Mental hygiene

Front matter

Class 5~V

Book ,S %2l

SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT

Preface

TO THE SECOND EDITION

The previous edition of the following work having been fcr some years exhausted, and frequent inquiries for it having been made of the author, he has taken advantage of his earliest leisure to prepare, a second edition. In doing this he has re-written nearly the whole volume, and added to it a large amount of new matter. The division of the chapters is left the same as in the previous edition, — though each has been more or less enlarged — and the general arrangement of the subjects has not been essentially altered. That this edition will be found improved by the labors bestowed upon it, is a hope with which the author ventures to natter himself, but on this point it is for others to decide.

Fort Washington, City of New- York, August 6th, 1850.

Introduction

Whatever speculative views we may entertain in regard to mind — however distinct in its nature we may deem it to be from matter — of the fact that it is essentially involved with our organic structure, and that "between the two a reciprocation of influence is constantly and necessarily maintained, we are sufficiently assured. Of the mental constitution and its laws, we have not the faintest knowledge except as they reveal themselves through the medium of certain material conformations. Wherever these are discovered we are convinced that mind is, or has been, conjoined with them. Without such arrangements of matter, its astonishing phenomena have never been disclosed to us.

The mutual relationship and constant interchange of action subsisting between our mental and corporeal natures, can scarce have escaped even the most careless observation. Let the functions of either be disturbed, and more or less disorder will straightway be reflected to those of the other,. The hardiest frame must suffer under the agita-

Vlll INTRODUCTION.

tions and afflictions of the mind ; and the firmest mind cannot long remain unharmed amid the infirmities and sufferings of the body.

Mind and body ought always to be studied together, and under their mutual and necessary relationships, otherwise our views of the animal constitution will be limited and erroneous. It has been said, that the less we know of the corporeal, the more we fancy we know of the spiritual world ; and the contrary is doubtless equally true. He whose researches are altogether physical, or altogether metaphysical, is very liable to become exclusively material, or exclusively spiritual in his views.

The leading design of the present volume, as implied in its title, is to elucidate the influence of intellect and passion upon the health and endurance of the human organization. The character and importance of this influence has, it is believed, been but imperfectly understood and appreciated by mankind at large- Few, we imagine, have formed any adequate estimate of the sum of bodily ills which originate in the mind. Even the medical profession, concentrating their attention upon the physical, are very liable to neglect the mental causes of disease, and thus are patients sometimes subjected to the harshest medicines of the pharmacopoeia, the true origin of whose malady is some inward and rooted sorrow, which a moral balm alone can reach.

The work wo are introducing will be divided into two Tarts. Under the fir.^t we shall consider the intellectual

Operations in new of their influence upon the general functions of the body: hut as their effeots on the vita] economy

INTRODUCTION. IX

are less forcibly marked, and less hazardous to its welfare than those belonging to the passions, only the smaller portion of the volume will be embraced by this division.

The Second Part will comprise a view of the moral feelings or passions in the relation which they also bear to our physical nature. Of these we shall, in the first place, offer a general definition, and such a classification of them as will be deemed necessary to our leading design. Next we shall point out their effects upon the different functions of the constitution ; and then describe some of the most important of the individual passions belonging to the three great classes — pleasurable, painful, and mixed — into which it is proposed to separate them ; thus taking occasion to examine more intimately their physical phenomena, and particular influence on the well-being of the human organism. And then we shall make some remarks upon the effects of the imagination ; aiming to show how this faculty of the mind, when uncontrolled and disorderly, tends to weaken the nervous system, and injure the general health. The imagination here acting through the instrumentality of the passions morbidly excited by its licentious operation, such a consideration of it will not be inapposite to the design of the present treatise.

As the^work before us is not addressed to any particular class of readers, technical expressions will be carefully avoided, and its matter be rendered as plain and comprehensible as the nature of the subject will allow. And as truth, so far at least as the author can penetrate his own feelings, is its grand aim ; all mystical speculations and

X INTRODUCTION.

ungrounded theories, whether of a metaphysical or moral nature, will be scrupulously excluded from its pages.

