26& On Chronic Dcbiltti/ 



pressed in spirits, and difficult to cure. Such persons, 

 more than any others, I beUeve,. become finally deranged 

 in mind, or the subjects of settled melancholy. 



There are other persons, of a wideh^ different charac- 

 ter, who sometimes become dyspeptic, viz. such as are 

 constitutionally phlegm.atic, or made so by close and long 

 continued attention to some one kind of business, and 

 that of a nature which requires but little exercise of body, 

 and furnishes little variety, relaxation, or amusement to 

 the mind ; who have never accustomed themselves to 

 reading, or improving conversation, or to reflections on 

 subjects which enliven the imagination, or improve the 

 understanding. The minds and the bodies of such per- 

 sons, are in a sense, usually in a state of stagnation. — 

 When a person of this cast becomes the subject of se- 

 vere Chronic Debility of the Stomach, the discourage- 

 ment is so great, the torpor of the mind so entire, and 

 the influence of the mind upon the body so commanding, 

 that the chance of recovery is small. The patient dies as 

 a candle goes out, because there is no more aliment to 

 support the flame. The mind, it is hardly necessary to 

 observe, has great influence in prolonging or shortening 

 life. Such a person, cannot without much difiiculty, be 

 roused from his lethargy, he cannot be persuaded to make 

 efforts for his own preservation, or if he makes any, he is 

 utterly unwilling to persevere. He cannot find amuse- 

 ment in new employments, or if he can, he is wholly un- 

 fitted by his nature, or his habits, to make the experiment. 



Firm fibres, and strong contractions of the muscles 

 from the exercise of the will, seem to be almost indis- 

 pensably necessary to great decision ; yet I have known 

 a verF small number of men of very relaxed fibres, who 

 possessed unusual energy of character. Health, and some- 

 times even life itself, in such persons, m.ay be consider- 

 ed as a forced state, and as kept in being by the activity of 

 the mind. Were such minds permitted to inhabit bod- 

 ies of a different cast, bodies which, instead of continu- 

 ally retarding the mental energy, uniformly co-operated 

 with it, a very commanding character would doubtless 

 be the result. A person sunering from habitual debility 



