"It is by no means the object of these remarks to depreciate the value of institutions which, under a judicious and merciful superintendance, might be made essentially conducive to the protection of lunatics themselves, as well as to that of others, who would else be continually exposed to their violence and caprice. But it is to be feared, that many have been condemned to a state of insulation from all rational and sympathising intercourse, before the necessity has occurred for so severe a lot. Diseased members have been amputated from the trunk of society, before they have become so incurable or unsound as absolutely to require separation. Many of the depôts for the captivity of intellectual invalids may be regarded only as nurseries for and manufactories of madness; magazines or reservoirs of lunacy, from which is issued, from time to time, a sufficient supply for perpetuating and extending this formidable disease—a disease which is not to be remedied by stripes or strait-waistcoats, by imprisonment or impoverishment, but by an unwearied tenderness, and by an unceasing and anxious superintendance.

"The grand council of the country ought to be aroused to a critical and inquisitorial scrutiny into the arcana of our medical prisons, into our slaughterhouses for the destruction and mutilation of the human mind."

The 21st Essay is "On the importance of counteracting the tendency to Mental Disease;" in which are these remarks upon one of the most important considerations arising out of the subject of insanity, as affecting the thedical character in the reliance placed upon its testimony:

"Lucid intervals are a subject deserving of the very particular study of the legal, as well as the medical profession. There are, in fact, few cases of mania, or melancholy, where the light of reason does not now and then shine between the clouds. In fevers of the mind, as well as those of the body, there occur frequent intermissions. But the mere interruption of a disorder is not to be mistaken for its cure, or its ultimate conclusion. Little stress ought to be laid upon those occasional and uncertain disentanglements of intellect, in which the patient is for a time only extricated from the labyrinth of his morbid hallucinations. Madmen may shew, at starts, more sense than ordinary men. There is perhaps as much genius confined, as at large; and he who should court corruscations of talent, might be as likely to meet with them in a receptacle for lunatics, as in almost any other theatre of intellectual exhibition. But the flashes of wit betray too often the ruins of wisdom, and the mind which is conspicuous for the brilliancy, will frequently be found deficient in the steadiness of its lustre."

In the 22d Essay, the author treats of the use and abuse of "Bleeding;" which is admitted to be absolutely necessary in true pleurisy, but censured in strong terms, when indiscriminately resorted to in all cases of palsy and apoplexy.

On the subject of "Pharmacy," which is treated in the next Essay, the author very properly deprecates the practice of prolonging a medicinal course in cases of convalescence from acute disease; and the following observations, by the way of analogy, are equally deserving of the serious consideration of valetudinarians and practitioners.

"In the prescriptions of physicians, as well as in the preparations of cookery, a simplicity ought to be observed, which is in general, perhaps, not sufficiently attended to. A number of different dishes, which, separately taken, might be wholesome and nutritious, must altogether form a compound that cannot fail to have an unfavourable and disturbing effect upon the organs of digestion. In like manner, a glass of Port wine or a glass of Madeira, a draught of ale, or one of porter, might, in a state of debility or fatigue, for a time at least, invigorate and refresh; while if we take a draught, the same in quantity, but composed of all these different liquors, we shall find that, instead of enlivening and refreshing, it will nauseate and oppress. And yet something similar to this daily takes place in the formula of medical practitioners. A variety of drugs are often

combined in the same recipe, each of which might be good, but the whole of which cannot. A mixture of corroborants or tonics, is not necessarily a tonic or corroborative mixture. A prescription ought seldom, perhaps, to contain more than one active and efficient ingredient; we should thus give that ingredient fair play, and by a competent repetition of trials might be able to ascertain, with tolerable correctness, its kind and degree of influence upon the constitution : whereas, out of a confused and heterogeneous mass, it is impossible for us to discriminate the individual operation of any one of the articles which compose it." 228-230.

In the 24th Essay, "Ablution" is considered in a similar manner with a decisive approbation of the use of cold water, as the means of preserving health, and of restoring it in particular diseases. But at the same time, the idea of superior advantages to be derived from sea-bathing is ridiculed with effect.

"Bodily exercise" is strongly recommended in the 25th Essay; in which, among many other acute remarks, we were particularly struck with the following:

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Improvements in the mechanism of modern carriages, by which they are made to convey a person from place to place, almost without giving him a sense of motion, may be one of the circumstances that have contributed to the increased prevalence of those maladies which originate in a great degree from a fashionable indulgence in lassitude and languor.”

The next Essay has for its title, "Real Evils, a Remedy for those of the Imagination;" and, with the relation of some curious cases, it exhibits observations which may be considered as judicious hints for practice.

The last Essay in the volume is on the advantages arising from "Occupation;" the necessity of which is enforced by solid reasoning, apt illustration, and a singular case, with which we shall conclude our extracts, already sufficiently numerous.

