Insanity in Egypt by Union Signal

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Nov 18, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 44.

Insanity in Egypt

By Union Signal

In all Egypt there is but one lunatic asylum. Careful inquiry into the causes of insanity in the Orient shows its antecedents to be the same there as elsewhere, excepting the use of alcohol, which is forbidden in all Mohammedan countries. This prohibition undoubtedly accounts for the comparative rarity of the disease in Egypt. To be sure, there is not the mad rush for wealth which characterizes Western life, but who shall say to what extent this “mad rush” is excited and pushed on by the use of stimulants. The cases in the Egyptian asylums are mainly due to the use of opium and hasheesh. Under consistent prohibition, which would exclude these drugs as rigidly as alcohol, lunacy would be very rare.