have adopted the Malay costume, which is when first offered, the young ladies have both civilized and becoming. it very much in their own power as to whom shall be helped, and to what extent; a privilege which, I have been told, they are inclined to exercise with great partiality. But whatever custom they adopt, whether Dyak, Malay, or pseudo-European, all are clothed in the best garments they can procure; and they come in troops from the neighboring houses to that in which the feast is to be held. As they arrive, eight or ten young men, each with a cup and a vessel of tuak, place themselves in a line inward from the doorway, and as the company enter, they are presented by each of the luak-bearers with a cup of the liquid. To drink is compulsory, and thus they all run the gauntlet of all the cups. As tuak is not a pleasant liquor to take in excess the headache from it is tremendous-it is to the majority of them a penance rather than a pleasure, and many attempt, but in vain, to escape the infliction. In this manner the male guests assemble and seat themselves in the gallery, the chiefs being conducted to the place of honor in the middle of the building, and beneath the bundle of skulls. All the rooms are at the same time thrown open, and each family keeps free house for the entertainment of the female guests. These, as they arrive, enter and partake of the dainties that are provided for them; and many of the men being likewise invited to join them, the feast of reason and the flow of soul proceed as triumphantly as in similar cases in Europe. Cakes, sweetmeats, eggs, and fruit are produced, discussed, and washed down with tuak, and occasionally with a little arrack; while siri, pinang, gambier, and tobacco serve the purpose of deviled biscuits, to give zest and pungency to the substantial dessert. Conversation never for an instant flags; the laugh, the joke, the endless chatter, the broad banter, and the quick reply, pass unceasingly round the circle, and a glorious Babel of tongues astounds the visitor. Outside, in the gallery, the same scene is enacted, but with less animation than in the rooms, for, as there the ladies form no part of the company, the assembly wants all its soul, and much of its life. The girls of the house, however, dressed in their gayest, and looking their best "beautiful as stars," a Dyak once told me-have formed themselves into a corps of waitresses, and hand round the viands to the assembled guests. As it is not according to Dyak etiquette to take a thing The mannangs, male and female, next take part in the ceremony. They congregate in the gallery, and seating themselves in a circle, one of them begins his dreary and monotonous chant, while the rest at stated intervals join in the chorus. They occasionally intermit their rhyme, in order to take a little refreshment; after which, another of the brotherhood takes the lead, and they continue their dismal monotone as before. After some time, each of them is furnished with a small plate of raw rice, dyed a bright saffron color, holding which in their hands, they perambulate the crowded gallery, and, still continuing their chant, scatter the yellow grains over the seated multitude" for luck." In the meantime, the object of all this rejoicing, the captured head, hangs along with its fellows in the bundle almost unnoticed. In the morning, before any of the guests have assembled, some one has stuffed a half-rotten plantain into one eye, and fastened a piece of cake and a little siri and pinang near (not into) its mouth. It is then replaced in the bundle, and no more notice taken of it throughout the whole feast, unless a few boys, warriors in embryo, occasionally advance to inspect it. It has been said by former writers that it is stuck upon a pole, and its mouth filled with choice morsels of food, but I never saw this done, nor did any Dyak whom I have questioned know anything of such a custom. As to the opinion that they endeavor to propitiate the souls of the slain, and get them to persuade their relatives to be killed also, or that the courage of the slain is transferred to the slayer, I am inclined to think that these are ideas devised by Malays, for the satisfaction of inquiring whites, who, as they would not be satisfied till they had reasons for everything they saw, got them specially invented for their own use. Offerings, however, are made to the superior powers. A pig has been killed early in the morning, and its entrails inspected to furnish omens, while its carcass afterward serves as materials for a feast. Baskets of food and siri are hung up as offerings to the spirits and to the birds of omen; among which latter, the burong Penyala, or rhinoceros hornbill, is reckoned especially the bird of the spirits. The grand event of the day, however, is the erection of lofty poles, each surmounted by a wooden figure of burong Penyala, which is placed there "to peck at their foes." These figures are rather conventional representations than imitations of nature, and do not convey a very exact idea of the bird they are intended to represent. Eight or ten such posts are erected, a fowl being sacrificed upon each; and about half-way up the largest, which is erected first, a basket of fruit, cakes, and siri is suspended, as an offering to the spirits. Meanwhile, those who remain in the house still continue the feast, and