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diff --git a/39074.txt b/39074.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b069d75 --- /dev/null +++ b/39074.txt @@ -0,0 +1,24070 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Curiosities of Medical Experience, by J. G. +(John Gideon) Millingen + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Curiosities of Medical Experience + + +Author: J. G. (John Gideon) Millingen + + + +Release Date: March 7, 2012 [eBook #39074] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CURIOSITIES OF MEDICAL +EXPERIENCE*** + + +E-text prepared by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team +(http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by +Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org) + + + +Note: Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + http://www.archive.org/details/curiositiesofmed00milliala + + +Transcriber's note: + + Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). + + The original text includes Greek characters. For this text + version these letters have been replaced with transliterations. + + Hebrew passages are indicated by [Hebrew]. + + Unmatched quotation marks have been left as they were in the + original text. + + + + + +CURIOSITIES OF +MEDICAL EXPERIENCE. + +by + +J. G. MILLINGEN, M.D., M.A. + +SURGEON TO THE FORCES; RESIDENT PHYSICIAN +OF THE COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX PAUPER LUNATIC ASYLUM AT HANWELL; +MEMBER OF THE MEDICAL SOCIETY OF THE ANCIENT FACULTY OF PARIS; +OF THE MEDICAL SOCIETY OF BORDEAUX; AND AUTHOR OF +"THE ARMY MEDICAL OFFICER'S MANUAL," &c. + +SECOND EDITION. + +REVISED AND CONSIDERABLY AUGMENTED. + +IN ONE VOLUME. + + + + + + + +London: +Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, +Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty. +1839. + +Whiting, Beaufort House, Strand. + + + + + TO SIR JAMES M'GRIGOR, BART. + M.D., F.R.S., K.T.S., &c. &c. + DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE ARMY MEDICAL DEPARTMENT, + TO WHOSE ZEAL AND EXAMPLE THE MEDICAL OFFICERS OF HER MAJESTY'S + FORCES ARE SO MUCH INDEBTED FOR THAT DISTINGUISHED + CHARACTER AND CONSIDERATION THEY COLLECTIVELY + AND INDIVIDUALLY HOLD IN THE ESTIMATION + OF THE EUROPEAN ARMIES, + THIS WORK IS INSCRIBED, + AS A TESTIMONIAL OF PUBLIC RESPECT AND + SINCERE PRIVATE ESTEEM, + BY THE AUTHOR. + + + + +PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. + + +The rapid sale of the first edition of this work has induced the publisher +to reprint it with considerable additions in a less expensive, and more +concise form--and the author embraces this opportunity, gratefully to +acknowledge the liberality with which it has been received, and the +indulgence shown to its many imperfections. At the same time he cannot but +regret, that in some quarters it has been surmised that he yielded +credence to the many strange relations which he has recorded from various +medical works, but which he merely narrated, to show the fallacy even of +experience, and the many dangers that may arise from the most ingenious +theories and doctrines, in the very ratio of their apparent plausibility. + +Although these sketches were not intended for the profession, yet they may +prove of some utility to the pupil who commences the arduous study of +medicine. They may convince him, that great names, however justly +respected and renowned, do not constitute a sufficient basis, on which to +rest a satisfactory and conclusive judgment; and, as Locke has justly +observed, that "_reverence or prejudice must not be suffered to give +beauty or deformity to any of their opinions_." He will find that of which +further experience will subsequently convince him, that medical +investigation is too often founded upon analogy and hypothesis--but let +not this painful and disheartening impression arrest his progress, or +deter him from seeking to assist his judgment by collecting "the scattered +parts of truth," for in speaking of hypothesis, Dr. Crichton has thus +expressed himself: "There is a period in knowledge, when it must be +indulged in if we mean to make any progress; it is that period when the +facts are too numerous to be recollected without general principles, and +yet, where the facts are too few to constitute a valid theory. If the +exterior form of an edifice is often the principal motive with men for +examining its internal structure; so it is in science, that the splendour +of an hypothesis, and the desire of proving its solidity, are more +frequent motives for research than a mere love of knowledge." + +Notwithstanding our boasted progress in scientific pursuits, and our +supposed approach to perfection, there never perhaps was a period, since +the fanciful days of Paracelsus, Agrippa, and Van Helmont, when more +deceitful and fascinating reveries were indulged in than at the present +_enlightened_ moment, nor more ingenuity and disingenuousness displayed in +seeking to give substance to a vision or overthrowing its baseless fabric. +It is painful to be obliged to admonish the would be legislators of our +belief, in the words of the sceptical Bolingbroke: + +"Folly and knavery have prevailed most where they should be tolerated the +least, and presumption has been excused most where diffidence and candour +are on many accounts the most necessary. + + "Quale per incertam lunam sub luce maligna + Est iter in Silvis." + + _Hanwell Lunatic Asylum, + Dec. 1838._ + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +The great success and correspondent utility of D'Israeli's "Curiosities of +Literature," have induced me to add to the ample harvest of that ingenious +writer a few gleanings from another field. They may not afford the same +amusing variety to the general reader, but they may tend to draw some +attention to many important points that affect the chequered lot of +mankind. The progress that every science has rapidly made during the last +half-century has been astounding, and seems to have kept pace with those +struggles of the intellectual faculties to burst from the shackles of +prejudice and error that had ignobly bound them for so many ages. Groping +in darkness, man sought the light, but unfortunately the sudden refulgence +at times dazzled instead of guiding his steps in the pursuit of truth, and +led him into errors as perilous as those that had surrounded him in his +former mental obscurity. His gigantic powers were aroused, but, too +frequently misapplied, they shook the social edifice to its very +foundation. The daring hand of innovation destroyed without contemplating +what better fabric could be raised on the ruin: and while the nobler +faculties with which Providence had gifted us were exerted for the public +weal, the baser parts of our passions sought liberty in licentiousness. +Ambition degenerated into ferocity, scepticism led to impiety, and even +apparent virtue sought to propagate the doctrines of good, by assuming the +"goodly outside" of vice. Religion was overthrown because priestcraft had +deceived, and high rank was held up to detestation because princes and +nobles had been corrupt; and to use Shakespeare's words, + + Thus we debase + The nature of our seats, and make the rabble + Call our cares, fears; which will in time break ope + The lock o' the senate, and bring in the crows + To peck the eagles. + +In ten short years this mighty revolution in the intellect of man took +place,--in a country too that may be considered the cradle of the future +weal and woe, perhaps of the universe;--in ten short years we beheld +Montesquieu, Raynal, Rousseau, Voltaire, Condillac, Helvetius, beaming +like rising meteors in the dark firmament, and shedding a fearful gleam on +the past, the present, and the future; boldly tracking a path once trodden +with groping steps by Bacon, Descartes, Hobbes, and Gassendi![1] No longer +trusting in blind confidence to the scholastic rules of those dignitaries +of science whose conclusions were considered sufficient to command our +faith, man became sceptical and positive; doubt and disbelief were carried +into every investigation; the reign of _prestiges_ was over; the former +monopolists of power and of science, the two great levers of society (the +more effective since their fulcra rested on timidity and ignorance), were +thrown from their antiquated stand, and found themselves brought face to +face in explanatory contact with their once all-believing and obedient +pupils, but now become a neoteric generation;--the crown and the sceptre, +the cap and the gown, were baubles in their eyes. When the faculty of +reasoning was not able to prevail, the shafts of ridicule were drawn from +the quiver of philosophic wit, and inflicted rankling wounds where they +could not destroy. Ancient systems were exploded with ancient prejudices, +theories were overthrown with dynasties, and doctrines with +governments;--one might have imagined that the formidable power of steam +had been communicated to the mind, illustrating the words of Milton, + + The mind is its own place, and in itself + Can make a heaven of hell, and hell of heaven. + +Science, now aimed at generalization-the physiologist, the chemist, became +legislators, stepping from the academic chair to the senatorial seat, and +from teaching how to benefit mankind they hurried to destroy, forgetful, +in their ambitious dream, of the noble encomium of Cicero, "_Homines ad +deos nulla se proprius accedunt, quam salutem hominibus dando_." + +Philosophy and the study of medicine were now inseparable; this generous +science was not to be attained in books only, but in the study of mankind. +Rousseau thus spoke of physicians when writing to Bernardin de Saint +Pierre:--"_Il n'y a pas d'etat qui exige plus d'etude que le leur; par +tous les pays, ce sont des hommes les plus veritablement savans et +utiles_." Voltaire was of a similar opinion when he thus expressed +himself:--"_Il n'est rien de plus estimable au monde, qu'un medecin qui, +ayant dans sa jeunesse etudie la nature, connu les ressorts du corps +humain, les maux qui le tourmentent, les remedes qui peuvent le soulager, +exerce son etat en s'en defiant, et soigne egalement les pauvres et les +riches_." + +How came it then that these great observers did not partake of the +prejudices of Montaigne, Moliere, and other writers, who invariably +stigmatized the practice of physic? simply because it was no longer a +dogmatic profession exercised with scholastic pedantry, but a science +founded on the study of nature, and the immutable laws of sound +philosophy. Although a classic education forms an indispensable part of a +physician's education, yet it is in more important pursuits that his +experience should be obtained: the knowledge of ancient languages is +principally useful in discovering the errors of the olden writers, and in +detecting the barefaced plagiarisms of the moderns. + +Much valuable time, however, may be lost in the pursuit of ancient lore; +and Montaigne has justly observed, "There are books which should only be +read, but others that must be learnt." This discrimination is of the +utmost importance; for it may be said of the bookworm's library, +"_Multitudo librorum saepe est nubes testium ignorantiae possessoris_." +Aristippus very properly replied to a man who boasted of his reading, "It +is not those who eat the most that are hale and healthy, but those who can +best digest." Hence the distinction that arose between the philosophical +physician and the dogmatizer. The one was guided by the observation of +facts, the other by glossarial records. Men of erudition are seldom men of +genius. The exploring mind is ever anxious to take flight from the +prison-house of scholastic restraints. Scepticism, moreover, is frequently +the result of deep study, which leads the neophyte into such a labyrinth +of conflicting opinions, that decision and conviction are not easily +attained. Laugier, a most learned German physician, had no faith in his +profession: being reproached with his incredulity, he replied, "_Credo, +Domine, adjuva incredulitatem meam_." + +The preceding observations lead to an important, and at the same time a +painful reflection. Will this rapid intellectual progress tend ultimately +to meliorate the condition of mankind? Nations have been compared to Man: +having once reached the acme of prosperity and strength, their vigour like +his gradually declines. History offers nothing more than a chronicle of +such facts. Whatever may be the causes of this degeneracy, is a matter +foreign to my present subject; although I may be permitted to observe by +the way, that it may have arisen from the great disparity and inequality +in the condition of society that tends to lull the wealthy into apathetic +indifference and blind security in their power, while it urges the poor +and the bold to rapine and destructive deeds. This perilous state can only +cease to exist when general education is improved: if this most important +source of real prosperity is attended to, we perhaps need not seek in +particular events, gloomy anticipations of the future. + +Whatever may be the destinies of nations in the wreck of empires and the +destruction of men, the philosopher calmly seated on ruins that often +"speak that sometime they were a worthy building," reflects with pride +that science has withstood the withering hand of time. It is true, that in +every study errors have been heaped upon errors; but truth will often +result from falsehood, and doubt that brings on investigation, leads to +comparative certainty. Locke has justly observed, that the faculty of +reasoning seldom or never deceives those who trust to it: its +consequences, from what it builds on, are evident and certain; but that +which it oftenest, if not only, misleads us in, is, that the principles +from which we conclude, the grounds upon which we bottom our reasoning, +are but a part--_something_ is left out which should go into the reckoning +to make it just and exact. This _something_ is the constant pursuit of the +philosopher. The name of a country may be obliterated from a map, the +deeds of heroes be effaced from the annals of the world; the pursuit of +truth can only cease when man is no more;--its light may be veiled by +ignorance, craft, or cupidity,--but it cannot be extinguished. The cities +that gave birth to the illustrious philosophers of old have long ceased to +exist, yet the immortal works of those sages that have escaped the +ravages of time, are still as fresh and luxuriant as when their glorious +oratory enchanted and captivated their disciples' ears. + +No science has been cultivated with more difficulty than that of Medicine. +The following papers will show how fearfully it has had to contend in turn +with the power of priestcraft, that sought to monopolize its practice, as +a privilege from the gods, and with the furious opposition of contemporary +members of the profession, whose cupidity and vanity were alarmed by the +introduction of novel doctrines, which they were too old, too busy, or too +obstinate to learn. The extracts from Medical Literature that I have given +will show that most of our modern notions were known to the earliest +writers, and were only improved in succeeding ages, as in like manner our +present doctrines will in all probability be advanced by future +generations. The destruction of kingdoms and of chronicles, the inroads of +barbarism,--the more destructive inroads of ignorance and bigotry, have +not been able to produce a void in the world of science; the catenation of +philosophic inquiry has never been broken in its connexions. Oppression +only riveted the chain more firmly, as if to resist the united power of +man and time. Adversity, which + + Like the toad, ugly and venomous, + Wears yet a precious jewel in its head, + +has always been considered the best school of practical wisdom: and it is +thus that, amidst the portentous events which have shaken every +institution, and which perhaps still menace further dissolution, the fane +of science has oftentimes been more vividly illumined by the surrounding +conflagration. + +The evils that desolate society too frequently arise from the hasty acts +of intemperate men, who deem it necessary to meet the tumultuous demands +of the multitude with decided and energetic, but, at the same time, +perilous measures: the progress of science, on the contrary, is gradual, +and of course more likely to be eventually permanent. While political +speculations are daily becoming more uncertain in their operations, the +triumph of intellectual superiority over prejudice is every where +apparent;--unjust disabilities are being abolished, and the gates of +learning thrown open to every candidate, whatever may be his religious or +his political tenets. + +In our country, more than in any other, industry and perseverance have +ever had a fairer chance of attaining social pre-eminence, despite the +shackles imposed upon the candidate for fame by institutions framed in the +darker ages. What then may we not expect, when we behold the bright era +that opens before us,--when exclusive institutions will be considered the +obsolete remnants of expiring bigotry and intolerance! May we not indulge +in the most sanguine hope, that our former glories are only the historic +earnest of still more glorious days? If the spirit of the immortal Locke +could hover over our earth, he would feel, with some degree of pride, that +his admonitions have not been unheeded; and that "those who live mewed up +within their own contracted territories, and will not look abroad beyond +the boundaries that _chance_, _conceit_, or _laziness_ have set to their +inquiries, but live separate from the notions, discourses, and attainments +of the rest of mankind," have at last felt the necessity of yielding to +the voice of reason, or rather of their own welfare. + +In the following work I merely rank myself as a compiler. I have only +sketched--sometimes perhaps with too fanciful a pencil, subjects of great +importance, which, by being thus rendered popular, may induce abler pens +to imbody them in a more permanent form. The variety of matter introduced +has obliged me to be discursive, and to have recourse to some repetitions +that were necessary to illustrate subjects not easily abridged. Whenever I +have held up errors and evil passions to exposure, I have not, in one +single instance, I trust, been influenced by any hostility towards men or +parties--ranks or creeds. If I have unwillingly and unwittingly given +offence, I shall most sincerely lament it. My materials have been gleaned +from the works of many contemporaries, whose well-known and +justly-appreciated names will in general appear: but I should be wanting +in candour, did I not avow that I have derived much valuable information +from _Le Dictionnaire des Sciences Medicales_, an elaborate compilation, +containing more "CURIOSITIES OF MEDICAL EXPERIENCE" than any existing +work. + + _48, Eaton Square, + January, 1837._ + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + Page + + Obesity 1 + + Dwarfs 9 + + Gigantic Races 12 + + Unlawful Cures 19 + + Voice and Speech 32 + + Ecstatic Exaltation 37 + + Varieties of Mankind 44 + + On the Inhumation of the Dead in Cities 54 + + Buried Alive 63 + + Spontaneous Combustion 66 + + Brassica Eruca 70 + + Cagliostro 71 + + Lunar Influence on Human Life and Diseases 73 + + Spectacles 76 + + Leeches 77 + + Somnambulism 79 + + Medical Powers of Music 88 + + The Food of Mankind 96 + + Influence of Imagination 125 + + Ancient Ideas of Phrenology 135 + + Perfumes 136 + + Love Philters and Potions 141 + + Ventriloquism 148 + + Chaucer's Description of a Physician 151 + + Daemonomania 152 + + The Plague 164 + + Abstinence 185 + + Poison of the Upas, or Ipo 190 + + Homophagous and polyphagous 196 + + Causes of Insanity 202 + + Leprosy 221 + + The Aspic 227 + + Selden's Comparison between a Divine, a Statesman, and + a Physician 229 + + The Lettuce 230 + + Medical Fees 231 + + Enthusiasm 237 + + Medical effects of Water 252 + + Proverbs and Sayings regarding Health and Disease 259 + + The Night-mare 262 + + Incubation of Diseases 266 + + Quackery and Charlatanism 269 + + On the use of Tea 277 + + Mandragore 281 + + Barber-Surgeons, and the Progress of Chirurgical Art 285 + + On Dreams 295 + + On Flagellation 312 + + On Life and the Blood 317 + + Of the Homoeopathic Doctrines 337 + + Doctrine of Signatures 365 + + Coffee 370 + + Aqua Tophania 374 + + Plica Polonica & Human Hair 377 + + Animal Magnetism 384 + + Poisonous Fishes 397 + + Memory & the Mental Faculties 404 + + Affections of the Sight 420 + + Hellebore 426 + + Sympathies and Antipathies 428 + + The Archeus of Van Helmont 439 + + Monsters 443 + + Longevity 453 + + Cretinism 472 + + Temperaments 476 + + Solar Influence 482 + + Sweating Fever 485 + + Smallpox 491 + + Drunkenness 507 + + Decapitation 516 + + Mummies 518 + + Hydrophobia 527 + + Rise and Progress of Medicine 534 + + Medicine of the Chinese 552 + + Experiments on Living Animals 559 + + + + +CURIOSITIES OF MEDICAL EXPERIENCE. + + + + +OBESITY. + + +Various are the opinions concerning the cause of excessive corpulence. By +some it is attributed to too great an activity in the digestive functions, +producing a rapid assimilation of our food; by others, to the predominance +of the liver: while indolence and apathy, such as is commonly observed in +the wealthy monastic orders, are considered as occasioning a laxity of +fibre favourable to this _embonpoint_. Boileau has thus described one of +these fat lazy prelates, who + + Muni d'un dejeuner, + Dormant d'un leger somme, attendait le diner. + La jeunesse en sa fleur brille sur son visage; + Son menton sur son sein descend a triple etage; + Et son corps ramasse, dans sa courte grosseur, + Fait gemir les coussins sous sa molle epaisseur. + +It is certain that exercise, anxiety of mind, want of sleep, and spare +food, are circumstances opposed to fatness. This fact is illustrated by +Shakspeare, when Caesar says to Antony, + + Let me have men about me that are fat,-- + Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights; + Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look, + He thinks too much: such men are dangerous. + +Antony and Dolabella were both men of some corpulence. The Roman ladies +dreaded above all things too voluminous a development of the bosom: to +prevent it they were in the habit of applying to their breasts the raw +flesh of a fish called Angel. Hippocrates has maintained that obesity was +an obstacle to conception. This assertion which was partaken by other +medical writers, may, in some measure account for the dread of +corpulence. Strange indeed have been the fancies on this subject amongst +various nations. + +Fat is a fluid similar to vegetable oils, inodorous, and lighter than +water; besides the elements common to water, to oils, and wax, it contains +carbon, hydrogen, and sebacic acid, which is pretty similar to the acetic. +Human fat, like that of other animals, has been frequently employed for +various purposes. A story is told of an Irish tallowchandler, who, during +the invasion of Cromwell's army, made candles with the fat of Englishmen, +which were remarkable for their good quality; but when the times became +more tranquil, his goods were of an inferior kind, and when one of his +customers complained of his candles falling off, he apologised by saying, +"I am sorry to inform you that the times are so bad that I have been short +of Englishmen for a long time." + +Obesity may be considered a serious evil, and has exposed corpulent +persons to many _desagremens_. The ancients held fat people in sovereign +contempt. Some of the Gentoos enter their dwellings by a hole in the roof; +and any fat person who cannot get through it, they consider as an +excommunicated offender who has not been able to rid himself of his sins. +An Eastern prince had an officer to regulate the size of his subjects, and +who dieted the unwieldy ones to reduce them to a proper volume. In China +this calamity is considered a blessing, a man's intellectual qualities are +esteemed in the ratio of corporeal bulk. + +There are cases on record among ourselves where unwieldiness led to +estimation. The corpulent antiquarian Grose was requested by his butcher +to tell all his friends that he bought his meat from him; and the paviers +of Cambridge used to say, "God bless you, sir!" to a huge professor when +he walked over their work. Fatness has often been the butt of jocularity. +Dr. Stafford, who was enormously fat, was honoured with this epitaph: + + Take heed, O good traveller, and do not tread hard, + For here lies Dr. Stafford, _in all this church-yard_. + +And the following lines were inscribed on the tomb of a corpulent +chandler: + + Here lies in earth an honest fellow, + Who died by fat and lived by tallow. + +Dr. Beddoes was so uncomfortably stout that a lady of Clifton used to +call him "the walking feather-bed." At the court of Louis XV. there were +two lusty noblemen, related to each other: the king, having rallied one of +them on his corpulency, added, "I suppose you take little or no exercise?" +"Your majesty will pardon me," replied the bulky duke, "for I generally +walk two or three times round my cousin every morning." + +Various ludicrous anecdotes are related of fat people. A scene between +Mrs. Clive and Mrs. Pritchard, two corpulent actresses, must have been +very amusing. They were playing in the parts of Lady Easy and Edging, in +the Careless Husband, when the former desires Edging to pick up a letter +she had dropped; and Mrs. Clive, who might as well have attempted to raise +a hundred pound weight, exclaimed, "Not I indeed, take it up yourself if +you like it." This answer threw the audience into roars of laughter, when +Mrs. Pritchard replied, "Well, if you won't take up the letter, I must +find some one who will;" and so saying, she beckoned to a servant in the +wing, who came forward and terminated the dispute. + +In some countries, especially in the East, moderate obesity is considered +a beauty, and Tunisene young ladies are regularly fattened for marriage; a +different practice from that of the Roman matrons, who starved their +daughters, to make them as lean as possible on such occasions. Thus +Terence, + + Nostrae virgines--si bono habitu sunt, matres pugiles esse aiunt, et + cibum deducunt. + +Erasmus states that the Gordii carried their admiration for corpulence to +such an extent, that they raised the fattest amongst them to the throne. +It is well known that the preposterous size of some of the Hottentots is +deemed a perfection, and one of their Venuses was not long since exhibited +in London. + +There is no doubt that food materially influences this condition of +mankind, although we frequently see enormous eaters who are miserably +lean, and fat persons whose diet is most scanty. During the late war, a +ravenous French prisoner was known to eat four pounds of raw cow-udder, +ten pounds of raw beef, and two pounds of candles, per diem, diluting his +meals with five quarts of porter; yet this carnivorous brute was a perfect +skeleton. + +Amongst the many predisposing causes of obesity we may rank emasculation. +An epicurean fishmonger of the name of Samuel Tull performed this +operation on fishes, to render them more delicate. His curious experiments +were submitted to the Royal Society. The same practice has been +subsequently illustrated by Professor Dumeril. Father Charleroix informs +us that Caraib cannibals had recourse to this process to fatten their +prisoners before they were devoured. + +Anatomical pursuits are also known to occasion _embonpoint_. This has been +frequently observed amongst medical pupils. Professor Mascagni attributed +his corpulence to his constant attendance on dissections; he also excused +his amorous propensities on similar grounds. + +For the cure of corpulency, diminution of food of a nutritious nature has +been generally recommended; added to this, little sleep and much exercise +are advised. Acids to reduce fatness are frequently administered, but have +done considerable mischief. Amongst other wonderful accounts of their +efficacy in such cases, it is related of a Spanish general who was of an +enormous size, that he drank vinegar until his bulk was so reduced that he +could fold his skin round his body. + +For a similar purpose soap has been frequently recommended, particularly +by Dr. Flemyng. He began this experiment with one of his patients who +weighed twenty stone and eleven pounds (jockey weight): in July 1754, he +took every night a quarter of an ounce of common Castile soap. In August +1756 his bulk was reduced two stone, and in 1760 he was brought down to a +proper condition. + +Darwin is of opinion that salt and salted meat are still more efficacious +than soap. All these experiments, however, are in general not only useless +but pernicious, and frequently prove fatal. Mr. Wadd, from whose curious +work on corpulence much is extracted in this article, properly observes +that, "certain and permanent relief is only to be sought in rigid +abstemiousness, and a strict and constant attention to diet and exercise." +Dr. Cheyne, who weighed thirty-two stone, reduced himself one-third, and +enjoyed good health till the age of seventy-two. Numerous instances of the +kind are mentioned, where journals of gradual reduction were kept: the +following is an abstract of one of them, in the case of a person who, on +the 17th June 1820, weighed twenty-three stone two pounds:-- + + June 17 23 stone 2 pounds. + July 27 21 " 10 " + September 10 20 " 7 " + October 10 19 " 3 " + November 10 18 " 11 " + December 10 18 " 4 " + December 25 18 " 1 " + +In another case, attended by Dr. Gregory of Edinburgh, the patient weighed +twenty-three stone, and by a regular system of diet was brought down to +fifteen stone. In this instance brown bread, with a certain quantity of +bran in it, was employed; and it is well known that the alimentary +secretions are materially altered by the quality of bread. The article of +drink also requires much attention. Corpulent persons generally indulge to +excess, and in this case, every endeavour to reduce them will be vain. We +frequently see our jockeys reducing themselves to the extent of a stone +and a half in the week. A lower scale of diet is by no means as injurious +as it is generally supposed; the English prisoners made by Tippoo Saib, +though kept upon a scanty pittance of bread and water, found themselves in +better health than before, and some of them were cured during their +captivity of liver complaints of long and severe duration. + +One of the most corpulent persons known was Mr. Lambert, of +Leicestershire, who weighed fifty-two stone eleven pounds (14 lbs. to the +stone). + +At Hainton, there died in 1816, Samuel Sugars, aged fifty-two; and his +body, with a single coffin weighed fifty stone. + +In 1754 died Mr. Jacob Powell, of Stebbing in Essex: his body was above +five yards in circumference, and weighed five hundred and sixty pounds; +requiring sixteen men to bear him to his grave. + +In 1775 Mr. Spooner, of Skillington near Tamworth, weighed, a short time +before his death, forty stone and nine pounds, and measured four feet +three inches across the shoulders. + +Keysler mentions a young man in Lincoln who ate eighteen pounds of beef +daily, and died in 1724, in the twenty-eighth of his age, weighing five +hundred and thirty pounds. + +A baker, in Pye Corner, weighed thirty-four stone, and would frequently +eat a small shoulder of mutton, baked in his oven, and weighing five +pounds; he, however, persisted for one year to live upon water-gruel and +brown bread, by which he lost two hundred pounds of his bulk. + +Mr. Collet, master of the Evesham Academy, weighed upwards of twenty-six +stone; when twelve years old, he was nearly as large as at the time of his +death. At two years of age he required two nurses to lift him in and out +of bed, one of whom in a fit of anger he felled to the floor with a blow +of his hand. + +At Trenaw in Cornwall, there was a man, known by the name of Grant +Chillcot, who weighed four hundred and sixty pounds; one of his stockings +could contain six gallons of wheat. + +Our poet Butler must have met with some such enormous creatures in the +type of his Saxon Duke, who, in Hudibras, + + ------did grow so fat, + That mice (as histories relate) + Ate grots and labyrinths to dwell in + His postique parts, without his feeling. + +If obesity has been the subject of ungenerous jokes, leanness has not +passed unnoticed. An anecdote is related of a reverend doctor of a very +ghostly appearance, who was one day accosted by a fellow with the +following salutation: "Well, doctor, I hope you have taken care of your +_soul_?" "Why, my friend?" said the divine. "Because," replied the +impertinent interlocutor, "your _body_ is not worth caring for." + +A poor diminutive Frenchman being ordered by his Sangrado to drink a quart +of ptisan a day, replied, with a heavy sigh, "Alas! doctor, that I cannot +do, since I only hold a pint." + +When the Duke de Choiseuil, a remarkably meager man, came to London to +negotiate a peace, Charles Townshend being asked whether the French +government had sent the preliminaries of a treaty, answered, "He did not +know, but they had sent the _outline of an ambassador_." + +That change of spare diet to a more nutritious food may bring on some +corpulence, is evidenced in an anecdote of Colly Cibber, who relates that +a poor half-starved actor, who used to play the Apothecary in Romeo and +Juliet, to the life, and with great applause, received an augmentation of +salary in consequence of his popularity. Unfortunately, increase of +wealth led him to increase his fare, until he gradually assumed a +plumpness which unfitted him for the worn-out pharmacopolist; and not +being able to perform in any other line, the poor man was discharged. +However, poverty once more brought him down to his original condition, +when he reappeared upon the boards as triumphantly as ever. + +If _embonpoint_ is generally a sign of good-humour and a cheerful +disposition, leanness frequently betokens a sour, crabbed, and ill-natured +character. Solomon has said, "A merry heart doeth good like medicine; but +a broken spirit drieth the bones." This observation, however, cannot be +considered a rule in forming a judgment of various tempers. This is by no +means an easy attempt in our intercourse with the world, when physiognomy +is not always a sure guide in the selection of our companions. Dr. +Franklin tells a singular story on this subject: + +"An old philosophical gentleman had grown, from experience, very cautious +in avoiding ill-natured people. To endeavour to ascertain their +disposition he made use of his legs, one of which was remarkably handsome, +the other, by some accident, crooked and deformed. If a stranger at the +first interview regarded his ugly leg more than his handsome one, he +doubted him; but if he spoke of it, and took no notice of his handsome +leg, that was sufficient to determine the philosopher to have no further +acquaintance with him. Every body has not this two-legged instrument; but +every one, with a little attention, may observe signs of this carping, +fault-finding disposition, and take the same resolution of avoiding the +acquaintance of those infected by it. I therefore advise those querulous, +discontented, unhappy people, if they wish to be respected and beloved by +others, and happy in themselves, _to leave off looking at the ugly leg_." + +Various expedients, in addition to a better diet, have been resorted to, +to restore lean persons to a better case; but amongst the most singular +that we have on record is that of flagellation. Galen says, that +horse-dealers having been observed to fatten horses for sale by flogging +them, an analogous method might be useful with spare persons who wish to +become stouter. He also mentions slave-dealers who employed similar means. +Suetonius informs us that Musa, the favourite physician of Augustus, used +to fustigate him, not only to cure him of a sciatica, but to keep him +plump. Meibomius pretends that nurses whip little children to fatten them, +that they may appear healthy and chubby to their mothers. No doubt but +flagellation determines a greater influx of blood to the surface, and may +thus tend to increase the circulation, and give tone to parts which would +otherwise be languid. With this intention, _urticatio_, or whipping with +nettles, has been frequently used in medical practice with great +advantage. Xenophon thawed his frozen soldiers by flagellation. In amorous +despondency and grief, Coelius Aurelianus recommended this process, and +Elidoeus Paduanus advises it to bring out tardy eruptions. The most +singular effect of this castigation is recorded by Meibomius, in his work +_De flagrorum usu_, &c., dedicated to a councillor of the Bishop of +Lubeck, with the following epigraph: + + Delicias pariunt Veneri crudelia flagra. + Dum nocet, illa juvat; dum juvat, ecce nocet. + +Menghus Faventinus had long before extolled this practice, mentioned also +by Coelius Rhodiginus, and various ancient writers, and more recently +recognised as effectual by Rousseau, in his Confessions. + +A remarkable case of leanness is mentioned by Lorry in a priest, who +became so thin and dry in all his articulations, that at last he was +unable to go through the celebration of mass, as his joints and spine +would crack in so loud and strange a manner at every genuflexion, that the +faithful were terrified, and the faithless laughed. One of these miserable +laths once undertook a long journey to consult a learned physician on his +sad condition, and having begged to know, in a most piteous tone, the +cause of his desiccation, was favoured with the following luminous answer: +"Sir, there is a predisposition in your constitution to make you lean, and +a disposition in your constitution to keep you so." Another meager patient +being told that the celebrated Hunter had fattened a dog by removing his +spleen, exclaimed, with a deep sigh, "O, sir! I wish Mr. Hunter had +mine." + + + + +DWARFS. + + +We can scarcely believe that the ancients gave any credence to the +fabulous accounts of dwarfish nations, or could be persuaded of the +existence of those pigmies spoken of by Aristotle and other writers, who, +in all probability, described as such a species of diminutive monkeys. + +Athenaeus mentions a race of dwarfs who were in perpetual war with cranes, +who harnessed partridges to their chariots, and were obliged to cut down +corn with felling-axes, like forest trees. Pliny asserts that their +constant enemy, the crane, drove them out of Thracia, but that they still +were to be met with in Ethiopia, near the source of the Nile, and above +the rise of the Ganges, where they were named _Spithania_, their stature +not exceeding three palms. Nicephorus Calixtus, in his Ecclesiastical +History, mentions an Egyptian who was not longer than a partridge, and +who, at the age of twenty-five, displayed considerable mental endowment. +Strabo, however, judiciously observed that these stories arose from the +circumstance of the small size of every animal in intemperate regions. +Various modern travellers have recorded the most absurd stories of +diminutive men, as well as of gigantic nations; but to most of them we may +apply the words of Congreve-- + + Fernandez Mendez Pinto was but a type of thee, + Thou liar of the first magnitude. + +It is nevertheless true, that man exhibits differences of stature in +various climes. The Laplanders and Samoides in Europe, the Ostiacks and +Tungooses in Asia, the Greenlanders and Esquimaux in America--all the +natives indeed of high northern latitudes are remarkably short, measuring +little more than four feet; and Niels Sara, the Laplander mentioned by Von +Buch in his Travels, and who measured five feet eight inches, may be +considered as a gigantic exception. It had been reported by travellers, +that a nation of white dwarfs, called _Quimos_ or _Kimos_, existed in the +interior of Madagascar; but Flacourt has positively denied the fact, +although Commerson, the naturalist of Bougainville, and De Modave, confirm +the former statement. It has also been remarked by various travellers, +that dwarfs are not uncommon amongst robust and manly races, instanced in +Poland and Lithuania. Sigismund de Herbestein made the same observation in +Samogitia, the population of which was of a high stature. + +It is by no means evident that climate or any external agency invariably +produces this effect; for, in the very regions inhabited by the stunted +Hottentot, the shortest race in Africa, since the Bosjernan tribe scarcely +ever exceed four feet, we find the strong and tall Kaffer. Amongst these +it is also to be remarked, that there exists a singular difference between +the sexes. Langsdorf thus expresses himself on the subject: "The Kaffer +women were mostly of low stature, very strong-limbed, and particularly +muscular in the leg: the men, on the contrary, were the finest figures I +ever beheld; they were tall, robust, and muscular. A young man of about +twenty, of six feet ten inches high, was one of the finest figures that +perhaps was ever created. He was a perfect Hercules; and a cast from his +body would not have disgraced the pedestal of the deity in the Farnese +Palace." He further adds, "There is, perhaps, no nation on earth, taken +collectively, that can produce so fine a race of men as the Kaffers: they +are tall, stout, muscular, well-made, elegant figures. They are exempt, +indeed, from many of those causes that in more civilized societies +contribute to impede the growth of the body. Their diet is simple, their +exercise of a salutary nature; their body is neither cramped nor +encumbered by clothing; the air they breathe is pure; their rest is not +disturbed by violent love, nor their minds ruffled by jealousy; they are +free from those licentious appetites which proceed frequently more from a +depraved imagination than a real natural want. Their frame is neither +shaken nor enervated by the use of intoxicating liquor; they eat when +hungry, and sleep when nature demands it. With such a kind of life, +languor and melancholy have nothing to do. The countenance of a Kaffer is +always cheerful, and the whole of his demeanour bespeaks content and peace +of mind." + +Are diminutive races more productive than those of stronger formation? The +brute creation has been taken as an example in support of this opinion; +large animals producing one or two young ones, while the smaller species +are singularly prolific. The lioness seldom brings forth more than two or +four whelps, the cat will have a litter of eight or ten kittens; the +pullulation of insects is incredible. But is not this circumstance an +illustration of the wisdom of Providence? If the larger species were as +abundant as the lesser races, where could they find sustenance in regions +where the produce is, under the influence of the seasons, occasionally +abundant or scarce? In the ocean, this is not the case; the myriads of its +creatures suffice to support each other, and we therefore meet in the +deep, the largest of animals in numerous shoals, while the small fry are +generated in marvellous abundance. + +That the facility of obtaining food and the nature of the nutritious +substances that animals may find, influence their stature, is evident. In +sandy and arid plains poor in pasture, we find horses and cattle of a +stunted breed: the herds of Flanders widely differ from those of Wales and +of the Ukraine, and the Scotch and Welsh cattle cannot be compared to +those of Holstein. At the same time, it must be observed, that in regard +to dwarfs, although it frequently does occur that they are labouring under +a hereditary lowness of stature, this is not invariably the case. In these +instances dwarfs may be considered as morbid phenomena. Thus Bebe, the +dwarf of Stanislaus of Poland, who was thirty-three French inches high, +was weak, of delicate health, became deformed as he grew up, and died at +the age of twenty-three; his parents were of the usual stature: whereas +the Polish nobleman Borwlaski was well-made, active, intelligent: he +measured twenty-eight inches; he had a brother of thirty-four inches, and +a sister of twenty-one. Stoeberin, of Nuerenberg, was nearly three feet high +at twenty, well-proportioned, and possessing a cultivated mind: his +parents, brothers, and sisters, were all dwarfs. Such natural dwarfs have +been known to evince brilliant qualities. Uladislas, king of Poland, +surnamed _Cubitalis_ from his only measuring a cubit in height, was +renowned for his warlike exploits; and we find a dwarf of the name of +Kasan, a khan of Tartary, boldly leading their enterprising bands. These +individuals sprung from dwarfish parents; whereas the dwarfs we generally +meet with are deformities of nature; their head is voluminous, their +intellectual faculties obtuse, they are mostly childish in their ideas and +pursuits, and are rarely able to propagate their race. + +Held in contempt by the people, dwarfs naturally become peevish and +irritable; and the diminutive names given to them to match their apparent +natural imperfection tend constantly to increase their irritability. Thus +the Latins called them _Homunciones_, the Italians _Piccoluomini_, the +Flemings _Mennekin_,--whence, no doubt, our term _Mannikin_ given to +little men, and _Minikin_ applied to small pins. A very curious case of a +dwarf born from parents of the usual stature was exhibited in Paris in +1819: her name was Anne Souvray; she was born in the Vosges, and was only +thirty-three inches in height. She was at that period seventy-three years +of age; was gay, animated, good-humoured, and danced with tolerable grace +with her sister Barbe, seventy-five years of age, and taller than her by +two inches. In 1762, King Stanislaus wanted to marry her to his Bebe; the +bridegroom, however, did not live to contract so desirable a match; but, +faithful to her lover, she ever afterwards called herself _Madame Bebe_. + +Jeffrey Hudson, the dwarf of King Charles, must also have been of a very +diminutive stature, since we find that he was served up in a pie to the +royal table, and jumped out when the crust was raised. It appears that +introducing live pies in those days were not an uncommon frolic; hence +there may be some truth in the old song of + + Four-and-twenty black-birds bak'd in a pye, + When the pye was open'd the birds began to sing, + Was not that a dainty dish to lay before a king? + + + + +GIGANTIC RACES. + + +While we dismiss as fabulous all ancient and modern accounts of dwarfish +races, we must also treat with the same scepticism the relations of +gigantic nations. Although individuals of incredible stature have been +occasionally seen, the word giant must be considered not only comparative +as regarding primary races, but in many instances allegorical. Thus the +Hebrew word, _Nophel_ and _Giboor_ (_Nephilim_ and _Gibborim_ in the +plural), did not signify giants, as commonly translated, but cruel and +violent men. Athletic power and uncommon energies were naturally +associated with the idea of supernatural stature, though intellectual +accomplishments were not always included in the association: on the +contrary, we find the ancient axiom _Homo longus rare sapiens_ frequently +adduced. + +In temperate climates the height of the human race averages from four feet +and a half to six feet, but occasional instances have been met with of men +reaching eight and nine feet--nay, some authors go so far as ten and +eighteen; but the latter assertions seem to refer to fossil bones +attributed to man, but which evidently belonged to other animals. Buffon +mentions gigantic human bones discovered at Lucerne, but which upon +examination Blumenbach pronounced to be the remains of an elephant. +Halicot, in his work called _Gigantosteologia_, describes bones found in a +sepulchre in Dauphiny over which was a stone inscribed TEUTOBOCCHUS REX: +this skeleton was twenty-five feet and a half high, and ten feet broad at +the shoulder. Riolan, the celebrated anatomist, disputes the fact; and in +his book entitled _Gigantomachia_ positively affirms that they also +belonged to an elephant. It is worthy of remark, that in this controversy +each party considered his opinion and decision of sufficient weight to +need no illustration, and therefore neither of them thought it necessary +to confirm his _dixit_ by drawings and engravings of the questionable +remains. Such is the vanity of the learned! An infallible philosopher +informs us that Adam's stature was one hundred and twenty-three feet nine +inches; Eve's, one hundred and eighteen feet nine inches and three +quarters; Noah's, twenty feet short of Adam's; Abraham's, twenty-eight +feet; Moses', thirteen; and Hercules', ten. + +That the first races of man were of larger dimensions than those of our +contemporaries, has ever been a general opinion. Thus Virgil in his +Georgics: + + Grandiaque effossis mirabitur ossa sepulchris. + +Lucretius ascribes the same superiority to animals. + + Jamque adeo fracta est aetas, effoetaque tellus + Vix animalia parva creat, quae cuncta creavit + Saecla, deditque ferarum ingentia corpora partu. + +And again the Mantuan poet, + + Sic Omnia fatis + In pejus ruere, ac retro sublapsa referri. + +Not only have our forefathers been considered more gigantic in stature, +but of more vigorous power. Hence Juvenal says, + + Nam genus hoc, vivo jam decrescebat Homero. + Terra malos homines nunc educat, atque pusillos. + +It is however obvious, that former races, although they might have +excelled the present generation in vigour from the nature of their +education and pursuits, could not claim any pre-eminence in stature. The +remains of human bones, found in tombs and Egyptian mummies, demonstrate +this fact most clearly; and the armour, helmets, and breastplates of the +ancients confirm it. Their swords were as light, nay, much lighter in many +instances, than those of the present day; and those enormous ones of the +times of chivalry were only wielded to inflict one overwhelming blow with +both hands, and could scarcely be recovered for protection. + +Ancient writers corroborate this opinion. Homer, when speaking of a fine +man, gives him four cubits in height and one in breadth. Vitruvius fixes +the usual standard of man at six Roman feet: the giant Gabbarus mentioned +by Pliny did not exceed nine feet. Aristotle's admeasurement of beds was +six feet; and certainly the doorways of ancient edifices by no means +indicated taller inmates than our present generation. It is therefore +pretty clear that the supposed fossil remains of gigantic human bones +belonged to the _Megatherium_, the _Palaeotherium_, and other individuals, +which certainly prove that in remote ages there existed animals of much +larger dimensions than any now in being, though we have no reason to +suppose that this variety extended to our species.