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    INSANITY , PAST AND PRESENT. 307

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    Qp Insanity, Like Other Diseases, Change...

    which were framed for the welfare of both , soul and body . And the fact that among those thus presumed to be favored by special

    revelation , the far greater number were women , confirms the supposition ( now a well-established truth ) that women are more liable to

    insanity than men . But when the hallucinations were of a debased character , or were heterodox to the teaching" of the Catholic Church ,

    then the voice of pity was stifled , wondering admiration was exchanged for aversionand the unhappy creatures were either

    , burnt as heretics , or treated as those in whom Satan had taken up his abode .

    It is a singular fact that in this country the old romancers seldom alluded to insanity . Either as a people we were rarely attacked ,

    or else perchance to them this mysterious complaint was of too awful a character to be . carelessly approached ; and unable to assign

    natural causes for such affliction , they _jyersisted in imputing it to the agency of malevolent spirits , who were permitted to exert their

    power over mortals . Thus ascribed to demoniacal possession , leech-craft scarce ventured to interpose , and charms , spells , and

    exorcisms were the means generally resorted to in the emergency . It is with a sad smile that we now read in the quaint old legendary

    lore of the efficacy of certain springs , of herbs , and even of metals to arrest the disorder . The names of various wells in England can be

    traced to this belief , _esjDecially in Devonshire . Vervain , St . John ' s wortand the pimpernel were considered singularly beneficial ; their

    , sanative _properties much increased "when gathered at night , during an eclipse of the moon , or other striking planetary phenomena . Of

    precious stones the topaz "was sovereign in assuaging frenzy , and amulets of various kinds were hung about the neck to preserve as

    well as to cure . This is the sunny view of the condition of the insane in the middle ages . A little later , and the state of the pauper insane

    grew worse and worse . Shakespeare , in King Lear , has put into the the mouth singular of class Kent of , when mendicants about called to feign " Toms madness o' Bedlam , a descri / 7 ption In the of

    time of the great dramatist , Bethlehem Hospital , as now , was a charity devoted to the cure of the insane , but so penurious in its .

    management that the governors were accustomed to send the patients out to solicit alms for their daily sustenance , or when their

    cure was doubtful to discharge them altogether . Thrown upon the world without a friend , these miserable creatures roamed about

    the country obtaining a scanty subsistence by begging . This custom was continued till the close of the 'Civil War . But with the

    true Tom o' Bedlam arose a counterfeit , who , assuming the rags , the staff , and the gait , —

    Enforced " Sometimes their with charity lunatick . " bans , sometimes with prayers ,

    These impostors were called " Abram men , " whence arose the

    saying still current among us to " sham Abram . "

    Insanity , Past And Present. 307

    INSANITY , PAST AND PRESENT . 307

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Jan. 1, 1861, page 307, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01011861/page/19/