those who have been engaged in erecting the posts, return to it as soon as their labor is finished. The festivities are prolonged far on into the night, and they are resumed and continued, though with abated vigor, during the two following days. The Dyaks are a comparatively sober people; they spend neither money nor goods upon the indulgence of drinking; and now, that their constant fighting is put a stop to, and the destruction of each other's property thus prevented, I think it very likely that many of them may rise to considerable wealth; and that they may ultimately become a more important social body even than the Malays. The life of a Malay is a succession of expedients. If he can meet a temporary want by a temporary contrivance, he is satisfied, and contentedly allows each day to bring its own supplies. But it is not so with the Dyaks; they are much more provident, and seldom hesitate to undertake a little present trouble for the sake of a future reward. THE WEE WHITE ROSE. ALL in our marriage garden A bonnier flower than ever Suck'd the green warmth of the sod. O, beautiful unfathomably Its little life unfurl'd; Life's crown of sweetness was our wee White Rose of all the world. From out a gracious bosom Our bud of beauty grew; It fed on smiles for sunshine, And tears for daintier dew. Aye, nestling warm and tenderly, Two flowers of golden crimson I' the wind of life they danced with glee, With mystical faint fragrance Where winged hopes might build. White Rose of all the world. Of angel light increased, And dropp'd i' the grave-God's lap-our wee Our Rose was but in blossom: Our life was but in spring; With holy dews impearl'd;" You scarce could think so small a thing From dawn to sunset's marge. In banner'd bloom unfurl'd; But never, never match our wee White Rose of all the world. WINTER SONG. SUMMER joys are o'er; Flow'rets bloom no more: Wintry winds are sweeping; Through the snowdrifts peeping, Cheerful evergreen Rarely now is seen. Now no plumed throng Charms the wood with song; Ice-bound trees are glittering; Merry snow-birds, twittering, Fondly strive to cheer Scenes so cold and drear. Winter, still I see Many charms in thee; Love thy chilly greeting, Snow-storms fiercely beating, And the dear delights Of the long, long nights. INSANITY, AND TREATMENT OF THE BEFORE EFORE proceeding to speak of the ancient and modern treatment of insanity, we will refer briefly to a form of monomania, which, for the last five hundred years, has, at occasional intervals, produced extraordinary excitement, and often led to the most serious consequences. We refer to that singular class of phenomena in which the subject involuntarily dances, runs, performs the most violent feats of physical activity, in leaping, jumping, rolling like a hoop; accompanied frequently by shouting, barking, imitating the noises of animals, and sometimes by declaiming, preaching, or singing. cisms and incantations upon them, but with little effect. When at last the gross licentiousness which followed in the train of the epidemic became too intolerable for longer endurance, the civil authorities took the matter into their own hands, and banished, without pity or exception, all who were attacked. This salutary harshness, accompanied by the natural reaction and prostration which followed such a period of excitement, soon put an end to the disease for a time. It continued to recur, however, at intervals, but in a milder form, for the next three or four hundred years. In 1418 it appeared in Strasburg, and the Romish church of that day, ever watchful of opportunities to increase her hoards, canonized a young martyr of the 4th century, named Veit or Vitus, who, it was fabled, had, at the instant of martyrdom, prayed that all those who should fast and properly observe his name's-day, should be free from the dancing disease; and that a voice from heaven had replied, saying, "Vitus, thy prayer is heard." St. Veit or Vitus was established at once as the patron of all those affected by the dancing disease, and it mattered little to his fanatical followers, as they visited his chapel for cure, that the saint had died a thousand years before the dancing disease made its appearance. The St. Vitus dance, or dance of St. John, as it is still often called in Europe, the chorea of the medical books, seems to be a faint lingering of this epidemic of the middle ages, but unaccompanied by its insane delusions. This, at times, has assumed an epidemic form. The first epidemic of this kind of which we have any account, commenced at Aixla-Chapelle, on Midsummer's day, A.D. 1374, the year after that terrible plague, the Black Death, had ravaged all Europe. The festival of St. John's, or Midsummer's day, had, in Germany, and, indeed, over most of central and southern Europe, been celebrated by rites half heathen, half Christian, among which were orgies similar to those of the Bacchantic festivals of Greece and Rome; intemperance and licentiousness often prevailed at these festivals; and on this occasion large troops of men and women came to Aix-la-Chapelle from Germany, and in the churches and public squares, apparently unconscious of spectators, danced hand in hand in a ring, with the utmost violence, for hours together, till they sank down from utter exhaustion, groaning fearfully, and complaining of great oppression in the region of the stomach. The