has allotted to it its own anxious and specific duties; and whatever position the practitioner of medicine may fill, whether it be that of a surgeon, a general or special physician, all in their separate and respective spheres of duty have responsible functions devolving upon them. But in what respect do we differ from other departments of the medical profession? What particular and specific functions are assigned to those engaged in the treatment of the insane? Whilst the physician devoted to general practice is administering to the physical state of the system, in healing abnormal conditions of matter interfering with the vital manifestations, we, as psychologists, take a more exalted flight in the regions of science. It is our enviable privilege to deal with the human mind, to study its healthy as well as disordered state, to investigate that SPIRITUAL aura, that DIVINE ESSENCE, which is so mysteriously interwoven and associated with the grosser particles of the material fabric. How noble is the study in which we are engaged! how important the duties that devolve upon us! how solemnly responsible is our position! Is it possible to exaggerate or over-estimate our character, influence, importance, and dignity? What profound and accurate knowledge of the mind in its normal state do we not require before we are fitted successfully to investigate, unravel, and treat remedially its deviations from a healthy standard! How intimate must be our acquaintance with the phenomena of thought, and with the nature and operations of the passions! How exact should be our notions of the instinctive and perceptive faculties before we are fully qualified to appreciate subtle morbid psychical conditions! We should entertain right notions of our duty and position; we should encourage elevated, lofty thoughts, and grand conceptions of our honourable vocation; we should impress repeatedly, earnestly, and emphatically, upon our own understandings, and the minds of all engaged in the same holy work, the significant fact, that we are occupied in the study and treatment of a class of diseases affecting the very source, spring, and fountain of that principle which in its healthy operations alone can bring us into remote proximity to DEITY; that we have to deal with the spiritual part of a man's complex nature, with that which elevates him in the scale of created excellencies, and places him high on the pedestal amongst the great, the good, and the wise. But our solemn functions expand in interest, gravity, and importance, as we reflect that it is mind prostrated, perverted, and often crushed by disease, with which we, as practical physicians, have to deal. That we have placed under our care a class of the afflicted human family, reduced by the inscrutable decrees of Providence to the most humiliating, degrading, and helpless position to which poor human nature can fall; that it is our duty to witness the sad wreck of great and noble minds, the decay of exalted genius. Like the historian and antiquarian, wandering with a sad heart over ground made classical and memorable in the story of great men, and in the annals of heroic deeds, surveying with painful interest the crumbling ruins of ancient temples, viewing with subdued emotion the almost extinguished remains of proud imperial cities, consecrated by the genius of men renowned in the world's history as scholars, artists, philosophers, and poets, so it is our duty to wander through the sad ruins of still greater temples than any that were in ancient days raised to the honour of an unseen DEITY. Yes, it is our distressing province to witness great and good intellects, and proud understandings, levelled to the earth and crumbled like dust in the balance, under the dire influence of disease. Survey that old man crouched in the corner, with his face buried in his hands. He is indifferent to all that is passing around him; he heeds not the voice of man nor woman; he delights not in the carolling of birds nor in the sweet music of the rippling brooks. The gentle wind of heaven, playing its sweetest melody as it rushes through the green wood, awakens no consciousness of nature's charms. Approach and speak to him. Address him in terms of endearment and affection; bring before him the glowing images of the past. He elevates his head, gazes listlessly and mechanically at you, "makes no sign," and, dropping his poor head, buries it in his bosom, and sinks into his former moody state of melancholy abstraction. This man's oratory charmed the Senate, the magic of his eloquence held thousands in a state of breathless admiration; his influence was commanding, his sagacity and judgment eminently acute and profound. View him as he is fallen from his high and honourable estate. Listen to the sweet and gentle voice of yonder woman, upon whose head scarcely eighteen summer suns have shed their genial warmth and influence. merrily she dances over the green sward! How touchingly she warbles, like poor Ophelia, sweet snatches of song! What a pitiful spectacle of a sweet mind lying in fragments before us! Look, she has decked herself with a spring garland. Now she holds herself perfectly erect, and walks with queenly majesty. Approach her side, accost her, she exclaims, How "Yes, he will come; he promised to be here; where are the guests? where's the ring? where's my wedding dress, my orange flowers?" Suddenly her mind is overshadowed, and her face assumes an expression of deep choking and bitter anguish; she alternately sobs and laughs-is gay, sad, cheerful, and melancholy "Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself, Speak again to her, and another change takes place in the spirit of her dream. Like her sad prototype, the sweetest creation of Shakspeare's immortal genius, she plaintively sings: "He is dead and gone, lady He is dead and gone; Her history is soon told. Deep and absorbing passion, elevated hopes, bright and fanciful dreams of the future; DEATH, with all its sad trappings and solemn mockery; seared affections, a broken heart, and a disordered brain. In its sad ruin, her mind retains much of its native purity, innocence, and sweet ness. It is not my object to bring before you painful, fanciful, and imaginative sketches. The two illustrations I have cited are faithful and truthful outlines