810.] 
mant Tait, ef the Volontajre, of whom Cap- 
tain Bullen speaks in high terms, as an officer 
who has distinguished himself upon many oc- 
casions 3 and Mr. Caldwell, Mastex’s Mate of 
the Tigre: the latter has left a widowed me- 
ther in “disttessed ‘circumstances, wno locked 
to him for comfort and support. Among the 
wounded are, Lieutenant Tailour, of the Ti~ 
gre; and Lieutenant Forster, of the Apollo, 
severely. 
The brigs were directed to keep under 
Report of Diseases. 
627 
weigh, and were in an admirable situation at 
day-light to have givenassistance, had it 
been necessary. 
I have only to state that the conduct of 
the seamen and marines was such as to exe 
ne any encomium from my pen, and enti- 
s them to my warmest thanks and approba- 
eu 
I have the honour tobe, &c. 
(Signed) B. HALLOWELL, 
a 
REPORT OF DISEASES, 
Under the Care of the late Senior Physician of the Pinshury Dispensary, from the 
20th ef November, to the 20th oe December, 1809. 
= 
PANLE writer of this article has been 
Jately consulted by an hypochondri- 
acal young man, who fancied without the 
shadow of foundation, that he was 
afflicted with a diseased liver. He had 
previously applied to several respectable 
practitioners, who sualed at his com- 
P rlaint, as the creature merely ofa sickly. 
and capi ricilous fancy. Lhe Reporter, 
seeing that his disease was exclusively 
one of the imagination, but at the same 
time that it was too deeply-rooted to be 
removed by argument or ridicule, lis- 
tened to the statement of his feelings, 
with the most respectful attention, ap= 
parently concided with him in his notion 
of his malady, and pretended to treat it 
as if it were in fact a disorder of a 
particular viscus. ‘She patient had not 
taken more than two or three days, what 
had been prescribed professedly for dis 
liver, before he found the pain in his 
right side, and other symtoms, which he 
attributed to a deranged condition of 
that organ, considerably alleviated ; 
int less than a month, every trace of his 
pepatic atfection, was completely obli- 
terated. fle is now in astate of healthy 
activity, ‘and unobscured cheerfal- 
ness, 
To treat with an offensive, and con- 
temptuous levity, the unhappy subjects 
of mental disorder, even when it occurs, 
in its lowest degree, and appears in its 
faintest form, is equally unphilosophical 
and injurious. In order to have an ine 
fluence over their wanderings, we must, 
in the first instance, gain their confiderice, 
This we cannot do without behaving 
tawards them with a delicacy and rever- 
ence due to their unfortunate state, 
which, for the most part, ought not ta be 
and~ 
regarded as an abolition, but as a sus- 
pension merely of the faculties. 
Lord Chesterfield speaks in one of hie hu 
moreus Essays, of a lady’s reputation, not 
being Jost, but only mislead. In like 
manner, instead of saying of a man that 
he has lost his senses, we-~should, in, 
many instances, more correctly say, 
that they were mislaid. | Derange- 
ment is not to he confounded with de- 
struction. We should not inistake a 
cloud fur night; or think that because 
the sun of reason has set, it will never 
again enliven er illuminate ane its 
beans, ac 
There is reason to apprehend, ‘that 
fugitive folly is too often converted into & 
fixed and suttled frenzy 5 a transient guest 
into an irremoveable tenant of the mind; 
an ‘occasional and accidental aberration 
of intellect, into a confirmed and invete. 
rate habit of dereliction, by a premature 
and too precipitate adoption of those 
measures and methods of management, 
which are necessary, but are necessary 
only, in cases of extreme and ultimate 
desperation. It is far from the inten- 
tion of the writer, to depreciate the va- 
lue of these asylums, which, under a ju- 
dicious and merciful superintendance, 
aye essentially conducive to the security 
and protection of lunatics theimselves, 
as well as of others, who would else be 
continually exposed to the overt-acts of 
their violence, er caprice, But itis to 
be feared, it is even beyond the uncer- 
tainty of fever, that many are inconsi- 
derately, or from aself-interested design, 
condemned to a state of insilation from 
all rational and sympathising iffter- 
‘course, before the necessity has occurréd 
for so severe a lot. Diseased members 
ara 
