1811 .] 
[ 69 ] 
REPORT OF DISEASES, 
Under the Cure of the late Senior Physician of the Finsbury Dispensary, from 
noth (fJune to the 20th of July, 
T he writer of this article has very 
lately met with a case of complete 
hysteria in a male subject. By some 
medical writers and professors of high 
authority it has been asserted, that this 
disease never occurs except in the female 
sex ; which, indeed, the etymology of its 
title would imply. But the instance, just 
mentioned, is not the first which has fallen 
under the Reporter’s notice, of a man be¬ 
ing affected at one time, with every indi¬ 
vidual in the combination of symptoms 
which compose the nosological definition 
of hysteria. In the cases referred to, 
the globus hystericus for example, or 
the sense as it were of a ball rising up 
into the throat, so as to threaten suf¬ 
focation, together with some other dis¬ 
criminating peculiarities of this mode of 
convulsive attack, was distinctly observa¬ 
ble. At the same time it is worthy of 
remark, that, in these cases, there was 
an appeaiance of approximation towards 
the feminine character, in the complexion 
and voice, as well as in the moral temper 
and disposition. 
A person, by whom the Reporter has 
been lately consulted, complained princi¬ 
pally of an invincible indolence and lan¬ 
guor. She seemed incapable almost of vo¬ 
luntary motion. This incapacity bad been 
confirmed by ai.diority and indulgence. 
She had been told by a complaisant phy¬ 
sician, that any thing like exertion would 
be poison to her, and she had reposed un¬ 
der the shelter of that opinion. Rare in¬ 
deed are the victims to this poisoR., \vhich, 
in almost every instance of liuman evil or 
affliction, ought rather to be regarded as 
the most powerful antidote or prophy¬ 
lactic ! To a patient, iiowever, whose 
malady is lassitude, exertion should be 
at first prescribed only in very small doses. 
He would be apt to sink under an even 
ordinary task of exercise, and might by 
that means be discouraged from further 
attempts at activity. 
The Reporter lias, on several recent oc¬ 
casions, had the pleasure of dissipating, 
by the declaration of his opinion, an ill- 
founded anxiety with regard to the nature 
and probable result of a complaint, wliich, 
although in some measure pulmonary, 
was not radically or irreparably so. The 
importance of a cough is, for the most 
part, to be appreciated by the strength 
of the patient, and the state of his cir¬ 
culation. Where neither is much affect¬ 
ed, danger is little to be apprehen.ded. 
But, when a cough of any continuance 
has been attended by great and daily in¬ 
creasing debility, together with a very 
quick and almost inarticulate pulse, sel¬ 
dom will the event be found to justify 
any favourable anticipation. 
A remarkable example has, within 
these few days, occurred to the notice of 
the Reporter, of an unfortunate being, 
affected with hepatic, or rather dyspeptic 
symptoms, who was falling a martyr to 
a mercurial course ; a course which was 
persisted in with a perseverance undaunt¬ 
ed by the depredation which it glaringly 
produced. Mercury is the fashionable 
physic of the day ; but, perhaps, it would 
be less indiscriminately and less fearlessly 
had recourse to, if sufficient attention 
were bestowed not otily upon its more 
immediate and apparent, but also upon 
its ultimate, and altliougii less obvious, 
no less real, operation upon the human 
fabric. In the treatment of any malady, 
our object ougiit to be not merely to re¬ 
move it, but to do so at a.s little expencs 
as possible to the stamina of the patient. 
In too rudely eratjicating a disease, there 
is danger of tearing up a part of the con- 
stitution along witii it. In defeating and 
expelling the enemy, we should be care¬ 
ful not unnecessarily to injure or lay 
waste the ground which he had occupied. 
One of the most important circuin.-tances 
that distinguish the honourable and rea- 
soiling practitioner from the empiric is, 
that the former, in his endeavours to rec¬ 
tify an accidental derangement, pays, at 
the same time, due respect to the per¬ 
manent interests and resources of the 
frame. J. Reil'o 
Grenville-street, ‘Brunsmck-squares 
July 2b, 1811 . 
ALPHAS ETICAt 