of cases that must have come under the notice of us all. How keenly cases like these tear the heart-strings asunder, and call into active operation all the kindly sympathies of our nature. Having considered thus briefly the character of our vocation, and the grave responsibilities of our position, I would, with great submission to the members of this Association, dwell shortly on the present state of that section of psychological science more immediately connected with the practical pursuits in which we are in common engaged, viz., that of the care and treatment of the insane. At the onset, I would premise that, as a body of men engaged in a holy and sacred office, we must not close our eyes to the fact, that our position is not what we have a right to expect or are entitled to claim. Our studies, beyond a doubt, are ennobling and elevating; our duties, if conscientiously discharged, excite into action the tenderest feelings of the heart, and the highest capacities of the intellect. To an intimate knowledge of the general characteristics of disease, and the sciences of pathology and therapeutics, which we possess in common with other sections of our profession, the psychological physician must unite a profound knowledge, not only of the mind, but of mind as manifesting itself in character and human nature, in the most enlarged acceptation of these terms. He has to battle with the intellect in a condition of aberration; he has to combat with passions in a state of morbid exaltation; he has to administer to the feelings, affections, and appetites, in a deranged or perverted condition; he has, in the exhibition of his moral remedial agents, emphatically to act upon mind as well as upon matter; and if he be not qualified by natural aptitude, by education, habits of thought, and careful study of the higher branches of philosophy, to perform such duties, he is obviously unfit for the post he is called upon to occupy. If such are the recognised characteristics of the psychological physician, why is he considered by the public, to a certain extent, as a man engaged in the pursuits of commerce and trade? How is it that a psychological expert, when in the witness-box, is so often snubbed and browbeaten? Why should we, when engaged in the practical execution of our duties, be viewed and estimated as persons pursuing a degrading and dishonourable calling? Why should the finger of derision and scorn be pointed at us? Why should we be singled out from the crowd, and have flung in our faces the odious, offensive, and repulsive designation of "mad doctor," when called upon as experts to assist in the solemn administration of justice? I ask, why such a state of things should exist? why men engaged in so honourable, sacred, and dignified a pursuit, should occasionally find themselves in a position so false, painful, and humiliating? In justice to ourselves, as well as to those unhappy persons confided to our care, we are bound to consider this matter with becoming seriousness. The question cannot be ignored. There must be something "rotten in the State" to justify such a sad condition of things. We do not occupy our legitimate position in public estimation, and it is our duty to ask why such should be the case? Having given this question much anxious consideration and thought, I have come to the following conclusions: According to my apprehension, there are THREE modes of accounting for our present status. In the first place, I attribute much of the existing evil to the conduct of a few narrow-minded and ignorant men, who have improperly had the care of the insane, and who have, by their very questionable proceedings, in a measure degraded us all to their own ignoble level. Have we been true to ourselves? Is it necessary that we should look much away from home to find the adverse causes that have been operating to our degra dation and disparagement? Have we not made merchandize of the insane, considering their care and treatment more as a question of commerce than of science? Gentlemen, I am occasionally overpowered with feelings of deep humiliation and shame, when I take up the advertisement sheet of the daily newspapers, and see to what measures men will resort to bring themselves, their houses, and their asylums, prominently before the public, with a view to their personal aggrandizement. Not satisfied with advertising their establishments in the glowing, fanciful, poetical, and flowery language of the auctioneer, they go a step in advance, and offer liberal percentages and bonuses to all medical men patronising their institutions. Again, how often we see asylums and their unhappy inmates brought into the market and offered for sale, like a flock of sheep, to the highest bidder, in a manner calculated to destroy all public confidence and trust, in the honesty, integrity, and even common respectability of those connected with similar institutions. Consider for a moment the practical effect upon the public mind, and by reflex action upon the position of the psychological physician, of the following advertisement, which has been going the rounds of the medical journals. "INSANITY.-Twenty per cent. annually on the receipts will be guaranteed to any medical man recommending a quiet patient of either sex, to a first-class asylum, with the highest testimonials. Address دو This is not an isolated illustration. No number of the Times appears without containing announcements of a similar character. Thank God! the great body of men engaged in the treatment of the insane would sooner permit themselves to be reduced to the lowest depths of poverty and distress, than resort to such unprofessional means to advance their interests in life. If we desire to elevate ourselves in the estimation of good men; if it be our object to secure for our specialty a legitimate position in public opinion, it behoves us to enter our firm protest against proceedings like these; to hold no converse, companionship, or communion, with men who thus degrade themselves to the condition of the common trader and shopkeeper, without any portion of the respectability, honesty, and worth, which so commonly distinguishes men engaged in the legitimate pursuits of commerce. To remedy this great and growing evil we must, in the first place, put our own houses in order: |