[2] + +The origin of the fabled giants has led to marvellous disquisitions. Many +fathers of the church, amongst whom we may quote St. Cyprian, St. +Ambrosius, St. Chrosostom, St. Cyrillius, Tactantius, Tertullian, and +several others, gravely maintain that giants were the favoured offsprings +of holy maidens and angels. This may seem an impious conclusion, since the +gigantic monsters of sacred history were any thing but angelic; for the +Canaaneans, the Moabites, and the sons of Anak, descended from giants, +(compared with whom the Israelites seemed as grasshoppers,) were most +ferocious, and their land devoured its inhabitants; (though Neuman gives a +different signification to the scriptural passage, which according to his +paraphrase merely meant "that the number of inhabitants was so great, that +they eat up all the land;") Og, king of Bashan, whose country was +delivered into the hands of Israel, had an iron bedstead nine cubits in +length and four cubits in breadth; and Goliath, the reproach of Israel, +was six cubits and a span (which according to Cumberland makes eleven feet +English) in stature. It is therefore difficult to imagine why so many +saints considered giants as an angelic progeny. + +To the present day, however, we find various races distinguished by their +elevated stature. Humboldt says, that the Guayaquilists measure six feet +and a half, and the Payaguas are equally tall, while the Caribbees of +Cumana are distinguished by their almost gigantic size from all the other +nations he had met with in the New World. Hearne saw in the cold regions +north of Canada individuals of six feet four inches. The Patagonians, or +Tehuels, were stated by Pigafitta and the Spanish early navigators as +measuring seven feet four inches; and although it appears that this +account is exaggerated, more recent travellers, amongst whom we may name +Bougainville, Commodore Byron, Captain Wallis, Carteret, and Falkner, +affirm that their height ranges from six to seven feet. + +From the best authenticated observations, it appears that the tallest +persons on respectable record, did not, according to Haller, exceed nine +feet. A young man from Huntingdonshire was exhibited in London, and +measured about eight feet at the age of seventeen; he was, as usual, born +of the ordinary size, but began to grow most rapidly; his sister was of +great height, and all his family were remarkably tall. + +Dwarfs generally die from premature old age, and giants from exhaustion. A +curious instance of marvellous growth is recorded in a tract called +"_Prodigium Willinghamense_," or an account of a surprising boy who was +born at Willingham, near Cambridge, and upon whom the following epitaph +was written:--"Stop, traveller, and wondering, know, here buried lie the +remains of Thomas, son of Thomas and Margaret Hall; who, not one year old, +had the signs of manhood; at three, was almost four feet high, endued +with uncommon strength, a just proportion of parts, and a stupendous +voice; before six, he died as it were at an advanced age." Mr. Dawker, a +surgeon of St. Ives, Huntingdon, who published this account, viewed him +after death, and the corpse exhibited all the appearances of decrepit old +age. This is a confirmation of the case of the boy of Salamis, mentioned +by Pliny as being four feet high, and having reached puberty at the age of +three; and may also confirm the account of the man seen by Craterus, the +brother of Antigonus, who in seven years was an infant, a youth, an adult, +a father, an old man, and a corpse. + +The experiment of Dr. Berkeley, bishop of Cloyne, to ascertain the +influence of food in promoting extraordinary growth, is curious. He +selected for this purpose an orphan child of the name of Macgrath; and, by +dint of feeding, at the age of sixteen he had grown to the height of seven +feet; but his organization had been so exhausted by this forced process, +that he died in a state of moral and physical decay at the age of twenty. + +In the development of organized bodies, the effects of light contribute +materially. Dr. Edwards, an English physician in Paris, and one of our +most distinguished physiologists, has shown that by excluding tadpoles +from the light, they will grow to double and triple their ordinary size, +but are not metamorphosed into frogs. He thinks that the _Proteus +Anguinis_ is the first stage of an animal prevented from growing to +perfection by inhabiting the subterraneous waters of Carniola. + +The influence of food on the changes of animals is further shown in the +aphidivorous flies, that are larvae for eight or ten days, pupae for about a +fortnight, and perfect insects in about the same time, in the whole living +about six weeks; whereas a pupa deprived of food underwent no change, and +lived for twelve months. Rapid development of the organism invariably +brings on premature dissolution. A case is recorded of a girl who cut four +teeth at the end of the first fortnight; walked about, and had hair +reaching to the middle of her back after the seventh month; exhibited +signs of puberty at the ninth month, but perished in a state of exhaustion +in her twelfth year. Dr. Comarmond, of Lyons, relates the case of a female +infant, who was perfectly developed at the age of twenty-seven months, +but she sank under rachitis when she had attained her twelfth year. + +Precocious mental attainments are frequently as destructive of life as a +rapid growth. The wonderful Baratier, at the age of four, spoke and read +Latin, French, and German; was an excellent Greek scholar at six; and when +ten years of age, translated the Scriptures from the Hebrew; at nineteen +he died of exhaustion. The vulgar saying, "The child is too clever to +live," is founded upon observation. These early specimens of superior +intellect are sometimes followed by a state of imbecility. Antiochus tells +us that Hermogenes, who was a celebrated rhetorician at fourteen years, +was ignorant in the extreme at twenty-four; and of him it was said, + + In pueritia senex, in senectute puer. + +Tall men generally produce children of high stature. The celebrated +grenadier guards of Frederick William, in the words of Dr. Johnson, +"_propagated procerity_;" and the inhabitants of Potsdam are remarkable +for their height. Haller states that his own family were distinguished by +their tallness, without excepting one single grandchild, although they +were very numerous. + +In the hereditary transmission of physical and moral qualities, many +curious observations have been made. Women of high mental attainments have +been known to produce children of genius, more frequently than men of a +superior intellect; although Haller relates the singular case of two noble +females who married wealthy idiots on account of their fortunes, and from +whom this melancholy defect had extended for a century into several +families, so that some of all their descendants still continued idiots in +the fourth and fifth generation. Horace had observed this tendency to +produce offsprings resembling their parents, + + Fortes creantur fortibus et bonis: + Est in juvencis, est in equis patrum + Virtus: nec imbellem feroces + Progenerant aquilae columbam. + +This remark, however, is more applicable to physical transmissions, and +certain peculiarities characterize whole families. Pliny mentioned +examples of six-fingered families, who bore the name _Sedigita_. C. +Horatius had two daughters with a similar deformity. Mr. Carlisle knew a +family in which supernumerary toes and fingers were observed for four +generations: they were introduced by a female who had six fingers on each +hand, and as many toes on each foot. From her marriage with a man +naturally formed, were produced ten children, with a supernumerary member +on each limb; and an eleventh, in which the peculiarity existed in both +feet and one hand, the other hand being naturally formed. The latter +marrying a man of ordinary formation, they had four children, of which +three had one or two limbs natural, and the rest with the supernumerary +parts; while the fourth had six fingers on each hand, and as many toes on +each foot. The latter married a woman naturally formed, and had issue by +her eight children; four with the usual structure, and the same number +with the additional fingers and toes: two of them were twins, of which one +was naturally formed, and the other six-fingered and six-toed.--The +well-known porcupine family, that were exhibited in London and elsewhere, +is a remarkable example of hereditary transmission of organic +peculiarities. They were all covered with dark-coloured horny +excrescences, which they shed annually in the autumn or winter. Their +names were Lambert. Two brothers, John and Richard, grandsons of the +original porcupine men, were shown in Germany.--One of these unsightly +individuals, who was exhibited some time ago in Bond-street, stated that +he was descended from the fourth generation of a savage found in the woods +of America; and he further asserted that the females of the family were +exempted from this lucrative but uncomfortable peculiarity: all the males +had them, and shed them regularly until the thirty-sixth year, when these +species of quills grew to a considerable length. We have examples of +bristly hair being shed in a whole family every autumn. + +Amongst animals, gigantic races no longer inhabit the regions which bore +them in ancient times. An extensive whale-fishery was once carried on at +Biariz, in the Gulf of Gascony; and the hippopotamus is no longer to be +seen on the banks of the Nile. + +Gigantic bones having been occasionally discovered with the remains of men +and horses and fragments of armour, it has been imagined that in ancient +times armies were attended by terrific giants; but it is more than +probable that these large fragments of departed warriors belonged to +their war-elephants, which with their horses were not unfrequently +immolated on their master's tomb. + +Skeletons of giants were considered by the ancients as curious as in the +present day; and those of Secondilla and Pusio were carefully preserved in +the gardens of Sallust. + +Some naturalists have maintained that giants had more numerous vertebrae +than ordinary men; but this has not been confirmed by observation, nor has +it been found that the spinal bones of dwarfs are in smaller number. + +Schreber, who has collected the description of the principal modern +giants, found few above seven feet and a half; although he mentions a +Swedish peasant of eight feet Swedish measure, and one of the guards of +the Duke of Brunswick eight feet six inches Dutch. Not so Hakewell, who +informs us, from the testimony of Nannez, that the Emperor of China had +archers and porters fifteen feet high. Howbeit, Ol. Magnus's account +surpasses his; for he tells us of a "_puella--in capite vulnerata, mortua +induta chlamyde purpurea, longitudinis cubitorum 50, latitudinis inter +humeros quatuor_!" + + + + +UNLAWFUL CURES. + + +One can scarcely credit that at any period there could have existed men of +science and genius who believed that there were supernatural means of +curing disease, did we not even to the present day find imbeciles who +verily dread the malpractices of the devil and his vicarious agents. +Ancient writers divided their cures into _lawful_ and _unlawful_. The +former were obtained from divine aid; the latter from sorcerers, witches, +magicians, wizards, and cunning men, who treated all maladies by spells, +cabalistic words, charms, characters, images, amulets, ligatures, +philters, incantations, &c.; by which means, according to Cardan, +Artesius, Picatrix, and sundry wise men, the aforesaid sorcerers and +witches could prevent fire from burning, find out thieves and stolen +goods, show absent faces in a glass, make serpents lie still, stanch +blood, _salve_ gout, biting of mad dogs, toothache, _et omnia mundi +mala_. "Many doubt," says Nicholas Taurellus, "whether the devil can cure +such diseases he hath not made, and some flatly deny it; however, common +experience confirms, to our astonishment, that magicians can work such +feats, and that the devil, without impediment, can penetrate through all +the parts of our body, and cure such maladies by means to us unknown." +Some of these means were rather singular; for St. Austin mentions as one +of these processes, "_Agentes cum patientibus conjungunt, colligere semina +rerum eaque materiae applicare_;" and learned divines, moreover inform us, +that to resist exorcisms these witches and magicians had St. Catherine's +wheel imprinted on the roof of their mouths, or on some other part. +Taurellus asserts, that to doubt it is to run into a sceptical extreme of +incredulity. Godelman affirms that Satan is an excellent physician; +Langius maintains that Jupiter Menecrates was a magician; and Marcellus +Donatus pays the same compliment to Solomon, who, he says, "cured all the +diseases of the mind by spells, charms, and drove away devils, and that +Eleazar did the same before Vespasian." Galen, in his book "_de +Medicamentis facile purandis_," observes after a preparation, "_haec enim +suffita, daemonus abigunt_." + +This fact being clearly ascertained, the next question was whether it was +lawful in a desperate case to crave the help of the evil one on the +principle + + Flectere si nequeunt Superos, Acheronta movebunt. + +Paracelsus rather impiously argues that we might, as it matters not, he +says, "whether it be God or the devil, angels or unclean spirits, +(_immundi spiritus_,) that cure him, so that he be eased. If a man fall in +a ditch, what matter is it whether a friend or an enemy help him out? If I +be troubled with such a malady, what care I whether the devil himself, or +any of his ministers, by God's permission, redeem me?"--and he therefore +concludes, that diseases brought on by _malefices_ can only be cured by +_incantations_. However, this doctrine was denounced as abominable by +Remigius, Bodinus, Godelmannus, Erastus, and various divines and +schoolmen; and Delrio plainly declares, "_mori praestat quam superstitiose +canari_." Therefore pontificial writers and sages recommend adjuration and +exorcism by "fire, suffumigations, lights, cutting the air with swords +(_gladiorum ictus_), sacred herbs, odours," &c., though some hungry devils +can only be cast out by fasting. + +Witches and impostors, says Lord Bacon, have always held a competition +with physicians. Galen complains of this superstition, and observes that +patients placed more confidence in the oracles of Esculapius and their own +idle dreams than in the prescriptions of doctors. The introduction of +precious stones into medical practice owed its origin to a superstitious +belief that, from their beauty, splendour, and high value, they were the +natural receptacles for _good_ spirits. Mystery, in the dark ages, and, +alas! even now, increases the confidence in remedial means; reveal their +true nature, the charm is dissolved: "_Minus credunt quae ad suam salutem +pertinent si intelligunt_," said Pliny. One cannot but wonder when we +behold men pre-eminent in deep learning and acute observation becoming +converts to such superstitious practices. Lord Bacon believed in spells +and amulets; and Sir Theodore Mayence, who was physician to three English +sovereigns, and supposed to have been Shakspeare's Dr. Caius, believed in +supernatural agency, and frequently prescribed the most disgusting and +absurd medicines, such as the heart of a mule ripped up alive, a portion +of the lungs of a man who had died a violent death, or the hand of a thief +who had been gibbeted on some particular day. Nauseous medicines have ever +been deemed the most efficacious, on the reasoning that as every thing +medicinal is nauseous, every thing that is nauseous must be medicinal. The +ancients firmly believed that blood can be stanched by charms; the +bleeding of Ulysses was stopped by this means; and Cato the Censor has +given us an incantation for setting dislocated bones. To this day charms +are supposed to arrest the flow of blood: + + Tom Pots was but a serving-man, + But yet he was a doctor good, + He bound his kerchief on the wound, + And with some kind words he stanch'd the blood. + +Sir Walter Scott says, in the "Lay of the Last Minstrel,"-- + + She drew the splinter from the wound, + And with a charm she stanch'd the blood. + +The strength of imagination in effecting wonderful cures has been observed +in all ages; and Avicenna declares, "that he prefers confidence before +art, precepts, and all remedies whatsoever." Our learned Burton says, +"that this strong imagination or conceit is _Astrum Hominis_, and the +rudder of this our ship, which reason should steer, but overborne by +phantasie, cannot manage, and so suffers itself and the whole vessel of +ours to be overruled and often overturned." + +Nothing could be more absurd than the notions regarding some of these +supposed cures: a ring made of the hinge of a coffin had the power of +relieving cramps; which were also mitigated by having a rusty old sword +hung up by the bedside. Nails driven in an oak-tree prevented the +toothache. A halter that had served in hanging a criminal was an +infallible remedy for a headache, when tied round the head; this affection +was equally cured by the moss growing on a human skull, dried and +pulverized, and taken as a cephalic snuff. A dead man's hand could dispel +tumours of the glands by stroking the parts nine times, but the hand of a +man who had been cut down from the gallows was the most efficacious. To +cure warts, one had nothing to do but to steal a piece of beef from the +butcher, with which the warts were to be rubbed; then inter it in any +filth, and as it rotted, the warts would wither and fall. + +The chips of a gallows on which several persons had been hanged, when worn +in a bag round the neck, would cure the ague. A stone with a hole in it, +suspended at the head of the bed, would effectually stop the nightmare; +hence it was called a _hag-stone_, as it prevents the troublesome witches +from sitting upon the sleeper's stomach. The same amulet tied to the key +of a stable-door, deterred witches from riding horses over the country. + +Rickety children were cured by being drawn through a cleft tree, which was +afterwards bound up, and as the split wood united, the child acquired +strength. Creeping through a perforated stone to cure various disorders +was a Druidical rite, still practised in the East. In the parish of Marden +there is a stone with a hole in it, fourteen inches in diameter, through +which children are drawn for the rickets; and, in the North, infants are +made to pass through a hole cut in a _groaning_ cheese the day of their +christening. + +Second sight, which, as an hereditary faculty, was deemed a malady, was +cured in the Isle of Man, according to Mr. Aubrey's account, by baptizing +a child upon the first sight of its head. This ceremony exempts the +succeeding generation from the troublesome gift. + +It is a melancholy reflection that, at various periods, impostors have +impiously called in Scriptural aid to promote their sordid or ambitious +views. Chiromancers have quoted the Bible in support of their doctrines +and adduced the following lines of Job,--"He sealeth up the hand of every +man, that all men may know his works:" while, in the like manner, the Holy +Inquisition of Spain and Portugal justified their atrocities on the score +of the parable of the marriage of the king's son, in the 22nd of St. +Matthew. + +Unlawful cures, as they were called, being thus anathematized, lawful +remedies were resorted to, and the patient was first ordered to pray with +due devotion before he took his physic; or, as Burton observes, not one +without the other, but both together; for, as he adds, to pray alone, and +reject ordinary means, is to do like him in Aesop, that, when his cart was +stalled, lay flat on his back, and cried out "Help, Hercules!" However, +Hyperius maintains that no physicians can hope for success unless "with a +true faith they call upon God and teach their patients to do the like." +Comineus, when he addressed the Christian princes after the overthrow of +Charles of Burgundy, bade them "first pray with all submission and +penitency, confess their sins, and then take physic." + +Another question of importance that led to much controversy was, whether +it were lawful to seek the aid of the saints; the learned Burton's remarks +on this controverted point are so curious that they are worth relating. +"They (the papists) have a proper saint for almost every peculiar +infirmity: for poisons, gout, agues, Petronella; St. Romanus, for such as +are possessed; St. Vitus for madmen, &c.; and as, of old, Pliny reckons up +gods for all diseases. All affections of the mind were heretofore +accounted gods: Love and Sorrow, Virtue, Honour, Liberty, Contumely, +Impudency, had their temples; Tempests, Seasons, _Crepitus Ventris_, _Dea +Vacuna_, _Dea Cloacina_. Varro reckons up thirty thousand gods; Lucian +makes Podagra, the gout, a goddess, and assigns her priests and ministers. +'Tis the same devil still, called heretofore, Apollo, Mars, Venus, &c.; +the same Jupiter, and those bad angels, are now worshipped and adored by +the name of St. Sebastian, St. Barbara, &c.; and our Lady succeeds Venus +in many offices; and God often winks at these impostures, because they +forsake his word, and betake themselves to the devil, as they do, that +seek after holy water, crosses," &c. + +Amidst this violent denunciation against popery and devilment, evil +spirits and saints, it is somewhat singular to find a spirit of anomalous +perversity which justifies suicide to rid ourselves of disease and +suffering; and these very sanctimonious censors quote ancient and modern +authorities to sanction a practice which every Christian must condemn. Let +us pursue the disquisition of our learned bookworm Burton:--"Another doubt +is made by philosophers, whether it be lawful for a man in such extremity +of pain and grief to make away himself, and how those men that do so are +to be censured. The Platonists approve of it, that it is lawful in such +cases upon a necessity. Plotinus (_L. de Beatitud._) and Socrates himself +defend it (_in Plato's Phaedon_): _If any man labour of an incurable +disease, he may despatch himself, if it be to his good_. Epictetus and +Seneca say, _Quamcunque veram esse viam ad libertatem_;--any way is +allowable that leads to liberty. _Let us give God thanks no man is +compelled to live against his will. Quid ad hominem claustra, carcer, +custodia? liberum ostium habet._ Death is always ready at hand: _Vides +illum precipitem locum, illud flumen?_ There is liberty at hand. _Effugia +cervitutis et doloris sunt_, as that Laconian lad cast himself headlong, +_Non serviam, aiebat puer_; to be freed of misery. Wherefore hath our +mother earth brought out poisons (saith Pliny) in so great a quantity, but +that men in distress might make away themselves? which kings of old had +ever in readiness, _ad incerta fortunae venenum sub custode promptum_. Many +worthy men and women, _quorum memoria celebratur in ecclesia_, sayeth +Leminctius, killed themselves to save their chastity and honour, when Rome +was taken. Jerome vindicates the same, and Ambrose commendeth Pelagia for +so doing. Eusebius admired a Roman matron for the same fact, to save +herself from the lust of Maxentius the tyrant. Adelhelmus, the Abbot of +Malmesbury, calls them, _beatas virgines quae sic, &c._ Sir Thomas More, in +his Utopia, commends voluntary death if one be _sibi aut aliis molestus; +especially if to live be a torment to him_, let him free himself with his +own hand from this tedious life, or from a prison, or suffer himself to be +freed by others." However, be it said in justice to our worthy Burton, he +condemns this practice as "a false and pagan position, founded in prophane +stoical paradoxes and wicked examples;" and although he denounces most +fulminating anathemas on papists, he concludes by saying, "we ought not to +be rash and rigorous in our censures, as some are; Charity will judge and +hope best; God be merciful unto us all!" + +But why should we marvel at the credulity and superstition of our +forefathers, when we daily observe equal absurdities? Fanaticism and +bigotry will ever strive to speculate on human weakness, and endeavour to +surround with impenetrable mists every rebel to their power who gropes for +the shrine of reason and of truth. Johanna Southcote had her votaries, and +Prince Hohenlohe is still considered by many a pious person, as a +vicarious instrument of divine mercy. No miraculous recovery recorded in +the dark ages can surpass the tenebral absurdity of the following relation +of one of his cures: + +Miss O'Connor was a nun in a convent near Chelmsford, and in December +1820, being about thirty years old, was suddenly attacked by a violent +pain in the right hand, which extended with much swelling and inflammation +up the arm. The whole limb became red, swollen, extremely painful, and +entirely useless. Every remedy, both topical and directed to the system, +was tried in vain for a year and a half. There was no suppuration, nor any +formation of pus; but the malady continued obdurate, and yielded to no +application. The resources of the flesh having manifestly failed, Mrs. +Gerard, the worthy superior, very properly betook herself to those of the +spirit. She made a request through a friend to Prince Hohenlohe to assist +the patient in this her extreme case; when the following precious +document, which it would be impious to translate into heretical English, +was received: + + "_Pour la Religeuse Novice d'Angleterre._ + + "Le trois du mois de Mai, a huit heures, je dirai, conformement a + votre demande, pour votre guerison, mes prieres. Joignez-y a la meme + heure, apres avoir confesse et communie, les votres, avec cette + ferveur angelique et cette confiance pleniere que nous devons a notre + Redempteur J. C.: excitez au fond de votre coeur les vertus divines + d'un vrai repentir, d'un amour Chretien, d'une croyance sans bornes + d'etre exauce, et d'une resolution inebranlable de mener une vie + exemplaire, afin de vous maintenir en etat de grace. Agreez + l'assurance de ma consideration. + + "PRINCE ALEXANDRE HOHENLOHE. + + "Bamberg, Mars 16, 1822." + +It is to be regretted that this letter, which was no doubt a circular to +his proselytes, with necessary blanks to be filled up _pro re nata_, as +the doctors have it, was not drawn out in better French. Howbeit, on the +appointed day, asserts Dr. Baddely (the lady's unsuccessful medical +attendant), Miss O'Connor went through the religious process prescribed by +her princely physician. Mass being said, Miss O. not finding the immediate +relief she expected from her faith, or faithfully expected, exclaimed +somewhat impatiently, not having the fear of Job before her eyes, "Thy +will be done, O Lord, since thou hast not thought me worthy of this cure;" +when behold! _immediately_ after she felt an extraordinary sensation +throughout the whole arm to the end of the fingers. The pain _instantly_ +left her, the swelling gradually subsided, and Dr. B., who no doubt was +the pet physician of the nuns, declares that the hand shortly resumed its +natural size and shape. + +Now, Miss O'Connor was most likely a young lady from Ireland, where this +miraculous cure was re-echoed in every chapel. The protestants were +naturally offended by a report which seemed to impugn the sanctity of the +reformed religion, and they thought it incumbent on them, for the welfare +of church and state, to get up a miracle of their own which would cast +Prince H., Nun O., and Dr. B. in the shade. The following statement was +therefore published and certified upon oath by sundry most respectable and +most worthy Orangemen: + +"I pledge you the word and honour of an Orangeman that the following +facts, sworn to by all present, occurred yesterday evening. A party of +gentlemen dined with me, and after dinner a vase, containing some orange +lilies, was placed upon the table by my directions. We drank several +toasts; but on the glorious and immortal memory being given, an _unblown +lily_, which the party had remarked, _expanded its leaves and bloomed +before us_ in all its splendour!" How appropriate are the lines of Otway +when applied to the propagators of such absurdities, who dare to call upon +our faith to give credence to their impostures. + + You want to lead + My reason blindfold like a hamper'd lion + Check'd of its noble vigour; then, when baited + Down to obedient tameness, make it crouch + And show strange tricks, which you call signs of faith: + So silly souls are gull'd, and you get money. + +A curious anecdote is related of Lord Chief Justice Holt. When a young +man, he happened, with some of his merry companions, to run up a score at +a country inn, which they were not able to pay. In this dilemma they +appealed to Holt, to get them out of the scrape. Our young lawyer had +observed that the inn-keeper's daughter looked very ill, and, passing +himself for a medical student, asked her father what ailed her, when he +was informed that she suffered from an ague. Holt immediately gathered +various plants, mixed them up with great ceremony, and after rolling them +up in parchment, scrawled upon the ball some cabalistic characters. The +amulet, thus prepared, he suspended round the neck of the young woman, +and, strange to say, the ague did not return. After this cure the doctor +offered to pay the bill, to which the grateful landlord would not consent, +allowing Holt and his party to leave the house. + +Many years after, when on the bench, a woman was brought before him, +accused of witchcraft--the very last person tried upon such a charge. Her +only defence was, that she possessed a ball invariably efficacious in the +cure of agues. The charm was produced, handed to the judge, who recognised +the identical ball which he had prepared in his youthful frolics. + +Not only did these victims of superstition firmly believe that evil +spirits had the power of inflicting disease, and afterwards salve the +mischief, but they were also invested with the privilege of killing and +subsequently restoring to life. The story related of the truly learned +Agrippa, who was falsely represented as a necromancer, is curious. + +Agrippa had occasion one time to be absent for a few days from his +residence in Louvain. During his absence he intrusted his wife with the +key of his museum, but with an earnest injunction that no one on any +account should be allowed to enter it; Agrippa happened at that time to +have a boarder in his house, a young fellow of insatiable curiosity, who +constantly importuned his hostess, till at length he obtained from her the +forbidden key. The first thing that attracted his attention was a book of +spells and incantations. He spread the volume before him, and, thinking no +harm, began to read aloud. He had not long continued this occupation, when +a knock was heard at the door of the chamber. The youth took no notice, +but continued reading. Presently there followed a second and a louder +knock, which somewhat alarmed the reader. The space of a minute having +elapsed, and no answer been made, the door opened and a demon entered. +"For what purpose am I called?" said the unwelcome visitor in a stern +voice: "What is it you demand to have done?" The youth was seized with the +greatest alarm and struck speechless. The demon then rushed upon him, +seized him by the throat, and strangled him, indignant no doubt in having +been interrupted in some more interesting pursuit to no purpose. + +At the expected time Agrippa came home, and to his great surprise found a +number of devils capering about, and playing strange antics on the roof of +his house. By his art he caused them to desist from their gambols, of +which he demanded the cause. The chief of them then related to him what he +had done, how he had been disturbed and insulted, and how he had thought +proper to revenge himself. Agrippa became much alarmed at the probable +consequences of this unfortunate adventure, and he ordered the demon, +without loss of time, to reanimate his victim, and walk about the streets +with him, that the public might behold him alive. The infernal spirit +reluctantly obeyed, and went forth with the student in the marketplace and +promenades. This excursion over, however, he maliciously allowed his +companion to fall down, when life once more flitted from his body. For a +time it was thought that the student had been killed by a sudden attack of +illness; but, presently, the marks of strangulation became evident, and +the truth came out. Agrippa was thus suddenly obliged to quit the town, +and seek refuge in a distant state. + +It was further related of this supposed wizard, that he was always +accompanied by a familiar spirit in the shape of a black dog; and that +when he lay on his deathbed he was earnestly exhorted to repent of his +sins. Struck with remorse, he took hold of the dog, and removed from his +neck a collar studded with cabalistic nails, exclaiming, "Begone, wretched +animal, that has been the cause of my perdition!" and lo! the dog +immediately ran away, and, plunging into the river Soane, disappeared. It +is to be regretted that historians do not relate whether the water hissed +or not when the canine devil took his last leap. + +It merits notice, that the mystic and medicinal celebrity of various +substances have to this hour survived the traditions of their +superstitious origin; coral, for instance, which was considered as +possessed of the power of keeping off evil spirits, and rendering effete +the malefices of the evil eye, was constantly worn as an amulet; and +Paracelsus informs us that it should be worn round the necks of infants, +as an admirable preservative against fits, sorcery, charms, and poisons. +We still find necklaces of this substance suspended by fond mothers and +nurses round the necks of infants. In the West Indies these chaplets are +worn by the negroes as a magic protection against Obiism, and they even +affirm that the colour of the coral is affected by the state of health of +the wearer, and becomes paler when he is ill. + +The irrational belief in the mysterious powers of certain remedies went so +far in former days, that when they were applied to the weapon that had +inflicted an injury, their indirect sympathetic action was considered as +effectual as if they had been used to heal the wound. The sympathetic +powder of Sir Kenelm Digby, which was nothing else but pulverized green +vitriol, was eulogized in a discourse pronounced by its inventor, at +Montpellier, in 1658. Our James I. purchased this wonderful discovery from +Sir Kenelm, who pretended that he had obtained it from a Carmelite friar, +who had learned it in America and Persia. This superstitious practice is +alluded to by Walter Scott, in the "Lay of the Last Minstrel:" + + But she has ta'en the broken lance, + And wash'd it from the clotted gore, + And salved the splinter o'er and o'er. + +Dryden has also illustrated this absurdity in his "Enchanted Island," +where Ariel says, + + Anoint the sword which pierced him, with this + Weapon-salve, and wrap it close from air + Till I have time to visit it again. + +Sir Kenelm's sympathetic powder was applied in the same manner; the weapon +being covered with ointment and dressed three times a day. But it was not +mentioned that at the same time the wound was to be brought together, and +bound up with clean linen bandages for seven days. This wonderful cure was +then simply the process of what surgeons call healing by first intention, +which means uniting the lips of the wound without suppuration. Dr. Paris +apprehends that this secret was suggested to the worthy knight by the +cures operated by the rust of the spear of Telephus, which, according to +Homer, healed the injuries it had occasioned; and this rust was most +probably verdigris. + +To this day the Irish peasantry, and even many of the superior classes, +firmly believe in the malevolent and destructive effect of the evil eye, +when cast upon man or beast. Hence the absurd custom that prevails, +especially in the western provinces, of adding "God bless it," to any +expression of admiration; and if perchance a Sassenagh traveller exclaimed +"What a sweet child!" or, "What a fine cow!" without the adjunctive +benediction, he would be suspected of malefice, and the priest forthwith +summoned to save the devoted victim of sorcery. In Scotland dairy-maids +drive cattle with a switch of the mountain ash, or roan-tree, considered +as held sacred since the days of Druidism; and in some districts the sheep +and lambs are made to pass through a hoop of its wood on the first day of +May. + +The toad was also considered to be possessed of marvellous qualities for +the cure of various maladies, more especially the stone that was supposed +to be occasionally found in the reptile's head, and which was called +_Crapaudina_. Lupton, in his seventh book of "Notable Things," thus +instructs us how to obtain it. "You shall knowe whether the tode stone be +the ryght and perfect stone or not. Holde the stone before a tode, so that +he may see it; and if it be a ryght and true stone, the tode will leape +towarde it and make as though he would snatch it, he envies so much that +man should have this stone." This famous toadstone is simply one of the +fossil teeth of various fishes, and is chiefly formed of phosphate of +lime. Its high polish and convexity has often induced lapidaries to have +it set in rings and other jewels, to which marvellous powers were +attached. + +Pulverized toads were not only employed in medicine with supposed +advantage, but were also considered a slow but certain poison. Solander +relates, that a Roman woman, desirous of poisoning her husband gave him +this substance; but instead of attaining her criminal desire, it cured him +of a dropsy that had long perplexed him. Boccaccio relates the story of +Pasquino and Simona, two young lovers, who, wandering in a garden, +plucked some sage-leaves, with which Pasquino rubbed his teeth and gums. +In a few minutes he fell ill and expired. Simona accused of being his +assassin, was brought before a magistrate, who ordered an immediate +investigation of the matter, when, on proceeding to the garden, Simona, +after relating the particulars of the case, took some leaves from the same +plant and used them in a similar manner. In a few minutes the lovers were +reunited in death; when it was discovered that a large toad was under the +root of the plant to which it had communicated its deadly venom. + +Regarding unlawful cures, have we not seen vaccination, when first +introduced, condemned from the very pulpit as an impious interference in a +disease which seemed to have been assigned to mankind by the Creator as an +inevitable doom? Did not these desperate bigots even pronounce that we +were not warranted to seek in the brute creation a human remedy or +preservative? What is still more worthy of remark, is the coincidence of a +similar idea in India, where the greatest obstacle vaccination encountered +arose from a belief that the natural smallpox was a dispensation of a +malicious deity, called _Mah-ry-Umma_, or rather that the disease was an +incarnation of the goddess herself into the person who was affected by it: +the fear of irritating her, and of exposing themselves to her resentment, +necessarily rendered the natives averse to vaccination, until it was +impressed upon their easy belief, that _Mah-ry-Umma_ had altered her mind, +and chosen this new and milder mode of manifesting her visits to her +votaries. + +Could there ever have existed a more superstitious belief than that which +vested in the regal touch a healing power? Yet from Edward the Confessor +to the accession of the House of Hanover, it was generally thought in +these realms that our kings could cure scrofula with their anointed +fingers! + +Dr. Paris's truly philosophic remarks on this subject, in his valuable +work, entitled Pharmacologia, are worthy of quotation:--"Credulity, +although it is nearly allied to superstition, yet differs from it widely. +Credulity is an unbounded belief in what is possible, although destitute +of proof, and perhaps of probability; but superstition is a belief in what +is wholly repugnant to the laws of the physical and moral world. Credulity +is a far greater source of error than superstition; for the latter must be +always more limited in its influence, and can exist only, to any +considerable extent, in the most ignorant portions of society; whereas +the former diffuses itself through the minds of all classes, by which the +rank and dignity of science are degraded, its valuable labours confounded +with the vain pretensions of empiricism, and ignorance is enabled to claim +for itself the prescriptive right of delivering oracles, amidst all the +triumph of truth and the progress of philosophy. Credulity has been justly +defined _belief without reason_, while scepticism, its opposite, is +_reason without belief_, and the natural and invariable consequence of +credulity; for it may be observed that men who believe without reason are +succeeded by others whom no reasoning can convince." + + + + +VOICE AND SPEECH. + + +Blumenbach has given us a most ingenious definition of this wonderful +function. The voice, properly speaking, is a sound formed by means of +expiration in the _larynx_, which is a most beautifully constructed organ, +fixed upon the top of the windpipe, like a capital upon a column. It is +composed of various cartilages, united in the form of a little box, and +supplied with numerous muscles, that, moving altogether or separately, +produce the variations of sound. + +The part of the _larynx_ most concerned in producing the voice is the +_glottis_, or narrow opening of the windpipe, having the _epiglottis_ +suspended over it like a valve. The air expired from the lungs strikes +upon the glottis, and thus becomes sonorous. The change that the glottis +undergoes in the modulation of the voice has been matter of much +controversy. Aristotle and Galen compared the glottis to a wind +instrument; Ferrein assimilated it to a chorded one. This latter +hypothesis was objected to, on the principle that a chord, to vibrate, +should not only be in a state of tension, but dryness; characters which +this organ does not possess, being constantly lubrified with mucus, and in +a state of greater or lesser relaxation. Fulgentius considers the human +voice to be composed of ten parts: the four first are the front teeth, so +useful for the appulse of the tongue in forming sounds, without which a +whistle would be produced instead of a voice; the fifth and sixth are the +lips, which he compares to cymbals striking against each other; the +seventh the tongue, which serves as a plectrum to articulate sounds; the +eighth is the palate, the concavity of which forms the belly of the +instrument; the ninth the throat, which performs the part of a flute; and +the tenth the lungs, which supply the place of bellows. + +That every degree of action in the _glottis_ is due to the muscles of the +_larynx_ is proved by the experiment of tying or dividing the recurrent +nerves, when the voice is destroyed or weakened. + +Speech is a peculiar modification of the voice adjusted to the formation +of the sounds of letters, by the expiration of the air through the +nostrils and mouth, and in a great measure by the assistance of the tongue +applied and struck against the neighbouring parts, the palate and front +teeth in particular, and by the diversified action of the lips. This is +Payne Knight's doctrine, in his analytical essay on the Greek alphabet, +and an illustration of the notions of Fulgentius. + +Singing is compounded of speech and a musical modulation of the voice, a +prerogative peculiar to man even in his most savage state; for, despite +the assertions of the visionary Rousseau, who maintained that it is not +natural to our species, we find that even in the uncivilized regions of +Ethiopia, Greenland, and Kamtschatka, singing is a solace and a comfort. + +The mechanism of speech and articulation is so intricate, that even the +division of letters and their distribution are attended with difficulties. +The following is the division of Amman in his work _Surdus Loquens_, +published at Amsterdam in 1629, and enlarged under the title of _Dissert. +de Loquela_, 1700, and is, perhaps, the most natural and intelligible. + +He divides into, I. Vowels; II. Semi-vowels; III. Consonants. + +I. The vowels are _simple_, _a_, _e_, _i_, _o_, _u_; and _mixed_ _ae_, _oe_, +_ue_: these are formed by the _voice_ only. The semi-vowels and consonants +are articulated by the mechanism of _speech_. + +II. The semi-vowels are _nasal_, _m_, _n_, _ng_ (_n_ before _g_, which is +nearly related to it), that is, the labio-nasal _m_, the dente-nasal _n_, +and the gutture-nasal _ng_; or _oral_ (lingual), _r_, _l_, that is, _r_ +with a vibration of the tongue, or _l_ with the tongue less moved. + +III. The consonants he distinguishes into _sibilant_ (pronounced in +succession), _h_, _g_, _ch_, _s_, _sh_, _f_, _v_, _ph_, that is _h_, +formed in the throat, as it were a mere aspiration; _g_ and _ch_, true +consonants; _s_, _sh_, produced between the teeth; and _f_, _v_, +_ph_--formed by the application of the lower lip to the upper front +teeth--and _explosive_ (which are as it were suddenly exploded by an +expiration for a time suppressed, or interrupted), namely _k_, _q_, formed +in the throat; _d_, _t_, about the teeth; _p_, _b_, near the lips; and +_double_ (compound), _x_, _z_.