500 PRACTICE OF PHYSIC. 



mentioning by chance the name of a man from whom she had 

 received the grossest injuries, she fell into a severe paroxysm, 

 and then it appeared that they always came on when she 

 thought of that person. To nothing else can we ascribe the 

 cases of those on whom the Romish priests exercised their ex- 

 orcisms, or those who in this country were accused of witch- 

 craft ; the account of whom, on a strict collection of evidences 

 on both sides, I find to be undeniable. 



" And now this is the proper place for mentioning the fact 

 which shows the power of the sensorium over the organs of 

 sensation. Take a feather, and by tickling the mouth of any 

 person of a sensible and moveable system, excite the convul- 

 sive contraction of the muscles of the face ; repeat the same 

 once or twice ; then approach the feather near the mouth, and 

 the person will feel the sensation of tickling as much as for- 

 merly, and have the same convulsive motions excited." 



MDXXIV. From this view of the subject, the analogy of' 

 hysteria and epilepsy will readily appear ; and why, therefore, 

 I am to say that the indications of cure are the same in both. 



As the indications, so the several means of answering them 

 are so much the same in both diseases, that the same obser- 

 vations and directions, with regard to the choice and employ- 

 ment of these remedies, that have been delivered above on the 

 subject of epilepsy, will apply pretty exactly to hysteria, and 

 therefore need not be repeated here. 



" The method of cure depends upon removing the paroxysm 

 when present, and in the intervals endeavouring to prevent its 

 return. 



" We must endeavour to remove the paroxysm, both be- 

 cause in certain cases it may prove fatal, and also that, inde- 

 pendently of immediate danger, it considerably affects the con- 

 stitution, giving a habit and a foundation for the repetition of 

 the fits. 



" The practice during the time of the fits turns upon blood- 

 letting, and on the use of certain antispasmodics. It is com- 

 mon among practitioners, on every appearance of the violence 

 of the disease, to have recourse to blood-letting; and, con- 

 sidering the plethoric state, blood-letting may be of service in 

 moderating the paroxysm or bringing the person sooner out of 



