Observations on the illusions of the insane, and on the medico-legal question of their confinement / tr. from the French of M. Esquirol by William Liddell.
- Jean-Étienne Dominique Esquirol
- Date:
- 1833
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Observations on the illusions of the insane, and on the medico-legal question of their confinement / tr. from the French of M. Esquirol by William Liddell. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
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![medical knowledge. Excuse this digression: but what more solemn occasion could be afforded me to render homage to the memory of him who was my master, and up to his last hour called me his friend. All English, French, and German physicians, who have devoted themselves to the study of mental dis- eases, recommend the confinement of the insane, and are mianimous as to the utility of this means of cure. Confinement is a practical truth, the necessity and utility of which will ])e better understood when we are more convinced that the insane are neither de- prived of their sensibility, nor of their understanding. Maniacs, even those in a state of frenzy, think and reason according to the modifications of the suscepti- bility and activity of their organs. On analyzing their ideas, following the chain of their reasonings, searching their hearts and pursuing the motives which influence their decisions, we perceive the causes of their affections and hatred, their desires and aver- sions, their determinations and their actions; and we become convinced that mad persons are not so unrea- sonable as the vulgar imagine. The following observation proves how far an insane person can conceal his delirium : and if he is able to disguise his state from those persons with whom he lives, must we not conclude that he enjoys the great- est portion of his understanding ? 1st. Obs. a merchant, fifty-five years of age, of D](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21051173_0047.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