[3] + +It has been thought that the tongue was indispensable for the purposes of +speech, yet there are instances on record in which this has not been found +an invariable rule. Dr. Conyers Middleton mentions two cases of distinct +articulation with at least little or no tongue. In his exposure of the +_pious_ deceptions of weak and wicked Christians during the first +centuries of the Christian era, he notices a pretty tale of an Arian +prince cutting out the tongues of some of the orthodox party, and these +being as able to talk as before; nay, one of them, who had been dumb from +his birth, gained the faculty of speech by losing his tongue! We find +various accounts of persons who spoke more or less fluently without this +organ. Jussieu has inserted in the _Memoires de l'Academie des Sciences_, +1718, the case of a Portuguese girl, who instead of a tongue had merely a +little protuberance of about four lines in diameter in the middle of her +mouth, and endowed with the power of contraction and dilatation; she spoke +distinctly, but experienced difficulty in pronouncing _c_, _f_, _g_, _l_, +_n_, _r_, _s_, _t_, _x_, and _z_, when she was obliged to bend her neck +forward to upraise as it were the larynx. In this case, deglutition could +not be well performed, and she was obliged to use her finger to propel the +masticated food downwards. + +Dr. Eliotson observes, that it is by no means improbable that the progress +of modern art may present us at some future period with mechanical +substitutes for orators and preachers; for, putting aside the magic heads +of Albertus Magnus and Roger Bacon, Kratzenstein actually constructed an +instrument to produce the vowels. De Kempelin has published a full account +of his celebrated speaking machine, which perfectly imitated the human +voice. The French celebrated mechanician, the Abbe Mical, also made two +heads of brass, which pronounced very distinctly entire phrases; these +heads were colossal, and their voices powerful and sonorous. The French +government refusing, it is said, in 1782, to purchase these automata, the +unfortunate and too sensitive inventor, in a paroxysm of despair, +destroyed these masterpieces of scientific ingenuity. + +It has been observed, that in various races the pronunciation seemed to +depend upon some peculiar and characteristic conformation; and Adelung +informs us that in the Hottentots, the bony palate is smaller, shorter, +and less arched than in the other races, and that the tongue, especially +in the Bosjesman tribe, is rounder, thicker, and shorter. Hence their +pronunciation is singular, and has been compared to the clucking of the +Turkey, or the harsh and broken noises produced by some other birds. They +combine their aspirated gutturals with hard consonants, without any +intervening vowels, in a manner that Europeans cannot imitate. + +No doubt the differences of language are as numerous as the other +distinctions which characterize the several races of men. The various +degrees of natural capacity and of intellectual progress; the prevalence +of particular faculties; the nature of surrounding circumstances; the ease +or difficulty with which our different wants and desires are gratified, +will produce not only peculiar characters in the nature and construction +of language, but in its copiousness and development. + +One of the most curious points in the subject of language, is the +continued existence in a large portion of Asia, very anciently civilized, +and considerably advanced, at least in the useful arts, of simple +monosyllabic languages, which are not in the slightest degree connected +with the peculiar organization of the Mongolian variety, to which these +people belong, and whose language is distinctly polysyllabic. + +The attempts that have been made to trace the origin of languages to the +varieties of our species, or to the influence of climate, have hitherto +been fruitless, and the doctrines broached on the obscure subject refuted +by observation. Mr. Jefferson states that there are twenty radical +languages in America for one in Asia; more than twenty languages, he adds, +are still spoken in the kingdom of Mexico, most of which are at least as +different from one another as the Greek and the German, the French and the +Polish. The variety of idioms spoken by the people of the new continent, +and which without the least exaggeration may be stated at some hundreds, +offers a very striking phenomenon, particularly when we compare it to the +few languages spoken in Asia and in Europe. Vater also informs us, that in +Mexico, where the causes producing insulation of the several tribes +have been for a long time in a course of diminution, Clavigero +recognised thirty-five different languages. Some of these words are +rather of difficult pronunciation, and Humboldt tells us that +_Notlazomahuiztespixcatatzin_ is the term of respect with which they +addressed their priests. During the French revolution, a learned Jacobin +discovered that the early Peruvians adored a divinity who patronized the +_Sans-culottes_, of their day, and who was named _Cawaltze-quos_, i. e. +without breeches. Such barbarous words do not constitute that engaging +tongue that Shakspeare calls "_speaking holiday_," but rather confirms +Byron's ideas of the Russians' difficult expressions, which no man has +leisure to pronounce except on high-days and holidays. + +Although brutes pronounce no articulate sounds, there is, no doubt but +they have a language perfectly intelligible to one another. Their manner +of expressing their different emotions is in some instances perfectly +distinct; and birds have most decidedly a peculiar language. The following +may be said to be the words of a nightingale's strain observed by +Bechstein, an ingenious ornithologist, and committed to paper several +times while he listened with deep attention to that sweet bird's +"complaining notes," that "tune our distresses and record our woes." + + Tiouou, tiouou, tiouou tiouou + Shpe, tiou, tokoua + Tio, tio, tio, tio. + Kououtio, kououtio kououtio, + Tskouo, tskouo, tskouo, + Tsii, tsii, tsii, tsii, tsii, tsii, tsii, tsii tsii tsii, + Kouoror tiou. Tskoua pipitskousisi + Tso, tso, tso, tso, tso, tso, tso tso, tso, tso, tso, tso, tsirrhading! + Tsisi si tosi si, si, si, si, si, si, si. + Tsorre tsorre tsorre tsorrehi + Tsatn, tsatn, tsatn tsatn tsatn tsatn tsatn tsi, + Dlo, dlo, dlo dla, dlo dlo dlo dlo dlo + Kouioo trrrrrrrrtzt + Lu, lu, lu, ly ly ly li li li li + Kouio didl li loulyli + Ha guour, guour, koui kouio! + Kouio, kououi kououi kououi koui, koui, koui, koui, + Ghi ghi ghi + Gholl, gholl, gholl gooll ghia hududoi + Koui koui koui ha hia dia dillhi! + Hets, hets, hets, hets, hets, hets, hets hets, hets, hets + Hets, hets, hets, hets, hets + Tourrho hostehoi + Kouia, kooia, kouia, kouia, kouia kouia kouia kouiati! + +A story is related of an irascible Irish piper of the name of _Molroy_, +who declared a war implacable against the feline race, as he swore that +they invariably pronounced his name in their nocturnal concerts. Gall and +various observers of animals have fully ascertained that the attention of +dogs is awakened by our conversation. He brought one of these intelligent +creatures with him from Vienna to Paris, which perfectly understood French +and German, of which he satisfied himself by repeating before it whole +sentences in both languages. A recent anecdote has been related of an old +ship-dog, that leaped overboard and swam to the shore on hearing the +captain exclaim, "Poor old Neptune! I fear we shall have to drown him!" +and such was the horror which that threat inspired, that he never +afterwards would approach the captain or any of the ship's company, to +whom he had previously been fondly attached. It must, however, be observed +that in the brute creation, as in ours (sometimes more brutal species), +peculiar attributes, that do not belong to the race, distinguish +individuals gifted with what in man we might call a superior intellect, +but which in these animals shows a superiority of what we term instinct. +Spurzheim relates an instance of a cow belonging to Mr. Dupont de Nemours, +which, amongst the whole kindred herd, was the only one that could open +the gate leading to their pastures; and her anxious comrades, when +arriving at the wished-for spot, invariably lowed for their conductor. It +is also related of a hound, who, unable to obtain a seat near the fire +without the risk of quarrelling with the dozing occupants that crowded the +hearth, was wont to run out into the court-yard barking an alarum that +brought away his rivals in comfort, when he quietly reentered the parlour, +and selected an eligible stretching-place. This animal displayed as much +ingenuity as the traveller who, according to the well-known story, ordered +oysters for his horse for the purpose of clearing the fireside. + + + + +ECSTATIC EXALTATION. + + +This rapturous excitement is not unfrequently the province of the +physician. Fortunately perhaps for the patient, it is an incurable malady, +illustrating the lines of Dryden, + + There is a pleasure, sure, in being mad, + Which none but madmen know. + +If we admit this state of ecstasy to be a mental aberration, it is surely +of an enviable nature, since it elevates the soul to a beatitude which is +rarely the lot of man. + +No definition of this state can equal that given by St. Theresa of her own +feelings. By prayer she had attained what she calls a "celestial +quietude,--a state of union, rapture, and ecstasy." "I experienced," she +continues, "a sort of sleep of all the faculties of the soul--intellect, +memory, and volition; during which, though they were but slumbering, they +had no conception of their mode of operation. It was a voluptuous +sensation, such as one might experience when expiring in raptures in the +bosom of our God. The soul is unconscious of its actions; she (the soul) +knows not if she speaks or if she remains silent, if she laughs or if she +cries. It is, in short, a blessed extravagance, a celestial madness, in +which she attains in the knowledge of true wisdom, an inconceivable +consolation. She is on the point of merging into a state of languor; +breathless, exhausted, the slightest motion, even of the hands, is +unutterably difficult. The eyes are closed by a spontaneous movement; or, +if they remain open, the power of vision has fled. In vain they endeavour +to read: they can distinguish letters, but are unable to class them into +words. Speak to a person in this absorbed condition, no answer will be +obtained; although endeavouring to speak, utterance is impossible. +Deprived of all external faculties, those of the soul are increased, to +enjoy glorious raptures when conversing with the Deity and surrounding +angels." These conversations the blessed St. Theresa relates; and she +further states, that after having remained about an hour in this joyous +trance, she recovered her usual senses, and found her eyes streaming in +tears, as though they were weeping for the loss she had experienced in +being restored to earthly relations. + +Now, with all due deference to St. Theresa, this state was most probably a +hysteric condition. Zimmerman relates two cases somewhat of a similar +kind. Madame M. experienced effusions of divine love of a peculiar +nature. She first fell into a state of ecstasy, motionless and insensible, +during which, she affirms, she felt this love penetrating her whole being, +while a new life seemed to thrill through every fibre. Suddenly she +started up, and seizing one of her companions, exclaimed, "Come, haste +with me to follow and call Love, for I cannot sufficiently call upon his +name!"--A French young lady was the second instance of this affection. She +also frequently lost the power of speech and all external senses, animated +with a love divine, spending whole nights in ecstatic bliss, and +rapturously embraced by her mystic lover. It is difficult, perhaps, to +separate this amorous feeling from physical temperament; and the following +remarks of Virey on the subject of St. Theresa are most judicious:--"She +possessed an ardent and sensitive disposition, transported, no doubt, by +terrestrial affection, which she strove to exchange for a more exalted +ardour for the Deity; for devotion and love are more or less of a similar +character. Theresa was not fired by that adoration which is exclusively +due to the infinite and invisible Intelligence which rules the universe; +but she fancied a sensible, an anthropomorphous divinity; so much so, that +she not unfrequently reproached herself with bitterness that these +raptures were not sufficiently unconnected with corporeal pleasures and +voluptuous feelings." + +St. Theresa was not the only beatified enthusiast who suspected that the +evil spirit occasionally interfered in those ecstatic visions. St. Thomas +Aquinas divides ecstasies into three classes;--the first arising from +divine power, and enjoyed by the prophets, St. Paul, and various other +saints. The second was the work of the devil, who bound down all external +senses, suspended their action, and reduced the body to the condition of a +corpse: such were the raptures in which magicians and sorcerers were +frequently entranced, during which, according to Tertullian and other +writers, the soul quitted the body to wander about the world, inquire into +all its occurrences, and then returned with the intelligence it had +obtained to its former abode. The third rapturous category of St. Thomas +he simply attributes to physical causes, constituting mental alienation. + +May not all these ecstatic raptures be considered as belonging to this +third class? It has been observed that women, hysteric ones in particular, +were the most subject to this supposed inspired affection; and amongst men +it has also been remarked, that the enraptured individual was in general +nervous, debilitated, and bald; and it is well known that the fall of the +hair is frequently the result of moral and physical weakness, brought on +by long studies, contemplation, grief, and illness, all of which may +occasion mental aberration; for what other denomination can be given to +the ecstatic state of the Monks of Mount Athos, who pretended or fancied +that they experienced celestial joys when gazing on their umbilical +region, in converse with the Deity? Hence were they called +_Omphalopsychians_, whose notions in the matter are thus described by +Allatius: "Elevate thy spirit above earthly concerns, press thy beard upon +thy breast, turn thine eyes and all thy thoughts upon the middle of thine +abdomen, hold thy breath, seek in thy bowels the abode of thy heart--then +wilt thou find it unalloyed with dense and tenebral mists; persevere in +this contemplation for days and nights, and thou shalt know uninterrupted +joys, when thy spirit shall have found out thy heart and has illumined +itself."[4] + +Bernier relates an act of supposed devotion amongst the Fakirs nearly as +absurd, when, to seek the blessings of a new light, they rivet their eyes +in silent contemplation upon the ceiling; then gradually looking down, +they fix both eyes gazing, or rather squinting, at the tip of their nose, +until the aforesaid light beameth on them. + +St. Augustin mentions a priest who could at will fall into one of these +ecstasies, during which his external senses were so totally suppressed +that he did not experience the pangs of the torture. Cardanus affirms that +he was possessed of the same faculty. "_Quoties volo_," he says, "_extra +sensum quasi in exstasim transeo--sentio dum eam ineo, ac (ut verius +dicam) facio, juxta cor quandam separationem, quasi anima abscederet, +totique corpori res haec communicatur, quasi ostiolum quoddam aperiretur. +Et initium hujus est a capite, maxime cerebello, diffunditurque per totam +dorsi spinam, vi magna continetur; hocque solum sentio, quad sum extra +meipsum magnaque quadam vi paululum me contineo._" + +This state of mind is usually succeeded by contemplation, which has justly +been considered one of the attributes of Genius. This contemplation, +however, may be applied to positive relation, or to the workings of +fiction. In the latter case it becomes to a certain degree mental, and +beyond the control or the influence of our reason, although we cannot +regulate the rationality of our mental pursuits by any given or +acknowledged standard. The pseudo-philosopher, who searches for the +_elixir vitae_ or the power of transmuting metals, and the judicial +astrologer, are in the eyes of society madmen: yet, do they reason on +certain rational principles, and in many respects may be considered wise; +one might figuratively say, that here the mind must have taken flight +beyond its natural limits, if we can limit thought. In the wild wanderings +of Theosophy man has fancied that by abstracting himself from the world, +he might place himself in relation with the Divinity, and has so forcibly +indulged the flattering illusion, that he actually believes that he is in +converse with his Creator or his angels. Unquestionably this is a state of +mania, yet is it founded upon a systematic train of ideas, that, strictly +speaking, does not partake of mental aberration, but rather of enthusiasm. +Although an indulgence in this may terminate in mania, still there is +something delightful in these fond aberrations. A new world--a new +condition is evoked--we are freed from the trammels of society and its +prejudices--and perhaps encompassed by misery we burst from its shackles +into another orb of our own creation, when the eyes closed in a vision of +bliss--a meridian sunbeam, through the darkness of night. If the slumber +of the visionary ushered in death, his destiny might be enviable--he had +already quitted the world, seeking the presence of his God--his soul had +already soared from its earthly tenement. + +There is no doubt that such contemplation may lead us to a better +knowledge of the Supreme Being, whose image and attributes have been +distorted by ignorance and superstition. It has been truly said, that +until the light of Christianity shone upon mankind, God was unknown. He +had been represented as wrathful and revengeful--implacable in his +anger--insatiable in his thirst for blood--when he was revealed to us +upon the earth, gentle, forgiving, loving, humble, and charitable. The +type of all excellence--and delivering doctrines so pure, so convincing, +as to entitle him to the name of _Saviour_, even were his godhead +doubted--for who could question the salvation of those who followed his +laws. Until ambition swayed the church and polluted the altar with blood +and rapine--how happy, how blessed were these followers--even in the midst +of persecution and in agonies--pardoning their barbarous murderers and +praying for their conversion. + +Unfortunately according to the temperament of individuals their ecstasy +has frequently led to an enthusiasm which knew no bounds, and induced the +illuminated visionary to consider all men who did not coincide in his +opinions the enemies of Divinity--hence arose fanaticism and +persecution--yet did these murderous madmen conceive that they were +wielding their hateful sword in the cause of an offended God; and, +although we read of their excesses and cruelty with horror, they were not +bad men, and many of them imagined that they were fulfilling a heavenly +mission. I have known many worthy and amiable ecclesiastics in Spain and +in Portugal who advocated the inquisition as a useful institution, +although they readily admitted that it had too frequently been rendered +instrumental to ambition and political intrigues. + +This state of mental exaltation is not unfrequently within the province of +a physician's care. The treatment like that of all moral affections is a +task of great difficulty. Perhaps the best curative means to be adopted is +occupation of the body in active pursuits. St. Augustine was so convinced +of this necessity of occupation to prevent ecstatic habits, that the monks +of the Thebaid cultivated their ground with such industry, that they +freighted several vessels with their produce. Priest has observed in his +extensive practice in insanity that he never met with an insane +naturalist. Travelling is also to be enjoined. Marriage has also been +advised, although it is to be feared that the little charms men of this +description may have to suit a woman's fancy, might lead to contemplation +of a nature widely different from beatitude. The Jewish Rabbi tell us, +that as soon as Moses became contemplative and prophetic, his wife +Marjarin left him. It is certain that enthusiasm produces a concentration +of mind prejudicial to all other functions.[5] + +There is no doubt that melancholy or intense cogitation may bring on this +morbid condition. Zimmerman relates that the mathematician Viote was +sometimes so wrapped up in calculation, that he was known to remain three +days and three nights without sleep or food: and Mendelsohn the +philosopher, who was called the Plato of Germany, fell into a swoon the +moment philosophy was talked of; and he was therefore ordered by his +doctor not to think. Being asked one day what he contrived to do when not +allowed thought, he replied, "Why, I go to the window and count the tiles +on the roof of the opposite house." + +This morbid condition of our intellectual faculties has been admirably +described by Johnson, in his Rasselas. "To indulge the power of fiction, +and send imagination out upon the wing, is often the sport of those who +delight too much in silent speculation. He who has nothing external that +can divert him, must find pleasure in his own thoughts, and must conceive +himself what he is not; for who is pleased with what he is? He then +expatiates in boundless futurity, and culls from all imaginary conditions +that which for the present moment he would most desire; amuses his desires +with impossible enjoyments, and confers upon his pride unattainable +dominion. The mind dances from scene to scene, unites all pleasures, in +all combinations, and riots in delights which nature and fortune, with all +their bounty cannot bestow. In time, some particular train of ideas fixes +the attention: all other intellectual gratifications are rejected; the +mind, in weariness or leisure, returns constantly to the favourite +conception, and feasts on the luscious falsehood whenever she is offended +with the bitterness of truth. By degrees the reign of fancy is confirmed; +she grows first imperious, and in time despotic. Then fictions begin to +operate as realities, false opinions fasten upon the mind, and life passes +in dreams of raptures or of anguish." + +The celebrated physician Boerhaave was once engaged in so profound a +meditation that he did not close his eyes for six weeks. Any fixity of +idea may be considered as a monomania. Pascal, being thrown down on a +bridge, fancied ever after that he was standing on the brink of a terrific +precipice, which appeared to him an abyss ever ready to ingulf him. So +immutable was this dread, that when his friends conversed with him they +were obliged to conceal this ideal peril with a chair, on which they +seated themselves, to tranquillize his perturbed mind. This is an +instance of a painful fixity of thought, the result of which is +melancholic mania; whereas ecstatic exultation is the enjoyment of a +delicious sensation unknown in our habitual earthly enjoyments, and +beautifully expressed by Shakspeare, when Pericles thus addresses +Helicamus-- + + O Helicanus! strike me, honoured sir; + Give me a gash,--put me to present pain, + Lest this great sea of joy, rushing upon me, + O'erbear the shores of my mortality, + And drown me with their sweetness. + +Archimides was heedless of the slaughter around him. Father Castel, the +inventor of the ocular harpsichord, spent an entire night in one position, +ruminating on a thought that struck him as he was retiring to rest. And it +is related of an arduous student, that he was reflecting so deeply on some +interesting and puzzling subject, that he did not perceive that his feet +were burnt by the fire near which he was seated. + + + + +VARIETIES OF MANKIND. + + +The most approved classification of mankind is that of Blumenbach. He +divides them into five varieties: 1. The Caucasian; 2. Mongolian; 3. +Ethiopian; 4. American; and 5. Malay: and the following are the +characteristics of each. + + +I. THE CAUCASIAN. + +The skin white; the cheeks rosy--almost a peculiarity of this variety; the +hair of a nut-brown, running on the one hand to yellow, on the other into +black, soft, long, and undulating; the head symmetrical, rather globular; +the forehead moderately expanded; the cheek-bones narrow, not prominent; +the alveolar edge round, the front teeth of each jaw placed +perpendicularly. The face oval and pretty straight; its features +moderately distinct; the nose narrow and slightly aquiline, the bridge of +it rather prominent; the mouth small; the lips, especially the lower, +gently turned out; the chin full and round. This variety comprehends all +Europeans, except the Laplander and the rest of the Finnish race; the +Western Asiatics as far as the Obi, the Caspian, and the Ganges; and the +people of the North of Africa. + + +II. THE MONGOLIAN. + +Skin of an olive colour; the hair black, stiff, straight, and sparing. The +head almost square, the cheek-bones prominent outwards; the superciliary +arches scarcely perceptible; the osseous nostrils narrow; the alveolar +edge arched obtusely forward; the chin somewhat projecting. The face broad +and flattened, and its parts consequently less distinct; the space between +the eyebrows very broad as well as flat, the cheeks not only projecting +outward, but nearly globular; the aperture of the eyelids narrow and +linear; the nose small and flat. + +This comprehends the remaining Asiatics, except the Malays of the +extremity of the Transgangetic Peninsula, the Finnish races of the North +of Europe, Laplanders, &c., and the Esquimaux, diffused over the most +northern parts of America, from Behring's Strait to the farthest habitable +point of Greenland. + + +III. THE ETHIOPIAN. + +Skin black; the hair black and crisp. Head narrow, compressed laterally; +forehead arched; the cheek-bones projecting; the osseous nostrils large, +the jaws lengthened forward; the alveolar edge narrow, elongated, more +elliptical; the upper front teeth obliquely prominent, the lower jaw large +and strong; the skull thick and heavy; the face narrow, and projecting at +its lower part; the eyes prominent; the nose thick and confused with the +projecting cheeks; the lips, especially the upper, thick; the chin +somewhat receding; the legs in many instances bowed. + +This comprehends the inhabitants of Africa, with the exception of the +Caucasian variety which inhabits the northern parts. + + +IV. THE AMERICAN. + +Skin of a copper colour; hair black, stiff, straight, and sparing. +Forehead short; cheek-bones broad, but more arched and rounded than in the +Mongolian variety; the orbits generally deep; the forehead and vertex +frequently deformed by art; cranium usually light. The face broad, with +prominent cheeks, not flattened, but with every part distinctly marked if +viewed in profile; the eyes deep; the nose rather flat, but still +prominent. + +This comprehends all the American, excepting the Esquimaux. + + +V. THE MALAY. + +Skin tawny; hair black, soft, curled, thick, and abundant; head rather +narrow; forehead slightly arched; cheek-bones not prominent, upper jaw +rather projecting. Face prominent at its lower part; the features viewed +in profile more distinct; the nose full, broad, bottled at its point; +mouth large. + +This comprehends the inhabitants of the Pacific Ocean, of the Marian, +Philippine, Molucca, and Sunda isles, and of the Peninsula of Malacca. + + * * * * * + +The Caucasian variety derives its name from _Mount Caucasus_, where we +meet with a beautiful race--the Georgians; and because, so far as the +imperfect light of history and tradition can guide us, the original abode +of the species appears to have been in that quarter. In this class are +included all the ancient and modern Europeans; the Assyrians, Medes, +Chaldeans, Sarmatians, Scythians, and Parthians; the Philistines, +Phoenicians, Jews; the Turks, Persians, Arabians, and Hindoos of high +caste. Blumenbach is inclined to believe that the primitive human race +belonged to this variety. In support of this opinion it may be stated, +that the part of Asia which seems to have been the cradle of the race has +always been, and still is, inhabited by tribes of this formation; and the +inhabitants of Europe in great part may be traced back for their origin to +the West of Asia. + +Are all these various tribes, brethren descended from one stock? or must +we trace them to more than one? The physiologists who have ventured to +express the latter opinion have been stigmatized by intolerance and blind +bigotry as atheists and unbelievers; yet this question belongs to the +domain of the naturalist, and the philosopher has an unqualified right to +moot it without incurring the heinous charge of infidelity. To form an +opinion on this difficult subject, it will be necessary, as Lawrence +justly observes, to ascertain carefully all the differences that exist +between the various races of men; to compare them with the diversities +observed among animals; to apply to them all the light which human and +comparative physiology can supply, and to draw our inferences concerning +their nature and causes from all the direct information and all the +analogies which these considerations may unfold. "It is quite clear," +continues the same ingenious writer, "that the Mosaic account makes all +the inhabitants of the world descended from _Adam_ and _Eve_. The entire, +or even the partial inspiration of the various writings comprehended in +the Old Testament, has been and is doubted by many persons, including +learned divines and distinguished Oriental and Biblical scholars. The +account of the creation, and subsequent events, has the allegorical +figurative character common to Eastern compositions, and it is +distinguished amongst the cosmogonies by a simple grandeur and natural +sublimity, as the rest of these writings are by appropriate beauties in +their respective parts. The representation of all the animals being +brought before Adam in the first instance, and subsequently of their all +being collected in the ark, if we are to understand them as applied to the +living inhabitants of the whole world, is zoologically impossible. How +could the polar bear have traversed the torrid zone? If we are to believe +that the original creation comprehended only a male and female of each +species, or that one pair only was saved from an universal deluge, the +difficulties are increased; the carnivorous animals must have perished +with hunger, or destroyed most of the other species." On this obscure +subject Adelung has expressed himself with much ingenuity: "Asia has been +at all times regarded as the country where the human race had its +beginning, and from which its increase was spread over the rest of the +globe. Tracing the people up to tribes, and the tribes to families, we are +conducted at last, if not by history, at least by the tradition of all old +people, to a single pair, from which tribes and nations have been +successively produced. What was the first family, and the first people +descended from it?--where was it settled?--and how was it extended so as +to fill the four large divisions of the globe? It is a question of fact, +and must be answered by History. But History is silent: her first books +have been destroyed by time; and the few lines preserved by _Moses_ are +rather calculated to excite than to satisfy our curiosity. + +"We must fancy to ourselves this first tribe endowed with all human +faculties, but not possessing all knowledge and experience, the subsequent +acquisition of which is left to the natural operation of time and +circumstances. As Nature would not unnecessarily expose her first-born and +inexperienced son to conflicts and dangers, the place of his early abode +would be so selected that all his wants could be easily satisfied, and +every thing essential to his existence be readily procured. He would be +placed, in short, in a garden of paradise. Such a country is found in +central Asia, between the 30th and 50th degrees of north latitude, and the +90th and 110th of east longitude (from Ferro); a spot which in respect to +its height, can only be compared to the lofty plains of Quito in South +America. Here, too, all the animals are found wild, which man has tamed +for his use, and carried with him over the whole earth." + +This ingenious historical investigation points out the east as the +earliest and original seat of our species, the source of our domesticated +animals and our principal vegetable food; but it by no means decides +whether the globe was peopled by one or several original stocks. + +The startling nature of this question on the first view of the subject +must induce us to consider the circumstance of these five distinct +varieties arising from one stock as miraculous; but when we compare them +with the corresponding difference in animals, we can easily come to the +conclusion that the various races of human beings are only to be regarded +as varieties of a single species, without supposing the intervention of +any supernatural agency. + +The sceptic Voltaire, who evinced more wit than learning in his endeavours +to invalidate Scriptural tradition by ridicule, thus expresses himself: +"Il n'est permis qu'a un aveugle de douter que les blancs, les negres, les +albinos, les Hottentots, les Lapons, les Chinois, les Americains, soient +des races entierement differentes;" but had this philosopher been better +versed in zoology and physiology, he would not have made so groundless an +assertion. "Analogical and direct facts," says Dr. Elliotson, "lead to the +conclusion that none of the differences among mankind are so great as to +require the belief of their originality." A contrary opinion, however, +should not be stigmatized by bigotry, for Locke has justly observed that +only matters above human reason are the proper subjects of revelation; and +Bacon has also maintained that religious and philosophical inquiries +should be kept separate, and not pompously united. Dr. Bostock, than whom +no man could be less sceptical, plainly admits that we do not find that +the writer of the book of Genesis lays claim to any supernatural source of +information with respect to natural phenomena, while the whole tenour of +his work seems to show that on such topics he adopted the opinions which +were current among his contemporaries. + +The causes of the difference of our species have been the subject of as +great a discrepance in opinion. Most of the Greek and Roman Historians +have attributed it to the influence of climate; and amongst the moderns, +Montaigne, Montesquieu, Buffon, and Zimmerman, have considered the +modification of the individual and the degeneration of the offspring as +the result of this external agency. Lord Kaimes, Hume, and many other +philosophers, have entertained a contrary opinion. No doubt, the influence +of climate may materially affect colour, stature, hair, features, and even +the moral and intellectual character; but it must be considered as +inadequate to act upon conformation. The prevalence of light colours in +the animals of polar regions is well known: the arctic fox, the white +bear, the snow-bunting, are striking instances of this peculiarity; but +these circumstances are purely superficial. The skulls of these +individuals are similar to those of the Europeans; nay, it is well known +that light races are found among dark nations, and many protected parts of +the body are blacker than those which are exposed. Buchanan tells us, that +the Jews in Cochin are divided into white and black classes, though born +under the same parallel; the white Jews having been known there for +upwards of one thousand seven hundred years. Dr. Shaw and Bruce describe a +race of fair people, near Mount Aurasius in Africa, with red hair and blue +eyes, and who are, according to tradition, descended from the Vandals. We +find the red Peruvian, the brown Malay, and the white Abyssinian in the +very zones peopled by jet black races. This influence of temperature upon +colour frequently varies according to the seasons. Pallas observed that +even in domestic animals, such as the horse and cow, the coat is of a +lighter colour in winter. The Siberian roe, red in summer, is white in the +winter; the fur of the sable and the martin is much deeper in the warm +months; and the squirrel and mustela nivalis, which become white in +Siberia and Russia, do not change their hue in Germany. The winter coat, +it has been observed by naturalists, is found far advanced in the +preparatory autumn. This bounteous provision of nature seems to have been +extended to the vegetable kingdom and it has been observed that the +pellicle of onions is much thicker on the approach of a severe winter than +on that of a more temperate season. But if further proof were necessary to +impugn this doctrine respecting climate, we may adduce the fact of a woman +having borne twins of different complexions, a white and a black. With all +due respect to the much-lamented Bishop Heber, we must receive with some +degree of hesitation his assertion that the Persian, Greek, Tartar, and +Arabian inhabitants of India, assume, in a few generations, without any +intercourse with the Hindoos, a deep blue tint, little lighter than that +of a negro; and that the Portuguese, during three hundred years' residence +in that climate, have assumed the blackness of a Kaffer. The same learned +prelate is of opinion that our European complexion was not primitive, but +rather that of an Indian; an intermediate tint is perhaps the most +agreeable to the eye and instinct of the majority of the human race. Dr. +Heber, perhaps, had not seen, in various Roman catholic treasures, +portraits of the Virgin Mary, painted, according to tradition, by St. +Luke, and in which she is represented as a negress. + +That solar heat produces blackness of the integuments is an ancient +opinion, and is illustrated by Pliny, who tells us, "Aethiopes vicini +sideris vapore torreri, adustisque similes gigni, barba et capillo +vibrato, non est dubium." Buffon asserts that "climate may be regarded as +the chief cause of the different colours of man;" and Smith is of opinion +"that from the pole to the equator we observe a gradation in the +complexion nearly in proportion to the latitude of the country." + +Blumenbach, under the same impression, endeavours to account for this +black tinge by a chemical illustration somewhat curious. He states that +the proximate cause of the dark colour is an abundance of carbon secreted +by the skin with hydrogen, precipitated and fixed by the contact of the +atmospheric oxygen. Our creoles, and the British inhabitants of India, may +esteem themselves particularly fortunate in not being subject to this +chemical operation! + +On the other hand, it is well known that a black state of the skin has +been produced in white races under peculiar circumstances; and Le Cat and +Camper mention cases of women who turned dark during their pregnancy. It +would be idle to dwell further on the hypothetic illustrations regarding +this supposed operation of climate, which the observation of every +unprejudiced traveller can impugn. Yet the following remarks on the +subject by an American divine, the Rev. J. S. Smith are worthy of notice: + +"In tracing the globe from the pole to the equator we observe a gradation +in the complexion nearly in proportion to the latitude of the country, +immediately below the arctic circle a high and sanguine colour prevails. +From this you descend to the mixture of red and white. Afterwards comes +the brown, the blue, the tawny, and at length the black as you proceed to +the line. The same distance from the sun, however, does not in any degree +indicate the same temperature of climate. Some secondary causes must be +taken into consideration, in connecting and limiting its influence. The +elevation of the land, its vicinity to the sea, the nature of the soil, +the state of cultivation, the course of the winds, and many other +circumstances enter into this view. Elevated and mountainous countries are +cool in proportion to their altitude above the level of the sea, +increasing to the ocean, just in opposite effects, in northern and +southern latitudes; for the ocean being of a more equal temperature than +the land, in one case corrects the cold, and in the other moderates the +heat. Ranges of mountains, such as the Apennines in Italy, and Taurus, +Caucasen, and Iman, in Asia, by interrupting the course of cold winds, +render the quite dry country below them warmer, and the countries above +them colder, than is equivalent to the proportionate difference of +latitude. The frigid zone, in Asia, is much wider than it is in Europe; +and that continent hardly knows a temperate zone." + +Climate also receives some difference from the nature of the soil, and +some from the degree of cultivation; sand is susceptible of greater heat +than clay, and an uncultivated region shaded with forests and covered with +undrained marshes, is more frigid in northern and more temperate in +southern latitudes, than a country laid open to the direct and constant +action of the sun. History informs us that when Germany and Scythia were +bound in forests, the Romans often transported their armies across the +frozen Danube; but since the civilization of those barbarous regions, the +Danube rarely freezes. + +Migration to other countries has also been adduced as one of the causes of +variety in mankind; but the permanency of the characteristic distinctions +of any race militates against this supposition. The physical character of +the Celts, who peopled the west of Europe at an early period, is still +observable in the Spaniard, most of the French, the native Welsh, the +Manks, and the Scotch Highlander; whereas the German race, who occupied +the more northern and eastern settlements, are still distinguished by +their transparent skin, rosy complexion, flaxen hair, and blue eyes; and +in Ireland, the race of the Danes and the Milesians can to this day be +recognised in their respective characters. Shaw and Bruce traced the +descendants of the Vandals who passed from Spain into Africa in the fifth +century; and, after a lapse of thirteen centuries, Bruce says that they +are "fair like the English, their hair red, and their eyes blue." Negroes +have been introduced into the New World for upwards of three centuries, +where, despite of a new clime and different habits, they still retain the +character of their race; and the Jews who have not intermarried out of +their nation, have preserved their features for nineteen centuries. + +Not only do we observe the peculiarities of physical conformation +resisting the destructive or degenerating hand of time, but certain +imperfections in their faculties have been equally permanent in certain +tribes. It is a curious fact that the Mamelukes, who have resided in Egypt +for upwards of five hundred and fifty years, have never perpetuated their +subsisting issue. Volney observed, that there does not exist one single +family of them in the second generation; all their children perishing in +the first or second descent. The same observation applies to the Turks, +who can only secure the continuance of their families by marrying native +women, an union which the Mamelukes disdained. This singularity, remarked +by Volney, has been since confirmed by late travellers. + +It will be found that the progress of domestication, the natural result of +civilized improvement, tends more materially to operate a wonderful change +in the animal conformation, than any other supposed agency. The head of +the domestic pig differs as much from that of the wild one as the Negro's +from the Caucasian's. At Padua, it has been observed that fowls have a +cranium perforated by numerous holes, and hollowed out like a shell. In +some countries, nay districts, cattle and sheep have or have not horns; +and in other instances sheep have so many of them as to have acquired the +epithet of _polycerateous_. Wild animals continuing to inhabit the place +that bore them, undergo little or no change, and their fossil remains and +skeletons are similar to the present species; but nothing can form a +stronger contrast to this specific uniformity than the numerous varieties +to be found in those races that have been crossed in breed and +domesticated by man. We could scarcely imagine that our sheep owe their +origin to the mouflon or argali, (_ovis ammon_,) an animal large in size, +fleet, and fierce. The sheep of Senegal and India are those that have +undergone the least degradation; while those of Barbary, Egypt, Arabia, +and Persia, have experienced greater degeneration. We daily see dogs +degenerate before our eyes, and it has not yet been satisfactorily +ascertained whether they arise from one or several species. Cuvier, in his +diligent researches, has concluded that our oxen do not originate in the +urus or bison of the ancients formerly found in various parts of Europe, +and still met with in the forests of Lithuania, and on the Carpathian and +Caucasian chains; but he is of opinion, from the examination of fossil +remains, that, like the camel and the dromedary, the species has been +destroyed by civilization: the causes of these changes do not appear to +operate by altering the parents but disposing them to produce offsprings +more or less dissimilar in colour, form, and disposition. + +Dr. Prichard observes, that the negro slaves of the third and fourth +generation differ materially from the natives of Africa. + +In opposition to this doctrine, which admits this wonderful degeneration +under the plastic influence of domestication, it has been shown that, as +far as we know, the lapse of ages has not produced any change in the +generality of animals. The zoological descriptions given by Aristotle +twenty-two centuries ago apply distinctly to the same species of the +present day, and every work of art in which these animals are represented +corroborates the fact. Geoffroy de St. Hilaire brought numerous mummies of +animals from the sepulchres of Egypt, and found no more difference between +their skeletons and the osseous conformation of the present races, than in +the relics of the human mummy and the bones of our contemporaries. + +The following luminous conclusion of Lawrence illustrates the observation +of the foregoing fact: "If new characters are produced in the domestic +animals because they have been taken from their primitive condition, and +exposed to the operation of many, to them, unnatural causes,--if the pig +is remarkable among these for the number and degrees of his varieties, +because it has been the most exposed to causes of degeneration,--we shall +be at no loss to account for the diversities in man, who is, in the true, +though not in the ordinary sense of the word, more of a domesticated +animal than any other. We know the wild state of most of them, but we are +ignorant of the natural wild condition to which man was destined. Probably +there is no such state; because Nature having limited him in no +respect,--having fitted him for every kind of life, every climate, and +every variety of food,--has given him the whole earth for his abode, and +both the organized kingdoms for his nourishment. Yet, in the wide range +through which the scale of human cultivation extends, we may observe a +contrast between the two extremities, analogous to that which is seen in +the wild and tamed races of animals. The savage may be compared to the +former, which range the earth uncontrolled by man; civilized people to the +domesticated breeds of the same species, whose diversities of form and +colour are endless." + +It is therefore obvious that the various causes which operate upon animals +in producing these alterations from the primitive race, although the +manner in which they act is unknown, are sufficiently evident to convince +us, by analogy, that they may account for similar phenomena in the human +race, without the gratuitous assumption of different original species, +tending to invalidate the Mosaic account of the creation. Despite the +witticisms of Voltaire and other philosophers on this subject, sound +philosophy teaches us to assign the same causes to the same effects +without calling in the adventitious aid of other possible influences; and +no difficulties prevent us from recognising the unity of the human +species, which are not applicable to all other animals. + + + + +ON THE INHUMATION OF THE DEAD IN CITIES. + + +From time immemorial, medical men have strongly pointed out to municipal +authorities the dangers that arise from burying the dead within the +precincts of cities or populous towns. Impressed with the same conviction, +ancient legislators only allowed to the most illustrious citizens a +sepulchre in the temple of the gods. Euclides was interred in the temple +of Diana Euclis, as a reward for his pious journey to Delphi in search of +the sacred fire; the Magnesians erected a monument to Themistocles in +their forum; Euphron received the same honour in Corinth; and Medea buried +her two sons, Mermerus and Pheres, under the protection of Juno Acraea's +altars, to guard their ashes from their persecutors. Lycurgus was perhaps +the only Grecian legislator who recommended inhumation in temples and in +cities, to accustom youth to the daily spectacle of death. + +The primitive Grecians, it appears, buried their dead in or about their +dwellings; and we find a law amongst the Thebans, ordaining that every +person who built a house should provide a repository for the dead upon his +premises. In latter days, both Grecians and Romans erected their tombs +outside of their cities, and chiefly by the road-side. It appears also, +that, among the Romans, the bodies of the lower orders were promiscuously +cast into wells, called _fruticuli_. Horace seems to allude to this +practice. _Hoc miserae plebi stabat commune sepulchrum._ The funerals of +the wealthy patricians appear to have been most sumptuous and costly, the +pall formed of valuable materials and decorated with splendid ornaments. +Thus Statius: + +_Ditantur flammae: non unquam opulentioan ille ante cinis: crepitant gemmae: +atque immane litescit argentum, et pietis exsudat vestibus aurum._ The +laws of the twelve tables prohibited the practice of this waste of gold. + +Both religious and civil motives might have dictated the propriety of this +regulation. The traveller, setting out upon a journey, and passing by the +sepulchres of his sires, could in the presence of their manes invoke their +protection; and on his return to his penates, safe from danger, he could +put up thanks to the gods for his preservation. As a prudential measure, +the interment of the dead beyond the walls of their towns prevented the +fatal consequences that might have arisen from extensive putrefaction and +infection, and moreover the burning of bodies would have exposed the +adjoining buildings to the danger of frequent fires. It is also possible +that policy dictated these sanatory enactments. The ancients held the +remains of the departed as a sacred trust, in the defence of which they +were ever prepared to fall; and it is not improbable that their warriors +would have rushed forth to meet the invader, before he would have defiled, +by his approach to their cities, the ashes of their ancestors. So +scrupulously religious were the Athenians in performing the funeral rites +of the dead, that they put to death ten of their commanders, after the +battle of Arginusae, for not having committed to the earth the dead bodies +that floated on the waters. Such was the dread of being deprived of +sepulchral rites, that it is related of several citizens of Cappadocia, +that during the pestilence that devastated their town in the reign of +Gallus and Valerian, they actually shut themselves up to perish in their +tombs. + +There is no doubt but that their dead were buried in such a manner as not +to prove injurious to the survivors; and Seneca plainly says, "Non +defunctorum causa, sed vivorum, inventa est sepultura." The ancients both +burned and buried their dead, but inhumation appears to have been the +most early and the most approved rite. "Let the dead be buried," says a +law of Cecrops. Solon justifies the claims of the Athenians to the island +of Salamis, from the circumstance of the dead bodies interred on its +shores having been inhumed according to the Athenian custom, with their +feet turned to the west, whereas the Megarensians turned theirs to the +east. + +In various instances the burial or the burning appear to have been adopted +upon philosophical doctrines. Democritus, with a view to facilitate +resurrection, recommended interment, and Pliny thus ridicules the +intention: "Similis et de asservandis corporibus hominum, et reviviscendis +promissa a Democrito vanitas, qui non revivixit ipse." Heraclitus, who +considered fire as the first principle, advocated the funeral pile; while +Thales, who deemed water the chief element, urged the propriety of +committing the departed to the damp bosom of the earth. Although burning +the dead was customary, there were curious exceptions to the rule. Infants +who died before cutting their teeth, persons struck dead with lightning, +were buried. The place of interment of infants was called the +_suggrundarium_. + +The early Christians inhumed the bodies of their martyrs in their temples. +This honour was afterwards conferred on the remains of distinguished +citizens, illustrious prelates, and princes. The infectious diseases which +at various periods arose from this custom, induced Theodosius, in his +celebrated code, strictly to prohibit it; and he even ordered that the +remains of the dead thus inhumed should be removed out of Rome. The vanity +of man, and the cupidity of the priesthood, soon overruled these wise +regulations. Every family possessing sufficient means, claimed a vault +within the churches, and thereby the revenues of the clergy were +materially increased. At all times, even the dead appeared to have shared +with the living the obligation of supporting the ministers of the altar. +By a law of Hippias, the priestesses of Minerva received a choenix[6] of +wheat, and one of barley, with an obolus, for every individual who +departed this life. The _libitinarii_ of the Romans fulfilled the duties +of our undertakers, or rather of the directors of funeral pomp of the +French; yet they were attached to the temple of the goddess Libitina, +whose priests received a fee in silver for every one who died, under the +name of _Libitinae ratio_. Suetonius informs us, that in Nero's time the +mortality was so great during one autumn, that thirty thousand of these +silver pieces were deposited in the fatal treasury. To increase the +emoluments of this sacerdotal body, these _libitinarii_ sold at high +prices every thing that was requisite for the funeral ceremonies, received +a toll at the city gate through which the bodies were carried out, as well +as at the entrance of the amphitheatre through which the dead gladiators +were borne away. Phaedrus alludes to this speculation in one of his fables, +when speaking of a miser, + + Qui circumcidis omnem impensam funeris, + Libitina ne quid de tuo faciat lucrum. + +It is supposed that this avaricious divinity owed her name to the +displeasure which it must have occasioned to all who heard it,--_quod +nemini libeat_; but it is also possible that it was derived from her +bearing poor mortals away, whenever she fancied it, and _ad libitum_. + +In more modern times, Theodolphus, Bishop of Orleans, complained to +Charlemagne that lucre and vanity had converted churches into +charnel-houses, disgraceful to the clergy and perilous to the community. +It was upon this representation that this prince, in his capitularies, +prohibited burials in churches under heavy penalties. But the laws of the +wisest could not prevent priesthood from considering this source of +emolument, although endangering public salubrity, an indisputable property +that could not be meddled with without endangering the church. + +In England the custom of burying the dead in churches was first sanctioned +by Cuthbert, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 758, it having been previously +forbidden by Augustine, who had decreed that no corpse either of prince or +prelate should be buried within the walls of a city. + +In France, Maret in 1773, and Vicq d'Azyr in 1778, pointed out the danger +of this practice in such glaring colours, that government by an edict, +only allowed church interment to certain dignitaries; but in 1804, by a +wise law that should be enforced in every civilized country, inhumation in +cities was entirely abolished. Amongst the numerous well authenticated +evil results of burying in churches that led to this wise prohibition, the +following were the most striking and circumstantial: + +In 1773, in Saulieu, Burgundy, an epidemic disease arising from the +inhumation of a corpse in the church of St. Saturnin created considerable +alarm. The body of a corpulent person had been interred on the 3d of +March, and a woman was buried near it on the 20th of April following: both +had died of a reigning fever. During the last burial a fetid effluvia +arose from the vault, which pervaded the whole church; and, out of one +hundred and seventy persons who were present, one hundred and forty-nine +were attacked with the prevailing malady, although its progress had been +arrested amongst the other inhabitants of the town. + +In 1774, a similar accident occurred in a village near Nantes, where +several coffins were removed in a vault, to make room for the lord of the +manor: fifteen of the bystanders died from the emanation. + +In 1744, one-third of the inhabitants of Lectouse perished from a fever of +a malignant character that manifested itself after some works that +required the removal of a burial-ground. Two destructive epidemics swept +away large proportions of the population of Riom and Ambert, two towns in +Auvergne. + +Taking this matter under consideration in a moral, or even a religious +light, it may be questioned whether any advantage can accrue from the +continuance of this pernicious custom, which during the prevalence of +epidemic diseases endangers the life of every person who resides near a +church. Does it add to the respect which the remains of the dead are +entitled to? Certainly not: the constant tolling of "the sullen bell"--the +daily cortege of death that passes before us--the graves that we hourly +contemplate, perusing monumental records which more frequently excite +unseasonable laughter than serious reflection--every thing, in short, +tends to make death of little or no moment, except to those who have heard +the mutes gossiping at their door. So accustomed, indeed, are we from our +childhood to sepulchral scenes, that, were it not for the parish-officers, +our churchyards would become the playground of every truant urchin; and +how often do we behold human bones become sportive baubles in the wanton +pranks of the idlers, who group around the gravedigger's preparations! So +callous are we to all feelings of religious awe when surrounded with the +dead, that our cemeteries are not unfrequently made the rendezvous of +licentiousness and the assembly-ground of crime, where thieves cast lots +upon a tomb for the division of their spoil. + +With what different feelings does the traveller wander over the cemetery +of _Pere la Chaise_? I am well aware that many of the gewgaw attributes +that there decorate the grave, have been called the "_frippery_," "_the +foppery_" of grief; but does there exist a generous, a noble sentiment, +that may not be perverted by interested motives and hypocrisy into +contemptible professions? How often is the sublime rendered ridiculous by +bad taste and hyperbolic affectation! When we behold the fond lover +pressing to his lips a lock of hair, or the portrait of all that he holds +dear, the cold calculating egotist may call this the _frippery of love_; +but the stoic who thinks thus, has never known the "sweet pangs" of +requited affection, when, in bitter absence, the recollection of bliss +gone by, imbodies in our imagination the form we once pressed to our +respondent heart. The creation of our busy fancy stands before us, gazing +on us with that tender look that in happier days greeted the hour of +meeting; or trembles in our tears as when we last parted--to meet, +perhaps, no more! With what fervour of religious love do we not behold the +simple girl kneeling with uplift eye and hand on the green sod that covers +all that endeared her to existence, till, overwhelmed with burning, +choking regrets--as idle as they are uncontrollable--she sinks prostrate +on the cold earth that now shrouds that bosom which once nestled her young +hopes and fears! There have I seen the pale, the haggard youth,--to all +appearances a student,--seated mournfully by the side of a tomb, absorbed +in deep thought, heedless of the idlers who passed by him, looking at him +perhaps with contempt!--heedless of the swift flight of time, which +shrouded him imperceptibly in darkness, until he was warned by the +guardian of the dead that it was time to depart--and to depart _alone_! No +inscription recorded the "one loved name;" he would not expose it to the +unfeeling gaze of the heartless tourist: all he would willingly have +traced upon her tomb, would have been "Here lies _my own_!" + +The mouldering earth, the fleshless skeleton over which he mourns, cannot +obliterate the remembrance of what she was: though her eyes, perhaps, no +longer exist, still their former languid, liquid look of bliss, beams +freshly in his recollection. The lips which once pronounced the long +wished-for avowal of mutual love are still moist and open to memory's +embrace--still seem to lisp the delicious _tu_! Our language is rich, +without comparison richer far than the French; but we have nothing so +endearing, so bewitching, as their _tu-toiement_: our _thee's_ and +_thou's_ are frigid, chilly, when compared to the _first toi_ that escapes +inadvertently from beloved lips! A French writer has beautifully expressed +this exquisite moment: "Le _premier tu_ est tout-puissant; c'est le _fiat +lux_ de l'ame; il est sublime, il debrouille le chaos!" + +Sublime are the words, "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord!" Would +it be irreligious to say, "Happy are the dead who die beloved?" Their fond +and ardent heart had never been chilled by the withering hand of +infidelity and ingratitude. They died in an ecstatic dream of perfect +bliss on earth, and never were awakened to the world's mocking +realities!--they died when they felt and believed in their heart of hearts +that they were dearly beloved--could not be loved more dearly: with that +conviction, death, in a worldly acceptation, can never be untimely. +Probably, they died still sufficiently animated by a latent, lingering +spark of life, to press the hand that was so often linked in mutual +pressure in happy days--to feel the burning tear of anguish drop on the +pale cheek--to hear the sad, the awful, last word, _a Dieu!_--an +expression that habit has rendered trivial, but which bears with it, in +the tenderest solicitude, the most hallowed meaning; since, in pronouncing +it, we leave all that we cherish under the protection and the safeguard of +OUR GOD. + +Affection deprives death of all horrors. We shrink not from the remains of +what we cherished. Despite its impiety, there was something refined in +that conviction of the ancients, who imagined that in bestowing their +farewell kiss they inhaled the souls of those they loved. How sweet are +those lines of Macrobius, originally attributed to Plato! + + Dum semihulco suavio + Meum pullum suavior, + Dulcemque florem spiritus + Duco ex aperto tramite, + Animo tunc aegra et saucia + Cucurrit ad labia mihi! + +Our Shakspeare has quaintly, yet beautifully, described this parting +embrace: + + And lips, O you + The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss + A dateless bargain to engrossing death. + +Nor was it only on the dying that the ancients bestowed this mark of +fondness: Tibullus and Propertius tell us, that, as their bodies were laid +on the funeral pile, they clasped them in a fond and last embrace. + +In regard to the painted crosses, the chaplets, the garlands of flowers, +which mark the hallowed resting-place of the departed, it may be said that +they are but romantic and poetical expressions of grief. If it were only +real grief that expressed itself by outward testimonials, how soon would +mourning be banished as an idle expense!--the "inky cloak," and customary +"suits of solemn black--the trappings and the suit of woes," be laid +aside! What a different feeling does the splendid catafalcum, covered with +black velvet, studded with silver tears, and illumined by thousands of +glaring tapers, excite, when compared with the simple and verdant graves +which point out the spot "where souls do couch in flowers," blessed by +affection's tears instead of lustral waters. At all periods, amongst every +nation, flowers and certain trees seem to have been consecrated to the +dead. The Romans planted the wild vine and the box around their tombs. +Thus Martial to Alcimenes: + + Accipe, non Phario nutantia pondera saxo, + Quae cineri vanus dat ruitura labor, + Sed fragiles buxos, et opacas palmitis umbras, + Quaeque virent lacrymis humida prata meis. + +The wealthy assigned a beauteous garden to their departed favourites, as +in the instance of Augustus and Maecenas. Not only did they suspend +garlands over their tombs, but scattered flowers around them. Again in +Virgil, + + Purpureosque jacit flores, ac talia fatur. + +The same custom prevailed amongst the Grecians, who considered all purple +and white flowers acceptable to the dead. The Thessalian's strewed +Achilles' grave with the immortal amaranth and lilies. Electra complains +that the tomb of Agamemnon received no myrtle boughs; in short, instances +of this practice are every where to be found. In addition to flowers and +perfumes, ribands and hair were also deposited on their sepulchres. +Electra adorns Agamemnon's tomb with her locks, and Canace laments that +she had not been able to perform the same rite on her beloved Macareus. +Poets tell us that precious ointments and wines were poured upon their +monuments; and we find, in Euripides, Helen bidding Hermione to take locks +of her hair, honey mixed with milk, and wine, to the sepulchre of her +aunt. + +Amongst the Chinese, to the present day, the cypress and the fir, shade +their cemeteries: the former tree, an attribute of Pluto was ever +considered funereal, hence called _feralis_; and the _feralia_ were +festivals in honour of the dead, observed by the Romans. Varro pretends +that the cypress was called funereal from _funus_, as it emitted an +antiseptic aroma. Pliny and others pretend that it typified the dead, +from its never shooting out fresh sprouts when the trunk was hewn down. At +any rate, to this hour, it is planted in burying-grounds in every +civilized country. + +The yew-tree has also been considered an emblem of mourning from the +earliest times. The custom of planting it singly appears also to be very +ancient. Statius, in his Thebaid, calls it the _solitary yew_. In England, +the trees planted in churchyards were protected by legal enactments, as +appears by a statute of 35 Edward I. From the scarcity of bow staves, they +had been frequently despoiled by our numerous archers; and, to meet this +service, by an enactment of Edward IV. every foreign trader was obliged to +bring in four bow staves for every ton of imported merchandise; Elizabeth, +from the scarcity of this important article, put the statute in full +force. + +Let us then hope, both for the living and the dead, that this custom, +which obtains in France and other countries, will be adopted by us, +instead of becoming the subject of ridicule. It is far more desirable to +see families repairing to the tomb of the departed on the anniversary of +their death, than to behold them daily passing by their remains with cold +indifference. + +It would scarcely be believed upon the continent of Europe, that to this +very hour bodies are buried in confined churchyards in the most crowded +and dirty parts of the British metropolis, such as Russel-court, +Drury-lane, and various other similar holes and corners; the rudest +nations were never guilty of such a glaring impropriety. In the kingdom of +Siam, the remains of the opulent are burnt with great ceremony, while the +bodies of the poor are carried out and exposed on mountains: in Ceylon, +the remains of the indigent are interred in the neighbouring woods; the +rich consumed on gorgeous funeral piles. + +The Chinese inhume their dead at some distance from their cities and +towns; it is only the bodies of the rich and noble that are allowed to +remain on the premises of the family. Navarette mentions a curious custom +prevalent in one of their provinces, Chan Si, where, in the event of two +betrothed persons dying at the same period, they are married while their +coffins are still in their former dwelling, and afterwards burnt together. +By the accounts of various travellers, the wealthy Chinese are burnt with +great pomp, and their monuments are most curious and expensive. Their +mausoleums are actually halls or grottos, decorated with splendour: and +they inter with the deceased many articles to which he might have been +attached during life, and that may add to his comforts after death. A +custom that was more prevalent before the invasion of the Tartars--a comb, +a pair of scissars to pare his nails; four little purses, containing the +nail-parings of the defunct, were placed in the coffin, and, amongst the +wealthy, gold coin and jewels were inserted in the mouth. The Hottentots +bury their dead in the wild clefts of rocks and caverns; the Peruvians +bear theirs to the neighbouring hills and mountains. The Greenlanders wrap +their dead in furs and skins, and carry them to a considerable distance +from their huts. In Kamtschatka and Siberia bodies are covered with snow +in caverns and caves; and the African savages perform the same funeral +rites as the Irish: their dead are carried to the burying-ground, followed +by crowds of relatives and other people, who join the procession, +bellowing and howling most piteously, "Oh! why did you die? did you want +any thing that was ever denied you?" and after the funeral the survivors +invariably get drunk on palm-wine, or any strong liquor they can procure; +a custom similar to the _circumpotatio_ of the Romans. + + + + +BURIED ALIVE. + + +Every nation, however uncivilized, holds the idea of being buried alive in +constant dread; the horrors of such a situation cannot be described. +Bodies have been found where the miserable victims of precipitation had +actually devoured the flesh of their arms in the agonies of hunger and +despair. Such was the fate of John Scott and the Emperor Zeno. It is to be +feared that this melancholy occurrence is more frequent than is supposed, +more especially in countries where inhumation is speedily resorted to. The +ancients were remarkably cautious in this respect, especially when we take +into consideration the climate of Greece and Rome during the summer +months. A law of Greece on this subject directs that "the corpse should be +laid out at the relations' pleasure, but that the following morning before +daylight the funeral procession should take place." From various +authorities, however, it appears that the bodies were kept three, and +sometimes six days. Servius was of opinion that the time for burning +bodies was the eighth day, and the time for burying the tenth; it appears, +however, that this was a privilege granted to the wealthy, as the poor +were consumed the day after their death, a custom alluded to in an epigram +of Callimachus. Among the Romans several days were also allowed to elapse +before interment--sometimes seven days; during which, loud cries, in which +the deceased was called by his name, and the noise of various instruments +resounded near the body; this was called the _conclamatio_, alluded to by +Terence: + + Desine, jam conclamatum est. + +Lucan also alludes to this custom: + + ----------Sic funere primo + Attonitae tacuere domus, quam corpora nondum + Conclamata jacent, noc mater crine soluto + Exigit ad saevos famularum brachia planctus. + +The ancients held hasty inhumation in great dread, and grounded their +apprehension on various current traditions. Thus Plato remarks the case of +a warrior who was left for ten days on the field of battle amongst the +dead, and who came to life when he was being borne to the sepulchre. +Asclepiades restored life to a man who was also consigned to the funeral +pile, and Pliny relates the case of Lucius Aviola and Lucius Lamia, who +showed signs of life upon the pile, but were too much injured to be saved. + +Amongst the many absurd fancies regarding the dead, was the superstitious +belief of their being able to masticate in their coffin any substance +buried with them. Women more especially were believed to be gifted with +this _post mortem_ faculty of moving their jaw-bones very loudly. _Claro +sonitu_, says the learned Michael Ranfft, in his curious and elaborate +work, _de masticatione mortuorum_. In this apprehension, that the deceased +in their hunger might devour their own limbs, articles of food were +interred with them. + +According to the law of the Jews, who appear to have been in constant +dread of pestilential disease, the inhumation of the dead were most hasty. +Yet in this instance many Rabbi maintain that the Talmud has been +erroneously interpreted, for although it decreed that a night should not +be allowed to pass before inhumation, it clearly meant that actual death +must have been ascertained. + +While such fears are entertained of suspended animation being taken for +dissolution, it is strange that in some savage tribes the aged are allowed +to perish without any care being taken to prolong their lives. Such is the +custom of some of the Esquimaux, where old and decrepit creatures are +abandoned in their huts and left to their fate. An ancient tradition +stated that the inhabitants of the Isle of Syria never died of any +distemper, but dropped into their graves at a certain old age. + +It would be desirable that in cases where interment is speedily resorted +to, a physician should attend, in order to ascertain that death had +actually taken place. This is seldom practised, from the common saying +"that it is uncivil on the part of a doctor to visit a dead patient." +Various means are employed to ascertain death: the looking-glass applied +to the mouth of the corpse, to find out whether breath had departed; the +coldness of the extremities, the falling of the lower jaw, the rigidity of +the limbs, and various other appearances, are universally known; but in +the villages of Italy and Portugal, pins and needles are frequently driven +under the nails, in what is vulgarly called _the quick_, to excite an +excruciating pain if life should not have fled. The most certain evidence, +when bodies are long kept, is most decidedly the commencement of +decomposition; but, in other cases, the action of the voltaic pile on a +bared muscle is an infallible test. + +It is much to be feared that on the field of battle and naval actions many +individuals apparently dead are buried or thrown overboard. The history of +Francois de Civille, a French captain, who was missing at the siege of +Rouen, is rather curious: at the storming of the town he was supposed to +have been killed, and was thrown, with other bodies, in the ditch, where +he remained from eleven in the morning to half-past six in the evening; +when his servant, observing some latent heat, carried the body into the +house. For five days and five nights his master did not exhibit the +slightest sign of life, although the body gradually recovered its warmth. +At the expiration of this time, the town was carried by assault, and the +servants of an officer belonging to the besiegers, having found the +supposed corpse of Civille, threw it out of window, with no other covering +than his shirt. Fortunately for the captain, he had fallen upon a +dunghill, where he remained senseless for three days longer, when his body +was taken up by his relations for sepulture, and ultimately brought to +life. What was still more strange, Civille, like Macduff, had been "from +his mother's womb untimely ripp'd," having been brought into the world by +a Caesarean operation, which his mother did not survive; and after his last +wonderful escape he used to sign his name with the addition of "three +times born, three times buried, and three times risen from the dead by the +grace of God." + +The fate of the unfortunate Abbe Prevost, author of "Manon Lescaut," and +other esteemed novels, was lamentable beyond expression. In passing +through the forest of Chantilly, he was seized with an apoplectic fit: the +body, cold and motionless, was found the following morning, and carried by +some woodcutters to the village surgeon, who proceeded to open it; it was +during this terrific operation that the wretched man was roused to a sense +of his miserable condition by the agonies he endured, to expire soon after +in all the complicated horrors of his situation. Various cases are +recorded where persons remained in a state of apparent death for a +considerable time. Cullen mentions an hysterical woman who was deprived of +movement and sensibility for six days. Licelus knew a nun of Bresia, who, +after an hysteric attack, continued in an inanimate state for ten days and +nights. + + + + +SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION. + + +The singular fact of persons, more especially individuals who were in the +habit of indulging in the use of spirituous liquors, having taken fire and +been consumed, is authenticated beyond the slightest doubt. Little +confidence, it is true, can be placed in the reports on this subject which +occasionally appear in the newspapers of different countries; but many +celebrated practitioners have witnessed and recorded the event, and +physiologists have endeavoured to account for its causes. The celebrated +Le Cat mentions a woman of Rheims, of the name of Millet, who was found +consumed at the distance of two feet from her chimney; the room exhibited +no appearance of fire, but of the unfortunate sufferer nothing was found +except her skull, the bones of the lower extremities, and some vertebrae. A +servant-girl was accused of the murder, and condemned to death; but on +her appeal, and a subsequent investigation, her innocence was fully +ascertained. + +Joseph Battaglia, a surgeon of Ponte Bosio, relates the following +case:--Don G. Maria Bertholi, a priest of Mount Valerius, went to the fair +of Filetto, and afterwards visited a relation in Fenilo, where he intended +to pass the night. Before retiring to rest, he was left reading his +breviary; when, shortly afterwards, the family were alarmed by his loud +cries and a strange noise in his chamber. On opening the door, he was +lying prostrate on the floor, and surrounded by flickering flames. +Battaglia was immediately sent for, and on his arrival the unfortunate man +was found in a most deplorable state. The integuments of the arms and the +back were either consumed or detached in hanging flaps. The sufferer was +sufficiently sensible to give an account of himself. He said that he felt +all of a sudden as if his arm had received a violent blow from a club, and +at the same time he saw scintillations of fire rising from his +shirt-sleeves, which were consumed without having burned the wrists; a +handkerchief, which he had tied round his shoulders, between the shirt and +the skin, was intact. His drawers were also sound; but, strange to say, +his silk skull-cap was burnt, while his hair bore no marks of combustion. +The unfortunate man only survived the event four days, when mortification +of the burnt parts was most extensive, and the body emitted intolerable +putrid effluvia. The circumstances which attended this case would seem to +warrant the conclusion that the electric fluid was the chief agent in the +combustion. + +Bianchini relates the death of the Countess of Cornelia Bandi, of Cesena, +who was in the habit of using frictions of camphorated spirits. She was +found consumed close to her bedside. No traces of fire could be observed +in the room--the very lights had been burnt down to their sockets; but the +furniture, closets, and linen were covered with a grayish soot, damp and +clammy. + +The Annual Register mentions two facts of a similar nature which occurred +in England, one at Southampton, the other at Coventry. In the transactions +of the Royal Society of London, an extraordinary instance of combustion is +also recorded. The fact is thus related. Grace Pitt, the wife of a +fishmonger of Ipswich, aged about sixty, had contracted a habit, which she +continued for several years, of coming down every night from her bedroom, +half dressed, to smoke a pipe. On the night of the 9th of April, 1744, +she got up from her bed as usual; her daughter who slept with her, did not +perceive she was absent till next morning when she awoke; soon after which +she put on her clothes, and going down into the kitchen, found her mother +stretched out on her right side, with her head near the grate; the body +extended on the hearth, with the legs on the floor, which were of deal, +having the appearance of a log of wood consumed by a fire without any +apparent flames. On beholding this spectacle, the girl run in great haste +and poured over her mother's body some water contained in two large +vessels, in order to extinguish the fire, while the fetid odour and smoke +that exhaled from the body almost suffocated some of the neighbours who +had hastened to the girl's assistance. + +The trunk was in some measure incinerated, and resembled a heap of wood +covered with white ashes. The head, the arms, the legs, and the thighs, +had also participated in the burning. This woman, it is said, had drank a +large quantity of spirituous liquor, in consequence of being overjoyed at +hearing of the return of one of her daughters from Gibraltar. There was no +fire in the grate, and the candle had burnt down to the socket of the +candlestick, which was close to her. Besides, there were found close to +the consumed body, the clothes of a child and a paper screen, which had +sustained no injury from the fire. The dress of the woman consisted of a +cotton gown. + +It is possible that this accident may be attributed to the escape of +hydrogen gas; the presence of this inflammable body in animals is evident, +and it is also proved that it is liable to ignite. Morton saw flames +coming from the body of a pig. Bonami and Ruysh, with a lighted candle, +set fire to the vapour arising from the stomach of a woman whom they were +opening. In the Memoirs of the Academy of Science of Paris, of 1751, we +find the case of a butcher, who, on opening the body of an ox that had +died after a malady which had swollen him considerably, was severely burnt +by an explosion and a flame which rose to the height of about five feet. +Sturm, Bartholini, and Gaubius record fiery eructations in which, no +doubt, phosphurated hydrogen had been generated in the stomach, from some +combination of alcohol and animal substances, and inflamed upon coming +into contact with atmospheric air; the fetid odour which invariably +accompanies these combustions appears to warrant the conclusion. Fodere +remarks that hydrogen gas is developed in certain cases of disease even +in the living body, and he agrees with Mere in attributing spontaneous +combustion to the united action of hydrogen and electricity. The case of a +Bohemian peasant is narrated, who lost his life in consequence of ignited +inflammable air issuing from his mouth which could not be extinguished. It +seems evident that this accident only occurs under certain conditions of +the body; generally in aged persons upwards of sixty years old; more +frequently in women than in men, and chiefly when of indolent habits, a +debilitated frame, and intemperate in their mode of living. That the body +has been usually consumed long before the head and the extremities is +evident, since these parts have been more commonly found than the trunk. +It also has been ascertained by observation that this strange accident +seldom occurs in summer, but principally during severe cold and frosty +weather. It appears that some experiments have been recently made in the +United States, when the blood flowing from the arm of a man addicted to +spirituous liquors actually took fire, being placed in contact with a +lighted taper! + +Medical observers differ in opinion on this singular yet +well-authenticated phenomenon. Lair, Vicy d'Argou, and Dupuytren maintain +that to produce it, the contact of fire is necessary. Le Cat and Kopp, on +the contrary, affirm that this combustion may be spontaneous without the +intervention of any external agent, and resulting from some peculiar +predisposition. According to Le Cat animals contain inflammable substances +which ignite of themselves. De Castro relates the cases of several +individuals from whom friction could draw sparks. Daniel Horstius mentions +a gouty patient, from whose limbs, on being rubbed, vivid sparks arose. +These physicians consider that these electric sparks are sufficient to +ignite the spirituous liquor which may have saturated any organic tissue +of the body, the combustion being afterwards fed by animal oil. + +This theory is, however, subject to many objections. It is difficult to +imagine that any substance introduced into the organ of digestion should +retain its former principles of inflammability. Although Cuvier and +Dumeril relate, that in opening the body of a man who died from excess of +drinking, the effluvia of the liquor arose from every cavity. + +On this subject, fraught with much interest, nothing positive has been +ascertained, despite the late progress of chemical investigation. This +combustion indeed differs widely from all other burning; sometimes a +flickering and bluish flame arises; at other times a smothered heat or +fire, without visible flames, is the consuming agent. Water increases the +combustion instead of allaying it. It is moreover a well-known fact, that +a considerable quantity of fuel is required to consume a dead body, +whereas in this combustion, incineration is most rapid. The human body, +indeed, is not easily consumed; a case is related of a baker-boy, named +Renaud, who was sentenced to be burnt at Caen; two large cart-loads of +fagots were required to consume the body, and at the end of more than ten +hours, some remains were still visible. + +The extreme incombustibility of the body was singularly exemplified in the +case of Mrs. King, whose murderer was engaged for several weeks in +endeavouring to burn her remains without effecting his purpose. + +It has also been affirmed by various medical observers, that the human +body will occasionally secrete an inflammable matter emitted by +perspiration. Thus, it is stated, that the perspiration of the wife of a +physician of the Archbishop of Toledo was of such a combustible nature, +that a ribbon which she had worn, being exposed to the air, took fire. +Borelli relates the case of a peasant, whose linen would ignite in a +similar manner, whether it was laid up in a chest or hung up to dry. +Amongst the many curious stories of the kind, we quote De Castro, who +affirms that he knew a physician, from whose back-bone fire issued so +vividly as to dazzle the eyes of the beholders. Krautius informs us, that +certain people of the territory of Nivers (?) were burning with an +invisible fire, and that some of them lopped off a foot or a hand to cut +off the conflagration! + + + + +BRASSICA ERUCA, OR THE ROCKET PLANT. + + +This plant, now in total disuse, was considered by the ancients as a most +powerful aphrodisiac, and consecrated to Venus. Hence Martial and Ovid-- + + Et Venerem revocans eruca morantem. + * * * * * + Nec minus erucas jubeo vitare salaces. + +But the most curious document regarding this obnoxious weed is found in +Lobel, who states that it was carefully cultivated in the gardens of +monasteries and nunneries, to preserve their chastity. + +"Haec eruca, major Hispanica, vel quia in condimentis lautior, vel ad +venerem vegetior erat, gentilis vulgo vocata fuit; quo vocabulo Hispanica +et Itala gens designat quamlibet rem aptam reddere hominem laetum et +experrectum ad munia vulgo pausibilia, ut joca ludicra et venerem; quae +commoda ut ex ea perciperet monachorum saginata caterva, in perquam +amoena Magalonae, insula maris Narbonensis, hujus gentilis erucae semine a +fratre quodam Hispano ambulone donato, quotannis hocce serebat, et in +mensis cuilibet, vel maximo gulae irritamento, vel blandimento, praeferebat; +nimirum usu gnara quantum frequens esus conferret ad calorem venereum in +illis otio et frequenti crapula obrutum, ad vigorem animi excitandum, et +praesertim corpus obesum extenuandum, somnumque excutiendum, quo illi +veluti ursi gliresve tota hyeme saginati, ferme adipe suffocabantur. Verum +isto Hispanico remedio adeo hilarescebant et gentiles fiebant, ut +plerumque recinctis lumbis castitate, coacti essent vota et coenobii +moenia transilire, et aliquid solatii venerei ab vicinis plebanis +efflagitare. Nobis haec visa et risa. Eruca vero inibi superstes est +copiosissima, monumentum futura monasticae castitatis et rei +veritatis."