Such, then, is a summary exposition of the plan and purpose of the present volume, and the author has only to hope that the principles advocated in it may not be wholly unprolific of good, and that it may subserve, in a measure at least, the great end for which it was prepared.

CONTENTS. -

Chapter I

Man's Intellectual Nature briefly compared with that of the Animals next below him in the Scale of Life, . . . page 27

Chapter II

A judicious exercise of the Intellectual Faculties is promotive both of Health and Happiness. — Human Nature must advance through the Development of Intellect. — Evils resulting from Mental Inactivity. — Intellectual Pursuits do not necessarily abbreviate Life. — Examples of Longevity among Ancient and Modern Scholars, . . 41

Chapter III

Evil consequences that may be apprehended from overtasking the Intellectual Powers. — Rules proper to be observed by Studious Men for the security of their Health. — The ability to sustain Intellectual Labors varies in different Individuals, and consequently the proportion of time that may be safely dedicated to Study, . . 55

Chapter IV

The Intellectual Operations are necessarily associated, to a greater or less extent, with Passion. — Those Mental Avocations which elicit the strongest Moral Feelings are most Detrimental to Health, 66

Xll CONTENTS.

Chapter V

Mental Labors are less fatiguing and injurious when diversified than when confined to some one particular subject. — A temperate exercise of the Intellect, united with Habitual Muscular Activity, is most favorable to the general Health of the System and to Longevity. — Intellectual Faculties variously affected by different conditions of the Bodily Organs and Functions, .72

Chapter IX

General Remarks on the Evils and Advantages of the Passions. — The Physician should investigate the Moral as well as the Physical causes of Disease. — Individuals, from Temperament, Education, and various Incidental Circumstances, differ very Strikingly in the force and character of their passions, ....... 97

I'll U'TI'.li X.

The Passionfl become greatly Multiplied and Modified in Civilized Life. — The effect of the Passions is particularly manifested in the Vital Functions, aa in the Circulation, Digestion, Secretions, etc. — Certain

CONTENTS. Xlll

States of these Functions serve in like manner to awaken the different Passions. — Moral Infirmities of Men of Genius often due to those of a Physical Character. — Action and Reaction between Mind and Body, 105 r CHAPTER XI.

Wherein Real and Imaginary Afflictions differ from each other. — Incidental remarks naturally suggested by the Mutual Relations and Dependences of our Physical and Moral Constitutions, . .118

CHAPTER XII.

The Passions considered more particularly. — The Pleasurable Passions, with their effects on the Physical Functions, summarily noticed, 123

CHAPTER XIII.

General Phenomena of the Painful Passions as manifested in the Bodily Functions, ......... 136

CHAPTER XIV.

Anger. — Various Phenomena distinguishing the acute state of this Passion, 142

CHAPTER XV.

Anger, concluded. — Physical Effects of its Chronic Action. — It may be excited by Morbid States of the Bodily Organs, and thus be strictly Physical in its Origin, 153

CHAPTER XVI.

Fear. — Its Definition. — Being essential to Self-Preservation, it belongs Instinctively to all Animals. — Difference between Moral and Physical Courage. — Certain Conditions of our Bodily Organs and Functions beget a Morbid Timidity of Character. — Certain Instincts conquer Fear. — Delicate and Nervous Constitutions are sometimes endowed with a remarkable degree of Courage and Firmness, . .165

XIV CONTENTS

CHAPTER XVII.

Fear continued. — Acute Fear described, — Fascination has by some writers been ascribed to the extravagant influence of Fear. — Remarkable effects in the cure of Diseases that have often followed Excessive Fright, % . . .171

CHAPTER XVIII.

Fear continued. — Death is sometimes the consequence of Extravagant Fear. — Various Painful Diseases are not unfrequently the consequence of its operation. — The Terrors and Morbid Excitements of Religion are oftentimes followed by the most melancholy effects on Mind and Body. — These effects may become greatly extended through the principle of Imitation or Sympathy. — Terror may operate through the Mother on her Unborn Offspring. — Its effects on the Hair and different Secretions. — The Fears awakened in the Imagination during Sleep, when frequent and immoderate, may be fraught with serious injury to Health, 187

CHAPTER XIX.

