In  some  women  the  insanity  (particularly  if  it  be  of
the  puerperal  type)  is  characterized  by  a  singularly
distressing  perversion  of  thought,  connected  with  a  mor-
bidly exalted  state  of  the  reproductive  instincts.  The
conversation  is,  in  these  cases,  occasionally  tinctured
with  expressions,  from  the  contemplation  of  which  the
unhappy  sufferer  would,  like  a  sensitive  plant,  have  re-
coiled when  in  health.  The  gentlest  of  the  sex,  the
purest  and  most  delicate  of  feminine  minds,  pious,  re-
fined, and  cultivated  of  moral  natures,  are  often,  alas!
the  first  to  exhibit,  when  suffering  from  particular  types
of  mental  derangement,  this  painful  moral  and  psychical
degeneration.  Such  melancholy  manifestations  of  poor
human  nature,  fallen,  crushed,  perverted,  and  often  de-
stroyed by  disease,  suggest  to  the  man  of  the  world,
medico-psychologist,  theologian,  and  moralist,  sources  of
deep  and  profound  thought,  and  subjects  for  grave  philo-
sophical meditation.  It  is,  however,  consolatory  to  reflect,
that  the  mind  may  pass  through  this  terrible  and  mys-
terious phase  of  alienation  intact,  emerging  from  the
fiery  furnace  without  the  slightest  remnant  of  moral
taint,  injury,  or  contamination  !  How  true  it  is  that,

"  Thoughts  impure

May  pass  through  minds  of  angel*  and  of  man
And  leave  no  stain."

When  analysing  these  sad  states  of  morbid  idea,  dis-
tressing forms  of  disordered  emotion,  and  painful  types
of  excited  passion,  we  are  obliged,  alas !  to  confess,  that
there  is  very  little  in  connexion  with  them  to  elevate,
expand,  and  purify  the  taste,  or  to  charm,  captivate,  and
enchain  the  poet's  fancy.  In  this  malady,  the  emotions,
sensations,  and  appetites  are  unhappily  in  a  melancholy

know  too  well  the  laws  of  demonstration  to  think  that  my  conviction  ought

to  influence  another,  who  cannot,  like  roe,  be  conscious  of  its  <««*

fore  shall  not  attempt  to  gain  credit  by  dUput*t.on.
