Manual of psychiatry / by J. Rogues de Fursac ; translated and edited by A.J. Rosanoff.

  • Marie Henri Joseph Pierre Étienne Rogues de Fursac
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Manual of psychiatry / by J. Rogues de Fursac ; translated and edited by A.J. Rosanoff. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    upon about 100,000 cases of suicide, show that the highest point of the curve is in June and the lowest point in February, exactly as in the case of mental alienation. Social factors play an important role in the etiology of mental diseases, as may be seen from a study of the history of the negro race in America. Before their emancipation the negroes were forced to hard labor, but were beyond the intense struggle for existence, had no cares, and were governed by rigorous rules of morality; in those times they were almost totally exempt from mental disorders. Insanity was almost unknown among them.1 Since their emancipation, having been given not only the rights but also the burdens of free men, they have abandoned themselves without restraint to all excesses, and mental alienation has become implanted in their race, so that in this respect they have now nothing to envy their former masters. Civilization, by the stress that it imposes upon indi- viduals, by the physical and moral want that is hidden beneath its brilliant exterior, and by the constantly increasing migration of the inhabitants of the country toward the large cities which it brings about, con- tributes to the production of predisposition to insanity. It is therefore not surprising that the number of the insane is constantly increasing in the so-called civilized countries. However, this increase is not so great as appears at first glance; for its accurate estimation it is necessary to keep in mind three factors that are 1 Witmer. Geisteskrankheilen bei der farbigen Rasse in den vereiniglen Staaten. Allgemeine Zeitschrift fiir Psychiatrie, 1891.
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