basis for the common, but inaccurate, saying that everyone is insane.

This brings us to a form of insanity which the obsessive may well bear in
mind, namely, that known as manic-depressive. This disorder, in its typical
form, is shown by recurring outbursts of uncontrollable mental and
physical activity (mania), alternating with attacks of profound depression
(melancholia). This form of insanity represents the inability to control an
extreme degree of the varied moods to which we all are subject. Long before
the modern classification of mental disorders, Burton, in his introduction
to the "Anatomy of Melancholy," expressed this alternation of moods thus:

"When I go musing all alone,
Thinking of divers things foreknown,
When I build castles in the ayr,
Void of sorrow and void of feare,
Pleasing myself with phantasms sweet,
Me thinks the time runs very fleet.
All my joyes to this are folly,
Naught so sweet as melancholy.

"When I lie waking all alone,
Recounting what I have ill done,
My thoughts on me they tyrannize,
Feare and sorrow me surprise,
Whether I tarry still or go,
Me thinks the time moves very slow.
All my griefs to this are jolly,
Naught so sad as melancholy."

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