40 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



He gave the little wealth he had 

 To build a house for fools and mad; 

 And shewed by one satiric touch, 

 No nation wanted it so much. 



This object he had afterward always in mind, and, although suffer- 

 ing much for several years and his mind finally becoming affected in 

 1742, he made plans for its establishment and, dying in 1745, left his 

 whole property, about $60,000, for the founding of St. Patrick's Hos- 

 pital in Dublin, which was opened in 1757 for the reception of fifty 

 patients. 



The methods of treatment employed in the middle of the eighteenth 

 century are thus set forth by Dr. Eichard Mead, physician to George 

 II. in his "Medical Works" (1762). "Authors, both ancient and 

 modern, recommend a great number of medicines, some which are suit- 

 able to maniacal, others to melancholy patients; but both sorts agree 

 in the property of correcting the bile, which is acrid at first, then be- 

 comes viscid and black as pitch. Moreover the very blood in this dis- 

 order is thick, fizy and black. Now it will be observed that most of the 

 medicines proper to be given in this disease are in some degree 

 endowed with the property of opening and scouring the glands and in- 

 creasing perspiration. Of this kind are the strong-smelling gums, 

 specially asafoetida, myrrh, Eussian castor, and camphire, which last 

 is asserted to have an anodyne quality and to procure sleep with greater 

 certainty and safety than opium. In melancholic cases chalybeats are 

 also very proper. In fine, a frequent use of the cold bath is very ser- 

 viceable, especially in maniacal cases. For nothing, as Celsus says, is 

 of such benefit to the head as cold water." He cautions against the 

 use of stripes or other rough treatment as unnecessary, binding alone 

 being sufficient to restrain the maniacal, who ^are all cowards.' He 

 attempted to stop the ill-timed fits of laughter of some by chiding and 

 threatening; to dissipate the gloomy thought of others by music and 

 such diversion as they formerly took delight in. He cautioned the 

 physician to attend carefully to the free action of the bowels and kid- 

 neys and instead of applying blisters to the head he says, "Better in 

 imitation of the ancients to shave the head, and then rub it with 

 vinegar in which rose flowers or ground-ivy leaves have been infused; 

 and also to make a drain by passing a seton in the nape of the neck, 

 which is to be rubbed with a proper digestive ointment and moved a 

 little every day, in order to give a free issue to the purulent matter." He 

 ordered slender diet, mostly of gruels and meats easy of digestion, dis- 

 approved of giving anodynes to procure sleep and recommended walk- 

 ing, riding, playing at ball, swimming and travel by land or sea in con- 

 valescence. 



The latter part of the eighteenth century witnessed an awakening 



