1802. ] 
ftill more infallible and effe&tual corrobo- 
rants, exercife, cold-bathing, and country- 
ait, ak . 
Thefe phyfical reftorers of an enfeebled 
and exhaulted frame are, in general, with 
more propriety prefcribed, mierely becaufe 
they can in general be more conveniently 
had recourfe to, than thole moval remedies 
that are ftill more powertul and pe:ma- 
Nent in their medicinal operations 
_ Arefidence, for inftance, even in a great 
and polluted city, which affords objects 
of intereft and motives to exertion, ought 
to be recomnvended, efpecially to an hypo-+ 
chondriacal or nervous patient, in prefer. 
ence tothe mott highly oxygenated fitua- 
tion of the country, where there is not any 
thing fuffcient to roufe the fluggifhnets, 
or. to fill the vacuity of the mind. 
IntelJe&tual man, like the terreftrial 
planet.which he inhabits, is deftined to be 
in perpetual motion: nov is it fufficient for 
him to move merely upoz his own ants ; 
a frequent communication with beings on 
the fame level with himfelf, is almoit as 
neceffary to the health, as to the tnjoy- 
ment of his exiftence. 
The ciréle of fociety, in the centré of 
whicha perfon is placed, may be regarded 
as the atmofphere of his mind; and to one 
whole underftanding has been improved to 
any confiderable degree of refinement of 
extent, the mental atmofphere by which- 
he is furrounded, is of incalculably more 
importance to the vigour and proper con- 
dition even of his body, than almoft any 
variety in the modification or proportion 
of thofe material ingredients with which 
his lungs are fupphed from the external 
air. Ideas are to the mind, what air is 
to the lungs, or what food is to the fto- 
mach ; and ih each of theflé inftances’ the 
neceflary quantity of alwzent increafes in 
an exact proportion to the tone and capa’ 
city of the organ that requires it. 
Hence it may, in a great meafure, be 
explained why men of the molt extraordi- 
nary and f{plendid talents are found parti- 
cularly apt, in order to appeale the gnaw- 
ings of inteilectual hunger, to have recourfe 
to the fugitive and faial folace of artificial 
exhilaratien. 
Nervous difeafes, from their daily in- 
creafing prevalence, deferve at the prefent 
time a more than ordinary degree of atten- 
tion, elpecially from the medical pra&ti- 
‘tioner. Nothing, furely, can furpafs the 
abfurdity and inhumanity with whieh pa- 
tients of this clafs are in general treated by 
friends, nurfes, and pbyficians. ‘Thete 
perions too frequently act upon the idea 
that fuch complaints are entirely depend- 
ant upon the power of the will; a notion 
which, in paradoxical extravagance, 
Montury Mas, No. gi. 
Lift of Difeafes. 
161 
Yoarcely yields to the doctrine of a modern 
writer on the philofophy of the mind, who 
alferts that no one need die, if with a {ufe 
ficient energy he determined to live.~ 
The various and anomalous modifications 
of mental difeale are not td be cured, or 
in any degree relieved, by ridicule, admoa 
nition, or reproof, T’o command or to 
advife a perfon labolring under hypo- 
chondriafis or dy{pepfia to be thearful and 
alert,is no Jefs abfurd and ridiculous, than 
to command or advife a perfon under the 
direct and moft intenfe influence of the 
fun’s ray, to fhiver with cold, or one, who 
is ** wallowing naked in December's 
fnows,°” to perlpire from a fenfation of 
exceffive heat. 
By indirect and imperceptible means 
the attention may, in many inftances, be 
gradually and infenfibly feduced, but never 
can be abruptly férced, from any habitual 
topic of painful contemplation. If, with 
arude and violent hand, you zear the mind 
from a fubjéét to which it has long and 
¢lofely attached itfelf, you are almoit fure 
° ane é & : . pe 
to occafion an irreparable laceration of its 
firuéture. 
In addition to and confirmation of thefe 
obfervations, the reporter is tempted to 
quote a paflage from a very interefting 
medical writer on the fubject of hypochon- 
Griafis, Baits. 
*¢ Tris given to few fo pour oil into 
the wounds of the mind; to allure the 
harraffed thoughts into the fhady groves 
and pleafant fields of imagination ; to in- 
ftill inclinations which fhall {corn the fpon- 
taneous fuggeltion of him by whom they 
are adopted, to fet about the thing they. 
would have another do, in fuch a manner, 
as by the help of the principle of involun- 
tary imitation, to enfure what awkward 
managers ftrive in vain ta accomplifh by 
tedious entreaty and haraffing folicitation. 
Thefe, and fuch as thefe, however, are 
the only arts by which thofe about an hy- 
pocheniriac can contribute to his reco- 
very. * j. REID. 
Finfbary Difpenfary, Aug. 21f?, 1802. 
* WNote.-See the lat number Of Hygeias 
by Dr, Beddoes, This well-initruéted and 
accomplifhed writer never fails te throw, not 
light merely, @but fplendour, upon every 
fubjeét which he treats. 
Much is itto be lamented, that profeffional 
acquirements are not more frequently found 
in union wirh an improved tafte and the orna« 
mental accomplifliments of literature. The 
embellithmessts of polite learning feem almott 
neceflary, in forme meafure, to irradiate the 
gloom, and to awaken and animate the ftupi- 
dity, with which mankind in general are apt 
tocontemplate medicinal sefearches. 
4 VARIETIES, 