Fear continued. — In its more Chronic Operation it becomes the occasion of various Prejudicial Effects in the Animal Economy. — Superstitious Fears in regard to Death are in many persons a cause of much suffering both to Body and Mind. — The manner in which this event should be regarded. — Danger of indulging the fancy of Children in talcs of Supernatural Terrors. — Fortitude operates as a wholesome stimulus both to Mind and Body, ..... 218

CHAPTER XX.

Fear concluded. — That peculiar modification of Fear termed Horror, summarily examinedj ....... 'i.'iO

CHAPTEK XX 1.

Grief.— General remarks upon this Passion. — The Acute Stage, or a Paroxysm <>i Grief described, with the Morbid and even Fatal effects of which it may be productive, ...... 343

CONTENTS. XV

CHAPTER XXII.

Grief continued. — Effects on the Economy from its more Slow or Chronic Action, 257

CHAPTER XXIII.

Grief continued. — Despair and Suicide. — Grief undergoes certain Modifications, and is more or less blunted by time, according to the natute of its causes. — Severe is often borne with more Resignation than Lighter Sorrow. — In Youth, Grief is apt to be Acute and Transient, in Age, Chronic and Lasting, . ... . . . 271

CHAPTER XXIV.

Grief concluded. — Mental Dejection and even Despair may be excited by Morbid States of our Bodily Organs. — Different Individuals, and even the same at different times, owing to Incidental Circumstances, show different degrees of Susceptibility to the Impression both of Moral and Physical causes. — Importance of a Cheerful and Happy Temper to the Health of Childhood. — Grief is appointed to all. — Life is apt to be regarded as Happy or Unhappy according to the Fortune which marks its close, . . . . . .314

CHAPTER XXV.

Envy and Jealousy. — Similar in their Nature. — Secret and Dangerous in their Operation. — Manifest themselves even in Infancy. — Injurious Effects of these Passions upon Health. — Shame. — Its Nature. — The Phenomena which attend it. — When Extreme may be fraught with danger to Health and even Life. — A frequent source of Suffering and Disease in a state of Society, ..... 327

CHAPTER XXVI.

Mixed Passions Defined. — Sexual Jealousy. — Its Morbid effects upon Mind and Body. — Bears a direct proportion to the strength of the Love on which it is based. — Avarice. — The Pleasurable and Painful Feelings belonging to it. — Effects on the Physical System. — Increases with Age, 338

XVI CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXVII.

Mixed Passions concluded. — Ambition. — General Consideration of it. — Its Nature defined. — Evils growing out of it when Inordinate. — The peculiar Political, as well as other circumstances of the American People, contribute greatly to the growth of Ambition. — Health and Happiness most often found associated with the Golden Mean, 349

CHAPTER XXVIII.

The Imagination when not properly Disciplined and Restrained, becomes a source both of Moral and Physical Disorder.— Causes of a Disorderly Imagination. — Erotic Melancholy or Monomania. — Has its origin often in an Uncontrolled and Romantic Imagination, and is frequently excited by an Unreasonable Indulgence in Novel Reading. — Its Description. — Its most common subjects. — The Nervous Temperament. — Securities against a Morbid Ascendency of the Imagination, and its consequent Nervous Infirmities, . . 362

CHAPTER XXIX.

General Conclusion. — The Intellectual Operations a far less frequent occasion of Disease than the Passions. — Examples Illustrative of the Influence exercised by the Mind upon the Bodily Functions. — Case of Col. Townshend, who could Die and come to Life again at Pleasure. — Our Physical Interest demands a Virtuous Regulation of the Moral Feelings. — Self-Reliance and Strong Volition essential to the perfection of Health and Character. — Moral Education of Children should be Early Commenced. — Duties of Parents. — Concluding Remarks, .......... 377

Chapter I

MAN ? S INTELLECTUAL NATURE BRIEFLY COMPARED WITH THAT OF THE ANIMALS NEXT BELOW HIM IN THE SCALE OF LIFE.

