to instruct, from simple proximate principles, up to more complicated inferences. We must with them begin with the bare impression of an object on the organ of sense, then proceed to induce a right perception of it, till we gradually arrive at the highest mental quality -viz., the conception of original ideas.

We see what important tutors the senses may become, and how beautifully one power may be made to supply the place of another, in the instance of blind people, who can be taught to read, and to know the properties of matter (even of colour) by the cultivation of one of the lowest senses-that of touch. In mental imbecility, there will generally be found some faculty weaker than the rest, as attention or memory-a defect which may often be remedied much in the same manner by judiciously substituting some stronger faculty to perform the duties of the weaker, and which is, indeed, to a certain extent, carried out in the foolish attempt to form an artificial

memory.

It is by thus dividing the burden equally among the faculties, imposing upon none more than it can safely and agreeably bear, and by keeping some even in a state of repose, that so much may be accomplished in educating the weak-minded, and bringing them gradually to the possession of that kind of knowledge which, though it may not make them eminent in literature, will at least make them competent for the useful and respectable business of life. And, moreover, we have always this consolation in store, that however deficient such may be in mental acquirements, there can be no excuse nor reason why they should not become even instructors to their more talented brethren in their exemplary moral conduct.

It has been previously suggested, that an improved system of education would be best obtained by discovering the natural bias of the mind, and adjusting the quantity and quality of instruction to the scale of the understanding; but in this selection, a judicious discrimination cannot be too much exercised in distinguishing the depraved taste which the indolence common to weakness is so apt to engender, from the prominent mental or moral faculty which forms the character of the individual. We must be careful not to confound acquired bad taste with natural inclination, and thus cultivate what it should be our duty to suppress.

As curiosity, or the spirit of inquiring, is the first evidence of mind in infancy, and the last of all to succumb to the assaults of age or disease, so is it always to be found wherever any trace of mind exists.

This inherent principle, ever busy, will, when left to self-tuition, range from lofty speculations to grovelling views, according to the accident of circumstances or ability; and the mental listlessness so frequently seen associated with imbecility is, perhaps, (as previously suggested,) more frequently the effect of an aversion to our artificial rules than of a defective nature. How often, for instance, do we find the listless pupil, however idle in the school-room, only too

busy and apt a scholar out of it, in plotting mischief or in reading vicious novels in all of which he is as much seeking relief from the tedium of school drudgery as yielding to the influence of a spirit of inquiry, and of a desire for knowledge.

The effects upon the health, both of body and mind, which arise from the morbid imagination, caused by reading immoral works of fiction, are most disastrous.

The Arab, in his native desert, pursuing his dreary path, will pass whole days in abstinence, allaying the pangs of hunger with opium only, and, exhausted at his journey's end, sickens at food. The poisonous drug betrays him; and loathing the staff of vital aliment, he ever after yields to a fascination that leads him on to misery. Even so is it with the case now before us. The natural craving of the mind is for knowledge; and when the mind is healthy and vigorous, it delights in the wholesome food of facts; but when weak, in fiction.

We can, however, convert this failing in the weak-minded to their own advantage; for, seeing the ease with which they acquire injurious and fictitious knowledge by the aid of imagination, we can direct them to a study which is more romantic in its facts than any fiction -the philosophy of nature-and in the study of which the pleasure of imagination can be secured, not only without any injury, but with positive advantage to the moral and intellectual faculties. We may safely affirm, that of all the various kinds of mental food most suited to a weak mental digestion, the study of the natural sciences is by far the best. We should leave the pursuit of classical literature, and the more abstruse subjects of moral philosophy, to be engaged in by minds more powerful and more qualified by natural taste to grapple with them.

The rudiments of botany, geology, and chemistry-a general knowledge of the structure and properties of the animal kingdom, of the sidereal system, and of geography-in fact, of all the physical sciences, will constitute the best means of engaging the attention and developing the various faculties of the imbecile. The perusal of history and of select biography will also be found of much service; tending to store them with useful and practical knowledge, and also to form the future character of the man; while the elements of arithmetical proportions and mathematics will engender the precision so indispensable to business and correctness of thought. Indeed, whatever kind of knowledge requires, in the first instance, the use of the senses, in order to its being perceived before it can be comprehended, will be found in all these cases to be the only practical method of fulfilling the great designs of education.

The foregoing observations must, of course, be regarded simply as the introduction of a subject as yet scarcely opened, but presenting a wide field for useful and interesting investigation. Brief, however, as they are, they knock at the door of every family; and if parents and teachers would but canvas the above facts-if they would

but enlarge upon the subject now introduced to them, according to their respective opportunities of observation, and thus enter cordially into it as one of the great social questions of the day, some good practical results might then be expected.

But if parents neglect to do this-if those to whom the education of our youth has been intrusted are themselves indifferent in the matter; if their present system is contrary to the dictates of sound reason, and opposed to the laws of nature, and comes short, as it surely does, of the designs of Christianity-such neglect on their part should not deter the medical man from impeaching both the system and its defenders when the penalties fall upon those whose mental and bodily infirmities call forth his peculiar sympathies. Regardless of sectarian pique, it is his duty, as the guardian of public health, to raise his voice against those social evils which impinge upon his stewardship, and to crush in the germ those pernicious influences which fructuate in incurable maladies.

However deplorable it may be, it is nevertheless true, that the modern system of education, instead of being the nursing mother of all that should be esteemed as really great and virtuous among men, is such as to call forth the censures, not only of the moralist, but also of the physician. The abettors of our present system may, indeed, try, and with apparent plausibility, to hold it excused from having caused the various delinquencies of youth, and to shelter themselves under the plea of "free agency and "individual responsibility," but they cannot establish such flimsy excuses in the cases of those who are the particular subjects of these remarks.