--_Adv. p. 68._ + + + + +CAGLIOSTRO. + + +The first appellation the Grecians gave to those who exercised the art of +healing was _iatros_. Originally it merely signified a man possessed of +the power of relieving accidents, either by manual exertions, or the +hidden virtues of some amulet or charm. Sextus tells us that in ancient +times it applied to an extractor of arrows, _sagittarum extractor_. No +doubt, this operation constituted the chief business of the surgeon in the +infancy of the art; and warriors and heroes themselves performed it on the +field of battle, as fully exemplified in Homer. + +The primitive title of _iatros_ gradually descended to surgical +practitioners. We find that Nebrus and Heraclides were the chief _iaters_ +of Cos, the birthplace of Hippocrates. To this day the same name is given +to medical men in Greece, where, until lately, they were in the habit of +perambulating the streets, and seeking occupation by crying out at certain +distances, _Callos iatros!_ (The good doctor!) Balsamo, a celebrated +mountebank, being at Cairo, where he died, one of his disciples repaired +to Europe, and, anxious to bear a singular name, assumed this cry, and +called himself _Calloiatro_, or, according to the corrupt pronunciation, +_Cagliostro_: his history is well known, and he certainly excelled in +impudence and industry all his predecessors. These Greek _iaters_, when +going over to Italy to practise, called themselves _medici_, which Cato +wanted to change into _mendici_, for, said he, "These creatures, (_Illi +Graeculi_,) quit their native country, where they were starving, to seek +their fortune in Rome (_ut fortunam sibi mendicent_)." Under this austere +censor few of these emigrants dared to settle in the Roman territories, +but after his demise they inundated the country to such an extent, that it +was said that Rome had more physicians than patients who needed their +attendance. This influx of practitioners occasioned constant competition, +and each _iater_ endeavoured to obtain fame and emolument by underrating +his opponents, and endeavouring to introduce novel doctrines, seeking a +livelihood, as Pliny observed, _inter mortes et mendacia_. It was on these +adventurers that the following epigram was written: + + Fingunt se cuncti medicos,--idiota, sacerdos, + Judaeus, monachus, histrio, rasor, anus. + +The quackery of these candidates for popularity became the subject of +bitter satire; and Martial thus speaks of the _Iatre_ Symmachus: + + Languebam, sed tu comitatus protinus ad me + Venisti centum, Symmache, discipulis; + Centum me tetigere manus, aquilone gelatae, + Non habui febrem, Symmache; nunc habeo.[7] + +This Symmachus, it appears, invariably moved abroad surrounded by hundreds +of his disciples, whose cold investigating hands produced upon their +patients the effects to which Martial alludes. + + + + +LUNAR INFLUENCE ON HUMAN LIFE AND DISEASES. + + +The ancients, who were chiefly guided in their medical notions by the +simple operations of nature, attached great importance to the influence of +the moon. As the stars directed their navigators, so did the planets in +some degree regulate their other calculations. Finding that the state of +the weather materially acted on our organism whether in health or in +sickness, they attributed this influence to the appearance of the moon, +which generally foretold the vicissitudes in the atmospheric constitution. +Thus Hippocrates advises his son Thessalus to study numbers and geometry, +as the knowledge of astronomy was indispensable to a physician, the +phenomena of diseases being dependent on the rising or the setting of the +stars. Aristotle informs his disciples that the bodies of animals are cold +in the decrease of the moon, that blood and humours are then put into +motion, and to these revolutions he ascribes various derangements of +women. To enter into these medical opinions would be foreign to the +present purpose, but the notions of the ancients regarding lunar influence +in other matters are curious. + +Lucilius, the Roman satirist, says that oysters and echini fatten during +lunar augmentation; which also, according to Gellius, enlarges the eyes of +cats: but that onions throw out their buds in the decrease of the moon, +and wither in her increase, an unnatural vegetation, which induced the +people of Pelusium to avoid their use. Horace also notices the superiority +of shell-fish in the increase. + +Pliny not only recognises this influence on shell-fish, but observes, that +the streaks on the livers of rats answer to the days of the moon's age; +and that ants never work at the time of any change: he also informs us +that the fourth day of the moon determines the prevalent wind of the +month, and confirms the opinion of Aristotle that earthquakes generally +happen about the new moon. The same philosopher maintains that the moon +corrupts all slain carcasses she shines upon; occasions drowsiness and +stupor when one sleeps under her beams, which thaw ice and enlarge all +things; he further contends, that the moon is nourished by rivers, as the +sun is fed by the sea. Galen asserts that all animals that are born when +the moon is falciform, or at the half-quarter, are weak, feeble, and +shortlived; whereas those that are dropped in the full moon are healthy +and vigorous. + +In more modern times the same wonderful phenomena have been attributed to +this planet. The celebrated Ambroise Pare observed, that people were more +subject to the plague at the full. Lord Bacon partook of the notions of +the ancients, and he tells us that the moon draws forth heat, induces +putrefaction, increases moisture, and excites the motion of the spirits; +and, what was singular, this great man invariably fell into a syncope +during a lunar eclipse. + +Van Helmont affirms, that a wound inflicted by moonlight is most difficult +to heal; and he further says, that if a frog be washed clean, and tied to +a stake under the rays of the moon in a cold winter night, on the +following morning the body will be found dissolved into a gelatinous +substance bearing the shape of the reptile, and that coldness alone +without the lunar action will never produce the same effect. Ballonius, +Diemerbroeck, Ramazzini, and numerous celebrated physicians, bear ample +testimony to its baneful influence in pestilential diseases. The change +observed in the disease of the horse called moon-blindness is universally +known and admitted. + +Many modern physicians have stated the opinions of the ancients as regards +lunar influence in diseases, but none have pushed their inquiries with +such indefatigable zeal as the late Dr. Mosely; he affirms that almost +all people in extreme age die at the new or at the full moon, and this he +endeavours to prove by the following records: + + Thomas Parr died at the age of 152, two days after the full moon. + Henry Jenkins died at the age of 169, the day of the new moon. + Elizabeth Steward, 124, the day of the new moon. + William Leland, 140, the day after the new moon. + John Effingham, 144, two days after full moon. + Elizabeth Hilton, 121, two days after the full moon. + John Constant, 113, two days after the new moon. + +The doctor then proceeds to show, by the deaths of various illustrious +persons, that a similar rule holds good with the generality of mankind: + + Chaucer, 25th October 1400, the day of the first quarter. + Copernicus, 24th May 1543, day of the last quarter. + Luther, 18th February 1546, three days after the full. + Henry VIII, 28th January 1547, the day of the first quarter. + Calvin, 27th May 1564, two days after the full. + Cornaro, 26th April 1566, day of the first quarter. + Queen Elizabeth, 24th March 1603, day of the last quarter. + Shakspeare, 23rd April 1616, day after the full. + Camden, 9th November 1623, day before the new moon. + Bacon, 9th April 1626, one day after last quarter. + Vandyke, 9th April 1641, two days after full moon. + Cardinal Richelieu, 4th December 1642, three days before full moon. + Doctor Harvey, 30th June 1657, a few hours before the new moon. + Oliver Cromwell, 3rd September 1658, two days after full moon. + Milton, 15th November 1674, two days before the new moon. + Sydenham, 29th December 1689, two days before the full moon. + Locke, 28th November 1704, two days before the full moon. + Queen Anne, 1st August 1714, two days after the full moon. + Louis XIV, 1st September 1715, a few hours before the full moon. + Marlborough, 16th June 1722, two days before the full moon. + Newton, 20th March 1726, two days before the new moon. + George I, 11th June 1727, three days after new moon. + George II, 25th October 1760, one day after full moon. + Sterne, 13th September 1768, two days after new moon. + Whitfield, 18th September 1770, a few hours before the new moon. + Swedenburg, 19th March 1772, the day of the full moon. + Linnaeus, 10th January 1778, two days before the full moon. + The Earl of Chatham, 11th May 1778, the day of the full moon. + Rousseau, 2nd July 1778, the day after the first quarter. + Garrick, 20th January 1779, three days after the new moon. + Dr. Johnson, 14th December 1784, two days after the new moon. + Dr. Franklin, 17th April 1790, three days after the new moon. + Sir Joshua Reynolds, 23rd February 1792, the day after the new moon. + Lord Guildford, 5th August 1722, three days after the full moon. + Dr. Warren, 23rd June 1797, a day before the new moon. + Burke, 9th July 1797, at the instant of the full moon. + Macklin, 11th July 1797, two days after full moon. + Wilkes, 26th December 1797, the day of the first quarter. + Washington, 15th December 1799, three days after full moon. + Sir W. Hamilton, 6th April 1803, a few hours before the full moon. + +The doctor winds up this extract from the bills of mortality by the +following appropriate remark: "Here we see the moon, as she shines on all +alike, so she makes no distinction of persons in her influence: + + "------aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas, + Regumque turres." + HOR. Lib. i. Od. 4. + +Not only did the ancients consider the animal creation as constantly under +planetary influence, but all vegetable productions and medicinal +substances were subject to its laws. The Druids of Gaul and Britain +gathered the famed misletoe with a golden knife when the moon was six days +old. The vervain, held in such high repute by the Romans, was gathered, +after libations of honey and wine, at the rising of the dog-star, and with +the left hand, and thus collected served, for various sacerdotal and +medical purposes: its branches were employed to sweep the temples of +Jupiter; it was used in exorcisms for sprinkling lustral water; and +moreover it cured fevers, the bite of venomous reptiles, and appeased +discord; hence it was borne by those heralds who were sent to sue for +peace, and called _verbenarii_; and when its benign powers were shed over +the festive board, mirth and good temper were sure to prevail. So +generally and so highly appreciated was this all-powerful plant, that +Pliny tells us, + + Nulla herba Romanae nobilitatis plus habet quam hierabotane. + +However, it is somewhat doubtful whether the vervain of the ancients was +similar to the plant which now bears that name. It would appear that +formerly the appellation of _verbenae_ or _sagmina_ was given to various +plants employed in religious ceremonies: and branches of pine-tree, of +laurel, and of myrtle were sometimes thus denominated. Virgil says in his +Eclogues, + + Verbenasque adole pingues, et mascula thura. + +Now the epithets of _pingues_ and _thura_ cannot apply to our vervain, but +to some resinous production. + +Medicine at that period might have been called an astronomic science; +every medicinal substance was under a specific influence, and to this day +the R which precedes prescriptions, and is admitted to represent the first +letter of _recipe_, was in fact the symbol of Jupiter, under whose +special protection medicines were exhibited. Every part of the body was +then considered under the influence of the zodiacal constellations, and +Manilius gives us the following description of their powers: + + Namque Aries capiti, Taurus cervicibus haeret; + Brachia sub Geminis censentur, pectora Cancro; + Te, scapulae, Nemaee, vocant, teque ilia, Virgo; + Libra colit clunes, et Scorpius inguine regnat; + Et femur Arcitenens, genua et Capricornus amavit; + Cruraque defendit Juvenis, vestigia, Pisces. + _Astronomicon_, lib. 1. + + + + +SPECTACLES. + + +The origin of these valuable instruments is uncertain: that the ancients +were acquainted with the laws of refraction is beyond all doubt, since +they made use of glass globes filled with water to produce combustion; and +in Seneca we find the following very curious passage--"Litterae, quamvis +minutiae et obscurae, per vitream pilam aqua plenam majores clarioresque +cernuntur;" yet thirteen centuries elapsed ere spectacles were known. It +is supposed that they were first invented by _Salvino_ or _Salvinio +Armati_; but he kept his discovery secret, until Alessandro de Spina, a +monk in Pisa, brought them into use in 1313. Salvino was considered their +inventor, from the epitaph on his tomb in the cathedral church in +Florence: "Qui giace Salvino d'Armato, degl' Armati di Firenze, inventor +delli occhiali, &c., 1317." Another circumstance seems to add weight to +this presumption: _Luigi Sigoli_, a contemporary artist, in a painting of +the Circumcision, represents the high-priest Simeon with a pair of +spectacles, which, from his advanced age, it was supposed he might have +needed on the occasion. + + + + +LEECHES. + + +The origin of their introduction in the practice of medicine is uncertain. +They were well known to the ancients under the name of _hirudo_. Thus +Horace: + + Non missura cutem nisi plena cruoris hirudo. + +The Greeks called them [Greek: Boella], and Pliny states that elephants +were often cruelly tormented by them when they swallowed any of these +worms in their water: "Cruciatum in potu maximum sentiunt hausta hirudine, +quam sanguisugam vulgo coepisse appellari adverto." + +Leeches are oviparous, and their ova are discharged in one involucre near +the surface and margin of pools, and are hatched by the heat of the sun. +They do not cast their skin, as is generally supposed, but merely throw +off a tough slimy membrane, which appears to be produced by disease, and +from which they get disencumbered by straining themselves through grass +and rushes. During winter they remain in a torpid state. They are most +tenacious of life; some say they can live for several days in the +exhausted receiver of the air-pump, and in other media destructive of +other animals. This phenomenon is attributed to the slow oxygenation of +the blood in the respiratory vesicles. + +In regard to their food we are ignorant, although Dr. Johnson says that +they live by sucking the blood of fish and reptiles. + +The collection of leeches constitutes a lucrative trade on the Continent, +but more particularly in France, where it is called a leech-fishery, and +where, in Paris alone, three millions are annually consumed. The following +is an interesting description of the miserable people engaged in this +occupation from the _Gazette des Hopitaux_. + +"If ever you pass through La Brenne, you will see a man, pale and +straight-haired, with a woollen cap on his head, and his legs and arms +naked; he walks along the borders of a marsh, among the spots left dry by +the surrounding waters. This man is a leech-fisher. To see him from a +distance,--his wobegone aspect, his hollow eyes, his livid lips, his +singular gestures, you would take him for a maniac. If you observe him +every now and then raising his legs and examining them one after another, +you might suppose him a fool; but he is an intelligent leech-fisher. The +leeches attach themselves to his legs and feet as he moves among their +haunts; he feels their bite, and gathers them as they cluster about the +roots of the bulrushes and aquatic weeds, or beneath the stones covered +with a green and slimy moss. He may thus collect ten or twelve dozen in +three or four hours. In summer, when the leeches retire into deep water, +the fishers move about upon rafts made of twigs and rushes. One of these +traders was known to collect, with the aid of his children, seventeen +thousand five hundred leeches in the course of a few months; these he had +deposited in a reservoir, where, in night, they were all frozen _en +masse_." But congelation does not kill them, and they can easily be thawed +into life, by melting the ice that surrounds them. Leeches, it appears, +can bear much rougher usage than one might imagine: they are packed up +closely in wet bags, carried on pack-saddles, and it is well known that +they will attach themselves with more avidity when rubbed in a dry napkin +previous to their application. Leech-gatherers are in general short-lived, +and become early victims to agues, and other diseases brought on by the +damp and noxious air that constantly surrounds them; the effects of which +they seek to counteract by the use of strong liquors. + +Leeches kept in a glass bottle may serve as a barometer, as they +invariably ascend or descend in the water as the weather changes from dry +to wet, and they generally rise to the surface prior to a thunder-storm. +They are most voracious, and are frequently observed to destroy one +another by suction; the strong ones attaching themselves to the weaker. + +The quantity of blood drawn by leeches has been a subject of much +controversy; but it is pretty nearly ascertained that a healthy leech, +when fully gorged, has extracted about half an ounce. When they will not +readily fix, Dr. Johnson recommends that they be put into a cup of porter. +The cause of a leech falling off when full is not clearly ascertained, but +it is supposed to arise from a state of asphyxia brought on by the +compression of the breathing vesicles, and the distension of the +alimentary tube. + +Many serious accidents have arisen from leeches being swallowed in the +water of swamps and marshes, too frequently drunk with avidity by the +thirsty and exhausted soldier. Larrey mentions several cases of the kind +during the French campaign in Egypt, and two fatal instances fell under my +observation during the Peninsular war; draughts of salt water, vinegar, +and various stimulating injections could not loosen their hold, and they +were too deeply attached in the throat to be seized with a forceps. +Zacutus Lusitanus had witnessed the same unfortunate results. The leech +thus swallowed is generally the _hirudo Alpina_. + +Norfolk supplies the greater part of the leeches brought to London, but +they are also found in Kent, Suffolk, Essex, and Wales. The leeches +imported from France differ from ours, in having the belly of one uniform +colour. The best are the green, with yellow stripes along the body. The +horse-leech, which is used in the north of Europe, but also common in +England, is entirely brown, or only marked with a marginal yellow line. A +popular belief prevails, that the application of this variety is most +dangerous, as they are said to suck out all the blood in the body. + + + + +SOMNAMBULISM. + + +This singular aberration from our natural habits may be considered an +intermediate state between sleeping and being awake. This infraction of +physiologic laws may therefore be looked upon as a morbid condition. +Physicians have given it various denominations, founded on its phenomena, +_nocti-vagatio_, _nocti-surgium_, _noct-ambulatio_, _somnus vigilans_, +_vigilia somnans_. Somnambulism was well known by the ancients; and +Aristotle tells us, "there are individuals who rise in their sleep, and +walk about seeing as clearly as those that are awake." + +Diogenes Laertius states that Theon the philosopher, was a sleep-walker. +Galen slept whilst on a road, and pursued his journey until he was +awakened by tripping on a stone. Felix Plater fell asleep while playing on +the lute, and was only startled from his slumbers by the fall of the +instrument. There is no doubt but that in somnambulists the intellectual +functions are not only active, but frequently more developed than when the +individual is awake. Persons in this state have been known to write and +correct verses, and solve difficult problems, which they could not have +done at other times. In their actions and locomotion they are more +cautious, and frequently more dexterous, than when awake. They have been +known to saddle and bridle horses, after having dressed themselves; put on +boots and spurs, and afterwards ride considerable distances from home and +back again. A sleep-walker wandering abroad in winter complained of being +frozen, and asked for a glass of brandy, but expressed violent anger on +being offered a glass of water. The celebrated sect of _Tremblers_, in the +Cevennes mountains, used to rove about in their sleep, and, although badly +acquainted with the French language, expressed themselves clearly and put +up prayers in that tongue, instead of the Latin _Pater_ and _Credo_ which +they had been taught. A singular phenomenon in some cases of this +affection is that of walking about without groping, whether the eyelids +are closed or open. Somnambulism has been known to be hereditary: Horstius +mentions three brothers who were affected with it at the same period; +Willis knew a whole family subject to it. It is not generally known that +the subject of the French dramatic piece called "La Somnambule" was +founded on fact. + +Singular faculties have been developed in the mental condition. Thus a +case is related of a woman in the Edinburgh infirmary, who during her +paroxysm not only mimicked the manner of the attendant physicians, but +repeated correctly some of their prescriptions in Latin. + +Dr. Dyce, of Aberdeen, describes the case of a girl, in which this +affection began with fits of somnolency, which came upon her suddenly +during the day, and from which she could at first be roused by shaking or +by being taken into the open air. During these attacks she was in the +habit of talking of things that seemed to pass before her like a dream, +and was not at the time sensible of any thing that was said to her. On one +occasion she repeated the entire of the baptismal service of the Church of +England, and concluded with an extemporary prayer. In her subsequent +paroxysms she began to understand what was said to her, and to answer with +a considerable degree of consistency, though these replies were in a +certain measure influenced by her hallucination. She also became capable +of following her usual employment during the paroxysm. At one time she +would lay out the table for breakfast, and repeatedly dress herself and +the children, her eyes remaining shut the whole time. The remarkable +circumstance was now discovered, that, during the paroxysm, she had a +distinct recollection of what had taken place in former attacks, though +she had not the slightest recollection of it during the intervals. She was +taken to church during the paroxysm, and attended the service with +apparent devotion, and at one time was so affected by the sermon that she +actually shed tears; yet in the interval she had no recollection whatever +of the circumstance, but in the following paroxysm she gave a most +distinct account of it, and actually repeated the passage of the sermon +that had so much affected her. This sort of somnambulism, relating +distinctly to two periods, has been called, perhaps erroneously, a _state +of double consciousness_. + +This girl described the paroxysm as coming on with a dimness of sight and +a noise in the head. During the attack, her eyelids were generally half +shut, and frequently resembled those of a person labouring under +amaurosis, the pupil dilated and insensible. Her looks were dull and +vacant, and she often mistook the person who was speaking to her. The +paroxysms usually lasted an hour, but she often could be roused from them. +She then yawned and stretched herself like a person awakening from sleep, +and instantly recognised those about her. At one time Dr. Dyce affirms, +she read distinctly a portion of a book presented to her, and she would +frequently sing pieces of music more correctly and with better taste than +when awake. + +In illustration of the phenomena of the preceding case, Dr. Abercrombie +gives the following very curious history: "A girl, aged seven years, an +orphan of the lowest rank, residing in the house of a farmer, by whom she +was employed in tending cattle, was accustomed to sleep in an apartment +separated by a very thin partition from one which was frequently occupied +by an itinerant fiddler. This person was a musician of very considerable +skill, and often spent a part of the night in performing pieces of a +refined description; but his performance was not taken notice of by the +child, except as a disagreeable noise. After a residence of six months in +this family she fell into bad health, and was removed to the house of a +benevolent lady, where, on her recovery after a protracted illness, she +was employed as a servant. Some years after she came to reside with this +lady, the most beautiful music was often heard in the house during the +night, which excited no small interest and wonder in the family; and many +a waking hour was spent in endeavours to discover the invisible minstrel. +At length the sound was traced to the sleeping-room of the girl, who was +found fast asleep, but uttering from her lips a sound exactly resembling +the sweetest tones of a small violin. On further observation it was found, +that after being about two hours in bed, she became restless and began to +mutter to herself; she then uttered sounds precisely resembling the tuning +of a violin, and at length, after some prelude, dashed off into an +elaborate piece of music, which she performed in a clear and accurate +manner, and with a sound exactly resembling the most delicate modulation +of the instrument, and then began exactly where she had stopped in the +most correct manner. These paroxysms occurred at irregular intervals, +varying from one to fourteen and even twenty nights; and they were +generally followed by a degree of fever and pain over various parts of the +body. + +"After a year or two, her music was not confined to the imitation of the +violin, but was often exchanged for that of a piano, of a very old +description, which she was accustomed to hear in the house in which she +now lived, and then she would begin to sing, imitating exactly the voices +of several ladies of the family. + +"In another year from this time she began to talk a great deal in her +sleep, in which she fancied herself instructing a young companion. She +often descanted with the utmost fluency and correctness on a variety of +subjects, both political and religious, the men of the day, the historical +parts of Scripture, public characters, and particularly the character of +the members of the family and their visiters. In these discussions she +showed the most wonderful discrimination, often combined with sarcasm, and +astonishing powers of mimickry. Her language through the whole was fluent +and correct, and her illustrations often forcible and even eloquent. She +was fond of illustrating her subjects by what she called _a fable_, and in +these, her imagery was both appropriate and correct. The justice and truth +of her remarks on all subjects, excited the utmost astonishment in those +who were acquainted with her limited means of acquiring information. + +"She had been known to conjugate correctly Latin verbs, which she had +probably heard in the school room of the family, and she was once heard to +speak several sentences very correctly in French, at the same time stating +that she had heard them from a foreign gentleman whom she had met +accidentally in a shop. Being questioned on this subject when awake, she +remembered having seen the gentleman, but could not repeat a word of what +he had said. + +"During her paroxysms it was almost impossible to awake her, and when her +eyelids were raised and a candle brought near the eye, the pupil seemed +insensible to the light. For several years she was, during the paroxysm, +entirely unconscious of the presence of other persons, but about the age +of sixteen, she began to observe those who were in the apartment, and she +could tell correctly their number though the utmost care was taken to have +the room darkened. She now also became capable of answering questions that +were put to her, and of noticing remarks made in her presence, and, with +regard to both, she showed astonishing acuteness. Her observations indeed +were often of such a nature, and corresponded so accurately with character +and events, that, by the country people, she was believed to be endowed +with supernatural power. + +"During the whole period of this remarkable affection, which seems to have +gone on for at least ten or eleven years, she was, when awake, a dull +awkward girl, very slow in receiving any kind of instruction, though much +care was bestowed upon her; and in point of intellect, she was much +inferior to the other servants of the family. In particular, she showed no +kind of turn for music. She did not appear to have any recollection of +what passed in her sleep; but during her nocturnal ramblings, she was more +than once heard to lament her infirmity of speaking in her sleep, adding +how fortunate it was she did not sleep among the other servants, as they +teased her enough about it as it was. + +"About the age of twenty-one she became immoral in her conduct, and was +dismissed the family. Her propensity to talk in her sleep continued to the +time of her dismissal, but a great change had taken place in her nocturnal +conversation. It had gradually lost its acuteness and brilliancy, and +latterly became the mere babbling of a vulgar mind, often mingled with +insolent remarks against her superiors, and the most profane scoffing at +morality and religion. It is believed that she afterwards became insane." + +To what serious reflections does not this curious history give rise. Here +there did unquestionably exist a double existence. The one a relative +being surrounded with the realities of life; the other a natural +condition, unshackled by constraint, and left entirely to the wild +enjoyment of a luxuriant fancy and an apprehension quick and brilliant. In +the former, the young creature found herself derided and degraded by her +vulgar companions; her generous infirmities, if such they may be called, +made the subject of low ribaldy. In her second existence, she became the +free child of nature. + +Might not proper care have saved this interesting creature from misery! +It is admitted that "much care had been bestowed upon her instruction," +but was she withdrawn from the low circle that surrounded her and placed +in a society where, in her waking hours, she could have derived those +advantages of a superior intercourse, which might have worked upon her +vivid imagination as powerfully as the melodious sounds she had heard at +other times? "She became immoral--scoffed at religion"--_in her sleep_. +She was then in a state of nature; unconscious, to a certain extent, of +immorality and religion, although conscious, no doubt, of relative good +and evil. Is it not more than probable that when awake, not only were her +ears assailed by profane and improper language, but is it not most likely +that her ruin was perpetrated during her visionary slumbers, and ever +after visited her mind during her paroxysms? Nor is it improbable that her +affections had been bestowed upon her despoiler. Instead of being +dismissed and cast upon the wide world, helpless, stigmatized, perhaps, +with the odious epithet of witch--for we have seen that the lower order +considered her such--might not a friendly hand have secured her in an +abode where she might have been invited _to_ COME _and sin no more_! Alas! +no wonder that the poor creature should have become insane! It is said +that she was obtuse in intellect when awake. May not this be accounted for +in some measure, by the exhaustion of her mental faculties during her +paroxysms? It is to be lamented that the learned and philosophic Dr. +Abercrombie, who has given this history, did not comment upon it. True +Christianity and its benevolence breath in every line of the eloquent +writer, and the poor Scotch _lassie_ might have afforded him a valuable +theme. How proud would any humane person have felt in making this +interesting object of pity what she might have been! + +Dr. Dewar also relates the case of an ignorant servant-girl, who, during +the paroxysm of somnambulism, showed an astonishing knowledge of geography +and astronomy, and expressed herself, in her own language, in a manner +which, though often ludicrous, showed an understanding of the subject. The +alteration of the seasons, for example, she explained by saying the world +was set _a gee_. + +In many cases of somnambulism the sleeper is able to continue the +occupation that he had previously carried on. Martinet mentions a +watchmaker's apprentice, whose paroxysm came on once in the fortnight, and +commenced in a sensation of heat ascending to the heart. This was followed +by a confusion of thought and insensibility. His eyes were open, but +fixed and vacant, and he was totally insensible to every thing around him. +Yet he continued his usual employment, and was always much surprised when +he awoke to find the progress that had taken place in his work. This case +ended in epilepsy. + +Horstius, whom we have already quoted, tells us of a noble youth of +Breslau, living in the citadel, who used to steal out of a window during +his sleep, muffled up in his cloak, and ascend the roof of the building, +where one night he tore in pieces a magpie's nest, wrapped up the little +ones in his cloak, and returned to bed. The following morning he mentioned +the circumstance as having occurred in a dream, but could not be persuaded +of the reality of the circumstance till the magpies in the cloak were +shown to him. + +Dr. Abercrombie has given a very remarkable case of a young woman of low +rank, who, at the age of 19, became insane, but was gentle, and applied +herself eagerly to various occupations. Before her insanity she had been +only learning to read and to form a few letters; but during her lunacy she +taught herself to write perfectly, though all attempts of others had +failed; she had intervals of reason, which frequently continued three +weeks and sometimes longer. During these she could neither read nor write, +but immediately on the return of her insanity, she recovered the power of +writing and reading. + +The faculty of conversing in a state of somnambulism is too well +authenticated to be doubted, although in many instances it may have been a +fraudulent trick of animal magnetism. This singular power has been +recorded by several of the ancient writers, many of whom pretended that +divine inspiration illumined the sleepers. Cicero tells us that when the +Lacedaemonian magistrates were embarrassed in their administration, they +went to sleep in the temple of Pasiphae, thus named from _Pasi phainein_, +or "communicative to all." Strabo mentions a cavern, sacred to Pluto and +Juno, where the sick came to consult sleeping priests. Aristides is said +to have delivered his opinion while fast asleep in the temple of +Aesculapius. It would be endless to quote all the authorities on this +subject. Modern magnetisers, however, outstrip the ancients in the wonders +they relate in regard to somnambulent faculties developed by magnetism. In +1829, Cloquet, a very distinguished Parisian surgeon, assisted by Dr. +Chapelain, removed the cancerous breast of a lady in her magnetic sleep, +during which she continued her conversation, unconscious of the operation, +which lasted twelve minutes. + +The faculty of seeing through the closed eyelids was fully substantiated +in the presence of a commission of investigation appointed by the Academy +of Medicine of Paris, and in the presence of fifteen persons. They found a +somnambulist, of the name of Paul, to all appearance fast asleep. On being +requested to rise and approach the window, he complied immediately. His +eyes were then covered in such a manner as not to awaken him, and a pack +of cards having been shuffled by several persons, he recognised them +without the slightest hesitation. Watches were then shown him, and he +named the hour and minute, though the hands were repeatedly altered. A +book was then presented to him,--it happened to be a collection of +operas,--and he read _Cantor et Pollux_ instead of _Castor et Pollux, +Tragedie Lyrique_: a volume of Horace was then submitted to him, but not +knowing Latin, he returned it, saying, "This is some church-book." The +celebrated Dr. Broussais laid before the same somnambulist a letter he had +drawn from his pocket; to his utter surprise he read the first lines: the +doctor then wrote a few words on a piece of paper in very small +characters, which the somnambulist also read with the utmost facility; +but, what was still more singular, when letters or books were applied to +his breast, or between the shoulders, he also perused them with equal +accuracy and ease. In one instance the queen of clubs was presented to his +back; after a moment's hesitation he said, "This a club--the nine;" he was +informed that he was in error, when he recovered himself and said, "No, +'tis the queen:" a ten of spades was then applied, when he hastily +exclaimed, "At any rate this is not a court-card; it is--the ten of +spades." + +The many astute tricks played by animal magnetisers, and frequently +detected, naturally induced most persons to doubt the veracity of these +experiments; but when we find that they were witnessed by seventy-eight +medical men, most of them decidedly hostile to magnetism, and sixty-three +intelligent individuals not belonging to the profession, and in every +respect disinterested, what are we to say?--perhaps, exclaim with Hamlet, + + There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, + Than are dreamt of in your philosophy! + +I cannot better conclude this article than by the following quotation from +Dr. Pritchard's valuable work:[8] "There is an obvious relation between +the state of the faculties in somnambulism and that which exists during +dreams. It is indeed probable that somnambulism is dreaming in a manner so +modified, that the will recovers its usual power over muscular motion, and +likewise becomes endued with a peculiar control over the organs of sense +and perception. This power, which gives rise to the most curious phenomena +of somnambulism, is of such a kind, that, while the senses are in general +obscured, as in sleep, and all other objects are unperceived, the +somnambulator manifests a faculty of seeing, feeling, or otherwise +discovering those particular objects of which he is in pursuit, towards +which his attention is by inward movement directed, or with which the +internal operations of his mind bring him into relation. As in dreams, so +likewise in somnambulism the individual is intent on the pursuit of +objects towards which his mind had been previously directed in a powerful +manner, and his attention strongly roused; he is in both states impelled +by habit, under the influence of which he repeats the routine of his daily +observances. A somnambulator is a dreamer who is able to act his dreams." + + + + +MEDICAL POWERS OF MUSIC. + + +The powerful influence of music on our intellectual faculties, and +consequently on our health, has long been ascertained, either in raising +the energies of the mind, or producing despondency and melancholy +associations of ideas. Impressed with its sublime nature, the ancients +gave it a divine origin. Diodorus tells us that it was a boon bestowed on +mankind after the deluge, and owed its discovery to the sound produced by +the wind when whistling through the reeds that grew on the banks of the +Nile. This science became the early study of philosophers and physicians. +Herophilus explained the alterations of the pulse by the various modes and +rhythms of music. In the sacred writings we have many instances of its +influence in producing an aptitude for divine consolation. The derangement +of Saul yielded to the harp of David, and the hand of the Lord came upon +Elisha as the minstrel played. In Egypt certain songs were legally +ordained in the education of youth, to promote virtue and morality. +Polybius assures us that music was required to soften the manners of the +Arcadians, whose climate was heavy and impure; while the inhabitants of +Cynaethe, who neglected this science, were the most barbarous in Greece. +The medical power of harmonious sounds was also fully admitted. We find +Pythagoras directing certain mental disorders to be treated by music. +Thales, called from Crete to Sparta, cured a disastrous pestilence by its +means. Martinus Capella affirms that fevers were thus removed. Xenocrates +cured maniacs by melodious sounds, and Asclepiades conquered deafness with +a trumpet. In modern times it has been related of a deaf lady that she +could only hear while a drum was beating, and a drummer was kept in the +house for the purpose of enabling her to converse. Aulus Gellius tells us +that a case of sciatica was cured by gentle modulations, and Theophrastus +maintains that the bites of serpents and other venomous reptiles can be +relieved by similar means. Ancient physicians, who attributed many +diseases to the influence of evil spirits, fancied that harmonious sounds +drove them away, more especially when accompanied by incantations; and we +find in Luther, "that music is one of the most beautiful and glorious +gifts of God, to which Satan is a bitter enemy." + +In more modern times we have several instances of the medical powers of +music, and the effect produced by Farinelli on Philip of Spain is well +known. This monarch was in such a deplorable state of despondency from ill +health, that he refused to be shaved or to appear in public. On the +arrival of Farinelli, the Queen was resolved to try the power of music, +and a concert was ordered in a room adjoining the King's chamber: +Farinelli sang two of his best airs,[9] which so overcame Philip that he +desired he might be brought into his presence, when he promised to grant +him any reasonable request he might make. The performer, in the most +respectful manner, then begged of the King to allow himself to be shaved +and attended by his domestics, to which Philip consented. Farinelli +continued to sing to him daily until a perfect cure was effected.