COLEGATE D. OWINGS' CASE.—1 BLAND. 363

principles. For, by the violence of their imaginations, having
taken their fancies for realities, they make right deductions from
them. In short, madmen put wrong ideas together, and so make
wrong propositions, but argue and reason right from them; but
idiots make very few or no propositions, and reason scarce at all.
The erroneous perception of some of the mental faculties, uncon-
trolled by its comparing faculty, often becomes exceedingly extra-
vagant, and extends to the whole conduct of the individual. In
such cases, lunacy is so strongly marked as to be obvious at first
sight, or upon a single interview with the unhappy sufferer. The
most strange, whimsical, and incongruous associations are made
of thoughts and objects; matter and impertinency are mixed; and
the mind is involved in the most obstinate and unaccountable mis-
takes. During these hallucinations, however, the perceptions
seem to be, in many respects quickened, and the maniac becomes
exceedingly suspicious, watchful, cunning, and adroit. 1 Zoo-
nomin, nee. 34, 2, 1; 2 Ibid. Cla. 3, 1, 2; Rees' Cyclo. ver. Mental
Derangement; Locke Hun. Und. b. 2, c. 11, s. 12 d' 13; Con. Ind.
Insanity, 114, 300; 1 Coll. Id. 8, 36; 1 Par. & Fonl). 302, 311, 318;
Rush Moid, 72, 133, 14, 257; Shelf. Lun. cha. 3.(k)

(k) " Oh matter and impertinency mixt!

Reason in madness!" Lear, Act 4, s. 6.

" My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time,
And makes as healthful music: It is not madness.
That I have utter'd: bring me to the test,
And I the matter will reword; which madness
Would gambol from.'' Hamlet, Act 3, s. 4.

Sir Henry Halford, a celebrated English physician, relates an instance in
which this test, appealed to by Hamlet, was applied to a patient of his, who
desired to make his will, The sick man was requested to give directions
how his will should be made, and it was accordingly drawn, read to, and
signed by him: but being suspected to be of unsound mind, and after a short
interval, he was requested to repeat the directions he had given, "to reward
the matter,'' but in endeavoring to do so, his mind gambolled from it, and
wandered so materially from his first directions, that he was held to be non
compos mentis, and the will was therefore set aside.—5 Quar. Jur. Scie. 243.

A change came o'er the spirit of my dream.
The lady of his love;—Oh! she was changed
As by the sickness of the soul; her mind
Had wander'd from its dwelling, and her eyes
They had not their own lustre, but the look
Which is not of the earth; she was become
The queen of a fantastic realm; her thoughts
Were combinations of disjointed things;
And forms impalpable and unperceived
Of others' sight, familiar were to hers.
And this the world calls phrenzy; but the wise
Have a far deeper madness, and the glance
Of melancholy is a fearful gift;