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    396 INSANITY, PAST AND PRESENT.

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    ' « In The Last Number Of This Journal W...

    others , also fortifies us against falling victims to it ourselves . As cleanliness , wholesome food , moderate exercise , and honest

    employment , are the best preservatives against the ravages of a pestilence , so self-controlregular- occupationin factthe active exercise of all

    , , , the Christian virtues , are the sure means of averting insanity . . All psychological writers insist that the due exercise of self-control is

    the greatest preservative against insanity , and Sir Benjamin Brodie cites many instances where those who have cherished this faculty ,

    even while physically affected by diseases that in ordinary cases lead to mania , have preserved their reasoning powers unimpaired .

    Thus , though they may see the room filled by phantoms , though they are haunted by imaginary terrors , they can still talk calmly

    and rationally of these very delusions , and wait with patience till medical skill , eradicating the bodily disease , restores the mind to

    the wholesome exercise of all its varied functions . Such is self-control . It is the subjugation of every appetite to

    the dominion of reason , using moderation in all things , of keeping the imagination "within due limits , of allowing no fancy to occupy

    a predominant place , and , more especially in women , of checking the warm confiding feelings of their nature whensoever they , would

    lead them into extremes . If novels best portray the domestic character of a people , we must feel surprise that women are not more

    frequently than they are ( and the number is frightfully large and daily increasing ) hurried into insanity hy misplaced attachments ,

    and of losing the self-respect of womanly reserve , by allowing * their fancy to color with all the glowing tints of reality some imaginary

    object of their devotion . We lay particular stress upon the right government of the affections , for even when developed in the highest

    feelings of our nature—religion , —to what fearful lengths will not excess lead . Several instances in some of the " revivals" may be cited

    as examples . Who are the suddenly converted , the inspired , the awakened ? Poor ignorant , impressible young women , who in

    heathen times would have been fit priestesses toCybele , and in the dark ages would have fallen into trancesand seen visions enough to .

    , stock half Christendom with wonderful stories . Granting , then , that insanity be as much a bodily disease as

    consumption , where can we look for relief but to those appliances that a merciful Providence has placed within our reach ? As there

    is no poison without its antidote , so there is no phase of suffering humanity , incapable of some alleviation . We dare affirm that there

    is no form of insanity without some lucid intervals , no intellect so utterly darkened but is lighted now and then with a gleam ,

    perchance only a transient gleam , of intelligence ; no heart so stultified but softens towards affection , and retains some lingering trait of

    tenderness and love . Well has Dr . Conolly declared , how that among pauper lunaticsone of the principal means of cure is that

    , of introducing them to comforts hitherto unknown— -a generous

    diet , a well-warmed and well-ventilated apartment , cheerful society ,

    396 Insanity, Past And Present.

    396 INSANITY , PAST AND PRESENT .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Feb. 1, 1861, page 396, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01021861/page/36/