--The +story of Tartini is rather curious: in a moment of musical enthusiasm he +fell asleep, when the devil appeared to him playing on the violin, bidding +him with a horrible grin to play as well as he did; struck with the +vision, the musician awoke, ran to his harpsichord, and produced the +splendid sonata which he entitled "_the Devil's_." Brueckmann, and Hufeland +relate cases of St. Vitus's dance, cured by music, which, according to +Desessarts, also relieved Catalepsy. Schneider and Becker have ascertained +its influence in hysteric and hypochondriac affections. + +The following curious case is recorded by Paret:--"Une jeune fille +d'environ 11 ans, fort prematuree relativement aux facultes, ayant le +genre nerveux tres sensible et tres irritable, fut attaquee, il y a +environ deux ans, de douleurs violentes dans tout le corps, avec insomnie, +tension excessive et fort douleureuse des muscles de l'abdomen, +accompagnee de fievre. Deux ans apres, des convulsions se declarerent, +avec une violence qui surpassa tout ce que je craignais; les bonds, les +elans, furent, pendant quatre or cinq jours et autant de nuits, si forts, +qu'il fallait deux hommes pour retenir dans le lit la jeune personne, +d'ailleurs faible et delicate. Enfin, je proposai d'employer la musique. +On fit, en consequence, entrer deux menestriers, disposes a donner leur +premier coup d'archet; a l'instant de leur apparition les convulsions +cesserent d'abord et-reparurent peu de tems apres: on changea d'air, et +les convulsions cesserent encore pour reparaitre, aussi au troisieme air, +qui sans doute se trouva plus au gout de la malade, elle demanda un +violon, qu'on lui donna, et quoiqu'elle n'eut jamais fait d'autre essai, +son oeil fixe sur les joueurs, son attention fut si grande, et ses +mouvemens si rapides, qu'elle suivait ceux des menetriers sans causer +aucune discordance. Des connaisseurs ne pouvaient s'empecher de convenir +de la justesse et de la precision qu'elle observait. Son oreille etait +meme si delicate, qu'elle faisait des reproches aux menetriers, qui, +obliges de jouer une grande partie de la nuit, se trouvaient eux-memes +dans le cas de manquer de mesure. + +La petite malade continua de jouer pendant plus de 30 heures de suite, +sans autre interruption que celle qu'il fallait pour prendre ses +bouillons, et dans ce court intervalle on voyait les contractions des +tendons se renouveller, quoique moins fortes. Les musiciens fatigues, elle +se contenta de la voix, qu'elle accompagna de son instrument. Au bout de +ce terme, un sommeil de six ou sept heures, qui vint tres naturellement, +produisit une augmentation de calme. Au reveil, on varia les exercices, et +ainsi se termina la scene qui avait dure 48 heures, apres laquelle les +convulsions cesserent totalement. Trois jours apres, la malade se trouva +parfaitement bien; et ne restait que des convulsions tres faibles, et la +maladie se termina apres trois mois de duree." + +A still more singular effect of music is related by Roger in the case of a +poor wretch broken upon the wheel. In his agonies he blasphemed in the +most fearful manner, and cordially damned the spiritual comforter who +sought to reconcile him to his sufferings. Some itinerant musicians +chanced to pass by, they were stopped by the priest and requested to play +to the patient, when to the surprise of all around, he seemed relieved, +and became so tranquil, that he attended with calm resignation to their +exhortations, confessed his manifold offences, and died like a good +Christian. + +Rousseau, who entertained a sovereign contempt for French music, observes, +that the _Cantates_ of Bernier cured the fever of a French musician, while +they most probably would have given a fever to a musician of any other +country. + +This remark of Rousseau reminds me of the French philosophical traveller +(I believe it was Diderot), who on his journey to London from Dover, while +horses were changing, had the curiosity to see a sick ostler with a raging +fever attended by a country practitioner, who, despairing most probably of +his patient, said, that he might be allowed to eat any thing he wished +for. The man asked for a red-herring, which was forthwith given to him. +Our tourist, generalizing like most of his brethren, immediately noted in +his diary--_English Physicians allow red-herrings to fever patients_. + +Some months after he changed horses at the same inn, and asked how long +the unfortunate creature had survived his herring, when, to his utter +surprise, he was informed that the hale, hearty fellow who was bringing +out the relays, was the very man. He of course pulled out his journal and +entered--_red-herrings cure the fever of Englishmen_. + +Our traveller crossed over, and having accidentally seen in a French inn a +poor devil whose case appeared to him similar to the sturdy ostler, he +ventured to prescribe a similar remedy, which the patient only survived an +hour or two; when his death was announced, he philosophically shrugged up +his shoulders, and wrote in his book--_Though red-herrings cure fevers in +England, they most decidedly kill in France_. + +Mad musicians seem to be more mad than others; for Fodere gives us the +following strange account of some of them. "Les plus grands musiciens ne +reconnaissent souvent plus leurs instruments: l'un prenant son violon, que +je lui avais mis dans les mains, pour un vase de nuit, et un autre prenant +sa flute pour un sabre, et voulait m'en frapper." + +We, however, frequently meet with lunatics who, although they have no +remembrance of the past circumstances of their life, recollect and perform +airs which they had formerly played. + +Various well-authenticated cases lead us to suppose, that a sensibility to +music long latent may be called into action by accidental circumstances. A +case is on record of a countrywoman, twenty-eight years of age, who had +never left her village, but was, by mere chance, present at a _fete_ where +a concert was performed, and dancing to a full band afterwards followed. +She was delighted with the novelty of the scene; but, the _fete_ +concluded, she could not dismiss from her mind the impression the music +had produced. Whether she was at her meals, her devotions, her daily +occupation, or in her bed,--still, or moving about,--the airs she had +heard, and in the succession in which they had been performed, were ever +present to her recollection. To sleep she became a stranger,--every +function became gradually deranged, and six short months terminated her +existence, not having for one moment lost this strange sensation; and +during this sad period, when any false note on the violin was purposely +drawn, she would hold her head with both hands, and exclaim, "Oh! what a +horrible note! it tears my brain!" + +Sir Henry Halford relates the case of a man in Yorkshire, who after severe +misfortunes lost his senses, and was placed in a lunatic asylum. There, in +a short time, the use of the violin gradually restored him to his +intellects; so promptly, indeed, that six weeks after the experiment, on +hearing the inmates of the establishment passing by, he said, "Good +morning, gentlemen; I am quite well, and shall be most happy to accompany +you." + +Curious anecdotes are related of the effect of music upon animals. +Marville has given the following amusing account of his experiments. +"While a man was playing on a trump-marine, I made my observations on a +cat, a dog, a horse, an ass, a hind, some cows, small birds, and a cock +and hens, who were in a yard under the window: the cat was not the least +affected; the horse stopped short from time to time, raising his head up +now and then as he was feeding on the grass; the dog continued for above +an hour seated on his hind-legs, looking steadfastly at the player; the +ass did not discover the least indication of his being touched, eating his +thistles peaceably; the hind lifted up her large wide ears, and seemed +very attentive; the cows slept a little, and, after gazing at us, went +forward; some little birds that were in an aviary, and others on trees and +bushes, almost tore their little throats with singing; but the cock, who +minded only his hens, and the hens, who were solely employed in scraping +a neighbouring dunghill, did not show in any manner that the trump-marine +afforded them pleasure." That dogs have an ear for music cannot be +doubted: Steibelt had one which evidently knew one piece of music from the +other: and a modern composer, my friend, Mr. Nathan, had a pug-dog that +frisked merrily about the room when a lively piece was played, but when a +slow melody was performed, particularly Dussek's Opera 15, he would seat +himself down by the piano, and prick up his ears with intense attention +until the player came to the forty-eighth bar; as the discord was struck, +he would yell most piteously, and with drooping tail seek refuge from the +unpleasant sound under the chairs or tables.[10] + +Eastcot relates that a hare left her retreat to listen to some choristers +who were singing on the banks of the Mersey, retiring whenever they ceased +singing, and reappearing as they recommenced their strains. Bossuet +asserts, that an officer confined in the Bastille drew forth mice and +spiders to beguile his solitude with his flute; and a mountebank in Paris +had taught rats to dance on the rope in perfect time. Chateaubriand states +as a positive fact, that he has seen the rattlesnakes in Upper Canada +appeased by a musician; and the concert given in Paris to two elephants in +the Jardin des Plantes leaves no doubt in regard to the effect of harmony +on the brute creation. Every instrument seemed to operate distinctly as +the several modes of pieces were slow or lively, until the excitement of +these intelligent creatures had been carried to such an extent that +further experiments were deemed dangerous. + +The associations produced by national airs, and illustrated by the effect +of the _Rans des Vaches_ upon the Swiss, are too well known to be related; +and the _mal de pays_, or _nostalgia_, is an affection aggravated by the +fond airs of infancy and youth during the sad hours of emigration, when +the aching heart lingers after home and early ties of friendship and of +love. It is somewhat singular, but this disease is frequent among soldiers +in countries where they are forcibly made to march: but is seldom, if +ever, observed in the fair sex, who most probably seek for admiration in +every clime, and are reconciled by flattery to any region. + +The whims of musical composers have often been most singular; Gluck +composed in a garden, quaffing champaign; Sarti, in a dark room; +Paesiello, in his bed; Sacchini, with a favourite cat perched upon each +shoulder. The extraordinary fancies of Kutswara, composer of the "Battle +of Prague," are too well known, and led to his melancholy, but unpitied +end. + +Great as the repute of the most popular musical performers, whether vocal +or instrumental, in the present day may be, and enormous as their +remuneration may seem, the ancients were more profuse in their generosity +to musicians and the factors of musical instruments. Plutarch, in his life +of Isocrates, tells us that he was the son of Theodorus, a flute-maker, +who had realized so large a fortune by his business, that he was able to +vie with the richest Athenian citizens in keeping up the chorus for his +tribe at festivals and religious ceremonies. Ismenias, the celebrated +musician of Thebes, gave three talents, or 581_l._ 5_s._ for a flute. The +extravagance of this performer was so great, that Pliny informs us he was +indignant at one of his agents for having purchased a valuable emerald for +him at Cyprus at too low a price, adding, that by his penurious conduct he +had disgraced the gem. The vanity of artists in those days appears to have +been similar to the present impudent pretensions of many public +favourites. Plutarch relates of this same Ismenias, that being sent for to +play at a sacrifice, and having performed for some time without the +appearance of any favourable omen in the victim, his employer snatched the +instrument out of his hand, and began to play himself most execrably. +However, the happy omen appeared, when the delighted bungler exclaimed +that the gods preferred his execution and taste. Ismenias cast upon him a +smile of contempt, and replied, "While _I_ played, the gods were so +enchanted that they deferred the omen to hear me the longer; but they were +glad to get rid of _you_ upon any terms." This was nearly as absurd as the +boast of Vestris, the Parisian dancer, who, on being complimented on his +powers of remaining long in the air, replied, "that he could figure in the +air for half an hour, did he not fear to create jealousy among his +comrades." + +Amoebaeus the harper, according to Athenaeus, used to receive an Attic +talent of 193_l._ 15_s._ for each performance. The beautiful Lamia, the +most celebrated female flute-player, had a temple dedicated to her under +the name of Venus Lamia. The _Tibicinae_, or female flute-players, who +formed collegiate bodies, were as celebrated for their talent and their +charms, as for their licentiousness and extravagance. Their performances +were forbidden by the Theodosian code, but with little success; since +Procopius informs us that, in the time of Justinian the sister of the +Empress Theodora, who was a renowned amateur _tibicina_, appeared on the +stage without any other dress than a slight and transparent scarf. + +In the early ages of Christianity, the power of music in adding to +religious solemnity was fully appreciated, and many of the fathers and +most distinguished prelates cultivated the auxiliary science. St. Gregory +expressly sent over Augustine the monk, with some singers, who entered the +city of Canterbury singing a litany in the Gregorian chant, which extended +the number of the four tones of St. Ambrose to eight. A school for church +music was established at Canterbury; and it was also taught in the diocese +of Durham and Weremouth. St. Dunstan was a celebrated musician, and was +accused of having invented a most wonderful magic harp; it was, perhaps, +to prove that the accusation was false, that he took the devil by the nose +with a pair of tongs. This ingenious saint is said to be the inventor of +organs, one of which he bestowed on the abbey of Malmesbury. It appears, +however, that instruments resembling the organ were known as early as 364, +and were described in a Greek epigram attributed to Julian the Apostate, +in which he says, "I beheld reeds of a new species, the growth of each +other, and a brazen soil; such as are not agitated by winds, but by a +blast that rushes from a leathern cavern beneath their roots; while a +robust mortal, running with swift fingers over the concordant keys, makes +them, as they smoothly dance, emit melodious sounds." + +The influence of music on the fair sex has long been acknowledged, and +this advantage has proved fatal to some artists who had recourse to its +fascinating powers; Mark Smeaton was involved in the misfortunes of Anne +Boleyn; Thomas Abel, who taught harmony to Catherine, met with a similar +fate, and David Rizzio was not more fortunate. They were, perhaps, too +much impressed with the ideas of Cloten: "I am advis'd to give her music +o' mornings; they say it will penetrate." + +It is worthy of remark, that no woman was ever known to excel in musical +composition, however brilliant her instrumental execution might have been. +The same observation has been made in regard to logical disquisitions. To +what are we to attribute this exception?--are we to consider these +delightful tormentors as essentially unharmonious and illogical? We leave +this important question to phrenologists. + + + + +THE FOOD OF MANKIND. ITS USE AND ABUSE. + + +Destined by Providence to wander over the globe, and to live in various +climes, man is essentially an omnivorous animal. According to the country +he inhabits, its productions and the nature of his pursuits, his mode of +living differs. The inhabitant of cold and sterile regions on the borders +of the ocean becomes ichthyophagous; and fish, fresh, dried, smoked, or +salted, is his principal nourishment. The bold huntsman lives upon the +game he pursues; while the nomadian shepherd, who tends his herd over +boundless steeps, supports himself on the milk of his flock. In warm +countries fruits and vegetables constitute the chief support of life; and +there the disciples of Pythagoras can luxuriate on the rich produce of a +bountiful soil, solely debarring themselves from beans, which, like all +flesh, they consider to have been created by putrefaction. What would +these good people have done among the Scythians and the Getae, who, +according to Sidonius Apollinaris, mingled blood and milk for food-- + + ------------------Solitosque cruentum + Lac potare Getas, ac pocula tingere venis; + +or the stunted natives of the arctic regions, who feed upon whales and +seals, drink deep potations of train-oil, and consider the warm blood of +the seal an exquisite beverage, dried herrings moistened with blubber a +dainty, and the flesh of the seal half frozen in snow during winter, or +half corrupted in the earth in summer, the most delicious morsel. The +semi-barbarous Russians, who during the late wars enjoyed the abundant +bills of fare of France and Italy, accustom themselves easily to this +disgusting diet on their return; and their troops, who live amongst the +Samoiedes, thrive uncommonly well on raw flesh and rein-deer blood. It is +in temperate regions that man displays his omnivorous propensities: there, +animal food can be abundantly procured; and every description of grain, +roots, and fruit, is easily cultivated. It is as we pass from these middle +climes towards the poles, that animal substances are more exclusively +consumed; and towards the equator that we enjoy refreshing fruits, and +nourishing roots and vegetables. So scarce is food in some desolate +tracts of the globe, that we find the wandering Indian satisfying his +cravings with earth and clay: and Humboldt informs us that the Ottomaques, +on the banks of the Mata and Oronoco, feed on a fat unctuous earth, in the +choice of which they display great epicurean skill, and which they knead +into balls of four or six inches in diameter, and bake slowly over the +fire. When about to be used, these clods are soaked in water, and each +individual consumes about a pound of them in the day; the only addition +which they occasionally make to this strange fare consists in small fish, +lizards, and fern-roots. + +The art of cookery has improved, no doubt, with the progressive advance +and development of our other institutions; and it seems to prove that the +employment of all kinds of food is as natural to man, as a stationary +uniformity and restriction of one species of aliment is to animals. A most +erroneous idea has prevailed regarding the use of animal food, which has +been considered as the best calculated to render mankind robust and +courageous. This is disproved by observation. The miserable and timid +inhabitants of Northern Europe and Asia are remarkable for their moral and +physical debility, although they chiefly live on fish or raw flesh; +whereas the athletic Scotch and Irish are certainly not weaker than their +English neighbours, though consuming but little meat. The strength and +agility of the negroes is well known, and the South Sea islanders can vie +in bodily exercises with our stoutest seamen. We have reason to believe, +that, at the most glorious periods of Grecian and Roman power, their +armies were principally subsisted upon bread, vegetables, and fruits. + +Man by his natural structure was created omnivorous, and there is no doubt +but that a judicious mixed alimentation is the best calculated to ensure +health and vigour, and enable the ambitious or the industrious wanderer to +spend his winters near the poles, colonize beneath the equator, or inhabit +regions where the hardiest of animals must starve and die. The teeth, the +jaws, all the digestive organs fit him for this mode of existence. There +is a curious passage in one of Dr. Franklin's letters in regard to wine: +he pleasantly observes, that the only animals created to drink water are +those who from their conformation are able to lap it on the surface of the +earth, whereas all those who can carry their hands to their mouth were +destined to enjoy the juice of the grape. + +The diversity of substances which we find in the catalogue of articles of +food is as great as the variety with which the art or the science of +cookery prepares them: the notions of the ancients on this most important +subject are worthy of remark. Their taste regarding meat was various. Beef +they considered the most substantial food; hence it constituted the chief +nourishment of their athletae. Camels' and dromedaries' flesh was much +esteemed, their heels most especially. Donkey-flesh was in high repute; +Maecenas, according to Pliny, delighted in it; and the wild ass, brought +from Africa, was compared to venison. In more modern times we find +Chancellor Dupret having asses fattened for his table. The hog and the +wild boar appear to have been held in great estimation; and a hog was +called "animal propter convivia natum;" but the classical portion of the +sow was somewhat singular--"vulva nil dulcius ampla." Their mode of +killing swine was as refined in barbarity as in epicurism. Plutarch tells +us that the gravid sow was actually trampled to death, to form a delicious +mass fit for the gods. At other times, pigs were slaughtered with red-hot +spits, that the blood might not be lost; stuffing a pig with asafoetida +and various small animals, was a luxury called "porcus Trojanus;" +alluding, no doubt, to the warriors who were concealed in the Trojan +horse. Young bears, dogs, and foxes, (the latter more esteemed when fed +upon grapes,) were also much admired by the Romans; who were also so fond +of various birds, that some consular families assumed the names of those +they most esteemed. Catius tells us how to drown fowls in Falernian wine, +to render them more luscious and tender. Pheasants were brought over from +Colchis, and deemed at one time such a rarity, that one of the Ptolemies +bitterly lamented his having never tasted any. Peacocks were carefully +reared in the island of Samos, and sold at such a high price, that Varro +informs us they fetched yearly upwards of 2000_l._ of our money. The +guinea-fowl was considered delicious; but, wretched people! the Romans +knew not the turkey, a gift which we moderns owe to the Jesuits. Who could +vilify the disciples of Loyola after this information! The ostrich was +much relished; Heliogabalus delighted in their brains, and Apicius +especially commends them. But, of all birds, the flamingo was not only +esteemed as a _bonne-bouche_, but was most valuable after dinner; for, +when the gluttonous sensualists had eaten too much, they introduced one of +its long scarlet feathers down their throats, to disgorge their dinner. +The modern gastronome is perhaps not aware that it is to the ancients he +owes his delicious fattened duck and goose livers,--the inestimable _foies +gras_ of France. Thus Horace: + + Pinguibus et ficis pastum jecur anseris albi. + +The swan was also fattened by the Romans, who first deprived it of sight; +and cranes were by no means despised by people of taste. In later days the +swan seems to have been in great estimation in our own country. We find in +the Northumberland household book that in one year twenty of these birds +were consumed at the earl's table. + +While the feathered creation was doomed to form part of ancient delights, +the waters yielded their share of enjoyments, and several fishes were +immortalized. The _muraena Helena_ was educated in their ponds, and +rendered so tame that he came to be killed at the tinkling of his master's +bell or the sound of his voice. + + Natat ad magistrum delicta muraena, + +says Martial. Hirtius ceded six thousand of these fish to Caesar as a great +favour, and Vitellius delighted in their roe. The fame of the lamprey, +_mustela_ of Ausonius and Pliny, is generally known; and the sturgeon, the +_acipenser sturio_, was brought to table with triumphant pomp: but the +turbot, one of which was brought to Domitian from Ancona, was considered +such a present from the gods, that this emperor assembled the senate to +admire it. Soles were also so delectable that punning on the word _solea_, +they were called the _soles_ of the gods: the dorad, _sparus auratus_, was +consecrated to Venus; the _labrus scarus_ was called the brain of Jupiter, +and Apuleius and Epicharmus maintain that its very entrails would be +relished in Olympus. + +To these dainties may be added the _Alphestae_, a fish always caught in +pairs from their eagerness to be eaten. The _Amia_ so very delicious that +the Athenians defied the worst cook to spoil them. The _Gnaphius_ that +imparted to the water that had had the honour to boil them, the facility +of taking out all stains. The _Pompilus_ which sprang with Venus from the +blood of the sky. The fish called _fox_ by the Rhodians, and _dog_ by the +Boeotians, was considered such a dainty that Archestratus recommended +epicures to steal them if they could not procure them by honest means; +adding, that all calamities should be considered immaterial after a man +had once feasted on such a luscious morsel, too divine to be gazed upon +by vulgar eyes, and which ought to be procured by the wealthy, if they did +not wish to incur the wrath of the gods, for not appreciating at its true +value the flower of their nectar. Eels were also highly esteemed by the +ancients. The preference being given to the _Copaic_, which the +Boeotians offered to the gods crowned with flowers, giving them the same +rank among fish that Helen held amongst women. + +The _garum_, or celebrated fish-sauce of the Romans, was principally made +out of the _sciaena umbra_, and the mackerel; the entrails and blood being +macerated in brine until they became putrid. + + Expirantis adhuc scombri, de sanguine primo + Accipe fastosum munera cara garum:-- + +thus says Martial: and Galen affirms that this disgusting preparation was +so precious, that a measure of about three or four pints fetched two +thousand silver pieces. So delightful was the effluvium of the garum +considered, that Martial informs us it was carried about in onyx +smelling-bottles. But our luxurious civic chiefs are not aware that the +red mullet--for such I believe was the _mullus_--was held in such a +distinguished category among genteel fishes, that three of them, although +of small size, were known to fetch upwards of 200_l._ They were more +appreciated when brought alive, and gradually allowed to die, immersed in +the delicious garum; when the Romans feasted their eyes in the anticipated +delight of eating them, by gazing on the dying creature as he changed +colour like an expiring dolphin. Seneca reproaches them with this +refinement of cruelty--"Oculis quoque gulosi sunt;" and the most renowned +of Apicius's culinary discoveries was the _alec_, a compound of their +livers. + +Snails were also a great dainty. Fulvius Herpinus was immortalized for the +discovery of the art of fattening them on bran and other articles; and +Horace informs us they were served up, broiled upon silver gridirons, to +give a relish to wine. Oysters were brought from our coasts to Rome, and +frozen oysters were much extolled. Grasshoppers, locusts, and various +insects, were equally acceptable to our first gastronomic legislators. +Acorns, similar to those now eaten in Spain, formed part of a Roman +dessert; the best were brought from Naples and Tarentum. It does not +appear that the ancients had a great variety in their vegetable diet; +condiments to stimulate the sluggish appetite seemed to be their principal +research: amongst these the asafoetida, which is to this day highly +relished in the East, was an indispensable ingredient; this has been +doubted by various naturalists, but it appears certain, since Pliny +informs us that it was frequently adulterated by _sagapenum_, which bears +the strongest resemblance to it. This substance was called _laser_, and by +many tasteless persons, such as Aristophanes and Apuleius, considered +offensive and disgusting; hence the latter, "lasere infectas carnes," and +"laseratum porcellum." According to Theophrastus, asafoetida was +collected and preserved, as it is at present, in skins; and, despite its +estimation as a culinary ingredient, it was not unfrequently named +_stercus diaboli_. In addition to this gum, they seasoned their food with +various other strong articles, such as coriander and cummin seeds, sumac, +saffron, cinnamon, thyme; with divers peppers, salt, and sal-ammoniac. + +Instead of bread, which was only introduced in Rome 580, A. D. they used a +heavy kind of unleavened paste, similar to the present _polenta_. This +nourishment occasioned frequent indigestion, hence the use of warm water +after meals, and the necessity of emetics. Warm water was sold about the +streets in their thermopolia, and Seneca observed the paleness and +debility that arose from its use and abuse; a practice recorded by +Martial: + + Et potet calidam, qui mihi livet, aquam. + +While water was thus freely drunk, wine was not disregarded; but the +various articles with which it was adulterated, must have rendered it any +thing but a delectable potation according to our received ideas. Thus we +see the Greeks putting salt and sea-water in theirs; at other times +dissolving mastic and myrrha, or infusing wormwood, in their choicest +Falernian. Like modern tasters, however, they knew the method of +developing the _bouquet_ by warmth; and, to appreciate the flavour, they +frequently added hot water. That wines of a resinous taste were esteemed, +appears from Martial: + + Resinata bibis vina, Falerna fugis. + +But we may conclude that, according to our modern taste, their boasted +wines did not equal ours either in flavour or in delicacy. + +The ancients however were very careful in the preparation of their bread, +justly called the "staff of life," as constituting one of the most +wholesome and nutritious parts of our food. The Athenian bakers bore the +palm in the confection of this article. Archestratus recommended the +wheaten bread of Athens and the barley meal of Lesbos, which their poets +asserted was supplied to the gods. The Grecian millet bread was also in +great repute, while delicious bread was also made with the _Zea_, the +_Triticum Spella_ of Linnaeus and the _Far_ of the Romans. A species of +wheat called _Tiphe_ was also much esteemed. Brown bread was made of a +grain called _Olyra_, and it was with loaves of this description that +Homer's heroes fed their horses. + +It appears that great attention was paid to the kneeding and the boulting: +unboulted meal was called _Syncomista_, and when finely boulted in a +woollen cloth, _Semidalis_. The most approved method of baking was in the +_Cribanus_ or _Clibanus_, an earthen or iron vessel, which they surrounded +with charcoal. Bread according to its superior or inferior quality was +consecrated to various divinities. Thus the goddesses used the _Homoros_, +and Hecate was served with the _Hemiantium_, but we are unacquainted with +the preparation of these varieties. The flour of barley was used by the +_Canephorae_, or virgins that bore the sacred baskets in the festivals of +Ceres, to sprinkle themselves. Bread according to its particular kind was +served up in various ways; wheaten bread was brought to table upon fresh +leaves; barley bread upon a layer of reeds. At the feasts of Ceres and +Proserpine, a large loaf was kneeded and baked by the ladies of Delos, +called _Achainas_ which gave the name to the festival, instituted most +probably in Achaia, to commemorate the invention of bread, which Ceres +taught to Eumelus, a citizen of Patrae. + +Barley for the preparation of bread was used long before wheat or any +other sort of corn, and hence Artemidorus calls it _Antiquissimum in +cibis_. It was also given to the athletae who were thence called +_Hordearii_. In latter times it was chiefly given to cattle, although used +by the poorer classes. Barley bread was also issued to soldiers as a +punishment, the loss of wheaten bread being considered a great privation. +Vegetius tells us that soldiers who had been guilty of any offence were +thus punished--"_hordeum pro frumentuo cogebantur accipere_." In the +second Punic war we find Marcellus sentencing the cohorts that had lost +their standards to this infliction. Suetonius also informs us that +Augustus only allowed barley to the troops that had misbehaved in action. +_Cohortes, si quae cepissent, loco, decimatas hordeo pavit._ But there is +reason to believe that under the head of bread were included various kinds +of cakes, many of which were prepared with honey, some of them were +called _Placentae omnigenae_, and were prepared by bakers who bore the name +of _pistores dulciarii_. This honied bread or cake it appears, was +frequently resorted to, as in the present day, to quiet troublesome +children as well as to please the taste of fastidious patients. Thus +Martial: + + Leniat ut fauces medicus, quas aspera vexat + Assidue tussis, Parthenopae tibi + Mella dari, nucleosque jubet dulcesque placentas. + Est quidquid pueros non sinit esse truces, + At tu non cessas totis tussire diebus + Non est haec tussis, Parthenopae gula est. + +The bread made of spring wheat was called _Collabus_, and the Athenians +considered a toasted _Collabus_ eaten with a slice of a pig's belly, the +very best cure for a surfeit occasioned by an excess in anchovies, +especially the Phalerian ones, which were deemed fit for the gods. + +Fragments of bread it appears were used instead of napkins to wipe the +fingers on. These were called _Apomygdaliae_, with which Aristophanes fed +his sausage-makers. These dainty bits were usually thrown to dogs. + +The cooks of the ancients appear to have been much more consummate in +their art than our modern practitioners. Athenaeus records various +descriptions of their incomparable science. A new dish immortalized its +inventor, and transmitted his name to posterity. Apicius's cakes were +called Apicians; and Aristoxenes had attained such perfection in curing +hams, that the glorious appellation of Aristoxenians was bestowed upon +them. Philosophers and poets gloried in their culinary science; the +pleasures of the table were the subject of their writings and their +conversation. Archestratus tells us with delight, that, although various +delicacies can only be enjoyed in their proper season, yet we can talk +about them with watering mouths all the year round. + +One of these illustrious ministers of luxury attained such a degree of +enviable perfection, that he could serve up a pig boiled on one side and +roasted on the other, and moreover stuffed with all possible delicacies, +without the incision through which these dainties were introduced being +perceived. Supplicated to explain this wonderful secret, he swore solemnly +by the manes of all the heroes who fell at Marathon, or conquered at +Salamis, that he would not reveal this sacred mystery for one year. When +the happy day arrived and he was no longer bound by his vows, he +condescended to inform his anxious hearers, that the animal had been bled +to death by a wound under the shoulder, through which the entrails were +extracted; and afterwards hanging up the victim by the legs, the stuffing +was crammed down his throat. One half of the pig was then covered with a +thick paste, seasoned with wine and oil, put into a brass oven, and gently +and tenderly roasted: when the skin was brown and crisp, our hero +proceeded to boil the other moiety; the paste was then removed, and the +boiled and roasted grunter triumphantly served up. + +So refined was the taste of the ancient _bons vivans_, that Montanus, +according to Juvenal, would proclaim, at the first bite, whether an oyster +was of English produce or not. Sandwich is believed to have been the +favoured spot whence Rome imported her oysters and other shell-fish. +Shrimps and prawns must have been in great estimation, since we find +Apicius quitting his residence at Minturnae, upon hearing that the shrimps +of Africa were finer than those he could procure in Campania. He instantly +set sail for the happy coast, despite a gale of wind: after encountering a +desperate storm, he reached the wished-for land of promise; but alas!--the +fishermen displayed the largest prawns they could collect, and to his +cruel disappointment, they could not vie, either in delicacy or beauty, +with those of Minturnae. He immediately ordered his pilot to steer a +homeward course, and left Africa's shore with ineffable contempt. + +These ingenious gluttons had recourse to every experiment that could add +to their enjoyment. Philoxenus, and many others, used to accustom +themselves to swallow hot water, that they might be able to attack +scalding dishes before less fireproof guests would dare to taste them. + +Sinon maintained that cookery was the basis of all arts and sciences: +natural philosophy taught us the seasoning of dishes; architecture +directed the construction of stoves and chimneys; the fine arts, the +beautiful symmetry of each dish; and the principles of war were applied to +the drilling and marshalling of cooks, confectioners, and scullions, +posting proper sentries to watch the fires, and videttes to keep off idle +intruders. That man is a "cooking animal" is considered one of his +proudest attributes, and a proper bill of fare may be considered as the +_ne plus ultra_ of human genius! + +It may be easily imagined that when good living became a science, +_sponging_ upon the wealthy _Amphitryons_ became an art amongst the needy +_bons vivants_, and parasites, as in the present day, were ever seen +fawning and cringing for their dinner. These sycophants stuck so close to +their patrons, that they were called shadows. Thus Horace: + + ----Quos Moecenas adduxerat umbras. + +They were also called flies, [Greek: gyias], by the Greeks, and _Muscae_ by +the Romans; no doubt from their constant buzzing about the object of their +devotion. Plautus calls an entertainment free from these despicable +guests, _Hospitium sine muscis_. Horus Apollo tells us that in Egypt a fly +was the symbol of an impudent fellow; because, although driven away, it +will constantly return. We have, however, reason to believe that the term +_parasite_ was originally applied to the followers of princes, Patroclus +was the parasite of Achilles, and Memnon of Idomeneus; it was only in +later times that the appellation was given to despicable characters and +"_trencher friends_." + +Our Shakspeare had adopted the term of the ancients, as appears in the +following passages: + + In such as you, + That creep like _shadows_ by him, and do sigh + At each his needless heavings. + +And again-- + + Feast-won, fast-lost, one cloud of winter showers. + These _flies_ are couched. + +While climate points out the most suitable articles of food, it exercises +a singular influence over their qualities and properties, more especially +in vegetable substances. We find plants which are poisonous in some +countries, edible and wholesome in others. Next to climate, culture and +soil modify plants to a singular degree: flowers which yield a powerful +perfume in some latitudes, are inodorous in others; and, according to +climate, their aroma is pleasant or distressing. A striking proof of this +fact can be adduced from the well-known effects of perfumes in Rome; where +the inhabitants, especially females, cannot support the scent even of the +rose, which has been known to produce syncope, illustrating the poet's +line to + + Die of a rose in aromatic pain. + +This variety in the action of vegetable substances is more particularly +observable in such as are considered medicinal. Opium, narcotics, and +various drugs, are more powerful in warm climates than in northern +regions. The Italian physicians express astonishment at the comparatively +large doses prescribed by our practitioners. + +Cultivation brings forth singular intermediate productions; and by its +magic power we have seen the coriaceous and bitter almond transformed into +the luscious peach, the sloe converted into the delicious plum, and the +common crab transformed into the golden pippin. The same facts are +observed in vegetables; the celery sprung from the nauseous and bitter +_apium graveolens_, and the colewort, is metamorphosed into the cabbage +and the cauliflower. All cruciform plants degenerate within the tropics, +but acquire increased energies in cold countries. + +Recent experiments in Germany have demonstrated that in times of scarcity, +the wood of several trees may be converted into a nutritious substance. +The fibres of the beech, birch, lime, poplar, fir, and various other +trees, when dried, ground, and sifted into an impalpable powder, +constitute a very palatable article of food. If cold water be poured on +this ligneous flour, enclosed in a linen bag, it becomes milky, and +considerable pressure and kneading is required to express the amylaceous +or starchy part of it. Professor Von Buch, in his travels through Norway +and Lapland, has fully described the Norwegian _barke brod_. We find the +savages scattered along the coast of the great austral continent mixing up +a paste of the bark of the gum-tree with the ants and the other insects, +with their larvae, which they find in it. Ground dried fish and fish-bones +have from time immemorial been converted into bread; Arrianus tells us +that Nearchus found several nations on the shores of the Red Sea living +upon a bread of this description. + +It is thus evident that all substances from the animal and vegetable +kingdom appear to afford more or less nutriment, provided that they +contain no elements unlike the animal matter of the being they are +intended to nourish. All others are either medicinal or poisonous. Food +may be considered nourishing in the ratio of its easy digestion or +solution. Magendie attributes the nutritious principle to the greater or +lesser proportion of nitrogen or azote. According to his view of the +subject, the substances that contain little or no nitrogen are the +saccharine and acid fruits, oils, fats, butter, mucilaginous vegetables, +refined sugar, starch, gum, vegetable mucus, and vegetable gelatin. The +different kinds of corn, rice and potatoes, are elements of the same kind. +The azotical aliments, on the contrary, are vegetable albumen, gluten, and +those principles which are met with in the seeds, stems and leaves of +grasses and herbs, the seeds of leguminous plants, such as peas and +beans, and most animal substances, with the exception of fat. + +To this doctrine, it was objected, that animals who feed upon substances +containing little nitrogen, and the field negroes, who consume large +quantities of sugar, might be adduced as an exception. Magendie replies, +that almost all the vegetables consumed by man and animals contain more or +less nitrogen--that this element enters in large quantity in the +composition of impure sugar--and lastly, that the nations whose principal +food consists in rice, maize, or potatoes, consume at the same time milk +and cheese. + +To support his theory, this physiologist had recourse to various curious +experiments on dogs, whom he fed with substances which contained no +nitrogen. During the first seven or eight days, the animals were brisk and +active, and took their food and drink as usual. In the course of the +second week they began to get thin, although their appetite continued +good, and they took daily between six and eight ounces of sugar. The +emaciation increased during the third week; they became feeble, lost their +appetite and activity, and at the same time ulcers appeared in the cornea +of their eyes. The animals still continued to eat three or four ounces of +sugar daily, but, nevertheless, became at length so feeble as to be +incapable of motion, and died on a day varying from the 31st to the 34th: +and it must be recollected that dogs will live the same length of time +without any food. + +The same were the results where dogs were fed upon gum, and butter; when +they were fed with olive oil and water the phenomena were the same, with +the exception of ulceration of the cornea. + +In Denmark, a diet of bread and water for a month is considered equivalent +to the punishment of death. Dr. Stark died in consequence of experiments +which he instituted on himself to ascertain the effects of a sugar diet. + +Muller has justly observed that these experiments of Magendie have thrown +considerable light on the causes and the mode of treatment of the gout and +calculous disorders. The subjects of these diseases are generally persons +who live well and eat largely of animal food; most urinary calculi, +gravelly deposits, the gouty concretions, and the perspiration of gouty +persons, contain an abundance of uric acid, a substance in which nitrogen +is contained in a large proportion. Thus, by diminishing the proportion of +azotical substance in the food, the gout and gravelly deposits may be +prevented. + +The experiments of Tiedemann and Gmelin have confirmed those of Magendie, +whose curious observations on the necessity of varying diet I shall +transcribe. + +1. A dog fed on white bread, wheat, and water, did not live more than +fifty days. + +2. Another dog, who was kept on brown soldiers' bread did not suffer. + +3. Rabbits and guineapigs who were fed solely on any one of the following +substances--oats, barley, cabbage, and carrots,--died of inanition in +fifteen days; but they did not suffer when these substances were given +simultaneously or in succession. + +4. An ass fed on dry rice, and afterwards on boiled rice, lived only +fifteen days; a cock, on the contrary, was fed with boiled rice for +several months with no ill consequence. + +5. Dogs fed with cheese alone, or hard eggs, lived for a long time; but +they became feeble and lost their hair. + +6. Rodent animals will live a very long time on muscular substances. + +7. After an animal has been fed for a long period on one kind of aliment, +which, if continued, will not support life, allowing it the former +customary food will not save it: he will eat eagerly, but will die as soon +as if he had continued to be restricted to the article of food which was +first given him. + +Dr. Paris is of opinion that all that these experiments tend to prove is, +that animals cannot exist upon highly-concentrated aliment. Horses fed on +concentrated aliment are liable to various disorders, originating from +diseased action of the stomach and liver, broken wind, staggers, +blindness, &c. + +Professor Muller has given an excellent definition of indigestion. "It is +a state of the digestive organs in which either they do not secrete the +fluid destined for the solution of the aliment, or they are in such a +condition of irritability or atony, that by the mechanical irritation of +the food, painful sensations and irregular motions are exerted." + +But the most curious experiments made on the changes which the food +undergoes in the stomach, according to the greater or lesser facility with +which it is digested, were those of Dr. Beaumont. This physiologist had +the rare opportunity of investigating this subject in a patient of the +name of St. Martin, who came under his care in consequence of a gun-shot +wound, which left a considerable opening in the stomach, which, when +empty, could be explored to the depth of five or six inches by artificial +distention. The food and the drink could in this manner be seen to enter +it. This enabled him to keep an interesting journal and table, showing the +time required for the digestion of different kinds of food, which were +taken with bread or vegetables, or both. The following are some of his +interesting observations: + +_Experiment 33._ At 1 o'clock St. Martin dined on roast beef, bread, and +potatoes--in half an hour examined the contents of the stomach, found what +he had eaten reduced to a mass resembling thick porridge. At 2 o'clock, +nearly all chymified--a few distinct particles of food still to be seen. +At half-past four, chymification complete. At 6 o'clock nothing in the +stomach but a little gastric juice tinged with bile. + +_Ex. 42._ At 8 a.m., breakfast of three hard-boiled eggs, pancakes, and +coffee. At half-past eight, found a heterogenous mixture of the articles +slightly digested. At a quarter-past ten, no part of breakfast could be +seen. + +_Ex. 43._ At 2 o'clock same day, dined on roast pig and vegetables. At 3 +they were chymified; and at half-past four nothing remained but a little +gastric juice. + +_Ex. 18_, in a third series. At half-past eight a.m., two drams of fresh +fried sausage, in a fine muslin bag, were suspended in the stomach of St. +Martin, who immediately afterwards breakfasted on the same kind of +sausage, and a piece of broiled mutton, wheaten bread, and a pint of +coffee. At half-past eleven, stomach half empty, contents of bag about +half diminished. At 2 o'clock p.m., stomach empty and clean, contents of +bag all gone with the exception of fifteen grains, consisting of small +pieces of cartilaginous and membranous fibres, and the spices of the +sausage, which last weighed six grains. + +As I have elsewhere observed, various are the theories that have been +entertained in regard to digestion, but the experiments of Dr. Beaumont +seem to have proved beyond a doubt, that this operation is due to the +action of the gastric juice, with which he was enabled to produce +artificial digestion. Having obtained one ounce of this solvent from the +stomach of his patient, he put into it a solid piece of recently-boiled +beef, weighing three drams, and placed the vessel that contained it in a +water bath heated to 100 deg. In forty minutes digestion had commenced on +the surface of the meat; in fifty minutes, the fluid was quite opake and +cloudy, the external texture began to separate and become loose; in sixty +minutes, chyme began to form. At 1 p.m. (two hours after the commencement +of the experiment), the cellular substance was destroyed, the muscular +fibres loose and floating about in fine small threads very tender and +soft. In six hours they were nearly all digested--a few fibres only +remaining. After the lapse of ten hours, every part of the meat was +completely digested. The artificial digestion by these experiments appears +to be but little slower than the natural process--they also demonstrate +the influence of the temperature, and the quantity of the solvent +secretion. Having obtained from St. Martin two ounces of gastric juice, he +divided this quantity into two equal portions, and laid in each an equal +quantity of masticated roast beef. One he placed in a water bath at the +temperature of 99 deg. Farh.