Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: chapter{Section 4INTRODUCTION. CHAPTER I. OUTLINES OF MENTAL PHILOSOPHY. § 1. Extent and importance of the subject to be examined. The reader will notice that I have entitled this Treatise, Imperfect and Disordered Mental Action. A title designedly made thus general, in order to include all the varieties of imperfect and alienated action of which (and they are almost without number) the human mind is the subject Our inquiries are not meant to be limited to those more aggravated forms of mental disorder which infringe upon moral accountability, and which are commonly bad in view, when what is called Insanity or Madness comes under discussion. We propose to take a more extensive view of the subject; and indulge the hope, that, in thus extending the plan of remark, the Treatise may be found to be more interesting and useful to the common reader at least, if not to the philosopher. I can hardly consider it necessary to delay for the mere purpose of attempting to illustrate the importance of the subject which it is now proposed to examine. It commends itself at once to every sober and reflecting mind, as intimately and seriously connected with the well-being of men. Every man ought to have some knowledge of the general structure and action of the mind, and of its irregular as well as its regular action. Nor will it be enough that he has some general knowledge of the more aggravated cases of insanity, such as are characterized by a total confusion of the powers of thought, and sometimes by ungovernable ferocity. There are cases of partial mental disorder, less perceptible to the unpractised eye, which come nearer home. There are mental aberrations and shades of aberration ; there are mental imperfections and shades of imperfection, short of a total overthrow of the spirit...