Man is distinguished from all other known animals, not only by his peculiar conformation of body — by his erect and dignified attitude — but by a far higher measure of intellectual endowment, and a consequently greater extension of his relations with external things. Remarkable, however, as this superiority of our species certainly is, still may it be questioned if, through human pride, it has not been something exaggerated, or a broader separation between us and the lower animals been assumed than Nature herself will acknowledge. Thus, by some metaphysical writers, all glimmerings of the higher mental faculties have been denied to brutes, and all their acts been ascribed to the direct inv pulse of a resistless instinct. This is evidently wrong; certainly in the physiological meaning of the word instinct. The simple animal instincts may be defined to be peculiar inward feelings, or sensations originating urgent wants or desires, which stimulate or call forth certain muscular actions, whose purpose or end is, by satisfying the want, to relieve the sensation that excited it ; the series of physical actions produced being always understood to take place independent of education or imitation, and without any foresight of the end to be attained by them. Or, to put the definition in another form : Instincts consist in particular physical conditions, and consequent sensations, impelling to some definite train of muscular movements, which contribute or are essential to the preservation of the individual, or the continuance of the species, and thus grow out of the " stimulus of necessity."

Abundant examples illustrative of the foregoing definitions of instincts might be adduced, but the appetites of hunger and thirst will be sufficient for our purpose. These instinctive wants or desires are originated or excited by physical conditions of the stomach, or system at large, which demand the supply of food and drink, and thereby serve as monitors to solicit the co-operative acts requisite to furnish such supply. Hence animals, so soon as born, and independent, therefore, of either education or imitation, go through, and as perfectly as ever afterward, all those complicated muscular movements needful to meet the calls of nutrition. Instinctive feelings, when simple and uncontrolled, almost uniformly elicit instinctive actions. Simple, undiscerning, undeviating instinct — admitting BUCh an unmixed principle — can obviously only exist in the humblest forms of animal life as the invertebrate. In the Lowest, even, <>!" the vertebratOj or vertebra] animals — those furnished with a Bpinal marrow and interna] bony system — some 1'iint glimmerings of an intelligent principle begin t<> show themselves, mingling with, modifying ami exercising some evident dominion over the mere instinctive operations. It is in this division of the animal kingdom that we begin to discover variations in individual character, in intelligence, in temper, &c. ; and the higher we ascend in it, the greater is the degree of such variations. " Thus every one knows that there are stupid dogs and good-tempered dogs, as there are stupid men or good-tempered men. But no one could distinguish between a stupid bee and a clever bee, or between a good-tempered wasp and an ill-tempered wasp, simply because all their actions are prompted by an unvarying instinct." *

Ascending in this division of animate being, we find the intelligent principle, with the faculty of reasoning, advancing, and apparently in correspondence with the development of the brain. And in man, whose brain is most fully developed — most complex in its fabric — the intellectual faculties are far more elevated than in any other example, as yet known, in animate nature. In him the instinctive propensities obviously become subject — though in different degrees in different individuals — to the nobler reasoning powers.

Instinct will, I think, be generally found in the inverse ratio of reason — the latter faculty rendering it less necessary to animal preservation. It ever seems to be proportioned to the necessities for it. In the infant, instinct being the more necessary in the absence of reason, we observe more obvious traces of it than in the adult, though feeble compared with what the young of the inferior ani-

* Carpenter's Human Physiology.

mals present. The human female shows undeniable evidences of a necessary instinct, in her strong love for her offspring on the instant of its birth, and sometimes even before its birth ; in her impulsive desire to nourish it ; her ceaseless care in its preservation, and her indomitable energy in its defence from danger. Unless her nature be perverted by disease, or entirely depraved by vice, the human can at first no more escape such instinctive feelings than the brute mother. But in the latter, they are transient — lasting only while their young need their protection ; and, in some, they are evinced merely by the careful preparation for the welfare of their offspring before they come into existence ; whereas, in the former, they soon becoming mingled with, modified, widened and strengthened, by feelings and principles far more exalted — of a moral and intellectual character — we have, growing out of such combination, the most devoted, the most enduring, the most self-sacrificing of all human affections — a mother's love.

Jn the savage condition of man, especially as witnessed in the inferior races, the instinctive propensities are more marked, active, dominant, than in his state of civilization and intellectual advancement. In individual men, too, it will appear as a general truth, that the more eminently developed are the higher faculties of the mind, the less will be the instinctive! manifestations.

