On man's power over himself to prevent or control insanity / [John Barlow].

  • John Barlow
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On man's power over himself to prevent or control insanity / [John Barlow]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ing application to some study which should oc- cupy the mind without agitating the feelings, as one of the most effectual modes of counter- acting morbid impressions. ‘The constant re- petition of this recommendation shows that it must have been sometimes found effectual; and if so, it can only be on the principle that I have advanced—namely, the existence of a power in man to direct the operation of the brain, unless it be in a state of such complete disorganiza- tion as to be incapable of any. 23. Imbecility of intellect, whether conge- nital or produced by subsequent injury, as in the case of the young seaman I have men- tioned, is equally under the rule of the.guiding power. I believe no instance has been found of incapacity so complete as to preclude moral government, if due attention be paid. I will take an instance of this from the work of the younger Pinel. A young girl, hydrocepha- lous from her birth, was received into the hos- pital of La Salpétriére, at Paris. She was sixteen years of age, but in a state of most complete brutishness: her look stupid; her limbs as small as those of a child of six years old. She was as incapable of understanding as of acting. After the lapse of a few months, a
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