HEREDITARY INSANITY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2557, 1 June 1881, Page 2

HEREDITARY INSANITY.

Dr. Blandford, an eminent London physician, makes the following remarks in his work on “ Insanity and its treatment ” : —“ Supposing we have to deal with a young man, whose parents, or brothers, or sisters, have been insane, or who, at an early date, has shown that he is himself not free from the family taint, we should advise thatsach a one should be put to some occupation or calling iiot attended by any harass or responsibility,one of which the duties and work are of a routine character, affording a fair opportunity of holiday* and recreation. He should not follow the profession of a lawyer or doctor, for in them he will find hard and constant work, and the necessity of appearing in public; and his work and anxieties will follow him to his own fireside and hours of sleep, In the church he will or may be assailed by religious doubts, by a sense of duty insufficiently discharged, and by all that tends to religious melancholy. In the army ho will be exposed to the temptations of an idle life and the vicissitudes of climate. No post is so suited to these individuals as that of a Government office. The hours are light, the responsibility not formidable, the holidays long, and if the emolument is not large, it is at any rate certain, and certainly desirable.” Such work would, no doubt, be very suitable for weakminded persons, but what about the efficiency of the Civil Service ?