LATE OF PEMBROKE HALL, CAMBRIDGE;
MEMBER OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS,
AND APOTHECARY TO BETHLEM HOSPITAL.
_The Second Edition, considerably enlarged._
"Of the uncertainties of our present state, the
most dreadful and alarming is the uncertain
continuance of reason."
Dr. JOHNSON'S RASSELAS.
London:
PRINTED FOR J. CALLOW, MEDICAL BOOKSELLER,
CROWN COURT, PRINCES STREET, SOHO;
BY G. HAYDEN, BRYDGES STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
1809.
AS A GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT
FOR MANY FAVOURS,
AN OBLATION TO SUBSISTING FRIENDSHIP,
AND A TRIBUTE TO SUPERIOR JUDGMENT,
EXERCISING THE PROFESSION OF MEDICINE WITH
SKILL AND LIBERALITY:
THE PRESENT VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY
DEDICATED TO
DR. THOMAS MONRO,
A FELLOW OF THE COLLEGE, AND PHYSICIAN
TO BETHLEM HOSPITAL.
Preface.
_The alarming increase of Insanity, as might naturally be expected, has
incited many persons to an investigation of this disease;--some for the
advancement of Science, and others with the hope of emolument._
_More than ten years having elapsed since the publication of the
"Observations on Insanity," a trifle, which the Profession has held in
greater estimation than its intrinsic merits could justify: the present
work is modestly introduced to the public notice, as a corrected copy of
the former, with considerable additions, which the extensive scope of
Bethlem Hospital would have furnished more liberally to a more intelligent
observer._
_To have taken a comprehensive survey of the human faculties in their
sound state; to have exhibited them impaired by natural decay, and
transformed by disease, would have implied an ability to which I cannot
pretend; would have required many volumes to unfold, and perhaps more
patience than any rational experience could have attributed to the reader.
The contents of the following pages are therefore to be considered as an
abbreviated relation, and condensed display of many years observation and
practice, in a situation affording constant opportunities and abundant
supplies for such investigations._
_It is natural to presume, that amongst my professional acquaintance the
subject of Insanity must have been frequently introduced as a topic of
discourse; and I am ready to acknowledge, that I have often profited by
their remarks and suggestions: but I should be ungrateful were I not to
confess my particular obligations to my esteemed friend, Anthony Carlisle,
Esq. Surgeon to the Westminster Hospital, for many corrections, and some
communications, which I shall ever value as judicious and important._
BETHLEM HOSPITAL,
NOV. 21, 1808.