Page:Medical Inquiries and Observations Upon the Diseases of the Mind - Benjamin Rush.djvu/296



This affection of the mind consists in a total absence of understanding and memory. It has different grades from the lowest degree of ma- nalgia, down to that which discovers itself in a vacuity of the eye and countenance, in silence or garrulity, slobbering, lolling of the tongue, and ludicrous gestures of the head and limbs. It differs further, in being accompanied with activity in the will, or a total paralysis of it, and with active passions, or the total absence of them. The passions which most commonly appear in idiots are, anger, fear, and love. They moreover^ sometimes feel an inordinate degree of the sexual appetite, and are generally great feeders. Lastly, they are innocent, or extremely vicious.