The diseases of the will / by Th. Ribot.

  • Théodule-Armand Ribot
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The diseases of the will / by Th. Ribot. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    lies under the weight of incubus and nightmare ; he lies in sight of all that he would fain perform, just as a man forcibly confined to his bed by the mortal lan- guor of a relaxing disease who is compelled to witness injury or outrage offered to some object of his tender- est love : he curses the spells which chain him down from motion ; he would lay down his life if he might but get up and go out; but he is powerless as an in- fant and cannot even attempt to rise.” * I will close with one final observation—a little long, the longest I know of, but one which will show the malady under all its aspects. It is reported by Billod in the Annales medico-psychologiques. It is the case of a man sixty-five years old, “of a strong constitution, lymphatic temperament, a well- developed intellect, especially in all that concerns busi- ness matters, and a moderate degree of sensitiveness.” Being very much attached to his profession of notary it was only after long hesitations that he determined upon selling his practice. Afterwards he fell into a state of profound melancholy, refusing nourishment, believing himself ruined, and pushing despair to the point of an attempt at suicide. I neglect, in what fol- lows, only some details which are purely medical or without interest for us, and I permit the observer to speak. “The faculty which appeared to us the most seri- ously impaired we do not hesitate to say was the will. . . . . The patient frequently manifests an incapacity of willing to execute certain acts, although he has the desire to do so and his healthy judgment by a wise liberation makes him see their expediency and often even their necessity.” * Confessions of an Opium Eater (Boston. 1851), p. 106 et seq.
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