from Pride.— Another from Reverse of Fortune. — Equivocal Hallucination. — Case of a Painter. — Gentleman who saw his own self.— Lady who thought herself Mary Queen of Scots ...••■•••

Chapter XII. — Dr. Abercrombie's Treatise on the Mental Powers. — Cases of Hallucination. — Cerebral disturbance without Disease. — Morbid appearances on Dissection. — Hallucination confined to a single point. — Nature and Causes of Insanity. — Circumstances in which argument may be addressed to the Insane . . 133

Chapter XIII. — Two Processes carried on together.— Counting Steps. — Objections to the Explanation. — The animal is created Dual at first. — Gradually joined. — Moral Responsibility. — Considerations on Phrenology. — Differences in Form and Texture at the base of the Brain . 148

Chapter XIV. — Phrenology continued. — Case of Spectral Illusions, and commencement of Moral Insanity, cured by Bleeding. — other Cases. — Mental Pictures by an Artist. — Inability to remember Faces. — Inability to distinguish Dreams from Realities. — Robert Hall and Cowper 163

Chapter XV. — Diffused Disorder affects only one side. — Death of Dr. Wollaston. — Imbecility compatible with high Moral qualities. — Story of the two Children. — Character changed by a Spicula of Bone. — Case of antagonist Convictions in a Clergyman . .176

Chapter XVI. — Case of Mr. Percival. — Reflections. — Diseased

Chapter XVII. — Definition of Insanity. — Comparison of the Watch. — Dr. Conolly's Inquiry into the Indications of Insanity. — Proofs of Double Mind in that Work. — Examples of rapid Transition of Thought. — Of two concurrent Trains of Thought.

Forms of Mental disturbance.— Mr. Barlow.— Examples of two antagonist Volitions. — Moral and Medical objects of Dr. Conolly's work .... for page 115 read 211

Chapter XVIII. — Apology for quoting largely from established Writers. — Long case of Moral Insanity from Dr. Pritchard.— Remarks thereon. — Danger of allowing large latitude to equivocal Responsibility— Progress of Depravity — Other Cases from Dr. Pritchard.— Dr. Hawkins— Early Inference drawn by myself from similar Cases .... ... 244

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Chapter XIX. — Progress of Insanity. — Unimportance of the Mode in which it is manifested. — Varieties in the condition of the Blood. — Miracles. — False Perceptions. — Nature of Insanity. — Catalepsy.- — Ganglionic System. — Rarity of Insanity. — Moral Reflections 260

Chapter XX. — Difficulty of deciding the Point at which Insanity begins. — Mathematicians and Artists. — Increase of Mental Powers. — Madness of Volition. — Negligent Volition. — Power of controlling Hereditary tendency to Insanity. — Self-control of Lunatics. — Medical Jury 277

Chapter XXI. — Distinction between Folly and Imbecility. — Possibility of cultivating an imperfect Brain into average Intellect. — Education not to be hurried. — Frauds of Tutors. — Precocious Intellect. — Examples of Cruelty in forcing premature Development. — A peculiar form of Cerebral Irregularity. — Dr. Haslam on Sound Mind and Insanity. — Power of selecting or discarding a subject of Thought.— Associations ....... 295

Chapter XXII. — ■Hysteria. — Hypochondriasis. — Hydrophobia . 322

Chapter XXIII. — Difficulty of obtaining information of the early Pathological State. — Dr. Greding's Reports. — Impropriety of classing Idiots with the Insane. — -Attempts to educate Idiots. — Opinions of Georget on Disease of the Brain as the cause of Insanity . ...... . . 332

Chapter XXIV. — Change in the Brain from exercise of it Fibres. — Instinct and Reason. — Jacobi's Remarks on the Intellect of Insects. — Ratiocination of an Elephant and of Spiders .... 343

Chapter XXV. — Dr. Macnish, on the Philosophy of Sleep.— Argumentative Dreams. — Conscience. — Somnambulism. — Absence of Mind. — Moral Apoplexy. — Speech given by Terror. — Coma. — Sudden Restoration of the Faculties ...... 360

Chapter XXVI. — Dr. Brigham on the Effect of Mental Cultivation. —Mind and Son! — Gradual extinction of Faculties by Pressure on the Brain. — Restoration on removing it. — Summary of the Argument on the distinction between Mind and Soul . . . 381

Chapter XXVII. — Double or alternate Consciousness.- — Double Identity. — Four States of the Brain from Injury. — Explanation of the alternate Consciousness. — Action of the Cerebral Fibres — ■ their number. — Powers of the Microscope . . . .391

