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294 "though this be madness,
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.
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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.
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¦ » • Part Ii. We Resurne Our Analysis O...
The whole of tins chapter is inexpressibly painful . M . Trelat winds up by sayingthat all the men and women whose history it
contains were perfec , tly lucid , yet all more or less disposed , from the day they came into the worldto quit it by violent means . Some
were rich , and some were not ; b , ut none , not even the merchant , were in inextricable difficulty : the state of the brain rather than actual
misfortune , being responsible for this tendency . If it exists , anything , from a commercial failure to the refusing of a ball to a girl , will suffice
to provoke it ,, But , he says , "If the slightest contradiction induces ces sortes de malades to seek a violent deathamong normal
organizations , on the contrary , where health is contrasted , with sickness , and power with feebleness , human strength of mind and body is
equal to every social difficulty . A . n immovable and unlimited human will meets and breaks to pieces resisting elementswhich are ahvays
limited in their nature . To persevere and con , quer in spite of obstaclesor to wisely change the path when it is obviously
Impossible , to progress by it ; to find new resources in this new careerand never to despair either of himself or of those about
, him , —such is what Providence inspires In the healthy man ; this is what he can and ought to do ; and for this end he should only link
himself to those who are in a like condition . " The last chapter is devoted to lucid maniacswho appear to
differ from monomaniacs merely by being less under , the domination of one erroneous ideabut none the less given up to unreason
and violence . Lucid maniacs , , if a little less mad in the ordinary sense of the term , are even more trying ; for , says M . Trelat , the
condition of most of them is long concealed . They are always lucid , are so even in their fits , which rarely burst out except in the
Interior of family life . They can go out daily , make and receive numerous visitstravelbe the recipients of public honorsbe more
or less successful , , contract , ties which are intimate , but wanting , in solidity . These insane natures love no one ; and without affection
no tie is of long duration . When they marry , it is always for , personal interest or pride . They will make unheard-of exertions
to attain their end , and when they have attained it they throw off the mask , having nothing more to gain . Some he has known , who ,
having conducted themselves as angelic models of grace and gentleness during the time of betrothalonly waited till the afternoon of
the wedding to afflict with a scene , of violence the unfortunate husband or wife whom they had taken in . If such maniacs make
others suffer , they also suffer themselves ; but less than they would have others believe , for that is part of their insanity . The attitude
of victim , which most of them skilfully assume , often warps the judgment of spectators . It is one of the greatest misfortunes of
those allied to lucid maniacs that to their unmerited suffering is frequently added the accusation that they are unjust . Excessive
pride and self-assertion often characterise these patients , so that
they might be numbered among the " proud" examples , to whom a
294 "Though This Be Madness,
294 " though this be madness ,
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), July 1, 1862, page 294, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01071862/page/6/
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