In this connection I mention, as another source of insanity, the wrong views of life, the false principles, and the sickly sentimentalism, which are infused insensibly into the mind by a very large proportion of the fictitious literature of the world. This influence is a more prolific source of insanity than is commonly supposed. Not only is it exerted upon the reader as an individual, but it affects through the multitude of readers the general tone of thought and feeling, and thus acts widely, not merely as a particular, but as a general cause of insanity. Anything which causes an undue excitement in the mind has a tendency to produce insanity. A too exclusive and prolonged attention to one subject has this effect. It is in this way in part that ultraism acts as a cause of this disease. The brain becomes wearied out and weakened by one kind of effort, just as the muscles of the school boy’s arm are tired out, when, as a punishment, he is compelled to hold with outstretched arm any heavy article for some considerable length of time. A wearied and weakened brain, when the infliction which produces this result, is frequent and long continued, is apt to become diseased; and one of the diseases to which it is thus made liable is insanity. It is said that insanity is hardly known among the savage and uncivilized. There are two reasons for this. They are the intellectual torpor, and the physical vigor, which result from the habits of the savage. Wild passion, it is true, sometimes lashes his mind into fury, but it easily subsides into its usual repose, and the firm fibres of the brain and nerves suffer no injury from the shock. So also in countries which are ruled by despotic governments, the mental torpor which prevails makes insanity a rare disease. As the intellectual torpor and the physical vigor of savage life prevent the occurrence of insanity; so on the other hand, the intellectual activity and the physical debility of civilized life conduce to its existence. Mental excitement combined with luxury and effeminacy is a prolific source of this disease. In this age, and especially in this nation, the mental activities in every department of effort are so lively, and have so little intervals of relaxation, that the wear and tear of brain in all this conflict produce an unusual amount of insanity, greater as is shown by statistics, than in any other country in the world.