Essay on the Classification of the InsaneAllen, M. (Physician)
Science
Essay on the Classification of the Insane
Allen, M. (Physician)
Mental illness
Nothing satisfactory on record. I have been informed by his family and
friends, that he was a proud, passionate, spoiled child, and that the
immediate exciting causes of his derangement were these. Through the
interest of an elder brother, he expected to obtain a most lucrative and
respectable situation in the East Indies, but it was discovered on his
examination that he did not possess the requisite qualifications,
consequently, he was not merely disappointed, but his pride was doubly
mortified by being reduced to the necessity of undertaking the management
of a common farm; there, with several other causes, these things
operating on a spirit ill prepared for any adverse wind or the common
storms of life, soured his temper; and at last produced so exasperated
and violent a state of mind, that his mother, sisters, and friends, were
compelled on account of various outrageous acts of passion to confine
him.
[Picture: No. 25 page 190]
It is said that he was so violent after this, that it was deemed
necessary to punish him, by chaining him for years, at times, to another
patient; and yet, notwithstanding this treatment, it is evident from the
remark of an old journal he then wrote, that he possessed a considerable
proportion of mind; there are many excellent reflections on general
subjects, joined, it is true, with what must appear to others, trivial
observations, on the conduct of the attendants in the house. About two
years ago he was subject to maniacal fits of outrageous passion, when his
manner was proud and stalking, his voice loud and blustering, and his
language contemptuous and imperative; calling the house his own;
commanding every one of us as his servants, in grand style. The mention
of a single fact, out of an immense number, will be sufficient to
characterise his spirit and manners. Often have I seen him look at the
patients with ineffable arrogance and contempt, and say, in a style which
no acting could imitate, “Take this dog out of my sight.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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