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Chapter XXVIII. — Rev. J. Barlow on the connexion between Physiology and Intellectual Philosophy. — State of the Brain when its higher Faculties are not called into action. — Reason why there should be Two Organs of Thought. — Mr. Hewitt Watson's Essay on the use of the Double Brain ...... 399

Chapter XXIX. — Power of abstaining from Evil. — Calvinistic Doctrines. — Great Concert of Nature. — Effect of the new Theory, if adopted. — Quotation from J. B. Rousseau. — Change by Conversion. — Proposal of early restraint in Insanity. — Amendment of the Criminal Law. — Concluding Parable . . . . .412 , t

Appendix I. — On the Influence of Religion on Insanity . . . 427 Appendix II. — Conjectures on the Nature of the Mental Operations 437 Appendix III. — On the Management of Lunatic Asylums . . 448

ERRATA.

Page 18, second line from bottom, for "spinal" read " special."

— 128, line 17, read " Brinvilliers and Cenis."

— 384, for " predicted" read "predicated."

DUALITY OF THE MIND.

Chapter I. Introduction Unsettled State Of Mental Philosophy A New

INSTRUMENT FOR ITS INVESTIGATION MIND AND SOUL.

The spot of earth on which he stands seems to every man the centre of the world, as the highest point of the heavens is always immediately over his head. This feeling is one of the modifications of self-love, a principle which, like the law of gravitation, keeps each group of particles in its place, and the whole of the groups in harmonious combination and unity. It is through the influence of this universal sentiment that each single point in the wilderness of knowledge seems, to him who sets himself to its investigation, more important than all others, and thus excites an interest disproportioned perhaps to its intrinsic value. Without this extrinsic interest, however, few men would give themselves the continuous labour of examination and consideration; life indeed is not long enough to allow any individual to benefit mankind by the results of diffused researches into various departments of knowledge. By confining himself to a single topic, and pursuing it with zeal and perseverance, any man of ordinary capacity and acquirements may elicit new

if B and useful truths, more or less important according to the subject he has selected, and his own powers of investigation. Whatever we thus place under the mental microscope is found to possess forms and qualities which the cursory view of ordinary vision passes by unnoticed; and it is no wonder then that those who have not subjected it to a similar rigid examination, should hesitate or refuse to acquiesce in the importance of the pretended discovery. Making every allowance for this source of erroneous estimation of the relative value of our own researches and those of others, I cannot but think that the subjects treated of in the following pages are amongst the most important which can occupy the attention of a rational being. Researches into the nature and modes of manifestation of the august faculty of Reason seem to be the very foundation of all positive knowledge ; and when these researches can be pursued by means of physical evidence, it is clearly an imperative duty to exhaxist, as far as possible, all such testimony, before we enter on the wild region of metaphysics.

The unsettled state of mental philosophy in the present day is such as to justify any man in the endeavour to throw light on a subject so dark and intricate, more especially if the discovery of a new instrument seem to give new and extraordinary facilities for the investigation. Physiological reasoning could advance but a little way till the circulation of the blood was ascertained; and whatever may be the degree of merit awarded to myself on the present occasion, I cannot but think that I bring to the investigation of the mental phenomena in health and disease a new power, of at least equal importance, and capable of equally satisfactory demonstration.

Mr. George Combe remarks as follows: — " Dr. Reid overturned the philosophy of Locke and Hume. Stewart, while he illustrated Reid, differed from him in many important particulars; and recently, Dr. Thomas Rrown has attacked with powerful eloquence and philosophical profundity the fabric of Newton, which already totters to its fall. The very existence of the most common and familiar faculties of the mind is debated among these philosophers. Mr. Stewart maintains attention to be a faculty, but this is denied by Dr. Brown. Others again state imagination to be a primitive power of the mind; whilst Mr. Stewart informs us that ' what we call the power of imagination is not the gift of nature, but the result of acquired habits, aided by favourable circumstances.' Common observation informs us that musical talent, and a genius for poetry and painting, are gifts of nature bestowed only on a few; but Mr. Stewart, by dint of his philosophy, has discovered that these powers, and also a genius for mathematics, " are gradually formed by particular habits of study or of business." On the other hand, he treats of perception, conception, and memory, as original powers; while Dr. Thomas Brown denies their title to that appellation. Reid, Stewart, and Brown, admit the existence of moral emotions; but Hobbes, Mandeville, Paley, and many others, resolve the sentiment of right and wrong into a regard to our own good, perception of utility, and obedience to human laws or the Divine command. Thus, after the lapse and labour of more than two thousand years, philosophers are not yet agreed concerning the existence of many of the most important principles of action and intellectual powers of man. While the philosophy of mind shall remain in this uncertain con-

b2 dition, it will be impossible to give to morals and natural religion a scientific foundation ; and, until these shall assume the stableness and precision of science, education, political economy, and legislation, must continue defective in their principles and application."