In living nature, all naturalists, I believe, admit, that there exists something like a gradually ascending chain, rising from the humblest plant, passing through the zoophyte, or transition link, to the animal scale, and so upward to man — its highest limit as yet disclosed to human intelligence. In tracing, too, this rising chain of life, it will be seen that structure and function ever advance in a corresponding relation — the general development of the former being an unerring measure of the perfection of the latter. Thus, on reaching the naturalist's second great division of the animal kingdom, vertebrata, or that to which belong a brain and spinal marrow, we begin, as I previously remarked, to discover, in addition to the simple instinct which probably alone governs the lower or brainless animals, some faint evidences of powers of a higher mould, and which grow more and more clear, in proportion as the organization, particularly of the brain, approaches nearer and nearer to that

of our own. Hence, in the class of animals whose brain

t and general nervous system most closely resemble man's, do

we det( ct the rudiments of nearly all the human mental faculties, and consequently an approximation, imperfect, to be sure, still an obvious approximation to a rational nature. Although this gradation in the vegetable and animal kingdom — this gradual rise from the humblest to the loftiest organic forms — is sufficiently obvious in its general features, yet it cannot be denied that, in its particular parts, it will sometimes be found less direct and simple than might be inferred from the statements of many naturalists. Still, that there is a general, and mostly an easy advance in organic structure and function, will scarce be contradicted.

A question here presents itself, How widely is man removed from the most manlike of the inferior animals % Do his reasoning powers differ from those of the latter in degree only, or in kind 1 Is he raised in his nature out of the pale of the animal kingdom? Is there no easy gradation to the human link in the chain of life, or is the breach wider here than at any other point ? Or may not the step from the highest race of the ape to the most humble of our own, be really easier than human pride has been generally willing to acknowledge ?

The Asiatic orang-outang, simia satyrus, bo th as respects structure and mental powers, would seem to claim as near a kindred to humanity, as any other known animal. It has been, I believe, hitherto found only in the Islands of Borneo and Sumatra, in the Indian Ocean. The Malays believe this animal to possess rational faculties, and the power of speech, which he cunningly avoids exercising lest he should be put to work, — the black races always regarding labor as a great punishment. Cuvier believed, and the opinion is not improbable, that the powerful pongo of Borneo, of whose courageous and manlike acts we have such marvellous accounts, is only the adult simia satyrus. The specimens of this animal that have been transported to Europe or the United States, having been all young, and falling victims to an ungenial climate and unsuitable food, before attaining their full physical or mental maturity, our knowledge of the utmOBt development of its capacities must consequently be but imperfect : still, even under Buch adverse circumstances have been able to contemplate these animals, have they astonished ae by their display of the habits and feelings of our own nature. But the accounts given by travellers of tlie orang-outang in its native condition, and its close imitations of the actions of man, even making the fullest allowance for exaggeration, excite our still higher wonder.

The chimpanzee, simia troglodytes, an African ape, would appear, from recent examinations made by naturalists, to approximate in structure and function even closer to the human species than the Asiatic orang-outang, to which we have just been alluding. How near, therefore, these remarkable animals in a propitious climate, and under a well devised plan of instruction, might be brought to the inferior races of mankind, our data are insufficient to warrant an opinion. Placed beside the cultivated European, the distinction both in their structure and mental endowments is broad indeed, but it becomes much lessened when the comparison is made, — and such is the only just one,— with the lowest of our own species, as the savage New Hollander or the Bosjesman Hottentot. But then man differs widely enough even from the most manlike of the brute creation, to warrant naturalists in not merely ranking him as a distinct species, but in placing him in a separate order. No one would now entertain the ridiculous notion of Monboddo and Rousseau, that man is nothing more than an ape, improved under moral and physical influences. Nor should I be willing to admit him, on the system of progressive development of Lamarck, and the author of the Vestiges of Creation, to be but a monkey advanced through this principle of development one step upward in the ascending scale of life; but I would rather choose to regard him as a species, from his primary creation, distinct from that of all other animate beings. 2*

