Of Hereditary disposition we may observe, that there does not appear to be any malady more obviously dependant upon its influence than that of madness[537]; for even if one generation escape, the taint is presumed to cling to the succeeding branches until, either by admixture with a purer stock, or by education or management, it is neutralized or drained away. In forming a prognosis it therefore becomes the first object of inquiry, whether any branch of the patient’s family has ever manifested any symptoms of the disease; for where this is made out, our expectations of permanent recovery must be slender; and even should the patient become convalescent, he will be liable to a relapse from every fresh exposure to the exciting causes. Injuries about the head may be considered as both the predisposing and exciting causes of insanity; for a fracture of the cranium has been known to produce disorder in persons who had never betrayed the least obliquity previous to the accident, and whose families had never manifested the slightest disposition to the malady. Although mental derangement has been observed in persons of every habit and temperament, yet there is certainly a complexion which may be said to predominate in these cases; _Dr. Haslam_, for instance, has stated, that out of 265 patients in Bethlem hospital, 205 were found to be of a swarthy complexion, with dark or black hair; the remaining 60 having a fair skin, and light brown or red hair. Among the most powerful exciting causes of derangement of intellect in those predisposed to the malady are to be classed the moral causes which produce mental distress and uneasiness; at the eventful era of the French revolution, and for some years after, the lunatic establishments of France were inundated by its victims; and _Dr. Burrows_ observes, that the annals of insanity will satisfactorily shew that there never was, in any country, a sudden increment of insane persons, without some powerful and evident excitation, physical, moral, theological, or political.[538] I have, says _Zimmerman_,[539] had occasion to see all the great hospitals in Paris, and have distinguished in them three kinds of maniacs: the men who had become so through pride; the girls through love; and the women through jealousy.