ften only nursed into action when the current of the blood has been
poisoned with alcohol. I had a case of a person who, whenever his brain
was so excited, told me that he experienced a most uncontrollable desire
to kill or injure some one; so much so, that he could at times hardly
restrain himself from the action, and was obliged to refrain from all
stimulants, lest, in an unlucky moment, he might commit himself.
Townley, who murdered the young lady of his affections, for which he was
sentenced to be imprisoned in a lunatic asylum for life, _poisoned his
brain with brandy_ and soda-water before he committed the rash act. The
brandy stimulated into action certain portions of the brain, which
acquired such a power as to subjugate his will, and hurry him to the
performance of a frightful deed, opposed alike to his better judgment
and his ordinary desires.

"As to _pyromania_, some years ago I knew a laboring man in a country
village, who, whenever he had had a few glasses of ale at the
public-house, would chuckle with delight at the thought of firing
certain gentlemen's stacks. Yet, when his brain was free from the
poison, a quieter, better-disposed man could not be. Unfortunately, he
became addicted to habits of intoxication; and, one night, under
alcoholic excitement, fired some stacks belonging to his employers, for
which, he was sentenced for fifteen years to a penal settlement, where
his brain would never again be alcoholically excited."

KLEPTOMANIA.

"Next, I will give an example of _kleptomania_. I knew, many years ago,
a very clever, industrious and talented young man, who told me that
whenever he had been drinking, he could hardly withstand, the temptation
of stealing anything that came in his way; but that these feelings never
troubled him at other times. One afternoon, after he had been indulging
with his fellow-workmen in drink, his will, unfortunately, was
overpowered, and he took from the mansion where he was working some
articles of worth, for which he was accused, and afterwards sentenced to
a term of imprisonment. When set at liberty he had the good fortune to
be placed among some kind-hearted persons, vulgarly called
_teetotallers_; and, from conscientious motives, signed the PLEDGE, now
above twenty years ago. From that time to the present moment he has
never experienced the overmastering desire which so often beset him in
his drinking days--to take that which was not his own. Moreover, no
pretext