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    386 INSANITY, PAST AND PRESENT.

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

    that they may be divided into two classes , physical and moral ; the one consequent on the wilful neglect of those laws _Tby which our

    frame is governed , the other , consequent on the neglect of those laws to which our mental well-being is subject . The question that

    immediately presents itself is— -Are these causes _preventable ? We believe they are , and that much of the suffering caused by the '

    . visitation of this distressing malady is the result of ignoranceignorance as to its natureand consequently as to its origin ,

    man-, agement and cure . In olden times , it was considered as impious as impossible to endeavor to check the progress of a pestilence ;

    now we smile at such reprehensible simplicity , and the man of science can foreteleven before its appearance , the path the epidemic

    , will pursue , the locality it will choose , and the description of persons it will select for the greatest development of its destructive .

    powers . So with insanity ... The provoking causes may be found in hereditary taint , in intemperance , in ill-regulated tempers , in

    misplaced affections . Insanity is no sudden stroke ; the catastrophe may at last be sudden , but a preparative process has been going on

    previously . The thunder-clap bursts over the harvest field , and scatters the reapersterrified and dismayed ; they have been too busy

    , to be conscious of the approach of the storm , but others , less occupied or more observant than they , have noticed the gradual

    gathering of the clouds , the _strangle calm that has pervaded aE nature , the subdued notes of the birds ,, the anxiety shown hy the cattle , the

    peculiar feeling that is experienced in the human frame—and profiting by these warningshave sought a timely shelter . Well ,

    , what is it ? are we too busy , too indifferent , too ignorant , to observe the changes and chances to which our minds as well as bodies are

    exposed ? Perhaps we had better say we are too timid . So Fear and Distrust turned back at the first glimpse of those roaring lions

    which stood in their j _)& th , apparently threatening them with destruction ; it required strong faith to go onward with such

    antagonists to encounter . Christian had this , and when he approached , lo ! the cruel beasts were chained and might not hurt him . And so

    with us . Dimly and darkly the causes of insanity are hinted to us , we shrink from their investigation , an- unutterable horror

    overshadows us , and we say , " Let us abide in our ignorant dread ;" and yet it is only when we humbly and reverently take the burden

    put upon us on our shoulders , and , neither drawn—on the one hand into the Slough of Despondnor on the other , to- lose our

    , way upon the Hill of Error , but with unfaltering steps to toil onward till we lay it down at the foot of the Cross—that we can

    comprehend why it has pleased an all-gracious Creator to permit such an affliction as insanity to visit usor cultivate that spirit of

    , _tenderness and of charity which shall enable us to regard the subject in its true aspects—even as a trial sent to prove our faith ,

    and as a means ( thoug h , the method be unrevealed to our finite

    perceptions ) of drawing , us nearer to Him who in His human * nature

    386 Insanity, Past And Present.

    386 INSANITY , PAST AND PRESENT .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Feb. 1, 1861, page 386, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01021861/page/26/