Curiosities of Medical ExperienceMillingen, J. G. (John Gideon)
Philosophy
Curiosities of Medical Experience
Millingen, J. G. (John Gideon)
Medicine
To the first of these categories enthusiasts generally belong. Delirium,
or wandering, is to a certain extent applicable to all, being a want of
correspondence between judgment and perception. Locke and Condillac
characterize madness as a _false judgment_, or a disposition to associate
ideas incorrectly, and to mistake them for truths. Hence it is observed by
Locke that "Madmen err, as men do that argue right from wrong principles."
Dr. Beattie refers madness to _false perception_; and Dr. Mason Good,
justly remarks, that "the perceptions in madness seem, for anything we
know to the contrary, to be frequently as correct as in health, the
judgment or reasoning being alone diseased or defective."
I hope that I may not be accused of _materialism_ when I venture to affirm
that all these enthusiasts labour under a physical disease; but whether
this state was originally brought on by a morbid condition of the
intellectual or the empassioned faculties of the mind, or, in other words,
whether a diseased state of the mind brought on a diseased state of the
body, I shall not at present venture to decide, as the disquisition would
be foreign to the nature of this work, and lead us into investigations of
little interest to the generality of readers.
In the German Psychological Magazine we meet with a curious case of a
patient who believed that he was supernaturally endowed with the power of
working miracles. The man was a gend'arme of the name of Gragert, of a
harmless and quiet disposition, but rather of a superstitious turn of
mind. From poverty, family misfortunes, and severe military discipline, a
series of sleepless nights and a mental disquietude were brought on that,
according to his own report, nothing could dissipate but a perusal of
pious works. In reading the Bible he was struck with the book of Daniel,
and was so much pleased with it, that it became his favourite study; from
that moment the idea of miracles so strongly possessed his imagination,
that he began to believe that he could perform some himself. He was
persuaded more especially that if he were to plant an apple-tree with the
view of its becoming a cherry-tree, such was his power that it would bear
cherries. He was wont to answer every question correctly, except when the
subject concerned miracles, in regard to which he ever entertained his old
notions; adding, however, that he would relinquish this thought if he
could be convinced that the event of his trials did not correspond with
his expectations.
That many enthusiasts, although incurable in their peculiar aberration,
have possessed some amiable qualities, is undeniable. Such rare
occurrences remind one of the curious case of madness recorded by Tidemann
of a lunatic of the name of Moses, who was insane on one side, and who
observed his insanity with the other; his better half constantly rebuking
his worse half for its absurdities. This case was certainly typical of the
married state.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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