abdomen was found greatly distended in all these cases, and upon bandaging this tightly, they presently recovered their senses, and so remained until the next attack. This epidemic spread rapidly through the Rhenish provinces and the Netherlands, and was soon accompanied by professed revelations from the spirit world, relative to events about to take place. Many of those affected by the disease, professed during the paroxysm to be in a state of trance, and to have specially unconscious of having been bitten, and communication with God and angelic beings. The physicians found themselves baffled by the novelty and the professed religious character of the disease, and sur-ed, we are told by Baglivi, sought out solirendered their patients into the hands of the priests, who tried the power of exor In Italy, during the middle ages, another form of the dancing disease occurred, also accompanied with delusions, and furnished much matter of gossip for the old chroniclers. It was called tarantismus, and was for a long time believed to be the effect of the bite of one of the spider tribe, the Aranea tarantula. That some of the symptoms were analogous to those induced by the bite of the spider, is undoubtedly true; but that very many thousands of those affected by tarantismus were entire that the greater part of the phenomena were attributable solely to nervous derangement, is equally true. The persons affect tary places, grave-yards and the like, and there laid themselves out as if they were dead, howled like dogs, groaned and sighed, leaped and ran wildly about, stripped themselves wholly, expressed a like or dislike for particular colors, and seemed to delight in being soundly beaten. The cure was music, under the influence of which the patient would dance violently for many hours, during four or six days, and the violent perspiration induced by this exercise relieved the disease. The Salem Witchcraft seems to have been another form of the same disease, and the delusion that the parties were bewitched by others, was fully in accordance with the prevalent religious views of the period. The contortions of body, and the violent spasmodic action, all point to a similar cause, and indicate the kindred nature of the epidemic. It is matter of regret that, as in the tarantismus, the soothing influence of music had not been tried, and the demon exorcised by dancing and bodily exercise, rather than that so many innocent victims should have perished on the gallows. In Scotland, and especially in the Orkneys and Shetland Isles, and the portions of the main adjacent, a dancing mania, known as the leaping ague, prevailed during the latter part of the last century. This was accompanied with less aberration of mind than the cases previously narrated; but the bodily activity was wonderful. Those affected by it would leap from the floor in their cottages to the rafters, or even the ridge pole, and spring from one rafter to another, holding by their hands like a monkey, or whirling round almost with the rapidity of lightning. One of the most remarkable epidemics of this disorder in modern times, was one which occurred in Kentucky and Tennessee, about the beginning of the present century. It commenced with a powerful religious revival, during which meetings were held for a long time in the open air, and the frontier population, whose constant exposure to Indian forays, and the hardships of pioneer life, had rendered them peculiarly liable to excitement, had, by the most thrilling appeals to their imagination, been lashed to frenzy. With each day the excitement reached a higher pitch of intensity. At last they began to bark like dogs and howl like wolves, and neither their own wills, nor the efforts of others, served to arrest this extraordinary action. In many instances, delusion ac companied these spasmodic symptoms. The scene, as described by eye-witnesses, must have been a painful one. Some · dancing, and others whirling with the utmost violence, some barking, howling, mewing, or roaring, others declaiming at the top of their voices, proclaiming themselves inspired, or denouncing the terrible judgments of God on all who did not believe these wondrous scenes to be direct displays of his power, and ever and anon one or another of those who had been sitting quietly, smitten with the contagion, rising and joining in the uproar; while the poor ministers stood aghast at the fearful whirlwind of passion and insanity, which was apparently the result of their labors, but which their skill was insufficient to allay. The epidemic lasted, though with diminished intensity toward the close, for nearly a twelve-month. In some instances there were undoubtedly great excesses which followed these excitements, but with these exceptions, they seem to have terminated in a deeper impression of the powerful and pervading influence of religion upon the minds of these frontiersmen; and though few of those who participated in these scenes are now on the stage, yet the influence of the excitement is still felt, and has left its permanent impress on the professing Christians of that region. Within a few years a somewhat similar epidemic has made its appearance in Sweden. We are indebted for the facts concerning it to Dr. Sonden's Essay on the religious monomania in Sweden, translated and condensed by the Ohio Medical and Surgical Journal. A