Dr Haldimand. A NEW VIEW OF INSANITY. THE DUALITY OF THE MIND PROVED BY THE STRUCTURE, FUNCTIONS, AND DISEASES AND BY THE PHENOMENA OF MENTAL DERANGEMENT, AND SHEWN TO BE ESSENTIAL TO MORAL RESPONSIBILITY. WITH AN APPENDIX: 1. ON THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGION ON INSANITY. 2. CONJECTURES ON THE NATURE OF THE MENTAL OPERATIONS. 3. ON THE MANAGEMENT OF LUNATIC ASYLUMS. ΤΟ A PROFOUND THINKER AND ABLE PHYSICIAN, A SCHOLAR, A PHILOSOPHER, AND A GENTLEMAN— TO DR. HENRY HOLLAND, F.R.S. PHYSICIAN TO THE QUEEN, THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIbed, BY THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. In looking over the following pages for the purpose of making an index to their contents, I am struck with the conviction, that (were it now to be commenced) it would be easy to execute the task much better. There are occasional negligences which ought to have been avoided, and tautology that in offending the ear is not compensated by additional force and clearness. There are also some errors in the succession of the paragraphs and chapters, and repetitions of inferences which had been already drawn and established. The last fault, however, is not always unintentional; whenever the facts, arguments, and illustrations, seemed to lead naturally to the conclusion, I have not hesitated to proceed to it at once, although aware that, in other chapters of the book, I had already drawn the same inferences, perhaps in the same terms, from dissimilar facts, imparallel arguments, and totally different illus trations. I know, by experience, that works of this kind are rarely read consecutively, and therefore do not trust to the desultory reader the task of drawing the conclusion from the whole collocation of evidence. The few men of science who may carefully peruse the book from title-page to colophon, will, I hope, see enough |