When a patient is admitted into Bethlem Hospital, if he be sufficiently rational to profit by such tuition, it is explained to him, by the keepers and convalescents, that he is to be obedient to the officers of the house, and especially to myself, with whom he will have daily intercourse; they point out to him, that all proper indulgences will be allowed to good behaviour, and that seclusion and coercion instantly succeed to disobedience and revolt. As _nemo repente turpissimus_, so no one in an instant, from a state of tranquillity, becomes furiously mad: the precursory symptoms are manifold and successive, and allow of sufficient time to secure the patient before mischief ensues; it is principally by taking these precautions that our patients are observed to be so orderly and obedient. The examples of those who are under strict coercion, being constantly in view, operate more forcibly on their minds than any precepts which the most consummate wisdom could suggest. In this moral management, the co-operation of the convalescents is particularly serviceable; they consider themselves in a state of probation, and, in order to be liberated, are anxious, by every attention and assistance, to convince the superintendants of their restoration to sanity of mind. From mildness of treatment, and confidence reposed in them, they become attached, and are always disposed to give information concerning any projected mischief. Considering how much we are the creatures of habit, it might naturally be hoped, and experience justifies the expectation, that madmen might be benefited by bringing their actions into a system of regularity. It might be supposed, that as thought precedes action, that whenever the ideas are incoherent, the actions will also be irregular. Most probably they would be so, if uncontroled; but custom, confirmed into habit, destroys this natural propensity, and renders them correct in their behaviour, though they still remain equally depraved in their intellects. We have a number of patients in Bethlem Hospital, whose ideas are in the most disordered state, who yet act, upon ordinary occasions, with great steadiness and propriety, and are capable of being trusted to a considerable extent. A fact of such importance in the history of the human mind, might lead us to hope, that by superinducing different habits of thinking, the irregular associations would be corrected. It is impossible to effect this suddenly, or by reasoning, for madmen can never be convinced of the folly of their opinions. Their belief in them is firmly fixed, and cannot be shaken. The more frequently these opinions are recurred to, under a conviction of their truth, the deeper they subside in the mind, and become more obstinately entangled:[30] the object should therefore be to prevent such recurrence by occupying the mind on different subjects, and thus diverting it from the favorite and accustomed train of ideas.