On this page
-
Text (1)
-
154 INSANITY AMONG WOMEN.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
In Directing His Attention To The Import...
indulgences ¦ which , both , enervate and excite the nervous system . ; fashionable follies which aggravate the liabilities to constitutional
disorders , * and habits which grievously interfere- with the healthy development of the physical and mental powers . Injudicious
training , the unwise or exclusive direction given to the pursuits , of young ladiescontain unquestionably the germs of evils which
, cannot be estimated statistically , but which none the less blight the mental _jarospects of many . To some , and an increasing , extent , the
same vices of education and living prevail among the middle classes of society .
_jNTo one acquainted with the causation of mental disease hesitates to attribute to excessive emotion , or the unhealthy excitement of the
feelings , a mighty influence in the production of insanity . The imagination of women is greater than that of men . It becomes ,
therefore , all the more necessary to repress its tendency to morbid development and unlimited exercise .- In a variety of ways is the
emotional and imaginative nature of women acted upon in the upper classes of society . One _soiirce of disordered action is
undoubtedly to be found in the practice of devouring an unlimited quantity of trashy novels . It is true that the character of works of
fiction has undergone a great change since the time when Burns wrote— _
" Oh , leave novels , ye Maucliline belles ; Sucli _ITe ' witching re safer at books your spinning baited wheel hooks ; ,
For rakish rooks like Rob Mossgiel . Your They fine make Tom your Jones youthful and Grandisons fancies reel , , t
They heat your brains and fire yonr veins , And then you ' re prey for Rob Mossgiel" — But the large proportion of frivolous literature consumed by many
young ladies is of a description admirably calculated to weaken the understanding , dilute the ideas , and develop the imaginative faculty
at the expense of the reason . _* The ability to write and talk with easethough superficiallymay be acquiredbut it is to be feared
that , an observation made , somewhere by Hannah , More is but too true , that those who early begin with writing and talking like
women , commonly end with thinking and acting like children . The religious novelthe sentimental novelthe romantic novel , when
, , constituting the major portion of ladies' reading , carry them into an ideal worldand fail to fit them for the stern facts and the
, sober realities of existence . Inveterate novel readers have about as little control over themselves as dram , drinkers , and find themselves
unable at last to forego , for an hour , the fascinations of their literary glass when required to grapple with the practical realities of life .
connexion between * It must excessive in always 8 out novel of "be 192 exceeding -reading cases in l and y which difficult insanity mental ; to . demonstrate Still derangement , Esquirol the was traced connexion due this to
moral causes .
154 Insanity Among Women.
154 INSANITY AMONG WOMEN .
-
-
Citation
-
English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), May 1, 1861, page 154, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01051861/page/10/
-