Practical observations on insanity : in which some suggestions are offered towards an improved mode of treating diseases of the mind, and some rules proposed which it is hoped may lead to a more humane and successful method of cure ; to which are subjoined remarks on medical jurisprudence as connected with diseased intellect / by Joseph Mason Cox, M.D. ; from the second corrected and enlarged London edition.

  • Cox, Joseph Mason, 1762-1822.
Date:
1811
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Practical observations on insanity : in which some suggestions are offered towards an improved mode of treating diseases of the mind, and some rules proposed which it is hoped may lead to a more humane and successful method of cure ; to which are subjoined remarks on medical jurisprudence as connected with diseased intellect / by Joseph Mason Cox, M.D. ; from the second corrected and enlarged London edition. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    parent rationality of a person, suspected to be insane, when submitted to examination, ought not to bias our judgment any more than the prevalence of the more common symptoms of madness, as the first may be the effect of a mo- mentary lucid interval, and the last be occasion- ed by passion, intoxication, &c. Deceived by such appearances what dreadful errors may be committed; the most dangerous persons may thus be let loose upon society, and the most innocent be unjustly secluded from it. Though so much difficulty attends forming a definition of insanity, more attaches to a juridical deci- sion, especially if it were expected that medical men should determine on all cases which may be termed moral ones, when actions are com- ved him, but as they each told the same tale, he at length discovered all were affected by the same mental malady. The other case was a patient whom the doctor attended, who t»ld so plausible a tale to his friends, and some ma- gistrates who were present, that they were induced to order the strait waistcoat to be taken off, hardly allowing the doctor, at his earnest entreaty, sufficient time to es- cape. The instant the maniac was freed from his shackles, he flew at his friends with a violence that endangered their lives.