insan'ity

[L. in san it as; inneg. san us, sound, sane.] A more or le permanent unsoundne of mind, mental disease; a condition marked by abnormality of the reasoning faculty, delusions, illusions, or hallucinations, with irresponsibility and a lack of understanding of the nature of one 's speech and actions; lunacy, crazine . It is an acquired condition and so distinguished from idiocy or imbecility, and is chronic, thus distinguished from the delirium of fever or shock. alcohol'ic i., a form of toxic i., due to the immoderate indulgence in alcoholic beverages, al'ternating sequence—mania, i., a form of manic-depre ive i. having the interval, depre ion. chore'ic i., an infectious psychosis sometimes a ociated with chorea, which usually a umes a confusional form, cir'ctilar i., that form of the manic-depre ive psychosis in which the manic and depre ive attacks follow one another without lucid intervals, climacter'ic i., any form of mental disease occurring about or at the close of middle life, commu'nicated i., a form of folie k deux in which the delusional ideas of one person are accepted by the second, by a species of mental contagion, but only after prolonged resistance, this period of resistance distinguishing it from imposed i. compul's ive i., a mental state marked by an obse ion or fixed idea which often compels to acts against the will and despite the anxious resistance of the patient. confu's ional i., infection-exhaustion psychosis.* cy'clic i., circular i. degen'erative 1., phrenasthenia or psychasthenia occurring in the degenerative period of life, delu's ional i., paranoia. drug i., a toxic i. due to the use of some drug such as opium or cocaine, hyster'ical i., an exaggerated form of psychasthenia with emotional crises of hysterical nature, imposed' i.,