Reports of the ravages of madness are found among the oldest records of our species. No branch of humankind seems exempt. Madness is a universal affliction. In spite of its antiquity, gravity and universality, we still have little idea as to what causes it. Explanations based on demonic possession, deficient mothering, the evil eye and a long list of bizarre suggestions have gradually given way to what are considered scientific explanations. Science notwithstanding, the mad continue to be treated with diets, incarceration, exorcism, and other nostrums of what can only be called the lunatic fringe. These oddball treatments are gradually…