--and left the other exposed to the open air +at the temperature of 34 deg.; a third similar portion of meat he kept in a +phial, with an ounce of cold water. An hour after the commencement of the +experiment, St. Martin had finished his breakfast, which consisted of the +same meat with biscuit, butter, and coffee. Two hours after the meat had +been put into the phial, the portion in the warm gastric juice was as far +advanced in chymification as the food in the stomach; the meat in the cold +gastric juice was less acted on, and that in the cold water only slightly +macerated. In two hours and forty-five minutes from the time that the +experiment was begun, the food in the stomach was completely digested, the +stomach empty, while even at the end of six hours the meat in the gastric +juice was only half digested. Dr. Beaumont, therefore, having procured 12 +drams of fresh gastric juice, added now a portion to each of the phials +containing meat and gastric juice, and to a portion of the half-digested +food which he had withdrawn from the stomach two hours after the +commencement of the experiment, and which had not advanced towards +solution. After eight hours' maceration, the portions of meat in the cold +gastric juice, and in the cold water, were little changed, but, from the +time of the addition of the fresh gastric juice, digestion went on rapidly +in the other phials, which were kept at the proper heat, and at the end of +24 hours, the meat which had been withdrawn from the stomach after +digestion had commenced, were, with the exception of a piece of meat that +had not been masticated, converted into a thickish pulpy mass of a +reddish-brown colour: the meat in the warm gastric juice was also +digested, though less perfectly, while that in the cold gastric juice was +scarcely more acted on than the meat in the water, which was merely +macerated. Dr. Beaumont now exposed these two phials containing the meat +in cold gastric juice, and meat in water, to the heat of the water bath +for 24 hours, and the gastric juice, which when cold had no power on the +meat, now digested it; while the meat in the water underwent no change, +except that towards the end of the experiment, putrefaction had commenced. +The antiseptic properties of the gastric juice were fully demonstrated in +several other experiments. + +Various philosophers, in idle disquisitions, have endeavoured by the most +absurd hypotheses to determine what is the natural food of man, and to +show that he is not created omnivorous. The comparison between our species +and animals confutes these vain theories. The masticatory and digestive +organization of man assigns to him an intermediate rank between +carnivorous and herbivorous creatures. The teeth may be said by their +figure and construction to bear a relation with our natural food. The +teeth of flesh-eating animals rise in sharp prominences to seize and +lacerate their prey, and those of the lower jaw shut within those of the +superior one. The herbivorous animals are not armed with these formidable +weapons, but have broad flat surfaces with intermixed plates of enamel, +that they should wear less rapidly in the constant labour of grinding and +triturating. In the carnivorous, the jaws can only move backward and +forward; in the herbivorous their motion is lateral, as observed in the +cow when chewing her cud. Beasts of prey tear and swallow their food in +masses, while in others it undergoes a careful communition before it is +transmitted to the stomach. The teeth of man only resemble those of +carnivorous animals by their enamel being confined to their external +surface, while in the freedom of the motion of the jaws from side to side +they partake of the conformation of the herbivorous. The teeth and jaws of +man are in all respects more similar to those of monkeys than any other +animals; only in some of the simiae the canine teeth are much longer and +stronger, and denote a carnivorous propensity. + +It is to the abuse of this omnivorous faculty that Providence has bestowed +upon mankind, that we owe many of the diseases under which our species +labours. "Multos morbos, multa fercula fecerunt," sayeth Seneca; yet we +are far more temperate in the present age than the ancients during the +period of their boasted high civilization and prosperity. Their excesses +must have been of the most disgusting nature, since, to indulge more +easily in their gluttonous propensities, they had recourse to emetics both +before and after their meals. "Vomunt ut edant, edunt ut vomunt, et epulas +quas toto orbe conquirunt nec concoquere dignantur," was the reproach of +the above-quoted philosopher. Suetonius and Dion Cassius give Vitellius +the credit of having introduced this revolting custom into fashion; and +splendid vessels for the purpose were introduced in their feasts. Martial +alludes to it in the following lines: + + Nec coenat prius, aut recumbit, ante + Quam septem vomuit meri deunces. + +And Juvenal tells us that the bath was polluted by this incredible act of +bestiality,-- + + Et crudum pavonem in balnea portas. + +The sums expended by the ancients on their table exceed all belief. +Vitellius expended for that purpose upwards of 3200_l._ daily, and some of +his repasts cost 40,000_l._ At one of them, according to Suetonius, 7000 +birds and 2000 fishes were served up. Aelius Verus laid out 600,000 +sestertii on one meal; and some of the dishes of Heliogabalus cost about +4000_l._ of our money. The excesses of this monster were such, that +Herodianus affirms that he wanted to ascertain, not only the flavour of +human flesh, but of the most disgusting and nameless substances. The +freaks related of this emperor are scarcely credible; but his gastronomic +profusion may be easily conceived when we find that his very mats were +made with the down of hares or soft feathers found under the wings of +partridges! When such ideas of _enjoyment_ prevailed, can we wonder that +Philoxenus should have wished that he had the throat of a crane, that he +might prolong the delights of eating! + +Our early ancestors were remarkable for their frugality, and it is +supposed that luxurious, or, at least, full living was introduced by the +Danes: it has been even asserted that the verb _gormandize_ was derived +from _Gormond_, a Danish king, who was persuaded by Alfred to be baptized. +Erasmus observed that the English were particularly fond of good fare. +William the Conqueror, and Rufus, were in the habit of giving most +splendid entertainments; and the former monarch was such an irascible +epicure, that, upon one occasion, an underdone crane having been served up +by the _master of the cury_, he would have knocked him down but for the +timely interference of his _dapifer_, or purveyor of the mouth. This +office of _dapifer_, with that of _lardrenius_, _magnus coquus_, _coquorum +prepositus_, and _coquus regius_, were high dignitaries in those days. +Cardinal Otto, the pope's legate, being at Oxford in 1238, his brother was +his _magister coquorum_; and the reasons assigned for his holding that +office were his brother's suspicious fears "_ne procuraretur aliquid +venenosum, quod valde timebat legatus_." These officers were not +unfrequently clergymen, who were elevated to the bench for their valuable +services. + +Whatever barbarity the ancients may have shown in preparing their dainty +dishes, none could have surpassed in refinement of cruelty. Their method +of roasting and eating a goose alive, is thus directed: "Take a goose or a +duck, or some such _lively creature_, (but the goose is best of all for +the purpose,) pull off all her feathers, only the head and neck must be +spared; then make a fire round about her, not too close to her, that the +smoke do not choke her, and that the fire may not burn her too soon, nor +too far off, that she may not escape the fire; within the circle of the +fire, let there be small cups and pots full of water, wherein salt and +honey are mingled, and let there be set also chargers full of sodden +apples, cut into small pieces in the dish. The goose must be all larded +and basted over with butter, to make her the more fit to be eaten, and may +roast the better. Put the fire about her but do not make too much haste, +when as you see her begin to roast; for by walking about, and flying here +and there, being cooped in by the fire that stops her way out, the +unscared goose is kept in; she will fall to drink the water to quench her +thirst and cool her heart, and all her body, and the apple sauce will +cleanse and empty her, and when she wasteth, and consumes inwardly, always +wet her head and heart with a wet sponge, and when you see her giddy with +running and begin to stumble, her heart wants moisture, and she is roasted +enough. Take her up and set her before your guest, and she will cry as you +cut off any part from her, and will be almost eaten up before she is dead. +_It is mighty pleasant_ to behold." + +Our forefathers were most ingenious in these diabolical fancies, we find +in Portar's Magick the way how to persuade a goose to roast _herself_ if +you have a lack of cooks. + +The heroic conduct of French cooks has been recorded in history, and +compared with the noble devotion of the ancients. Vatel, maitre d'hotel of +Louis XIV., put an end to his wretched existence in consequence of fish +not having arrived in time for dinner. On this sad event being reported to +his sovereign, he both praised and blamed his courage; and, to use the +words of Madame de Sevigne, he perished "a force d'avoir de l'honneur a sa +maniere; on loua fort et l'on blama son courage." It is strange that +Napoleon should have used the very same expressions when speaking of one +of his most distinguished generals. In more modern times we have heard of +persons who expected that clerical functions should be combined with +various lay duties, as appears by the following curious advertisement in a +late paper: + +"Wanted, for a family who have bad health, a sober, steady person, in the +capacity of doctor, surgeon, apothecary, and man-midwife. He must +occasionally act as butler, and dress hair and wigs. He will be required +sometimes to read prayers, and to preach a sermon every Sunday. A good +salary will be given." This was certainly an economical speculation for +the use of soul and body. + +Cooks have sometimes been obliged to resort to pious frauds; and it is +related of our Richard Coeur de Lion, that, being very ill during the +holy wars, he took a strange fancy for a bit of pork, but, as no pig could +be procured, a plump Saracen child was roasted as a substitute; and it was +remarked that Richard was ever after partial to pork. + +There is little doubt but that our forefathers were harder livers than the +present generation: even within the memory of man, drinking to excess is a +vice seldom observed, excepting in some individuals belonging to the old +school. The hours of refection have been singularly altered; and while our +fashionable circles seldom sit down to table before eight o'clock in the +evening, we find in olden chronicles that even royalty was used to dine at +nine in the morning, more especially upon the Continent. In the Heptaemeron +of the Queen of Navarre we find an account of the manner of spending the +day: + +"As soon as the morning rose, they went to the chamber of Madame Oysille, +whom they found already at her prayers; and when they had heard during a +good hour her lecture, and then the mass, they went to dine at ten +o'clock, and afterwards each privately retired to his room, but did not +fail at noon to meet in the meadow. Vespers heard, they went to supper; +and after having played a thousand sports in the meadow they retired to +bed." + +During the reign of Charles V. of France, the court dined at ten, supped +at seven, and retired to rest at nine. Holinshed gives the following +curious description of our early diet: "Our tables are oftentimes more +plentifully garnished than those of other nations, and this trade has +continued with us since the very beginning; for, before the Romans found +out and knew the way into our country, our predecessors fed largely upon +flesh and milk, whereof there was great abundance in this isle, because +they applied their chief studies unto pasturage and feeding. + +"In Scotland, likewise, they have given themselves unto very ample and +large diet, wherein as for some respect nature doth make them equal with +us, so otherwise they far exceed us in over much and distemperate +gormandize, and so engross their bodies, that divers of them do oft become +unapt to any other purpose than to spend their time in large tabling and +belly cheer. In old times these North Britons did give themselves +universally to great abstinence; and in time of war their soldiers would +often feed but once, or twice at the most, in two or three days, +especially if they held themselves in secret, or could have no issue out +of their bogs and morasses, through the presence of an enemy; and in this +distress they used to eat a certain kind of confection, whereof so much as +a bean would qualify their hunger above common expectation. In those days, +also, it was taken for a great offence over all to eat either goose, hare, +or hen, because of a certain superstitious opinion which they had +conceived of these three creatures. Amongst other things, baked meats, +dishes never before this man's (James I.) days seen in Scotland, were +generally so provided for by virtue of this act, that it was not lawful +for any to eat of the same under the degree of a gentleman, and those only +but on high and festival days. In number of dishes and changes of meat, +the nobility of England (whose cooks are for the most part musical-headed +Frenchmen and strangers) do most exceed; sith there is no day in manner +that passeth over their heads, wherein they have not only beef, mutton, +veal, lamb, kid, pork, cony, capon, pig, or so many of these as the season +yieldeth, but also some portion of the red and fallow deer, beside great +variety of fish and wild fowl, and thereto sundry other delicates, wherein +the sweet hand of the seafaring Portingale is not wanting; so that for a +man to dine with one of them, and to taste of every dish that standeth +before him, is rather to yield unto a conspiracy, with a great deal of +meat for the speedy suppression of natural health, than the use of a +necessary mean to satisfy himself with a competent repast, to sustain his +body withal. The chief part, likewise, of their daily provision is brought +in before them commonly in silver vessels, if they be of the degree of +barons, bishops, and upwards, and placed upon their tables; whereof when +they have taken what it pleaseth them, the rest is reserved, and +afterwards sent down to their serving-men and waiters. + +"The gentlemen and merchants keep much about one rate, and each of them +contenteth himself with four, five, or six dishes, when they have but +small resort; or, peradventure, with one or two, or three at the most, +when they have no strangers. And yet their servants have their ordinary +diet assigned, besides such as is left at their masters' boards, and not +appointed to be brought thither the second time, which, nevertheless, is +often seen, generally in venison, lamb, or some especial dish whereon the +merchantman himself liketh to feed when it is cold. + +"At such times as the merchants do make their ordinary or voluntary +feasts, it is a world to see what great provision is made of all manner of +delicate meats from every quarter of the country, wherein, beside that +they are often comparable herein to the nobility of the land, they will +seldom regard any thing that the butcher usually killeth, but reject the +same as not worthy to come in place. In such cases, also, _geliffes_ of +all colours, mixed with a variety in the representation of sundry flowers, +herbs, trees, forms of beasts, fish, fowls, and fruits; and thereunto +_marchpane_ wrought with no small curiosity, tarts of divers hues and +sundry denominations; conserves of old fruits, foreign and home-bred; +suckets, codiniacs, marmalades, sugar-bread, ginger-bread, florentines, +wild-fowl, venison of all sorts, and sundry outlandish confections, +altogether seasoned with sugar, (which Pliny calls _mel ex arundinibus_, a +device not common nor greatly used in old times at the table, but only in +medicine, although it grew in Arabia, India, and Sicilia,) do generally +bear the sway, besides infinite devices of our own not possible for me to +remember. Of the potato, and such _venerous_ roots as are brought out of +Spain, Portingale, and the Indies, to furnish our banquets, I speak not, +wherein our _Mures_, of no less force, and to be had about Crosby +Ravenswath, do now begin to have place. + +"And as all estates do exceed in strangeness and number of costly dishes, +so these forget not to use the like excess in wine, insomuch as there is +no kind to be had (neither any where more store of all sorts than in +England, although we have none growing with us; but yearly the proportion +of twenty or thirty thousand tun and upwards, notwithstanding the daily +restraints on the same brought over to us) whereof at great meetings there +is not some store to be had. Neither do I mean this of small wines only, +such as claret, white, red, French, &c. which amount to about fifty-six +sorts, according to the number of regions from whence they come; but also +of the thirty kinds of Italian, Grecian, Spanish, Canarian, &c., whereof +_Vernage_, _Cate-pument_, _Raspis_, _Muscadell_, _Romnie_, _Bastard Fire_, +_Osey_, _Caprike_, claret, and malmsey, are not least of all accounted of, +because of their strength and value. For as I have said of meat, so, the +stronger the wine is, the more it is desired, by means thereof in old +times, the best was called _Theologicum_ because it was had from the +clergy and religious men, unto whose houses many of the laity would often +send for bottles filled with the same, being sure that they would neither +drink nor be served of the worst, or such as was any ways mingled or +brewed by the vintner; nay, the merchant would have thought that his soul +should have gone straightways to the devil, if he should have served him +with any other than the best. Furthermore, when they have had their course +which nature yieldeth, sundry sorts of artificial stuff, as _ypocras_ and +wormwood wine, must in like manner succeed in turns, besides stale ale and +strong beer, which nevertheless bears the greatest brunt in drinking, and +are of so many sorts and ages as it pleaseth the brewer to make. + +"In feasting, the artisans do exceed after their manner, especially at +bridals, purifications of women, and such like odd meetings, where it is +incredible to tell what meat is consumed and spent; each one bringing such +a dish, or so many as his wife and he do consult upon, but always with +this consideration, that the _leefer_ (the more liberal) friend shall have +the best entertainment. This is also commonly seen at these banquets, that +the good man of the house is not charged with any thing, saving bread, +drink, house-room, and fire. + +"Heretofore there hath been much more time spent in eating and drinking +than commonly is in these days; for whereas of old we had breakfasts in +the forenoon, _beverages_ or _nuntions_ after dinner, and thereto _rere +suppers_, generally when it was time to go to rest (a toy brought in by +Hard Canutus), now these odd repasts, thanked be God! are very well left, +and each one in manner (except here and there some young hungry stomach +that cannot fast till dinner-time contenteth himself with dinner and +supper only). The Normans, disliking the gormandize of Canutus, ordained, +after their arrival, that no table should be covered above once in the +day; which Huntingdon imputeth to their avarice: but, in the end, either +waxing weary of their own frugality, or suffering the cockle of old custom +to overgrow the good corn of their new constitution, they fell to such +liberty, that in often feeding they surmounted Canutus surnamed the Hardy; +for whereas he covered his table but three or four times in the day, they +spread their cloths five or six times, and in such wise as I before +rehearsed. They brought in also the custom of long and stately sitting at +meat, which is not yet left, although it be a great expense of time, and +worthy reprehension; for the nobility and gentlemen, and merchantmen, +especially at great meetings, do sit commonly till two or three of the +clock at afternoon, so that with many it is an hard matter to rise from +the table to go to evening prayer, and return from thence to come time +enough to supper." + +The early prevalence of drinking in England seems to have been derived +from our foreign intercourse. In the reign of Elizabeth and James I. we +find various statutes against ebriety. + +Tom Nash, in his "Pierce Pennilesse" says, "Superfluity in drink is a sin +that ever since we have mixed ourselves with the Low Countries is counted +honourable; but, before we knew their lingering wars, was held in that +highest degree of hatred that might be. Then, if we had seen a man go +wallowing in the streets, or lain sleeping under the board, we should have +spit at him, and warned all our friends out of his company." + +According to our laws intoxication is looked upon as an aggravation of any +offence. Sir Edward Coke calls a drunkard _voluntarius daemon_. The Romans +thought differently: with them intoxication was often deemed an +extenuation of guilt, "Per vinum delapsis capitalis poena remittitur." +The Greeks, more severe, had a law of Pittacus that enacted the infliction +of a double punishment on those who committed a crime when drunk. + +That hard drinking was introduced from Flanders and Holland, and other +northern countries, seems probable from the derivation of many of the +expressions used in carousing. The phrase of being "half-seas over," as +applied to a state of drunkenness, originated from _op zee_, which in +Dutch meant _over sea_; and Gifford informs us that it was a name given +to a stupifying beer introduced in England from the Low Countries, and +called _op zea_; thus Jonson in the Alchemist: + + I do not like the dulness of your eye; + It hath a heavy cast, 'tis _up see Dutch_. + +An inebriating draught was also called an _up see freeze_, from the strong +_Friesland_ beer. The word "carouse," according to Gifford and Blount, is +derived from the name of a large glass, called by the Danes _ruuse_, or +from the German words _gar_, _all_, and _ausz out_: hence drink _all out_. + +Nash, in the work above quoted, says, "Now he is nobody that cannot drink +_super nagulum_, carouse the hunters' _hoope_, quaff _upsee freze crosse_, +with healths, gloves, mumpes, frolickes, and a thousand such domineering +inventions." The origin of these slang terms is not quite evident. +Drinking _super nagulum_, or on the nail, was a northern custom which +consisted in only leaving one drop in the cup, which was poured upon the +thumb-nail, to prove that justice had been done to the potation or toast; +and that, to use the language of modern drinkers, the glass was _cleared_. +This custom is alluded to by Bishop Hall in his "Mundus alter et idem," in +which the Duke of Tenderbelly exclaims, "'Let never this goodly-formed +goblet of wine go jovially through me:' and then he set it to his mouth, +stole it off every drop, save a little remainder, which he was by custom +to set upon his thumb's nail and lick it off." In Fletcher we find the +phrase + + I am thine _ad unguem_; + +which meant he was ready to drink with him to this extent. The term _hoop_ +alludes to the marks of hoops being traced upon drinking-pots to point out +certain measures. Jack Cade says, "The three-hooped pot shall have ten +hoops, and I will make it felony to drink small beer!" Hence probably the +common saying of "drinking deep," or to the last hoop. The _peg tankard_ +was another measured vessel used in the jollifications of our forefathers, +and is still to be found in some parts of England, more especially in +Derbyshire. Pegge in his "Anonymiana," thus describes them: "They have in +the inside a row of eight pins, one above the other, from top to bottom; +the tankard holds two quarts, so that there is a gill of ale between each +peg or pin. The first person who drank was to empty to the first peg, the +second was to drink to the next, and so on; by which means the pegs were +so many measures to the compotators, making them all drink alike or the +same quantity." In Archbishop Anselm's Canons made in the council at +London in 1102, priests are enjoined not to go to drinking-bouts, nor to +_drink pegs_: "Ut presbyteri non eant ad potationes, nec ad _pinnas_ +bibant." + +_Gloves_, also called _shoeing-horns_, were relishes to encourage +drinking, like our modern _devils_, introduced for a similar purpose. +Bishop Hall says in his description of a carousal, "Then comes me up a +service of _shoeing-horns_ of all sorts,--salt cakes, red-herrings, +anchovies, and gammon of bacon, and abundance of such _pullers on_." +Massinger thus describes these incentives: + + I usher + Such an unexpected dainty bit for breakfast + As never yet I cooked; 'tis not _botargo_, + Fried frogs, potatoes marrow'd, cavear, + Carps' tongues, the pith of an English chine of beef, + Nor our Italian delicate oil'd mushrooms, + And yet a _drawer on too_; and if you show not + An appetite, and a strong one, I'll not say + To eat it, but devour it, without grace too, + (For it will not stay a preface,) I am shamed, + And all my past provocatives will be jeer'd at. + +The _botargo_ was a relish made of mullet's roes, and highly seasoned, +much in use among the Italians. + +Amongst many other curious frolics of hard drinkers, we find the use of +what they called _flap-dragons_, or _snap-dragon_, which consisted in +igniting combustible substances, which were swallowed while floating on +the glass of liquor. Johnson describes them "a play in which they catch +raisins out of burning brandy, and, extinguishing them by closing the +mouth, eat them." This prank is not uncommon to the present day in +boarding-schools in certain festive entertainments of the _young ladies_. + +Drunkenness being considered a beastly propensity, its gradations were +fixed by animal comparisons. In a curious treatise on drunkards by George +Gascoigne, we find the following illustration of these degrees: "The first +is _ape-drunk_, and he leaps and sings and hallos and danceth for the +hearers; the second is _lion-drunk_, and he flings the pots about the +house, calls the hostess w----, breaks the glass windows with his dagger, +and is apt to quarrel with any man that speaks to him; the third is +_swine-drunk_, heavy, lumpish, and sleepy, and cries for a little more +drink and a few more clothes; the fourth is _sheep-drunk_, wise in his own +conceit, when he cannot bring forth a right word; the fifth is +_maudlin-drunk_, when a fellow will weep for kindness in the midst of his +drink, and kiss you, saying, 'By G--! Captain, I love thee! Go thy ways; +thou dost not think so often of me as I do of you; I would I could not +love thee so well as I do!' and then he puts his finger in his eye and +cries; the sixth is _martin-drunk_, when a man is drunk, and drinks +himself sober ere he stir; the seventh is _goat-drunk_, when in +drunkenness he hath no mind but in lechery; the eighth is _fox-drunk_, +when he is crafty drunk, as many of the Dutchmen be, which will never +bargain but when they are drunk. All these species, and more, I have seen +practised _in one company at one sitting_." + +Drunkenness has at various periods been resorted to in religious and +political fervour. Daring the usurpation of Cromwell, the Cavaliers were +wont to drink their king's health in bumpers of wine in which some crumbs +of bread had been thrown, exclaiming, "God send this _crum-well_ down!" +and Whitelocke, in his Memorials, records the following barbarous +Catilinian orgies: "Five drunkards agree to drink the king's health in +their blood, and that each of them should cut out a piece of his buttock, +and fry it upon the gridiron, which was done by four of them, of whom one +did bleed so exceedingly that they were fain to send for a chirurgeon, and +so were discovered. The wife of one of them, hearing that her husband was +amongst them, came to the room, and, taking up a pair of tongs, laid about +her, and so saved the cutting of her husband's flesh." + +The laws enacted to prevent drunkenness at various periods and by +different governments, are curious. Domitian ordered all the vine-plants +in the Roman territory to be rooted out. Charles IX. of France issued a +similar edict. In 1536, under Francis I, a law was passed sentencing +drunkards to imprisonment on bread and water for the first offence; a +public whipping punished a second infringement; and, on reiteration, +banishment and the loss of ears. The ancients, equally aware of the danger +that arose from intoxication, were also anxious to prevent it. Draco +inflicted capital punishments. Lycurgus destroyed the vineyards. The +Athenians had officers, named _ophthalmos_, to prevent excesses in liquor +drinking. In Rome, patricians were not allowed the use of wine until they +had attained their thirty-fifth year. Wine was only drunk pure in the +beginning of sober repasts in honour of _Deus Sospes_, and afterwards +mixed with water in honour of _Jupiter Servator_. Notwithstanding these +wise examples in support of prudent precepts, it appears that drunkenness +was a common vice amongst the Romans. Tiberius was surnamed _Biberius_; +and it was said of the parasite Bibulus, "dum vixit, aut bibit aut +minxit." Aurelianus had officers of his household whose duty was to +intoxicate foreign ambassadors; and Cato's partiality for the juice of the +grape has been recorded by Horace, + + Narratur et prisci Catonis + Saepe mero caluisse virtus. + +In the middle ages, drinking was resorted to by the monks as a religious +libation; and they also drank to the dead, a custom which was condemned as +idolatrous. These excesses were restrained by various regulations, and in +817 the quantity of wine allowed each monk was fixed at five pints. +Charlemagne, in his Capitularies, forbids the provocation of drinking +healths and hob-nobbing (_pleger et trinquer_). Temperance societies are +not modern institutions. In 1517, Sigismund de Dietrichstein established +one under the auspices of St. Christopher; a similar association was +formed in 1600 by Maurice Duke of Hesse, which, however, allowed a knight +to drink seven _bocaux_, or glasses, at each meal, but only twice in the +day. The size of these _bocaux_ is not recorded, but no doubt it was an +endeavour to obtain a comparative condition of sobriety. Another temperate +society, under the name of the Golden Ring, was instituted by Frederic V. +Count Palatine. + +Whether the influence of temperate societies or their advocates will tend +to diminish the consumption of wine and spirituous liquors in the British +empire, it is difficult to say. Hitherto every act of interference, either +from individuals or on the part of the legislature, has proved not only +abortive, but has increased the evil it was intended to remedy. The +imposition of heavy duties only threw the distillation of spirits into the +hands of illicit speculators instead of respectable capitalists; and, as +M'Culloch justly remarks, "superadded the atrocities of the smuggler to +the idleness and dissipation of the drunkard." During the latter part of +the reign of George I. and the earlier period of George II. gin-drinking +was so prevalent, that it was denounced from the pulpit and the press. At +length ministers determined to make a vigorous effort to put a stop to the +further use of spirituous liquors except as a cordial or medicine. To +accomplish this end, a duty of twenty shillings was laid on spirits, +exclusive of a heavy licence duty to retailers, while a fine of 100_l._ +was levied on all defaulters. But instead of the anticipated effects, +this act produced results directly opposite: the respectable dealers +withdrew from a trade proscribed by the legislature; and the sale of +spirits fell into the hands of the lowest and most profligate characters. +The officers of the revenue were hunted down by the populace, and did not +dare to enforce the law; and Tindal, in his Continuation of Rapin, says, +"within two years of the passing of this act, it had become so odious and +contemptible, that policy as well as humanity forced the commissioners of +excise to mitigate its penalties." During these two years twelve thousand +persons were convicted of offences connected with the sale of spirits, +while no exertion could check the torrent of smuggling, and seven millions +of gallons illicitly distilled were annually consumed in London and its +environs. Our present consumption of British, Colonial and Foreign spirits +is immense, but not equal to what it was at the period alluded to. The +following is the account of this consumption in 1832: + + In England, 1,530,988 imperial gallons, Foreign. + 3,377,507 " Colonial. + 7,259,287 " British. + In Scotland, 69,236 gallons, Foreign. + 112,026 " Colonial. + 5,407,097 " British. + In Ireland, 33,413 " Foreign. + 24,432 " Colonial. + 8,657,756 " British. + +In that year, 1832, the total amount of spirits that paid duty in the +United Kingdom was 2,646,258 gallons, yielding a revenue of 8,483,247_l._ +In the same year the appearance and dread of the cholera produced a +singular increase in the consumption of brandy. In the preceding year, +1831, the entries for home use in England had amounted to 1,194,717 +gallons; but during this state of alarm, it increased to 1,508,924; in +1833, the danger having subsided, the consumption declined to its former +level, and did not exceed 1,356,620 gallons. + +From the above observations it may be inferred, that no penal enactments, +no denunciations of canting senators or fanatic preachers, will ever +succeed in checking the evils which must arise from excesses in the use of +spirituous liquors. Gluttony and drunkenness can only be combated by the +salutary effects of good example held out by the superior classes of +society; by a gradual improvement in the moral education of the lower +grades, for whom salutary amusements should be procured when a cheerful +repose from their weekly labour will no longer be considered a breach of +the sabbath. Diffusion of knowledge and habits of industry will do more +than sanctimonious admonitions, and the Penny Magazines may be considered +more hostile to gin-drinking than the ranting of pseudo-saints. + +In regard to the quantity that we should eat, no rules can be established, +as individuals differ widely from each other, both as to their capacity +and their inclination. Mr. Abernethy maintained, that it would be well if +the public would follow the advice of Mr. Addison, given in the Spectator, +of reading the writings of L. Cornaro, who, having a weak constitution, +which he seemed to have ruined by intemperance, so that he was expected to +die at the age of 32, did at that period adopt a strict regimen, allowing +himself only 12 ounces daily. To this remark Dr. Paris very properly +observes, "When I see the habits of Cornaro so incessantly introduced as +an example for imitation, and as the standard of dietetic perfection, I am +really inclined to ask with Feggio, 'Did God create Lewis Cornaro to be a +rule for all mankind in what they were to eat and drink?'" + +In regard to the dyspeptic, Dr. Philips has given the very best advice in +the following paragraph: + +"The dyspeptic should carefully attend to the first feeling of satiety. +There is a moment when the relish given by the appetite ceases; a single +mouthful taken after this oppresses a weak stomach. If he eats slowly and +carefully attends to this feeling, he will never overload the stomach." To +this Dr. Paris adds, "Let him remember to _eat slowly_." "This is an +important condition--for when we eat too fast we introduce a greater +quantity of food into the stomach than the gastric juice can at once +combat with; the consequence of which is, that hunger may continue for +some time after the stomach has received more than would be sufficient, +under the circumstances, to induce satiety." + +The introduction of French cookery in every part of England amongst the +wealthy will render attention to dietetic rules still more important than +in former days; although Dean Swift, in his time, observed, "That modern +epicurism had become so prevalent, that the world must be encompassed, +before a washerwoman can sit down to breakfast." + + + + +INFLUENCE OF IMAGINATION. + + +Innumerable are the diseases that arise from our busy fancy. We are all +subject to the tyrannic sway of imagination's empire. Under this mighty +influence man displays energies which lead him boldly to dare danger and +complicated sufferings, or he is reduced to the most degraded state of +miserable despondency. These diseases are the more fearful, since they +rarely yield to physical aid, and it is seldom that moral influence is +sufficiently persuasive to combat their inveteracy. It is idle to tell the +timid hypochondriac that he is not ill; the mere circumstance of his +believing himself sick, constitutes a serious disorder. His constant +apprehensions derange his functions until an organic affection arises. The +patient who fancies that he labours under an affection of the heart +disturbs the circulation, which is ever influenced by our moral emotions, +till at last this disturbance occasions the very malady which he dreaded. +These aberrations of the mind arise from various causes,--mental emotions, +constitution, climate, diet, hereditary disposition, education. Tertullian +called philosophy and medicine twin sisters; both may become powerful +agents in controlling our imagination. + +The ancients have variously endeavoured to determine the seat of this +faculty. Aristotle placed it in the heart, which, from the sense of its +oppression observed in acute moral sufferings he considered the origin of +our nerves, or sensorium. Avicenus and other philosophers located +imagination in the anterior portion of the brain, which he called the +_prow_; memory in the posterior part, which he denominated the _poop_, and +judgment in the centre of the organ, or what mariners would term +_mid-ship_. The notions of Gall and Spurzheim had long since been +anticipated by philosophers and physicians, both in regard to the division +of the cerebral organ, and the external appearance of the cranium, which +denoted their preponderancy. That temperature exercises a powerful +influence over our mental faculties is evident. In warm climates we find a +greater exaltation of the mind, more enthusiasm and vivid emotion, than in +northern latitudes. The East is the land of fancy, illustrated by their +wondrous tales of fiction, and their vivid and fantastic imagery, +displayed in the chimeras and the arabesques of their palaces and temples. +In these regions all the passions are uncontrollable and wild. Love is +characterized by furious or dark jealousy, according to the rank and +power of the lover; and ambition is signalized by bloodthirsty and +promiscuous barbarity. No opposition can be brooked: man is either a +ferocious tyrant, or an abject slave; subjection alone preventing the +oppressed from being as sanguinary as the oppressor. Government is +despotism, and religion fatality and fanaticism. In northern climes, on +the contrary, every thing is cold and calculating. The almighty passion of +love may prevail; but its demonstrations are morose, concentrated, +although not less ferocious than under a southern sky. In the one country, +man seeks the dark shelter of the forest, and the solitude of the +mountain, to ponder over his grievances, or soliloquise on his sufferings; +in the other he courts the roseate bower and the orange grove, to lull him +into a soft repose which may calm his feelings by temporary oblivion, to +be roused again to action by the stimulus of opium, tobacco, and a burning +sun. The ancients were so fully convinced of this influence of the +amorphous constitution, that Lucianus tells us that the Abderites (a +people so remarkable for their stupidity and sluggishness that _Abderitica +mens_ was proverbial), having witnessed the performance of one of +Euripides's plays under the fierce solar rays, became fired with such +enthusiasm, that they ran about the streets in a wild phrensy, repeating +aloud his sublime verses, until the coolness of the evening restored them +to reason and to their native torpor. So predominant are these feelings, +which owe their character to climate, that they regulate our ideas of a +future state, as well as our conduct on earth. The paradise of the +Mohammedan is a blessed region of everlasting pleasure and sensual +enjoyments; beauteous houris await the soul, which is to luxuriate in +corporeal voluptuousness; and the purple wine, forbidden to the living, is +to flow in delectable streams, to delight the dead, who may, in the +seventh paradise inhabit a land where rivers of wine, and milk, and honey, +are ever flowing; where evergreen trees bend under luxurious fruits, whose +very pips are transformed into lovely maidens, so sweet--to use their own +metaphorical language--that the ocean would lose its bitterness if they +did but condescend to spit in its briny waters; and all these enjoyments +are secured to the true believer by hosts of guardian angels, who have +seventy thousand mouths, and seventy thousand tongues, to praise God +seventy thousand times each day in seventy thousand languages: and such is +their horror of earthly heat, that in the other world one of the greatest +rewards is the delight of being able to sleep under the cool shade of a +tree each leaf of which is of such an expanse that a man might travel +fifty thousand years under its benign protection. How different is the +paradise of Odin! There, it is true, the soul of the departed dwells in +magnificent palaces; but what are his enjoyments compared to those of the +sensual Asiatic! Instead of soft music, the din of war is constantly to +resound in his ear, while he luxuriates in drinking strong beer and +hydromel, poured by the fair Valknas, the houris of the Vahalla paradise, +into the skulls of his enemies. Their God is called the god of crows; and +two of these sable familiars, _Hugin_, who represents the mind, and +_Nunnin_, or memory, are constantly perched upon his shoulders, until they +take flight to seek information for their master. + +To this day it is said that the Tartars fancy, that, in their future abode +of bliss, their reward will be a sort of Platonic affection, and a +perpetual and undisturbed state of meditation; in short, a celestial _far +niente_. So convinced were the ancients of this effect of peculiar +temperature, that the morose Heraclitus maintained that the power of the +mind arose from a _dry splendour_; that all things were created by solar +heat; and when ill himself, he sought health by endeavouring to dispel +watery accumulations by the heat of a dunghill. Ptolemy and Posidonius +assert, that southern climes engender genius and wit, and are better +calculated for the study of things divine; and Plato, Hippocrates, and +Galen, on the same principle, affirm that stupidity and forgetfulness are +produced by cold and humidity. The celebrated Descartes, in his younger +days, states that he felt his enthusiasm moderated by the damps and cold +of Holland; and that he ever experienced more facility in pursuing his +philosophic studies in winter than in summer. Poets, on the contrary, +court the glowing rays of an inspiring sun, and their Phoebus and their +Apollo is the conductor and the inspirer of the Muses: + + Cynthius aurem vellit et admonuit. + +That the energies of our intellectual faculties are under the influence of +our food, is a fact long since observed. The stupidity of the athletae, who +lived upon coarse bread (coliphium) and underdone meat, was proverbial; +even Hercules laboured under the imputation of a mind somewhat obtuse. Our +genius, our energies are all affected by our mode of living. The rule of +_Sanis omnia sana_, of Celsus, is applicable to very few individuals; and +all our faculties may be rendered more keen or less vivid by temperance or +excesses. As the nature of our _ingesta_ influences the functions of our +digestive organs, so do these organs in their turn influence our moral +powers when our physical energies are elevated or depressed. Our courage, +our strength of mind, our religious and our moral train of thinking, are +under the control of diet. Fasting has ever been considered as +predisposing to meditation and ascetic contemplation. Tertullian tells us, +that we should approach the altars fasting, or having eaten nothing but +dry substances. All the religious ceremonies of the Egyptians were +preceded by abstinence, and their sacrificators were allowed neither +animal food nor wine. Indeed, the Egyptian priesthood were remarkable for +their abstinence and self-denial, fearful, according to Plutarch, that +"the body should not sit light upon the soul." Similar precautions were +observed with