young girl, sixteen years of age, was attacked in May, 1841, with nervous headache and pain in the stomach, followed by hiccough, difficulty of breathing, and spasms of the arms and shoulders, which increased in violence for several months. During the intervals of these paroxysms, she read her Bible, Hymn Book, and other religious books, constantly. About four and a half months after her first attack she began to sing psalms, at first without any set tunes, but subsequently to real melodies, and, as she alleged, involuntarily For two weeks she sang constantly, hardly intermitting long enough to take food. At the end of this time she began to preach, at first at long intervals, then more frequently, till finally she would preach sev eral sermons every day. She professed to be inspired by the Holy Ghost, and in the intervals of these preaching paroxysms, would fall into a partial fainting fit, during which she professed to receive revelations from above. Her sermons were never delivered when she was alone, but were generally quite well arranged, and were beyond what her friends believed to be her ability when in health. On the 13th of November, she prophesied that on the 20th of that month she should cease preaching, that a girl of thirteen whom she named was to continue it, and that she should die soon afterward. The predictions concerning the preaching proved true, but she did not die. A sister of this girl, two years older, and the girl whom she had designated as her successor, were both soon affected in the same manner. From these causes the epidemic spread, and the excitement with it, until several thousands had been affected, most of whom, at some stage of the epidemic, attempted preaching, and nearly all were affected with the other symptoms of the American epidemic, dancing, rolling on the floor, barking, howling, etc. The people seemed perfectly infatuated, moving in crowds to hear these poor lunatics preach, and listening with apparent reverence to their ranting and gibbering; often treating with great severity and violence, physicians and clergymen who at tempted to check their excesses. a proximate one, the prevalence of an intense and overpowering excitement, and its contagious influence on persons of high nervous sensibility, and you have the necessary conditions for the production of such epidemics. From the description we have already given of the causes and symptoms of insanity, it will be evident to every person of intelligence that its successful treatment demands the highest skill of the physician, and that, while different forms of the disease require variations in the medication, large reliance must be placed on the influence of change of scene, exercise in the open air, and such means of mental diversion and moral influence as may be proved by experience most salutary. The treatment adopted by the priestphysicians of Thebes seems in part to have accomplished this purpose. For the insane excitement, they substituted the imposing forms of a peculiar and secret worship, which occupied the mind, while the physical exercise of the long marches, dances, and other exercises in the open air, promoted healthy action, Melampus, the Asclepiadeæ, and Hippocrates, though relying too much, perhaps, on the medicinal effects of the white hellebore, a powerful purgative, still recognized the necessity of physical exercise and mental excitement, in recommending the chasing the patients over the hills, playing to them on musical instruments, etc. Among the Romans, the reliance was mainly upon the medication, and the unfortunate lunatic, instead of enjoying exercise in the open air, was bound with chains and scourged with whips. It was reserved, however, for a later period, the middle ages, to add to the chains and the cruel beatings with whips and clubs, confinement in foul, dank, and loathsome dungeons, where, but for their wonderful tenacity of The epidemic finally reached the Lapps, and that singular people, half wild, ignorant, superstitious, and fanatical, were profoundly affected by it. Believing it to be the result of a direct Divine interposition intended for their conversion, they crowded around the lunatics, and listened with intense interest to whatever they uttered; and though their faith, thus derived, has no inconsiderable tinge of fanaticism, still this epidemic has been the means of lead-life, these poor wretches must have per ing them very generally to a higher religious life. ished in a few days. For nearly fifteen centuries, those who were thus smitten of It is worthy of remark, that in every God were subjected to a tyranny so cruel instance in which these epidemics have that it seems incredible. We have noted taken place, they have been preceded a few exceptions to this general cruelty in among those who have become their sub- the treatment of the insane, but the excepjects, by a season of intense fatigue, and tions were confined almost exclusively to generally of mental distress; that their Gheel, and to the monks of the Pyrenees. food has usually been insufficient in quan- At the Bethlem Hospital, England, a few tity and of inferior quality, and that gastric of the more harmless patients were perdifficulty has generally occurred previous-mitted to roam over the country, on a kind ly. To these predisposing causes, add, as of ticket-of-leave system, begging, and |