HYSTERIA HYSTERICS. 353 



producing fatigue, but there is no necessity, except as a very temporary measure, to 

 insist upon the recumbent position being retained for any length of time. A " spinal 

 apparatus " is seldom or never required. As regards diet, the great thing is to see 

 that plenty of nutritious food is taken, in conjunction with wine or some other 

 alcoholic drink. In mftny cases there is a great prejudice on the part of the patient 

 against the use of stimulants, but this must be overcome, for the progress of cure is 

 greatly facilitated when the diet is made to include a fair share of some alcoholic 

 liquid. 



During a fit of hysteria there is very little to be done. The patient is in no 

 danger, and will come round all in good time if let alone. Her dress should be 

 loosened, she should be prevented from hurting herself by striking the floor or 

 furniture, and she should have plenty of fresh air. Smelling salts should be held 

 under the nostrils; and, if she can swallow, 15 grains of bromide of potassium should 

 be given. Should the insensibility, or apparent insensibility, continue, cold water 

 may be poured on the face. An old writer, speaking of cold water, recommends 

 that its application should be " sudden and lavish," but the great objection to it is 

 that it spoils the carpet. A very good substitute is to dip the end of a towel in cold 

 water, and then flap the face and hands with it pretty vigorously. An attack may 

 often be arrested by closing the mouth and nose with the hand, so that the patient 

 cannot breathe. She soon begins to struggle, and at last succeeds in getting loose,, 

 and taking a deep breath, and this often stops the fit. Sometimes the fit may be- 

 stopped by keeping up firm pressure with the hand over the painful spot in the groin 

 for three or four minutes or more. A calm manner, the absence of all appearance 

 of alarm, and of either scolding or distressing sympathy, will in many cases bring 

 the paroxysm to a speedy conclusion. 



There can be no doubt that often recovery is retarded by injudicious manifesta- 

 tions of sympathy on the part of friends and relatives. Their assiduous tenderness 

 serves only to keep up the craving for attention and interest which is so constant 

 and striking a feature of the malady. In illustration of this fact, a physician tells 

 the story of a lady who had terrified her friends and excited the greatest commotion by 

 threatening to put an end to her existence by jumping out of the window. " When 

 I saw her," he says, " she was strapped down to a bed, and was being supplicated by 

 half a dozen people in the room not to kill herself, to which she was energetically 

 replying that she would. I loosened the straps, opened the window, and told her to . 

 jump out. She walked to the window, looked out for a moment, and then, applying 

 no very polite epithet to me, went back to bed, and I heard no more of her suicidal 

 desires." In every case of hysteria it is of the utmost importance that, while the- 

 value of self-control is inculcated, healthy mental occupation and recreation should 

 be afforded. Travel is of inestimable advantage, and, above all, association with, 

 men and women whose intellects control their emotions, and who are endowed with 

 sound common sense, and that tact and knowledge of human nature which for the 

 purposes of every-day life are of greater value than many other qualities often more 

 highly estimated. 



