LOW SPIRITS. 607 



accurate observers. The object of the physician 

 should therefore be, to restore its healthy pro- 

 perties by pure air, artificial inflation of the lungs, 

 the warm bath, when the circulation is languid, 

 genial tonics, and suitable nourishment. A still 

 more important requisite is, to prevent that fatal 

 condition of the blood which constitutes the leading 

 symptom in all malignant diseases ; for when it has 

 been once thoroughly disorganized, the springs 

 of life are vitiated at the fountain head. 



As the nervous system is more readily deranged 

 by morbific agents, than any of the other organs, 

 so are its functions most easily deranged in men 

 whose nervous organization is highly developed, 

 by whatever diminishes the quantity of respira- 

 tion, or impairs the vitality of the blood. Whe- 

 ther it be impure air, deficient or improper 

 nourishment, too little or too much exertion, in- 

 temperance, the depressing emotions, &c. Hence 

 it is, that in all ages, men of genius have been 

 subject to fits of great mental depression, or hypo- 

 chondria, a disease that belongs especially to the 

 poetic temperament, and is perhaps common to 

 all individuals whose vital energy is not equal to 

 their boundless sympathy with nature, and burn- 

 ing intensity of desire to render their fellow beings 

 wiser and happier. Such were Dante, Petrarch, 

 Tasso, Luther, Melancthon, Kepler, Shakspeare, 

 Pascal, Milton, Newton, Johnson, Cowper, 

 Burns, Rousseau, and Byron, with many other 



