322 DISEASES CLASS III. i. 2. 1 2* 



ftrongly to be recommended ; and finally the cultivation of fci- 

 erice, as of chemiftry, natural philofophy, natural hiftory, which 

 fupplies an inexhauflible fource of pleafurable novelty, and re- 

 lieves ennui by the exertions it occafions. 



In many of thefe cafes, when irkfomenefs of life has been the 

 oftenfible caufe of fuicide, there has probably exifted a maniacal 

 hallucination, a painful idea, which the patient has concealed 

 even to his dying hour ; except where the mania has evidently 

 arifen from hereditary or acquired difeafe of the membranous or 

 glandular parts of the fyftem. 



12. Pulchritudinis dejiderium. The lofs of beauty, either by 

 difeafe, as by the fmall-pox, or by age, as life advances, is fome- 

 tinie'3 painfully felt by ladies, who have been much flattered on 

 account of it. There is a curious cafe of this kind related in 

 le Sage's Bachelor of Salamanca, which is too nicely defcribed 

 to be totally imaginary. 



In this fituation fome ladies apply to what are termed cofmet- 

 ics under various names, which crowd the newfpapers. Of 

 thefe the white has deftroyed the health of thoufands ; a calx, 

 or magiflery, of bifmuth is fuppofed to be fold in the mops for 

 this purpofe ; but it is either, I am informed, in part or entirely 

 white lead or cerufla. The pernicious effects of the external 

 uie of thofe fatunline applications are fpoken of iri gutta rofea, 

 Clafs II. i. 4. 6. The real calx of bifmuth would probably 

 have the fame ill effect. As the red paint is prepared from 

 cochineal, which is an animal body, lefs if any injury arifes 

 from its ufe, as it only lies on the fkin like other filth. 



The tan of the fkin occafioned by the fun may be removed by 

 lemon juice evaporated by the fire to half its original quantity, 

 or by diluted marine acid ; which cleans the cuticle, by eroding 

 its furface, but requires much caution in the application ; the 

 marine acid rnuft be diluted with water, and then put upon the 

 hand or face, after a fecond of time, as foon as the tan difap- 

 pears, the part muft be wa'fhed with a wet towel and much 

 warm water. Freckles lie too deep for this operation, nor are 

 they in general removable by a blifter, as I once experienced. 

 See Clafs I. 2. 2. 9. 



It is probable, that thofe materials which flaiil filk, or ivory, 

 might be ufed to (lain the cuticle, or hair, permanently ; as they 

 are all animal fubftances. But I do not know, that any trials of 

 this kind have been made on the fkin. I endeavoured in vain 

 to whiten the back of my hand by marine acid oxygenated by 

 manganefe, which fo inftantly whitens cotton. 



The cure therefore muft be fought from moral writers, and 