If this be a true representation of the present state of mental philosophy, I need make no apology for putting forth a theory which may tend to reconcile the discrepancy of opinion on such important subjects. I hope, at least, to point out a path which may lead others to a more open country, than the tangled maze they have hitherto pursued in vain.

If the facts and arguments advanced in the present work, and the inferences to which they lead, be admitted, it must be allowed that they furnish ample materials for the construction of a theory at once so novel and so important, that if its truth be established it may almost aspire to the honour of being called a discovery. This may seem too bold an assumption to him who commences the investigation, but after a patient perusal of the evidence, he will, I think, feel himself compelled to yield his assent to the claim.

I have carefully examined most of the established authors on the subject of the mind, and of its manifestations through a material organ, as well as those on the anatomy and physiology of the brain, and other writers on collateral subjects, and I cannot find one, except Dr. Holland, who has advanced a single step on the road to the important truth which I hope to establish; namely, that the mind is essentially dual, like the organs by which it is exercised. Even Dr. Holland does not follow up his own ideas to their legitimate consequences, nor arrive at the logical result to which they seem inevitably to lead, as I expect to shew in the course of my examination of the opinions he has promulgated in his essay " On the Brain as a Double Organ," contained in his profound and instructive work called " Medical Notes and Reflections."

A double organ the brain is not, but dual it is, as I shall prove beyond a shadow of doubt.

The word Mind is employed in so many different senses in ordinary discourse, that it will be necessary, on the present occasion, strictly to define its meaning before we can advance into the discussion on which 1 propose to enter; it is used so vaguely and so variously in different places by the same writer, that it is often difficult to understand the drift of his argument. By some it is held to be synonymous with soul, and by others considered as equivalent to the Principle of Vitality of animal life. According to Cruden, the word is used in the Holy Scriptures in nine different senses, and the word Soul, in five. With these varieties of signification we have nothing to do in the present disquisition, and I confine myself to the single object of shewing the absolute distinction between Mind and Soul. It seems to me that the use of these two words as convertible terms, is a serious obstacle to the freedom of investigation of the mental phenomena, and is at the root of all the difficulties which occur in the discussion of the intellectual faculties.

When I speak of Mind, then, I wish to be understood to signify the aggregate of the mental powers and faculties, whether exercised by one brain or two; and when I have occasion to allude to the Great, Immortal, Immaterial Principle, connected for a time with the material world by means of our physical organization— I shall call it by its proper name, the Soul.

The soul, however, is not in question on the present occasion; it lies in the domain of theology, into which I do not presume to enter. Of it we can know absolutely nothing through our own unaided faculties. Revelation alone can enable us even to conceive its nature, still more its destiny.

To attempt to form a conception of the abstract nature of the Mind, in the sense in which it is usually employed, or even of the vital principle, or of the essence of matter, is a pure misemployment of our time, and leads only to confusion; these things are beyond our comprehension, absolutely out of the reach of our faculties, and were probably so intended by the Creator. On these subjects the gigantic intellect of a Newton is as impotent as that of the uneducated peasant, or the child.

In contemplating my own mental powers, it seems to me that such investigations are as futile as the endeavour to ascertain what kind of structure it is which fits the inhabitants of the planet Mercury for their position so near the sun. We are wandering beyond the bounds assigned to human understanding. With the manifestations of these essences in their phenomena we are familiar, and can pursue the examination of them to a satisfactory result. The prospect beyond is covered with clouds and darkness, and our limited vision can penetrate no further.

I have listened to the reasonings of our greatest modern philosopher, on the essential nature of matter, with wonder, admiration, and alarm: — wonder, at the exhibition of mental powers, so vastly beyond the average of humanity; admiration, of the energy and perseverance with which they have been cultivated; and alarm, lest the physical structure of the material organ should be spoiled by such excessive exertion of its faculties.

" To see ourselves," says Lord Bacon, " we must look down." Let us humbly exercise within their proper bounds, the glorious faculties which it has pleased the Almighty to bestow upon us; and when we have finished our worldly task, and spun, like the silkworm, our allotted cocoon, let us wait till a more genial atmosphere shall call us to a higher destiny. When the chrysalis bursts from his torpor and his prison, and is furnished with wings, he has a wider horizon, a more extended view, and increased faculties for the enjoyment of happiness.

ORIGIN OF THE WORK.

Chapter II

ORIGIN OF THE WORK REV. j. BARLOW, ON Man's POWER OVER HIMSELF

TO PREVENT AND CONTROL INSANITY HIGH INTELLECTUAL CULTIVATION

OF THE CLERGY — THERE CAN BE NO DISCREPANCY BETWEEN THE WORD AND THE WORKS OF GOD.

