470 SANDY ISLE. DISEASES OF THE HIGHLANDS. 



of Highland ailments. This is so common, that among 

 the female sex it is rare to meet one of a certain age free 

 from it ; among the men it is not so prevalent. It is 

 attended with all its usual train of Protean symptoms ; 

 and often, to a degree of violence which will surprise even 

 the physician long versant in the formidable catalogue 

 with which, in the course of more fashionable practice, 

 he is hourly persecuted. The mental affections which so 

 commonly accompany it are also here exhibited in per- 

 fection ; in all their modifications of hypochondriasm, 

 and with the caprices and hallucinations which have been 

 falsely supposed to arise from indulgence and indolence. 

 He who is accustomed to administer to the diseased minds 

 of the rich and the luxurious, believes that he would often 

 find a remedy in abstinence, in occupation, and in exer- 

 cise ; provided he could prevail on his refractory patients 

 to abandon their usual gratifications, the supposed causes 

 of this disease. Here, he will find all these supposed 

 remedies in compulsory use, and the disorder equally 

 obstinate and equally defying his powers of cure. Philo- 

 sophers are often accused of generalizing prematurely ; 

 and certainly in assigning the causes of this malady phy- 

 sicians have not been deficient in that respect. If labour, 

 occupation, and a moderate diet, could remove or prevent 

 this disease, it would not be found here ; if real care could 

 prevent the attack of that more formidable invader of 

 human happiness, imaginary care, the diseases of the 

 imagination would not exist in the Highlands. Whether 

 the cause may not consist in the reverse, the want of 

 sufficient food, is a question which will probably be 

 answered in the affirmative. How far this prevalence of 

 the hypochondriacal affection may conduce to certain 

 mental phenomena for which the Highlanders have been 

 remarked, is a question of some interest. It is in such 

 minds at least that the hallucinations of second sight and 

 other supernatural appearances might be expected to pre- 

 dominate. 



