déliés, slender

1. 17. jusquà ce qu'il soit fou . . . This description of despair as verging on monomania is perfectly accurate. Such besetting melancholy is indeed no mère passing illusion, but a permanent state of mental dépression, usually the resuit of a similar state of physical and especially nervous exhaustion. It has been described over and over again by psychologists as irresistibly impelling a man to suicide, even after several frustrated attempts. Of course, ail the finest ratiocination of the mind can no more cure this nervous ailment than any other bodily disease. Therefore the verdict of English juries as to * dead in a fit of insanity ' may be proved scientifically accurate in many instances of suicide. As De Vigny very nicely puts it further on : ' Ceci n'est pas de l'idéologie ' ; it is perfectly genuine science based on reality.