| Description Of Item | Illustration from the collection of Alexander Morison. Plate 39 of Morison’s 'The Physiognomy of Mental Diseases' (1840). Signed A J [Alexander Johnston].
'A. K., aged 20, unmarried. This portrait was taken three months after her disorder commenced, it is attributed to overstudy of religious subjects, respecting which she has imbibed erroneous ideas — she never speaks, and would, if allowed, remain always in one position; her eyes are continually fixed on the ground, her eyelids being half-closed; she refuses her food, and, with the intention of destroying herself, has taken laudanum, has thrown herself down stairs, and has attempted to hang herself Purgatives, the douche and blisters have been employed; she is still under treatment, and her recovery is not despaired of.' |