Responsibility in mental disease / by Henry Maudsley.

  • Henry Maudsley
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Responsibility in mental disease / by Henry Maudsley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of a far greater mental aberration than the facts, when closely examined, really betoken. Let the attention be actively aroused by some stimulus, and the facts brought clearly to his mind, he will apprehend them correctly and pass a sound judgment upon them, although a few hours or a few days afterwards he may not, if questioned, be able to give an account of what he has said or done : he may, in fact, be capable of making a will, though incap- able, by reason of loss of memory, of taking proper care of himself and of managing his affairs. Following the failure of memory, or coincident with it in some cases, there is an impairment of the power of perception, so that the person fails ordinarily to appre- hend all the qualities of an object, and so makes mistakes as to the identities of persons or places. The activity of his mind being mainly in the past, his memory of the lapse of time lost, and his perception of present circum- stances blunted, trains of ideas are mistaken for realities, and he talks as if he were now in a place where he was formerly, or supposes a person whom he sees for the first time to be some one whom he knew years ago. Neverthe- less, when his attention is called to the mistake, he recognises it and wonders perhaps how he could have made it, though he may make it again next day. He may sell his property and speak of it as his afterwards ; ask the same question over and over again, forgetting that it has been asked and answered; not recognise one whom he had previously known well; inquire after the health ol some one who has been dead for some time, or ask after the health of the person with whom he is talking as if he