them forcibly, and for the time overpowers the mental confusion.d It may be urged, that we possess a power of calling up particular ideas at pleasure; and by the laws of association this may be admitted. I have it in my power to determine, that I will contemplate, for the next five minutes, the beauties of the landscape before my window; but the train of thoughts that first led me to make this selection, or that brought this particular to my mind, is a thing I am not able to account for; and it is questionable whether I should be able to give the subject an absolute and undivided attention for five minutes, was it not for its attractions of beauty and variety. We go to hear a public speaker, with the resolution of being profoundly attentive; and we are so, provided his manner or matter is attractive; otherwise not. But in a state of mental abstraction, i. e. when external objects have no influence, we are rarely able B 3 d Vide Note 4. He that able to say with truth, what shall be the exact idea that will occupy our minds at the end of the next five minutes. can say this with the greatest degree of cor-. rectness, may be said to be in the most perfect state of sanity. But when, to any considerable degree, we lose this power of controlling the train of rising conceptions; or when one train of thoughts so occupy the mind, as in a manner to exclude all others; as when any one is heard to say, "I cannot get such a thing out of my head;" that person may be said to be in a partial state of insanity; and it is from that moment necessary that such should be upon their guard. The most that we can do mentally in these cases, is, to turn to such external objects as are likely to prove attractive, yet not so much as to overcome the power. of withdrawing our attention at pleasure. Were a man, distracted by the love of some literary pursuit, to turn his thoughts to a beautiful woman, the remedy might prove worse worse than the disease; and those liable to extremes in one thing, are so in others... Those mental pleasures that afford variety, and that are always within our reach, such as the contemplation of the various works of nature and providence, are assuredly the safest; and the more we direct our thoughts, to them, so much the more shall we find those attractions that will enable us to draw off our attention from others that might prove hurtful. In these cases it is more than poetically true, that "Herein the mind must minister to itself;" for nothing in the way of amusement can possibly please all tastes: yet this may not arise from any fastidiousness in those of great intellectual attainments; on the contrary, Providence has kindly ordered, that so far as our intellectual attainments increase, so much the more are we enabled to derive pleasure from circumstances that appear trifling and foolish to the ignorant. It It is the same in proportion as our sensibilities are refined. MUNGO PARK could, in a wilderness of Africa, under the most depressing circumstances, derive an exquisite pleasure from the sight of a small flower, which the native savages would perhaps for éver pass without notice. The parent most anxious about the welfare of his children, is also capable of receiving the greatest pleasure from their infant sports: and the moun-. tain bard, whose heart was corroded by griefs that would hardly have touched the feelings of his brother ploughmen, could derive a pleasure from, and sing in delightful numbers, the circumstance (which to them would appear trivial) of turning up a daisy with his ploughshare in winter. CHA P. II. CAUSES of INSANITY. INSANITY is considered as a disorder of the mind, and its visible effects give it the appearance of being such: but so far as it is under the power of medicine, it must be admitted that the primary disease is corporeal; and those at all acquainted with it well' know, that in its worst stages applications to the mind are not of any use whatever. II From numerous dissections and investigations, it no longer remains a doubt but that the immediate cause of insanity is a diseased state of the brain. This may arise from various causes, such as tumours in the brain, blows upon the head, total or partial inflamations arising from colds or stoppages, paralytic affections, the effect of mercurial medi |