MONOIMOS
508
MONOPHYSITES
5 6
Various forms of the Coustautiuian Monogram.
(Figs. 1, 4, 6, with a and w, as symbols of eternity ; 2, with olive-branch, uja an emblem of peace. ^
Knnstvorstellungen d. alten Christen (Altona, 1825) ; Piper, Mifthologie u. iSi/mbolik d, christl. Kiinsf, vol. i (1847) and ii (1851); Withrow, Catacombs of Rome (N.Y. 1874), 11. '2G4 sq. See Chkist, Monogkam of. (J. N. P.)
Monoimos, an Arabian heretic of the 2d century, %vho ajijicars to have been a follower of Basilides. He Is mentioned by Theodoret ; but the particulars of his system, which was formed of strange geometrical and arithmetical speculations respecting the origin of the world, arc given only by Hippolytus. The substance of these is that primal man is the universe ; that the universe is the originating cause of all things, he him- self being unbcgotten, incorruptible, and eternal ; that a son of the primal man was generated iiideiieiidently of time ; that the Son of man is a monad niiresentcd by the iota and the tittle— that is, the Greek figure lU (i) ; that all things have emanated from the substance of this monad ; that cubes, octahedrons, pyramids, and all such figures, out of which crystallize fire, water, and earth, have arisen from numbers which are comprehend- ed in the number 10. In a letter from Monoimos to Theophrastus, which is quoted by Hippolytus, the for- mer avows that he believed in no God separate from man's own self. See Hippolytus, Refut, Ihtr. viii, 5-8 ; X, 13; Theodoret, Ifm\-fuh. i, 18; Taylor, Hippolytus, p. lOti. — \\'etzer u. Wclte, Kirchen-Lexikon, vol. xii, s. v. Monomania (/loroc, single, and fiavia, madness) has loosely been made to represent every form of par- tial insanity, but has been more rigidly definetl as that mental condition in which a single facultj-, or class of faculties or associations, become diseased, the mind generally remaining health}'. Slight and soli- tary aberrations — such as where a savage antipathy to cats coexists with a love for human kind ; where there appears to be an incontrollable tendency to steal, to squander, to drink, to destroy — are of common occur- rence, and are supposed to be compatible with the ex- ercise of intelligence, and with the discharge of many of the ordinary duties of life. By a more strict limita- tion, the term has been confined to such affections as in- volve the emotions and propensities alone. It is, how- ever, hehl that, notwithstanding its apparent integrity, the whole mind is involved or influenced by the pres- ence of such morbid conditions, at least while they are predominant. It is undoubtedly difficult to point out in what manner the belief, e. g., that a particular organ has been transmuted into glass can interfere witli or render the niemorj', or the power of instituting compar- isons, defective and untrustworth}'; yet it is legitimate to receive with caution every manifestation of powers so constituted that they fail to detect the incongruities and alisurdilics with which they are associated, or, hav- ing (liti'cted tlic real character of these errors, are una- ble or unwilling to cast tliem out or to disregard tliem. There is much countenance given to this theory by fait.s whicli indicate that even trivial forms of mental oblicjuity are connected with an unsound organization.
and that particular and rarely recognised monomanias are invariably associated with the same structural al- teration. The unhealthy elevation of the sentiment of cautiousness, for example, especially where it amounts to fear of death, panic, or panphobia, is a symptom of disease of the heart and large blood-vessels, while the monomania of ambition (or optimism, a.s it has been styled) is the concomitant of the general paralysis of the insane. It will be obvious, from the definitions previously introduced, that the species or varieties of monomania must corresjjond to the faculties or phases of the human mind, and to their combinations. Several great divisions, however, have been signalized, both on account of their frequency and of their infiuence upon the individual and upon society. 1. Monomania of sus- picion, comprehending doubts in the fidelity and hon- esty of friends and those around, belief in plots and con- spiracies, the dread of poison ; and Avhere, as is f>ften the case, it is conjoined with cunning, the propensity to conceal, mystify, and deceive. This malady has fre- quently been observed in intimate connection with can- cer and malignant growths. 2. Monomania of supersti- tion and unseen agencies, where credulity, mingled with religious awe, peoples the external world with spectres, omens, mysteries, magnetism, and the imagination with horrors or ecstatic reveries. Insensibility to pain, or indifference to external injuries, has been observed as a characteristic of individuals affected with this disease. 3. Monomania of vanity, or euphoria, where display and ostentation are indulged, without reference to the posi- tion and means of the patient. 4. Monomania of fear. 5. Monomania of pride and ambition. G. Kleptomania (q. v.). 7. Dipsomania, or Oinomania (q. v.). If it can be proved that such morbid tendencies as have been here mentioned, and others still less prominent, are merely salient points of a great breadth and depth of mental disejise, the plea of insanity ma)' justifiably be em- ployed more frequently in the consideration of criminal acts. — Chambers, s. v. Dr. Forbes Winslow, in The Pall Mall Gazette, holds that what is called partial insanity, or monomania, is not sufficient to prove of itself a testa- mentarj' incapacity. "I have often," he says, "wit- nessed among the insane the possession of delicate, just, and honorable ideas respecting their own social position, and the pecuniary claims of those most near and dear to them." He approves the action of ecclesiastical judges in former times, who, when a will was brought before them to be contested, inquired, first, if there were prima facie evidence in the wording, arrangement, etc., of the will that its author was insane ; and, next, whether the testator's lunacj' were visible in the distribution of his property. If neither of these points was established, the will generally stood against unquestionable evidence of mental unsoundness or eccentricity in other things. He quotes a ease where the testator left a large fortune to his housekeeper, and directed in the same will tliat his executors should make fiddle-strings of part of his bowels and smelling-salts of others, and that the rest of his body be vitrified into lenses for optical purposes. He did this, he said, to mark his moral aversion to fu- neral pomp. It appeared that he had conducted his affairs with great shrewdness and ability. See Kscjuirol, I.a ^[ntlowalli< ; \\n\\v, Maladies du Cerveau; Stephens, Crimimd I.titr of Kni/ltnul, p. 02.