1848: Novels and Insanity

“Indulgence in reading works of fiction is assigned by the intelligent Physician of the Mount Hope Institution, Boston, as one of the causes of insanity. The perusal of works of fiction, by the young, particularly females, is hurtful and dangerous to a degree little dreamed of.  Parents owe a stern and solemn duty to their children, to watch their reading, and to preserve their opening minds and hearts from the vitiating influence of what is called popular literature. The opinion below is worth pondering: ‘Another fertile source of this species of derangement has appeared to be an undue indulgence in the perusal of the numerous works of fiction, with which the press is so prolific of late years, which are sown broadcast over the land, with the effect of vitiating the taste and corrupting the morals of the young. Persons cannot too cautiously guard their young daughters against this pernicious practice. We have had several cases of moral insanity, for which no other cause could be assigned than excessive novel reading.--And nothing is more likely to induce this disease than the education which fosters sentiment instead of cherishing real feeling--such as results from the performance of benevolence and the sacred duties of ordinary life, and of religious obligations.”

~From The Texas Union.(San Augustine, Tex.), Saturday, May 6, 1848