Lectures on mental diseases

Front matter

®[fHp. . Sopnwgtffi f 0,3.4.0

Shell :?-

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Preface

The following lectures have been prepared as a basis for instruction in Mental Diseases to the medical students of Yale University. They are now published, in the hope that they may be of service not only to students in other Medical colleges and schools, but also to general practitioners.

The principal works consulted in their preparation are those of Ball, Dagonet, Voisin, Griesinger, Obersteiner, Lewis, Maudsley, Spitzka, and the excellent manual of Tuke and Bucknill. I gladly embrace the present opportunity to express my many obligations to the authors of these works.

I am indebted to my friend, Dr. Henry M. Hurd, for valuable suggestions, and to Dr. W. L. Worcester for assistance in proof-reading.

I have used illustrations for the first few pages of the introductory lecture, three of which are from Blackburn's " Manual of Autopsies," and twelve from Obersteiner's work on " Central Nervous Organs."

An Appendix, comprising the most important parts of the laws of the several States and Territories, relating to the duties and responsibilities of physicians concerning the insane at the present time, will be found convenient for reference.

Hartford Retreat, Hartford, Conn., December ij, i8g2.

vii

Contents

LECTURE I.— THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF THOUGHT.

Advance in the Study of the Minute Anatomy of the Brain — Lobes, Convolutions and Fissures of the Brain — The cortex cerebri — Grey matter of the Brain — Central Ganglia — Optic Thalami — The Striate Bodies — Two Kinds of Nerves, the Sensory and Motor — Anatomy of the Nerves — Anatomical Arrangements of the End Organs of Sense — Functions of the Nerves — ■ The Transmission of Irritations to and from the Cortex — Functions of Nerve-cells and Nerves Contrasted — Transformation of Irritations into Sensations — The Thought-process in its Relation .to the Molecular Activities of the Nerves and Cells of the Cortex— The Evolution of Sensations, Perceptions, Thoughts, Purposes, and Opinions — The Mind, Per sonality, Ego — Views of Different Authors — Nerve-energy — Agents which Affect it — Measurement of its Degree of Action — Derangement of its Normal Action the Initial Element of Insanity, pp. 9-47

LECTURE II.— HALLUCINATIONS— ILLUSIONS.