The Physiognomy of Mental Diseases

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The appearance of the face is intimately connected with and dependant upon the state of the mind; the repetition of the same ideas and emotions, and the consequent repetition of the same movements of the muscles of the eyes and of the face give a peculiar expression, which, in the insane state, is a combination of wildness, abstraction, or vacancy, and of those ideas and emotions characterising different varieties of mental disorder, as pride, anger, Suspicion, mirth, love, fear, grief, Much diversity of Opinion exists as to the classification of mental diseases: that mode which arranges diseases ac cording to the different morbid states of the organs giving rise to them, that is, to a proximate cause, as it has been termed, certainly appears to be the most rational, and ought to be adopted wherever it is practicable.

The appearance of the face is intimately connected with and dependant upon the state of the mind; the repetition of the same ideas and emotions, and the consequent repetition of the same movements of the muscles of the eyes and of the face give a peculiar expression, which, in the insane state, is a combination of wildness, abstraction, or vacancy, and of those ideas and emotions characterising different varieties of mental disorder, as pride, anger, Suspicion, mirth, love, fear, grief, Much diversity of Opinion exists as to the classification of mental diseases: that mode which arranges diseases ac cording to the different morbid states of the organs giving rise to them, that is, to a proximate cause, as it has been termed, certainly appears to be the most rational, and ought to be adopted wherever it is practicable.