Man would appear, on the evidence of geology, to be among the latest, as he is the most perfect of organic creations. And it would almost seem as though nature, through successive destructions and new creations, had been progressively advancing in her living structures, gradually improving upon her early types, to the occupants of the present and last surface of our earth. According to the distinguished geologist Cuvier, the globe on which we dwell is composed of various layers or strata of rocks, those on which all the others rest being the most ancient, and of course representing the first or internal stratum. On this primitive stratum animals existed, but only of the lowest forms. Then upon this comes another layer, the surface of the primary, with all its inhabitants, having been overwhelmed by some dread convulsion. Here again, in the lapse of time, other living beings succeeded, but as is inferred from their abundant organic remains, of a somewhat more advanced construction. Thus has revolution after revolution been going on, each succeeded by new worlds of life, until we come to the present surface, or the alluvial deposits, — not the result of any grand convulsion, — in which the remains of animals now existing arc alone discoverable. These views of" Cuvier do not accord in all their points with those derived from more recent geological observations. The primary rooka have been found destitute of organic remains, and hence are called azoic, implying absence of life. There then have been a period in the formation of our globe,

when there was an entire destitution of both animal and

table life; and furthermore, the organic relics found in some of the earlier geological formations, show a higher animal organization than is consistent with a regular or uniform progressive advancement in the scale of life. Still, it would seem to be true that at each new geological era, nature has made some general improvement on her previous animal structures, and that, therefore, on the present surface of the earth are found the most perfect and complicated, at the head of which stands man, the masterpiece of all earthly creations. He belongs alone to the present face of the globe, no fossil remains of him having ever been found in any of its older strata. He is the latest then, as well as the most perfect of the earthly works of creative power. Millions of ages, for aught we know, may have been spent in reaching the complicated organisms presented in man and other of the mammalia occupying the present face of the globe. And the inquiry cannot but come up in every reflecting mind : Is here the end, the consummation ? Is the world finished ? Has nature attained the summit of her scale ? Have these mighty revolutions of foregone times now ceased, and is man therefore to continue the terrestrial master-touch of his Maker ? Or, in the course of ages, may not yet another convulsion arise, desolating the present surface of the earth, and on the new one which succeeds, nature make a still further advance in animal life, and produce a race of beings as much excelling man as he does any prior creation ? • And yielding a little license to the fancy, may we not imagine the learned naturalists on this new crust, puzzling their wits over the fossil bones of our own proud race, and marvelling to what humble order of beings they could have belonged ?

Analogy would certainly favor the belief, that the present face of our globe is at some future time to be swept over by the hand of desolation ; when, or through what destroying influence, the human mind can form no conjecture. Thousands of ages may first elapse, or physical causes, of which man can have no prescience, may be now at work in the Universe, preparing the way for a speedy consummation of this dread convulsion. To my mind there appears more evidence for believing that nature has advancedin her scale of animal life through successive destructions, and new and improved creations, than by the system of progressive development, or the gradual transformation of one species into another and of a higher character, put forth many years ago by Lamarck, and recently revived and somewhat modified in that beautifully written, though we are compelled to add, too fanciful work, the Vestiges of Creation. But then this whole subject of cosmogony, or world-making, is so obscure and difficult, so wanting in well established data, that I 'fear we can make little out of it unless we admit some aid from the imagination.

In conclusion of this somewhat desultory chapter, let us brieflv inquire how the mine! of man differs from that of the inferior, even the most sagacious of the inferior animal. The human is distinguished from the brute mind in the far higher degree of its intellectual capacities, its immeasurable unprovability, and in the possession of moral sentiments, — but faint evidences of which are exhibited by any of the Lower orders of the animal creation. .Man alone, too, has li. a language, or the power of expressing his thought and feelings by words or articulate sounds. Many of the inferior species have doubtless some power of communicating with each other through sounds, combined with actions and gestures, but such is widely different from a vocal language, though probably all that their rude faculties and simple feelings require. Several birds, moreover, may be taught to pronounce words and even to repeat sentences ; but to associate thoughts with them is altogether above their power. They articulate mechanically, through imitation. Language implies a connected series, an association of ideas, a degree of intelligence which the brute mind cannot attain. It belongs only to the more exalted moral and intellectual capabilities of man, and these capabilities are dependent upon this power of speech for their full exercise and development.