The moralist can only lament effects, which are obvious to all, and attribute them to causes which, though they may be real, can be easily and abruptly denied by any captious disputant; but the physician can deal with the subject in a more palpable way, and bring the naked truth to view, by pointing his finger to the indelible accusation which erroneous education writes upon the living body in the characters of disease.

It is here that education comes within the province of the physician. It is in these particular cases that he has to protest against a system under which the individual languishes and our race degenerates. It is when he observes that the system, in compliance with the folly of an age in which velocity is the criterion of perfection, goads the mind during the tenderest years of life to an activity beyond its strength, at the risk of functional life and moral excellence, that he feels bound to plead for an exemption on the part of the imbecile from that false system, and to use all his influence to save them from those terrible conflicts between mind and matter, for which their frailty so obviously unfits them, and out of which they can only come broken and ruined.

CASE OF DOUBLE CONSCIOUSNESS CONNECTED

WITH HYSTERIA.

BY T. OGIER WARD, M.D. oxon.

As but few cases are on record of that curious form of mental disorder, termed "double consciousness," I am induced to submit to you, for insertion in the Psychological Journal, the following one, which, though it does not present the disease in its most intense form, and is therefore less interesting as a simple psychological phenomenon, is perhaps rendered more useful in a practical point of view, by its evident connexion with the approach and establishment of the menses, and its having been in some degree influenced by treatment.

Mary Parker, aged 13, April, 1836. Had measles at the age of seven, and has ever since been subject to cough, and pain in the side. About a year ago, while in the country for the benefit of her health, she was seized one evening with rigors, followed by an epileptic attack, in which she struggled violently, and attempted to scratch and bite the bystanders. She was not insensible, but delirious, and frequently came to herself for a few minutes. She was bled, but this only seemed to increase her struggles. She was brought home in a state of almost syncope on the fourth day; and the attacks came on at intervals for a fortnight afterwards. At the end of this time, they became much worse, sometimes assuming a cataleptic character, when the arms were extended and perfectly rigid, and the jaws clenched. At other times, she struggled greatly, and then the abdomen became much swelled. In neither kind of fit was she entirely unconscious, nor did she change colour in the face, though her appearance was wild. Her disposition was altered, for she grew excessively mischievous between the attacks, climbing over walls, &c., and beating the other children. When a paroxysm came on, she generally called her mother, and then began to struggle, and became half insensible. This state of things lasted about three months, when she partially recovered, having fits only at intervals. She then went into the country for six months, during which time she had only four or five fits, but they returned in the wagon in which her mother brought her home.

April 1st, 1836.-Saw her for the first time at the dispensary, when she presented the following symptoms: complained of headache, and pain in the stomach and left side, increased on pressure; pulse natural; tongue clean and moist, though rather white; appetite bad; bowels, which had been rather relaxed, were now confined; the glands down the neck were enlarged; hacking cough without expectoration; tenderness of spine on pressure; burning pain at the back of the head previous to the fits. I ordered eight leeches to the side, and a blister to the spine. Ferri carb. c. rheo., ter die. The leeches seemed to produce a little delirium, which continued at

intervals till April 3rd, during which time she said persons were coming to take her away. On that day, she complained of intense headache till the afternoon, when she burst out crying, and seemed much alarmed at every one who approached her. From this state she passed into the opposite one of laughing and attempting to strike them. I now saw her at home, when I found her lying in bed, laughing, and half-naked. She replied very saucily to all my questions, and did not recognise me, though I had attended her brothers at home a short time previously. Complained of no pain, and denied she had ever had any; ate voraciously, which was always the case during the delirium; the bowels were confined, and her cheeks flushed; but, upon the whole, her appearance was healthy. She exhibited no signs of approaching puberty. I ordered a cold shower-bath daily. Mist. ferri c. decoct. aloes co., and tinct. assæ.

April 14th. She has continued, since my last report, to alternate between delirium and sound state of mind. When in the former condition, she has lately become more tractable, and, as she then appears to be endued with almost preternatural strength, I have directed her mother to employ her in domestic labours, and in bringing water from a canal close by, which seems to have but little effect in inducing fatigue. But every day she has a half-fainting fit, during which she complains of her head, side, and stomach, and is very low. She then either gradually recovers her senses, or else bursts out laughing, and relapses suddenly into the previous state of delirium. Just before this change, she puts her hand to her head as if in pain.

Double consciousness is now established, for while delirious, she has little or no recollection of persons she has seen, or events which have occurred during the state of sanity, nor does she complain of any bodily pain or suffering. In the opposite state, on the contrary, she is extremely depressed, incompetent to any exertion, complains of pain in her head, side, and stomach, and is equally forgetful of all that has passed during the delirium.

April 19th.-Two days ago she became sensible, and has continued so with the exception of some fits of the epileptic kind, during which she does not change colour, nor entirely lose consciousness, but groans and struggles hard. Yesterday she nearly fainted while under the shower-bath, and to-day she is very low, and complains of pain in the head and stomach, but not in the side. Pulse 100. She feels her head much worse while lying down, but notwithstanding this symptom of congestion, I have ordered stimulants and antispasmodics.

May 2nd. She gradually improved under the above treatment (the maniacal attacks being less durable, and the intermissions longer, and attended with fewer complaints of pain and feebleness) till April 24th, when the mania returned with all its violence, and without intermission. The pulse was strong and frequent, and a new symptom now arose. Frequently in the course of the day her legs became suddenly stiff, and she rolled about the floor in an hysterical