"I was once consulted by a hypochondriacal patient, who had been the greatest part of his life a journeyman taylor, but who, by an unexpected accident, became unhappily rich, and consequently no longer dependent for his bread upon drudgery and confinement. He accordingly descended from his board; but Charles the Fifth, after having voluntarily descended from his throne, could net have regretted more severely the injudicious renunciation of his empire. This man, after having thrown himself out of employment, fell ill of the tedium of indolence. He discovered, that having nothing to do, was more uncongenial to his constitution, even than the constrained attitude, and the close and heated atmosphere in which he had been accustomed to carry on his daily operations. In one respect, however, the repentant mechanic was less unfortunate than the imperial penitent. It remained in the power of the former to reinstate himself in his former situation; which, after having resumed it, no motive could, a second time, induce him to reliquish." 260-262.

After so copious a view and minute an analysis of the present volume, any thing farther that we could say concerning it must be needless; the reader will see by the subjects treated, that the work is one of universal interest, because there is no human being, capable of thinking, who has not his seasons of mental depression or excessive irritation, who is not either called upon to watch over his own infirmities, or to commiserate those of others. In the extensive range of moral and actual ills, there is not one that is so frequently obtruded upon our feelings as nervous sensibility; and, therefore, a more benevolent office can hardly be undertaken, than that of pointing out the varieties of this Proteian malady, and the causes which tend to its ascendancy over the body and mind, till the grave closes upon the one, or reason is extinguished in the other.

XII.

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REMARKS ON NERVOUS AND MENTAL DISORDER, WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO RECENT INVESTIGATIONS ON THE SUBJECT OF INSANITY. By David Uwins, M.D. Octavo, sewed, pp. 41. FROM a slight collision which lately took place between Dr. Uwins and us, entirely provoked by himself, the worthy Doctor will, no doubt, consider us as his decided enemies. We do not expect to convince him to the contrary. We had no idea, at the time of the collision, that the author of the pamphlet abovementioned, was a MAD DOCTOR;" but we now find that Dr. Uwins has been the medical superintendant of a receptacle for weak intellects, called "THE PECKHAM ESTABLISHMENT," for some years past. It is well known that the insane always take most inveterate antipathies to their dearest friends; and therefore it is probable that the atmosphere of a lunatic asylum, has infected the worthy Doctor with a prepos session against men who never injured, but always befriended him. In our last number we have endeavoured to shew that all men are mad, upon some one point-and, on this principle, we should have no qualms of conscience in consigning Dr. Uwins to his own asylum, till he had abjured the monomania of EGOTISM. After the gentle hints which we gave Dr. Uwins respecting Gifford and the Quarterly Review, we expected that common prudence would have induced him to be silent on that subject for a short time; but no:-The article on insanity in the Quarterly is uppermost again, and one would suppose that the venerable Doctor had surpassed his century, and could only remember one idea that had engrossed his intellect in early life! Yet the Doctor is in the prime of life, and has no excuse for this everlasting tale being foisted on his readers (or rather his reviewers) usque ad nauseam. While Dr. Uwins takes great care to apprize us of his early predilection for the study of mental pathology-" a subject especially to his taste" and his appointment to the "Peckham Establishment," he declaims in good set terms against MAD DOCTORS.

Mad, my friends, I may be; of that it is for you to judge, in the plenitude of your Metaphysico-medico legal knowledge; but mad doctor' I am not. Nay, with all the feeling just expressed in favour of one particular department of medical investigation and scrutiny, I have ever been averse from the principle and practice of separating insanity, strictly so called, if indeed it can be strictly so called, from other maladies which are allied to it in nature, and differ from it only in degree. In another part of this essay I shall have to state my objection to this division more at large, and ad rem; suffice it for the present to intimate, that to take madness under medical cognizance, specifically, and separately, and exclusively, appears to me inconsistent with that connexion and totality in which every thing connected with the sentient system ought to be received; because such partial and excluding notions insensibly lead the mind too much into that kind of favoritism, if the expression be allowed me, which cramps the mental energies, and gives rise to that jealous feeling on the part of the public, which, as we have seen in a recent instance of notoriety, is easily fomented from a spark to a flame, by the ingenuity and ability of men who, in the exercise of their professional functions, care little what sacrifice they make of truth, or who shall be the sufferer, so that the battle be won, to the successful issue of which their earnest endeavours are directed." 6.

Dr. Uwins considers it inconsistent with the nature and objects of medi

cal science or art, "to divide and subdivide any part of it in the manner proposed and practised by some persons."

"These divisions and separations, instead of insuring greatness' (according to vulgar conception and phraseology) in this or that particular, is calculated to operate the very opposite effect, viz. that of producing a littleness and narrowness of character; for, bating the tact which large experience cannot fail of giving, when reputation shall run high on this or that point, (and even this tact itself may become too mechanical, and partake, therefore, too much of empirical routine,) the wisest and most efficient physician will be the man who surveys the large subject of physiological and pathological enquiry as one connected and comprehensive whole; who rejects the notion of caste,' and smiles at the popular creed of this man being great in consumption, that man being 'fine' in children's complaints; of one being an adept in female diseases, of another being a good mad doctor.' I hope the immediate succession of these two last items will be set down by my fair readers as purely accidental." 8.

