On the Classification and Forms of Insanity

Abstract

In my first lecture on the nomenclature of varieties of insanity I dwelt upon those phraseologies which have already been in use. The first of these was the old well known classification, which was grounded on the physical temperament, and conduct of the patient; and which confined itself very much to the question, whether he was violent, low spirited, or silly. Mania, melancholia, and dementia, being applied to these states; monomania and moral insanity, arising in after years as auxiliary to these terms, and being a refinement on the idiosyncracies of various cases. The second phraseology was one which Dr. Noble has developed, if not originated; it dwelt upon the metaphysical position of diseased mind, discarding the consideration of conduct and temperament. It tells us which part or faculty of the mind is diseased; it contains, in short, a geographical sketch of the mind and its diseases, and gives us some ideas of the exact position of each case in the history of diseased mind. Emotional, notional, and intelligential insanity are the chief terms of this vocabulary. I stated my belief that a consideration of both of these histories, the physical and the metaphysical, the state of the conduct and temperament, as well as a history of the part of the mind diseased, were necessary, for a terminology which should represent a fair history of the varieties of diseased mind; and I proposed to compile a nomenclature of the varieties of the disease, constructed from the conjoint consideration of these two histories.