The opinions here expressed on the nature of insanity, of the exercise of sound mind, and of the structure and functions of the brain, which give rise to these different states, are not of recent growth; they have occupied my attention for at least thirty years, and have appeared to me so clear, so well founded, and so obvious, that I have constantly wished to place them before the public, and have only been withheld from it by two considerations. The first, that inferences, apparently so irresistible, from facts so thoroughly established, must necessarily have been drawn by others, and that I should be contending for opinions already familiar to thinkers. Secondly, that my theory of the mental functions in health and disease was accompanied by moral corollaries, extremely perplexing and unsatisfactory ; which latter reason I naturally thought might have operated with others as well as myself, and would perhaps account for the silence of so many writers on a subject of such great interest and importance.

Longer consideration, and more extensive reading and experience, have convinced me that such fears were quite unfounded, and that, in seeking during so many years for objections to my theory, instead of confirmation of it, I have neglected a duty incumbent on every man, of promulgating a new and important truth.

This mode of proceeding has, however, had one advantage ; it has enabled me to anticipate or to refute, I believe, all the objections to the new doctrine. I have tried them in every way that my degree of intellect would permit, and believe them to be utterly unfounded.

It is not likely, however, that I should have put pen to paper on the subject, but for the perusal of a highly interesting little work, " On Man's Power over Himself to prevent or control Insanity," by the Rev. J. Barlow, the Secretary of the Royal Institution. I have read it with great interest and attention. The acute and able writer goes so near the truth, that to use the children's phrase, " he burns;" and I can only attribute the tangent he describes, on approaching the very verge of the discovery, to an influence which has misled many other men — an error in nomenclature; vitiating the ratiocination of some of the strongest minds which have been directed to the subject.

It is from no feeling of arrogance that I use this language respecting my superiors in mental power and acquirements. The idea has presented itself to my mind, and I have dwelt on it for more than a quarter of a century, without being able to find a single valid, or even plausible objection. It explains innumerable difficulties and contradictions; it is founded on anatomical evidence, capable of demonstration, and is in strict harmony with all we know, or can infer, of the designs of Providence in a world of progressive education.

" We must not say what good shall this thing do, for the use of every thing shall be found in its season, but we dare not disguise the truth."

In reading Mr. Barlow's work, I was struck with the candid and fearless spirit in which the subject was pursued. It is evident that the object of the writer was truth, and truth alone, and that he was not a man to be deterred from following up a process of rigid induction, by any apprehension of the logical inferences to which it might lead, and which might seem, perhaps, to clash with received opinions, deemed essential to the welfare and happiness of mankind. In the true and honest spirit of a Christian philosopher, he seems to have felt that God intended us to exercise all the reasoning faculties he has bestowed upon us, and that whatever truth was logically proved, must, in the end, be useful to man.

It was a great satisfaction to find, that in a book written by a clergyman, on natural science, there was no admixture of controversial theology. The clergy, as a body, are, beyond question, the best educated men in the kingdom, and the men who have most successfully cultivated the art of making efficient use of the reasoning faculties, — they are, therefore, admirable auxiliaries in the investigation of natural phenomena, when they will be contented to put aside, for the moment, their own peculiar science, which depends on proofs of a totally different nature. Moral evidence may be as cogent, conclusive, and satisfactory as physical evidence, but it must not be admitted as alone sufficient in the exact sciences. It has always appeared to me a desecration of theology, to mix it up with investigations of the physical laws of nature.

Whenever, hy the aid of anatomy, physiology, and pathology, we have clearly established, on irrefragable evidence, certain natural facts, we may rest entirely satisfied that, however they may at first appear opposed to the doctrines of theology, they will ultimately be explained and harmonized by theologians, so as to calm the apprehensions, and convey consolation and conviction to every devout Christian. To cite only two instances out of many : —

The doctrines of Galileo excited the sincere indignation of the clergy of his day, who most conscientiously persecuted him, and compelled him to disavow tenets believed to be in opposition to the Word of God. Time passed on, — his discoveries were universally received as truths, and now the clergy themselves teach the astronomical facts which were at first supposed to be blasphemous falsehoods.

In like manner, the new science of geology was opposed on its first introduction; not merely by clergymen, who naturally take alarm at any apparent attack on the system it is the object of their lives to explain and defend, but by great numbers of the laity, who also believed the discoveries of geologists to be opposed to the doctrines of the Church, and dangerous to the welfare of mankind. These discoveries, however, are now universally adopted, and taught by clergymen, who even declare that the immense duration of the earth, apparently established by this new and wonderful science, is in perfect harmony with the cosmogony of Moses.