Second annual report of the Inverness District Lunatic Asylum : May 1866.
- Inverness District Lunatic Asylum
- Date:
- 1866
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Second annual report of the Inverness District Lunatic Asylum : May 1866. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![finish, so that he never went to bed until the morning. In a short time, however, this course began to injure his health, he became dyspeptic, his eyes failed, and he suffered from severe neuralgia. With this state there existed a corresponding depression. He was unhappy without a cause, was seized with momentary fears for his eternal welfare—found it utterly impossible to concentrate his attention upon his work, or if he did so for a moment, the next his mind wandered, everything became dim before him; to quote his own words, his courage failed, and believing he was lost “ to life and use,” and utterly wearied of his existence, he, in a moment of despair, threatened, or, according to some, attempted suicide. This, however, proved the climax of the disease, and the patient when admitted presented an apathetic depressed condition, and at times felt fearful regarding his religious condition. However, under suitable treatment, liberal diet, and exercise—for the patient had not left the house for months—he rapidly recovered. The cases just quoted have been referred to, not from the mere interest attaching to them, but because it is of undoubted im¬ portance to deal with this, as with all other minor forms of insanity, at once, and whilst the condition is still one of simple de¬ pression, even though the tendency may be to true mental disease, which, it may be remarked, becomes all the more intractable in proportion to its period of incubation. Much difficulty, it is known, is often experienced by those called upon to investigate such cases, in satisfying themselves whether the morbid feelings predominate so much as to justify the individual being looked upon as of un¬ sound mind. But the hesitation in these instances often arises from the forgetfulness of the simple fact, that insanity is a disease of the sentiments as well as of the intellect, and that the man who yields to the irregular and wayward impulses of the former, may be as insane as he with a well-marked delusion. Much suspicion, too frequently unjustifiable, often attaches to individuals suffering from the milder forms of insanity; but a careful investigation into the previous character of the patient will, in general, serve as a safe¬ guard in this matter. To refer again to# two of the instances given in this report, what benefit could the individual expect whose case is reported at page 17, by simulating remorse at having removed his family from their native place, throwing himself out of work, and reducing them to poverty]—or what could he expect to gain](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30316704_0022.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