From the last part of the quotation, it is evident that Dr. Uwins expects the perusal as well as the patronage of the fair sex for his lucubrations; but we suspect that the "march of intellect" has sent most of his fair readers many a day's journey before him on the subjects which he discusses-and that all his cotemporary ladies of a "certain age," have had their taste for literary composition, of the UWINIAN character, most terribly vitiated of late years.

Our readers will see, in the quotation which we have inserted, that Dr. Uwins speaks of the "littleness and narrowness" which the study of particular diseases gives to the medical character-while apparently admitting, "the tact which large experience cannot fail of giving, when reputation shall run high on this or that point." There is some inconsistency even in this position; but surely there is still more inconsistency in the following observation.

"I say, that he who is really and scientifically and radically agile in one department of the healing art, must be so in all, and that the idea of a concentrated power over one class of maladies occasioning a defective judgment in others, is quite as ideal in conceit, as that of the fabulous inventors of antiquity, who put the head of a man on the shoulders of a horse." 8.

Suppose a man had studied thoroughly all branches of his profession, but that accident had directed his attention more particularly to one-say lithotomy or lithotrity; and that reputation had given him immense experience in the favourite pursuit :-are we thence to infer that this scientifically and radically agile operator must be equally agile and clever in all other departments? Baron Hourteloup and Mr. Costello have had excellent and general educations; but who would conclude that these expert operators on the stone must be equally clever in all other departments of medical science? Our worthy confrere and ex-warden, Mr. WAKLEY,* is one of the most expert phlebotomists of the age; yet a tolerable acquaintance with "MODERN BABYLON," has not enabled us to discover a single instance in which his radical admirers have called him in to prescribe for themselves. Many there be who recommend him as a plebotomist for their neighbours but the deuce a one have we ever seen who has confided his own precious carcase to the care of the radical reformer!! This shews that a man may be clever in one thing, though not in all.

Mr. W. has retired from the heavy duties of the church-wardency of St. Giles's, with the title of "Ex-WARDEN of the SINK PORTS."

We congratulate the worthy author on his connexion with a lunatic asylum where "his original bias towards inquiry into the intricacies of nerve and mind became still more confirmed in the exercise of his appointed duties." The following passage will shew that Dr. Uwins has not been two or three years at the "PECKHAM ESTABLISHMENT," without making some important discoveries.

"Strange as the confession will seem to some, the division between madness and mere nervousness, which I had originally conceived to be drawn out with more than just precision, lost more and more of distinctness; madness, I have repeatedly said to myself, is an arbitrary, an odious term, and the more and further we recede from the ancient notion of attaching peculiarity to the malady, the more we cease to look upon the subjects of mental disorder as eußрovтηтo, or stamped as with the mark of Cain on their forehead, the more shall we succeed in reconciling the public to our curative attempts, and the less propriety will be perceived in setting apart a class of men for the management of madness, to whom a species of peculiar power is awarded by the selection, which neither does nor ought to exist." 11.

There is refinement for you! We are to have no more lunatic asylums; but only nervous establishments:-no more strait-waistcoats :-the ladies, whose nerves are rather tumultuous, are to be controlled by golden chains, like Zenobia with fetters of gold in the triumphal procession of Aurelian.Even the mad doctors themselves must change their designations to the more scientific terms of NEUROLOGISTS!

It appears that Dr. Uwins was preparing a large work on Insanity-we beg pardon, on "Nervous and Mental Aberration," when certain "untoward events put to flight the train of his meditations, like the stone thrown into the tranquil lake which upset the harmony of the picture reflected on its glassy bosom.

"Banks, trees, and skies, in thick disorder run!"

"I say I became intent upon publishing a work which should not be discreditable to myself, nor without its use to the profession and the public. And on this ground I was intending to proceed quietly and slowly, when, lo! circumstances occur-investigations take place-the public mind becomes agitated→→ respectable practitioners are hurled from popular confidence and promised wealth into contumely and poverty-the credit of the medical profession itself becomes shaken, and those members of it who have it especially in their power, from their official situation, to assert its dignity, and maintain its right, in reference to the points in debate, seem especially to be summoned from a state of supineness to be up and active.

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-Potes hoe sub casu ducere somnos ?

“Nec, quæ te circum stent deinde pericula cernis?" 13. It is certainly very laudable in Dr. Uwins, in his official capacity, to come forward and support the dignity of the profession; but how far the present brochure, which is evidently intended for general readers, is calculated to raise the literary, scientific, and philosophical character of our brethren in the eyes of the world at large, we will not venture to determine.

Dr. U. informs the public that the first patient he confined in "Peckham Asylum," was not mad. There is a great advantage in making a favourable impression on our readers at the beginning-and this ingenuous confession of our author cannot fail to effect that purpose. Candour is often more prepossessing than judgment—and the force of truth is irresistible :-omnia vincit veritas. Determined not to be swept away by "the broom of forensic authority," Dr. Uwins attacks his legal opponents with the arms of poetry,