254 DISEASES CIASS II. 1. 6. T. 



drowsiness. If this drowsiness was encouraged, the fever ran 

 high, and he awoke from disturbed sleep, wearied and depressed. 

 If it was resolutely resisted by gentle exercise, it went off in about 

 an hour, as well as the increased frequency of the pulse. This 

 agitation was however such as to incapacitate him during the 

 afternoon for study of any kind. The same effects did not fol- 

 low a meal of milk and vegetables, but under this diet his strength 

 did not recruit; whereas after the use of animal food it recovered 

 rapidly, notwithstanding the inconvenience already mentioned. 

 For this inconvenience he at last found a remedy in the use of 

 coffee immediately after dinner, recommended to him by his 

 friend Dr. Percival. At first this remedy operated like a charm, 

 but by frequent use, and indeed by abuse, it no longer possesses 

 its original efficacy. 



Dr. Falconer, in his Dissertation on the Influence of the Pas- 

 sions and Affections of the Mind on Health and Disease, sup- 

 poses that the cheerfulness which attends hectic fever, the ever- 

 springing hope, which brightens the gloom of the consumptive 

 patient, increases the diseased actions, and hastens his doom. 

 And hence he is led to inquire, whether the influence of fear 

 might not be substituted in such cases to that of hope with ad- 

 vantage to the patient? This question I shall not presume to 

 answer, but it leads me to say something of the state of the mind 

 in the case just related. 



The patient, being a physician, was not ignorant of his dan- 

 ger, which some melancholy circumstances served to impress 

 on his mind. It has already been mentioned, that his mother 

 and grandfather died of this disease. It may be added, that in 

 the year preceding that on which he himself was attacked, a 

 sister of his was carried off by consumption in her 17th year; 

 that in the same winter in which he fell ill, two other sisters 

 were seized with the same fatal disorder, to which one of them, 

 fell a victim during his residence at Bristol, and that the hope 

 of bidding a last adieu to the other was the immediate cause of 

 his journey to Scotland, a hope which, alas! was indulged in 

 vain. The day on which he reached the end of his journey, her 

 remains were committed to the dust! It may be conjectured 

 from these circumstances, that whatever benefit may be derived 

 from the apprehension of death, must in this case have been 

 obtained. The expectation of this issue was indeed for some 

 time so fixed that it ceased to produce much agitation; in con- 

 formity to that general law of our nature, by which almost all 

 men submit with composure to a fate that is foreseen, and that 

 appears inevitable. As however the progress of .disease and de- 

 bility seemed to be arrested, the hope and the love of life revived. 



