which is gained by occasionally residing, for even a week or two, in a mad-house, I need not plead in words; but as that is impossible, I must go on with my appeal to reason and conscience.
Perhaps nothing in the conduct of our life is so irrational as our attitude towards the whole subject of insanity. Because the tendency to yield to certain sensations in a spasmodic and irregular way is a proof of mental weakness, it is inferred that those sensations should be discouraged and trampled out by every device in our power; and that, when they occur, they should not be heeded. The consequence is, that when they occur they are often not confessed till too late; and the secret remains an extra burden on the over-taxed mind. It would be as rational to suppose that, because tumbling about in the street is a proof of ill-health, therefore we should neither go to bed at proper times, nor acknowledge ourselves weary, nor thank God for the gift of repose. Those very nervous sensations, the yielding to which in an irregular manner constitutes insanity, are in reality the alphabet of a system of telegraphy by which the past is striving to hold converse with us; they are the solicitations of some lost knowledge urging us to re-admit it to the mind of the race that was once its earthly Temple. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock," says Truth ; if the visitor is ignored, his importunities may drive us mad indeed; the best way to quiet them is to admit him quietly, and hear what he has to say. Education should assist us to do this. Many teachers, however, aim at trampling out our power to do it. In so far as they are successful, they only retard progress. Nature, however, always provides a certain