animals, and the ox apis was not allowed to drink the waters +of the Nile, as they were considered of a gross and fattening nature; even +upon festive days they observed a similar moderation. It was customary, on +the 9th day of the month Thoth, for every one to eat fried fish at their +doors--the priests only conformed to the custom by burning theirs at the +appointed time. In general they abstained from most sorts of pulse, +especially beans and lentils, onions, garlic, leeks, mutton, pork; and on +certain days of purification, even salt was forbidden. Many of their fasts +lasted from seven to forty-two days, during which time they abstained +entirely from animal food, from herbs and vegetables, and the indulgence +of any passion. Similar privations were observed by all those who attended +the mysteries of Juno and Ceres. In Holy Writ we find that it was after +abstinence that Divine inspiration illumined the elect. The angel appeared +unto Daniel after he had been three weeks without tasting flesh, or wine, +or "pleasant bread." In the Acts, x., we find that the vision appeared to +Peter, "when he had become hungry and would have eaten." Moses fasted +forty days on Mount Sinai. We find in Jonah, that even cattle were +frequently subject to this mortification, when he proclaimed in Nineveh +that neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, should taste any thing; "let +them not feed nor drink water." Congius Ripensis tells us, that the same +restriction was imposed by the Lacedaemonians on their Helots and all +domestic animals. Fasting was considered by the early Christians as an +essential rite. St. Anthony prescribed to his disciples one meal of dry +bread, salt and water, in the day without any food on Wednesdays and +Fridays. In the monastery of Mocham, in Egypt, a monk of the name of Jonas +was beatified for having lived until the age of eighty-five, working hard +in the garden, and without any other food than raw herbs and grass steeped +in vinegar; this abstemious cenobite added to his claims to canonization +by always sleeping in his chair. St. Hilarius only ate fifteen figs and +six ounces of barley bread _per diem_. St. Julian Sabus retired to a +cavern, where he only luxuriated once in the week on millet-bread, with +salt and water; and St. Macarius resolved to outdo him by restraining his +sustenance to a few cabbage-leaves every Sunday. Not only did these +gastric martyrs attribute their holy visions to abstinence, but they +considered it as the source of their longevity. Thus, St. Anthony lived to +the age of one hundred and five; St. Paphinus to ninety on dry bread; and +St. Paul the Hermit thrived for one hundred and fifty-nine years upon +dates. It is not derogatory to their supposed divine mission to say that +all these men were as enthusiastic as the fakirs of the east. + +So acceptable to the Deity was starvation considered, that at various +periods it was enforced by penal laws. Charlemagne denounces the +punishment of death on all those who transgressed in this respect; and, by +an old Polish edict, any sinner who ate on a fast-day was sentenced to +have all his teeth drawn. However, monkish ingenuity endeavoured to elude +these severe enactments, by interpreting the letter instead of the spirit; +and we find, in the regulations of a German monastery, the following +accommodation, "_Liquidum non frangit jejunium_," by which, on days of +penance, the monks only took rich soups and succulent broth. In latter +days, being permitted to eat fish in Lent, they saw no reason why fowl +should not be included, on the authority of Genesis, that the waters +brought forth every winged fowl after his kind. This relaxation in +culinary discipline called forth loud indignation from many prelates. St. +Ambrosius attributes the profligacy of the monks to these excesses; and +Tertullian considers the fall of the Israelites as the punishment of their +neglect in this respect. Our Shakspeare illustrates this belief in the +influence of fasting as preparatory to inspiration. + + Last night the very gods shew'd me a vision-- + I _fast_ and pray'd for their intelligence. + +Not satisfied with this mystification in food, we find some austere monks +endeavouring to reduce carnal appetites by other means, such as by +blood-letting, _monialem minuere_; and claustral flesh was brought down by +phlebotomy and purging at regular periods. To this day we find that +well-behaved Turks, during the Ramasan, make it a godly point never to +swallow their saliva. + +This digression on fasting was somewhat necessary, to show how much our +diet tends to modify our being. It is well known that troops will display +more activity and courage when fasting than after a meal; and an ingenious +physician of our day is perfectly correct when he attributes a daring +spirit or a pusillanimous feeling to the influence of our stomach. + +Intellectual weakness, frequently brought on by excesses, has proved a +rich source to empiricism; hence the belief in mystic and supernatural +agencies, and the power of certain nostrums. Coloured fountain water and +bread pills have made the fortune of various quacks, when imaginary cures +have relieved imaginary diseases. In our days, numerous have been the +recoveries attributed to Hohenloe's prayers. Trusting to mystic numbers, +three, five, seven, or nine pills have produced effects, when other +numbers less fortunate would have failed. To this hour mankind, even in +enlightened nations, are fettered by these absurd trammels. Credulity, and +superstition her twin sister, have in all ages been the source whence +priestcraft, and quackery have derived their wealth. Next to these rich +mines we may rank fashion. The adoption of any particular medicine by +princes and nobles will endow it with as great a power as that which was +supposed to be vested in regal hands in the cure of scrofula, hence called +_king's evil_; and we have too many instances of such cures having been +effected by a monarch's touch to doubt the fact. The history of the potato +is a strong illustration of the influence of authority: for more than two +centuries the use of this invaluable plant was vehemently opposed; at +last, Louis XV. wore a bunch of its flowers in the midst of his courtiers, +and the consumption of the root became universal in France. The warm bath, +so highly valued by the Romans, once fell into disrepute, because the +Emperor Augustus had been cured by a cold one, which for a time was +invariably resorted to. Thus Horace exclaims, + + ----Caput ac stomachum supponere fontibus audent + Clusinis, Gabiosque petunt et frigida rura. + +Unfortunately, the means which had relieved Augustus killed his nephew +Marcellus; and the _Laconicum_ and the _Tepidarium_ were again crowded +with the "fashion." + +Persecution and its prohibitions have also been most powerful in working +upon our imagination. Rare and forbidden fruits will always be considered +more desirable than those we can easily obtain. The history of tobacco is +a striking instance of this influence of difficulty upon the mind of man. +Pope Urban VIII. prohibited its use in any shape, under the penalty of +excommunication. It was afterwards forbidden in Russia, under the pain of +having the offender's nose cut off. In some cantons of Switzerland the +prohibition was introduced in the decalogue, next to the commandment +against adultery. Amurath IV. ordered all persons taken in _flagranti +delicto_ smoking tobacco, to be impaled, on the principle that its use +checked the progress of population. The denunciation of our James I. may +be considered as a masterpiece of the imaginary horrors attributed to this +obnoxious weed. "It is," he says, "a custome loathsome to the eye, +hatefull to the nose, harmefull to the braine, dangerous to the lungs, and +in the black stinking fume thereof neerest resembling the horrible Stygian +smoake of the pit that is bottomlesse." During the reign of this monarch +such a restriction might have been necessary, unless the consumption of +tobacco enriched the exchequer: for it appears that some _amateurs_ +consumed no less than L500 per annum in smoke. Surely we should reap some +flourishing revenue from fashion and credulity, when we find our +government awarding L5000 to a _certain_ Johanna Stephens for her +discovery of _certain_ medicines for the cure of _calculi_! The same +imaginary hope induced many a credulous creature to minister to the +necessities of another Johanna, for _certain_ expectations. Alas! how this +indefinite _sense_ exhibits the infinite folly of poor humanity! + +A morbid imagination, although frequently the source of much misery, will +prove in many cases the fountain-head of many noble qualities; its +exaltation constitutes genius, which is, in fact, a natural disposition of +individual organization sometimes bordering upon insanity. "_Non est +magnum ingenium sine mixtura dementiae_," says Seneca; and Montaigne +observes, "De quoi se fait la plus subtile folie que de la plus subtile +sagesse? il n'y a qu'un demi-tour a passer de l'une a l'autre." Aristotle +asserts that all the great men of his time were melancholy and +hypochondriac. The ancient and eastern nations entertained a singular idea +regarding men of innate genius, and possessed of more than common +attributes; they fancied that they were the first-born, and the offsprings +of illicit love: Zoroaster, Confucius, Mahomet, Vishnou, were born of +virgins; and Theseus, Hercules, Castor and Pollux, and Romulus, were all +illegitimate. + +So prone is a lively imagination to a derangement of the intellectual +harmony, that the greatest care should be taken during the youthful +development to resort to a sound and proper exercise. The constant +tendency to wild and supernatural visions, the disregard of every daily +and vulgar matter of fact consideration, soaring in regions of fiction, +should engage our incessant vigilance, such a state of mind, as +Abercrombie justly observes, "tends in a most material manner to prevent +the due exercise of those nobler powers which are directed towards the +cultivation both of science and of virtue," and Foster has thus +beautifully illustrated this subject in his essays. + +"The influence of this habit of dwelling on the beautiful fallacious forms +of imagination, will accompany the mind into the most serious speculations +or rather musings, on the real world, and what is to be done in it and +expected; as the image which the eye acquires from looking at any dazzling +object, still appears before it wherever it turns. The vulgar materials, +that constitute the actual economy of the world, will rise up to its sight +in fictitious forms, which it cannot disenchant into plain reality, nor +will ever suspect to be deceptive. It cannot go about with sober, rational +inspection and ascertain the nature and value of all things around it--in +that paradise it walks delighted, till some imperious circumstance of real +life call it thence, and gladly escapes thither again when the avocation +is past. If a tenth part of the felicities that have been enjoyed, the +great actions that have been performed, the beneficial institutions that +have been established, and the beautiful objects that have been seen in +that happy region, could have been imported into this terrestial +place!--what a delightful thing the world would have been to awake each +morning to see such a world once more!" + +Of the miseries the hypochondriacs experience the following extract of a +letter to a physician will afford a specimen: "My poor body is a burning +furnace, my nerves red-hot coals, my blood is boiling oil; all sleep has +fled, and I am suffering martyrdom. I am in agony when I lie on my back; I +cannot lie on either side; and I endure excruciating torture when I seek +relief by lying on my stomach; and, to add to my misery, I can neither +sit, stand, nor walk." The fancies of hypochondriacs are frequently of the +most extraordinary nature: one patient imagines that he is in such a state +of obesity as to prevent his passing through the door of his chamber or +his house; another impressed with the idea that he is made of glass, will +not sit down for fear of cracking; a third seems convinced that his head +is empty; and an intelligent American, holding a high judicial seat in our +West Indian colonies, could not divest himself of the occasional +conviction of his being transformed into a turtle. + +The most melancholy record of the miseries of hypochondriacism is to be +found in the diary of Dr. Walderstein of Gottingen. He was a man much +deformed in person, and his mind seemed as distorted as his body. Although +of deep learning and research, and convinced of the absurdity of his +impressions, yet he was unable to resist their baneful influence. "My +misfortune," says the doctor, "is, that I never exist in this world, but +rather in possible combinations created by my imagination to my +conscience. They occupy a large portion of my time, and my reason has not +the power to banish them. My malady, in fact, is the faculty of extracting +poison from every circumstance in life; so much so that I often felt the +most wretched being because I had not been able to sneeze three times +together. One night when I was in bed I felt a sudden fear of fire, and +gradually became as much oppressed by imaginary heat as though my room +were in flames. While in this situation, a fire-bell in the neighbourhood +sounded, and added to my intense sufferings. I do not blush at what might +be called my superstition any more than I should blush in acknowledging +that my senses inform me that the earth does not move. My error forms the +_body_ of my judgment, and I thank God that he has given it a _soul_ +capable of correcting it. When I have been perfectly free from pain, as is +not unfrequently the case when I am in bed, my sense of this happiness has +brought tears of gratitude in my eyes. I once dreamt," adds Walderstein, +"that I was condemned to be burnt alive. I was very calm, and reasoned +coolly during the execution of my sentence. 'Now,' I said to myself, 'I am +burning, but not yet burnt; and by-and-by I shall be reduced to a cinder.' +This was all I thought, and I did nothing but think. When, upon awaking, I +reflected upon my dream, I was by no means pleased with it, for I was +afraid I should become _all thought and no feeling_." It is strange that +this fear of thought, assuming a corporeal form in deep affliction, had +occurred to our poet Rowe, when he exclaims in the Fair Penitent, "_Turn +not to thought my brain_." "What is very distressing," continues the +unfortunate narrator, "is, that when I am ill I can think nothing, feel +nothing, without bringing it home to myself. It seems to me that the whole +world is a mere machine, expressly formed to make me feel my sufferings in +every possible manner." What a fearful avowal from a reflecting and +intelligent man! Does it not illustrate Rousseau's definition of +reason--_the knowledge of our folly_. + +Dr. Rush mentions a man who imagined that he had a Caffre in his stomach +who had got into it at the Cape of Good Hope, and tormented him ever +since. Pinel relates the case of an unfortunate man who believed that he +had been guillotined, but his innocence having been made complete after +his execution, his judges decided that his head should be restored to him, +but the person intrusted with this operation had made a mistake, and put +on a wrong head. Dr. Conolly knew a man who really believed that he had +been hanged, but had been brought to life by galvanism, but he maintained +that this operation had not restored the whole of his vitality. + +Jacobi relates the case of a man confined in the lunatic asylum at +Wurtzburg, in other respects rational, of quiet, discreet habits, so that +he was employed in the domestic business of the house, but who laboured +under the impression that there was a person concealed in his stomach, +with whom he held frequent conversations. He often perceived the absurdity +of this idea, and grieved in acknowledging and reflecting that he was +under the influence of so groundless a persuasion, but he never could get +rid of it. "It was very curious to observe," adds our intelligent author, +"how, when he had but an instant before cried what nonsense!--is it not +intolerable to be thus deluded? and while the tears which accompanied +these exclamations were yet in his eyes, he again began to talk, +apparently with entire conviction about the person in his belly who told +him that he was to marry a great princess. An attempt was made to cure +him, by putting a large blister on his abdomen, and the instant that it +was dressed, moving from behind him a dressed-up figure, as if just +extracted from his body. The experiment so far succeeded that the patient +believed in the performance, and his joy was at first boundless in the +full persuasion that he was cured; but some morbid feeling about the +bowels, which he had associated with the insane impression, still +continuing, or being again experienced, he took up the idea that another +person similar to the first was still left within him, and under that +persuasion he still continues to labour." + +A nobleman of the court of Louis XIV., fancied himself a dog, and would +invariably put his head out of window to bark aloud. Don Calmet relates +the case of some nuns in a convent in Germany, who imagined that they were +transformed into cats, and wandered about the building loudly mewing and +spitting at and scratching each other. + +One of the strangest aberrations of a disordered state of mind was +exhibited by some impudent fellows who fancied themselves virtuous and +modest females. Esquirol relates the case of a young man of 26 years of +age, handsome and of a good figure, who had been in the habit of +occasionally putting on woman's attire to perform female parts in private +theatricals, and who had actually fancied himself a woman. In his +paryoxysms he would put off his male clothes, and equip himself like a +nymph,--the greater part of his day was spent before his looking-glass, +decorating his person and dressing his hair--he was incurable! + + + + +ANCIENT IDEAS OF PHRENOLOGY. + + +Although Gall and Spurzheim may fairly claim the merit of having developed +in this science the particular parts of the brain that are the seat of +different faculties, yet we find in various ancient writers similar +notions. Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy, thus expresses himself on +this subject: "_Inner senses_ are three in number, so called because they +are in the brain-pan; as _common sense_, _phantasie_, _memory_. This +common sense is the judge or moderator of the rest, by whom we discern all +differences of objects; _the fore part of the brain_ is his organ or seat. +_Phantasie_, or imagination, which some call aestimative, or cogitative, +(confirmed saith, Fernelius, by frequent meditation,) is an inner sense, +which doth more fully examine the species perceived by _common sense_, of +things present or absent, and keeps them longer, recalling them to mind +again, or making new of his own: his organ is the _middle cell of the +brain_. _Memory_ layes up all the species which the senses have brought +in, and records them as a good register, that they may be forthcoming when +they are called for by _phantasie_ and _reason_; his organ is the _back +part of the brain_." This corresponds with the account of the faculties +given by Aristotle, and repeated by the writers of the middle ages. +Albertus Magnus, Bishop of Ratisbon, designed a head divided into regions +according to these opinions in the thirteenth century; and a similar plan +was published by Petrus Montaguana in 1491. Ludovico Dolce published +another engraving on the subject at Venice in 1562. In the British Museum +is a chart of the universe and the elements of all sciences, and in which +a large head of this description is delineated. It was published at Rome +in 1632. In the _Tesoretto_ of Brunetto Latini, the preceptor of Dante, we +find this doctrine taught in the following lines: + + Nel capo son tre celle, + Ed io diro di quelle, + _Davanti_ e lo intelletto + E la forza d'apprendere + Quello que puote intendere; + _In mezzo_ e la ragione + E la discrezione, + Che scherne buono e male; + E lo terno e l'iguale + _Dirietro_ sta con gloria + La valente memoria, + Che ricorda e retiene + Quello ch'in essa viene. + + + + +PERFUMES. + + +At all periods perfumes seem to have been more or less adopted as a luxury +among the wealthy and fashionable. Tradition states that they were +frequently rendered instrumental to sinister purposes, as the vehicle of +poisonous substances. Historians relate that the Emperor Henri VI. and a +prince of Savoy, were destroyed with perfumed gloves. Jeanne d'Albret, +Queen of Navarre, and mother of Henri IV., died from the poisonous effect +of gloves purchased from the noted Rene, perfumer and confidential agent +of Catherine de Medicis. Lancelot, King of Naples, was destroyed by a +scented handkerchief prepared by a Florentine lady. Pope Clement VII. sunk +under the baneful effluvia of a torch that was carried before him; and +Mathioli relates, that nosegays thus impregnated have been frequently +known to prove fatal. It is certain that, without the aid of venenous +substances, various flowers have caused serious accidents. Barton tells us +that the _magnolia glauca_ occasioned a paroxysm of fever, and increased +the severity of an attack of gout. Jacquin had seen the _lobelia +longiflora_ producing a sense of suffocation; and the _nerium oleander_ in +a close chamber, has caused death. The injurious effects of bulbous +flowers in giving rise to violent headachs, giddiness, and even fainting, +are generally known. The horror roses inspire to the Roman ladies is +scarcely credible; and Cromer affirms that it was to the odour of that +ornament of our gardens that the death of one of the daughters of Nicolas +I., Count of Salm, and of a Polish bishop, was attributed. The sympathetic +effect that this flower can create is illustrated by Capellini, who saw a +lady fall into a syncope on perceiving a rose in a girl's bosom, although +it turned out to be an artificial one. The partiality or antipathy to +certain odours is equally unaccountable, for the Italian ladies, who dread +the rose, delight in the disgusting aroma of rue, which they carry about +as a salubrious plant, that, according to their notions, dispels the +_cattiva aria_, although it is not impossible that they might fancy it +possessed of those salutary qualities to which Ovid had alluded: + + Utilius summas acuentes lumina rutas, + Et quidquid veneri corpora nostra negat. + +Rue, according to Serenus Samonicus, was one of the ingredients of the +fabled antidote of Mithridates, which he thus describes: + + Antidotus vero multis Mithridatica fertur + Consociata modis, sed magnus Scrinia regis + Cum raperit victor, vilem deprendit in illis + Synthesim, et vulgata satis medicamina risit. + Bis denum _Rutae_ folium, salis et breve granum, + Juglandesque duas, totidem cum corpore ficus; + Haec oriente die, parco conspersa Lycaeo, + Sumebat, metuens dederat quae pocula mater. + +The ancients were so fond of perfumes, that they scented their persons and +garments, their vases, their domestic vessels, and their military +insignia. They not only considered aromatic emanations as acceptable to +the gods, and therefore used them in their temples, as they are at present +by the Roman Catholics, but as announcing the presence of their +divinities; and Virgil thus speaks of Venus: + + --------Avertens rosea cervice refulsit, + Ambrosiaeque comae divinum vertice odorem + Spiravere. + +Chaplets of roses were invariably worn in festivals and ceremonies; and +wines were also aromatised with various odoriferous substances. The Franks +and the Gauls continued the same custom; and Gregory of Tours called these +artificial-flavoured liquors, _Vina odoramentis immixta_. To this day, +the manipulation of French wines gives them a fictitious _bouquet_, with +raspberries, orris-root, and divers drugs to suit the British market. + +No external sense is so intimately connected with the internal senses as +that of smell; none so powerful in exciting and removing syncope, or more +capable of receiving delicate and delicious impressions: hence Rousseau +has denominated this faculty "_the sense of imagination_." No sensations +can be remembered in so lively a manner as those which are recalled by +peculiar odours, which are frequently known to act in a most energetic +measure upon our physical and moral propensities. How many perfumes excite +a lively feeling of fond regret when reminding us of the beloved one who +was wont to select them, and whom we long to meet again! It is not +improbable that our partiality to the hair of those who are dear to us, +arises from this circumstance. Every individual emits a peculiar odour; +and, according to Plutarch, Alexander was distinguished by the sweet aroma +that he shed. Perhaps the expression, so frequently found in the lives of +the saints, "who die in odour of sanctity," may be referred to a belief +that this peculiar gift was granted to beatitude. + +It has been observed, that animals who possess the most acute smell, have +the nasal organs the most extensively developed. The Ethiopians and the +American Indians are remarkable for the acuteness of this sense, +accounting for the wonderful power of tracking their enemies. But although +we may take the peculiar organization of their olfactory organs as being +partly the cause of this keen perceptibility, we must in a great measure +attribute this perfection to their mode of living. Hunting and war are +their chief pursuits, to which they are trained from their earliest +infancy: therefore this perfection may, to a certain extent, be the result +of habit; and the sight and hearing of these wanderers are as singularly +perfect as their smelling. Mr. Savage relates, that a New Zealander heard +the report of a distant gun at sea, or perceived a strange sail, when no +other man on board could discern it. Pallas, in speaking of the Calmucks, +says that many of them can distinguish by smelling at the hole of a fox +whether the animal be there or not; and on their journeys and military +expeditions they often smell out a fire or a camp, and thus seek quarters +for the night or booty. Olaus Borrich informs us, that the guides between +Smyrna, Aleppo, and Babylon, when traversing the desert, ascertain +distances by the smell of the sand. That odours float in the atmospheric +air is obvious; the distance at which they are perceived is incredible. +The spicy breezes of Ceylon are distinguished long before the island is +seen; and it is a well-known fact that vessels have been saved by the +olfactory acuteness of dogs, who, to use the common expression, were +observed to "sniff" the land that had not been descried. As a proof of the +intimate connexion between smell and respiration, when the breath is held +odorous substances are not perceived, and it is only after expiration that +they are again recognised. A proof of this may be easily obtained by +placing the open neck of a small phial containing an essential oil in the +mouth during the acts of inspiration and subsequent expiration. Willis was +the first who observed that, on placing a sapid substance in the mouth, +and at the same time closing the nostrils, the sensation of taste is +suspended; and this observation has given rise to the prevailing opinion +that smelling and tasting are intimately related. Odour which thus +accompanies taste is termed flavour; and the ingenious Dr. Prout has +admirably defined the distinction between taste and flavour, and he +considers the latter an intermediate sensation between taste and smell. + +The acuteness of the sensation of smelling in animals is such, that in +many instances our observations have been deemed fabulous. The distance at +which a dog tracks his master is scarcely credible; and it is strange that +the ancients attributed a similar perfection to the goose. Aelian affirms +that the philosopher Lycadeus had one of these birds that found him out +like a dog: + + Humanum longe praesentit odorem + Romulidarum acris servator, candidus anser. + +Birds of prey will scent the battle-field at prodigious distances, and +they are often seen hovering instinctively over the ground where the +conflict is to supply their festival. Humboldt relates, that in Peru, at +Quito, and in the province of Popayan, when sportsmen wish to obtain that +species of vulture called _vultur gryphus_, they kill a cow or a horse, +and in a short time these sagacious birds crowd to glut their ravenous +appetites. Ancient historians assert that vultures have cleft the air one +hundred and sixty-six leagues to arrive in time to feast upon a battle; +and Pliny boldly affirms that even crows have so acute a sense of +approaching corruption, that they can scent death three days before +dissolution, and generally pay the _moribond_ a visit a day before his +time, not to be disappointed. This notion has become a vulgar prejudice, +as much so, indeed, as the howling of a dog, which is considered in most +countries as foreboding death. In various animals an offensive odour is a +protective gift. The _staphylinus olens_, for instance, sheds an effluvium +which effectually keeps away the birds who would otherwise pounce upon +him. But of all singular perfections in the sense of smelling that were +ever recorded, may be cited the monk of Prague and the blind man in the +Quinze-vingt Hospital of Paris, who possessed the faculty of ascertaining +the presence of virginity whenever a female had the luck of being +introduced to them. + +Many curious instances are recorded, where the loss of one sense has added +to the acuteness of others. Dr. Moyse the well-known blind philosopher, +could distinguish a black dress on his friends by the smell. Professor +Upham of the United States, mentions a blind girl who could select her own +articles out of a basket of linen brought in by the laundress. + +These anomalous senses, for such they may be called, are as wonderful as +they are inexplicable, and appear to arise from a peculiar sensibility of +the organs of smell, which renders them capable of being stimulated in a +peculiar manner, that no language can express or define. It is scent, no +doubt, that gives the migratory power to various animals; "which enables +them," to use the words of Dr. Mason Good, "to steer from climate to +climate, and from coast to coast; and which, if possessed by man, might +perhaps render superfluous the use of the magnet, and considerably +infringe upon the science of logarithms? Whence comes it that the +fieldfare and red-wing, that pass the summer in Norway, or the wild-duck +and merganser, that in like manner summer in the woods and lakes of +Lapland, are able to track the pathless void of the atmosphere with the +utmost nicety, and arrive on our own coasts uniformly in the beginning of +October."[11] + +This sense is not limited to migratory animals, as instanced by +carrier-pigeons, who have been known not only to carry bags in a straight +line from city to city, but traverse the city with an undeviating flight. +Surely this faculty must be attributed to the sense of smell; it can +scarcely be referred to sight or hearing; although the wonders of the +creation are such, that we can no more account for these peculiar +attributes refused to the lords of the creation, than for the power of the +lobster, who not only can reproduce his claws when deprived of them by +accident, but cast them off to extricate himself, from the captor's grasp. +The _Tipula pectiniformis_, or the daddy long-legs of our infant amusement +and amazement, possesses the same renovating faculties. The gluttonous +gad-fly may be cut to pieces without any apparent interruption in his +meal, when fastened to one's hand: the polype does not seem to be at all +discomposed when we turn him inside out; and, when divided into various +sections, each portion is endowed with an instinctive and reformative +power of multiplying his species in countless numbers! The diversity of +our olfactory fancies is unaccountable and only illustrates the words of +Petronius, + + Non omnibus unum est quod placet; hic spinas, colligit ille rosas. + + + + +LOVE PHILTERS AND POTIONS. + + +It will scarcely be credited, but to this very day the superstitious +belief in the power that certain medicinal substances possess of causing a +sympathetic fondness, still obtains, even amongst classes of the community +whose education one would imagine ought to have rendered such an absurdity +revolting. In Italy, Spain, and Portugal, the influence of love powders +and aphrodisiac drugs is universally confided in. + +The ancients thought that there existed, not only various charms to kindle +amorous feelings, but also to check all fond desires. The latter influence +they considered as _malefices_, vulgarly called in more modern times, +"point tying." Plato, in his Republic, warns husbands to be on their guard +lest their domestic peace might be disturbed by these diabolical +practices. Lovers, separated from each other's embrace by these nefarious +enchantments, were said to be tied down. Thus Virgil, + + Dic, Veneris vincula necto: + Terna tibi haec primum triplici diversa colore + Licia circumdo. + +No power could release one from these bonds: + + Quis neget et magicas nervos torpere per artes? + +By the laws of the twelve tables such enchantments were punished with +death; and Numantina, wife of Plautius Sylvanus, was accused, + + Injecisse carminibus et veneficiis vecordiam marito. + +When Faustina, the gay bride of Marc Antonius was rapturously enamoured +with an histrionic favourite, she was only cured of her folly by a potion +in which some of the comedian's blood had been introduced. Petrarch +relates of Charlemagne, that this monarch was so fondly attached to a fair +lady, that after her death he carried about her embalmed body in a superb +coffin, until a venerable and learned bishop, who very wisely thought that +a living beauty was preferable to the remains of a departed one, rebuked +his sovereign for his irreligious and unnatural propensities, and revealed +to him the important secret of his love arising from a charm that lay +under the dead woman's tongue. Whereupon the bishop went to the corpse, +and drew from it a ring, which the emperor had scarcely looked upon when +he abhorred the former object of his attachment, and felt such an +extraordinary fancy for the bishop that he could not dispense with his +presence for a single moment, until the good prelate was so obseded with +royal favour that he cast the ring into a lake. From that moment +Charlemagne (his historian continues) "neglected all public business, and +went to live in the middle of a fen in the vicinity of Aix, where he built +a temple, near which he was finally buried." + +St. Jerome, in the Life of Hilarius, mentions a young man who so +bephiltered a maiden that she fell desperately in love with him; and +Sigismundus Schereczius, in his chapter _De Hirco Nocturno_, affirms that +"unchaste women, by the help of these witches, the devil's kitchen-maids, +have their lovers brought to them during the night, and carried back +again, by a phantom flying in the air in the likeness of a goat." "I have +heard," he adds, "divers confess that they have been so carried on a +goat's back to their sweethearts many miles in a night." These wonderful +potions were made of strange ingredients, for amongst them we find a +man's blood chemically prepared, mandrake roots, dead men's clothes, +candles, a certain hair in a wolf's tail, a swallow's heart, dust of a +dove's heart, tongues of vipers, brains of a jackass, pebbles found in an +eagle's nest, together with "_palliola quibus infantes obvoluti +nascuntur_, _funis strangulati hominis_," &c. &c. &c. Cleghorn, in his +History of Minorca, tells us that water in which a hedgehog has been +allowed to run into corruption, was supposed to be possessed of similar +exciting powers; and a pulverized bit of a caul, scrapings of nails, and +chopped hair, are to this hour deemed equally effectual to obtain these +desirable ends. + +Notwithstanding all these absurdities, it is undoubtedly true that certain +articles of food have been considered as endowed with aphrodisiac +properties; fish of various kinds, the mollusca and testaceous animals +more especially. Juvenal attributes this quality to oysters, which, in +this respect, with cockles and muscles have become vulgarly proverbial: + + Grandia quae mediis jam noctibus ostrea mordet. + +Wallich informs us that the ladies of his time had recourse on such +occasions to the brains of the _mustela piscis_. The _sepia octopus_ was +also in great repute; and Plautus, in his _Casina_, brings on an old man +who had just been purchasing some in the market. There is reason to +believe that these ideas were not altogether as absurd as they may appear. +Fourcroy and Vauquelin have attributed this influence to the presence of +phosphorus, which is well known to be highly exciting. In the East, +various vegetable productions are considered in the same light. Their +_hakims_ have numerous receipts for the purpose; amongst which we find +several electuaries,--such as the _diacyminum_, the _diaxylaloes_, the +confections of _Luffa Abunafa_, and the _chaschab abusidan_ of the +Arabians, of which wonderful effects are related. + +The laws of every country have provided against the offence of witchcraft, +sorcery, conjuration, and enchantment. We find a statute of our first +James, making it "felony, without benefit of the clergy, under the penalty +of death, the act of all persons invoking any evil spirit, or consulting, +covenanting with, entertaining, employing, feeding, or rewarding any evil +spirits; or taking up dead bodies from their graves, to be used in any +witchcraft, sorcery, charm, or enchantment; or killing or otherwise +hurting, any person by such infernal arts. And if any person should +attempt by sorcery to discover hidden treasures, or to restore stolen +goods, or to _provoke unlawful love_, (lawful love did not come within +these salutary provisions,) he or she should suffer imprisonment and +pillory for the first offence, and death for the second." Strange to say, +that act continued in force till very lately; and Blackstone observes, +"that many poor wretches were sacrificed thereby to the prejudice of their +neighbours, and their own illusions; not a few having, by some means or +other, confessed the fact at the gallows." + +Nothing could be more absurd, nay atrocious, than the means judicially +resorted to at that period to detect witchcraft. Sir Robert Filmer +mentions two tests by fire: the first by burning the house of the +pretended witch: the other, by burning any animal supposed to have been +bewitched by her. In both these cases the witch would confess her +_malefices_! + +Moreover, it was asserted that a witch, even while enduring the pangs of +torture, could only shed _three tears_, and those from the _left eye_; +this was considered a sufficient proof of guilt by the judges of the day! +Swimming a witch was another expedient; in this ordeal the hag was +stripped naked, and cross-bound, the right thumb to the left toe, and +_vice versa_. Thus prepared, she was thrown into a pond or a river; in +which, if guilty, she could not sink, for having by her compact with the +Devil renounced the waters of baptism, the waters in return refused to +receive her in their bosom. + +Our wise legislators maintained that old women were generally selected by +the evil ones for their malicious purposes, and they usually appeared to +them in the form of a man wearing a black coat or gown; and sometimes, +especially in the north, with a bluish band and turned-up linen cuffs: +hard bargains were sometimes driven between the parties for the value of +the harridan's soul. This was also the case according to Echard, in the +negotiation between Oliver Cromwell and the Devil before the battle of +Worcester. There were black, white, and gray witches: some of them fond of +junketing and merry-making, and often would Satan play on a pipe or a +cittern to make them dance; and not unfrequently would he become enamoured +with their withered charms, when toads and horrible serpents were the +hated progeny of this unhallowed union. Sinclair tells us, in his +"Invisible World," of one Mr. Barton, who was burnt with his wife for +witchcraft, and who confessed, before he was tied to the stake, that he +had intrigued with the Devil in the shape of a comely lady, who had given +him 15_l._ for his trouble. His wife confessed at the same time, that the +Devil in the shape of a poodle dog used to dance before her, playing upon +the pipes with a candle under his tail. The Devil, particularly in +Scotland would ever and anon get up into a pulpit, and preach a sermon in +a voice "_hough_ and _gustie_." + +Burton gives us some curious traditions of these devilish amours, and +quotes Philostratus's account of one Menippus Lycius, a young man +twenty-five years of age, who going between Cenchreas and Corinth, met a +phantom in the shape of a fair gentlewoman, which, taking him by the hand, +carried him to her house in the suburbs of Corinth; and told him she was a +Phoenician by birth, and, if he would tarry with her he should hear her +sing and play, and drink such wine as never was drunk, and no man should +molest him, but she, being fair and lovely, would live and die with him. +The young man tarried with her awhile to his great content, and at last +married her; to whose wedding, amongst other guests, came Apollonius; who +by some probable conjecture, found her out to be a serpent--a lamia. When +she saw herself discovered, she wept, and desired Apollonius to be silent; +but he would not be moved, and thereupon she, plate, house, and all that +was in it vanished in an instant. + +Florigerus also mentions the case of a young gentleman of Rome, "who on +his wedding day went out walking with his bride and some friends after +dinner; and towards the evening went to a tennis-court, and while he +played he took off his ring, and placed it upon the finger of a brass +_Venus statua_. The game finished, he went to fetch his ring; but Venus +had bent her finger upon it, and he could not get it off. Whereupon, loth +to make his companions tarry, he there left it, intending to fetch it the +next day, went thence to supper, and so to bed; but in the night Venus had +slipped between him and his wife, and thus troubled him for several +successive nights. Not knowing how to help himself, he made his moan to +one Palumbus, a learned magician; who gave him a letter, and bade him at +such a time of the night, in such a cross way, where old Saturn would pass +by with his associates, to deliver to him the script: the young man, of a +bold spirit, accordingly did it; and when the old fiend had read it, he +called Venus to him, who was riding before him, and commanded her to +deliver the ring, which forthwith she did." + +Burton further quotes St. Augustine, Bodin, Paracelsus, and various other +learned men, who firmly maintain that the Devil is particularly fond of a +little flirtation with the ladies; and a Bavarian widower, who was sadly +grieving for his beloved wife, was visited by Old Nick, who had assumed +the form of the departed lady, and promised to live with him and comfort +him on the condition that he would leave off swearing and blaspheming; he +vowed it, married her, and she brought him several children; till one day, +in an uxorious quarrel, he began to swear like a Pandour, whereupon she +vanished, and never more was seen. + +The preservatives against witchcraft were as absurd as the fear it +inspired: some hair, parings of nails, or any part of a person bewitched, +were put into a stone bottle, with crooked nails, then corked close, and +hung up the chimney; this expedient occasioned most horrible tortures to +the witch, until the bottle was uncorked. Witches, moreover, cannot pursue +their victims beyond the middle of a running stream, provided the +fugitives had been baptized. I have now a patient under my care who +fancies himself bewitched, and asserts that the only way to guard against +the evil is by driving a nail in the impress left by a witch's foot on the +threshold, when she will discontinue her visits. + +By an act of George II. these offences were considered as misdemeanors, +and punished with a year's imprisonment, and standing four times in the +pillory. There is no doubt that, notwithstanding the absurdity of such +delusions and impostures, legislators must endeavour to secure the +ignorant against these impositions, which are frequently of a perilous +nature, and have been often known to occasion serious accidents, and even +death. Many of the substances thus administered are of a most dangerous +description, and these enchantments are not unfrequently resorted to with +sinister intentions. It is related of the Asiatic women, that, under the +pretext of giving these philters, they sometimes times prepare a beverage +from the seeds of the _Datura Metel_, which produces a lethargic +stupefaction of a convenient nature. The mischief that has frequently +arisen from the exhibition of the _Lytta vesicatoria_ has been observed +and recorded by every medical practitioner. The _Diablotini_, a kind of +incentive sugar-plums of the Italians, have been known to occasion the +most serious accidents; and the celebrated French actor Mole lost his life +in one of these experiments. Yet penal enactments, in such cases, must be +resorted to with much circumspection; for prohibition too frequently +promotes the evils which it is designed to check. + +Montesquieu observes, that the ridiculous stories that are generally told, +and the many impositions that have been discovered in all ages, are enough +to demolish all faith in such a dubious crime, if the contrary evidence +were not also extremely strong. Unquestionably, we have too many +instances of criminal acts of superstition in which supernatural agency is +believed; but did this philosophic writer mean to say that we have +evidence of actual witchcraft and sorcery? It is with some degree of +regret that we find our learned Blackstone avow his belief in these +matters, and we borrow his own words on the subject: "To deny the +possibility, nay, the actual existence of witchcraft and sorcery, is at +once flatly to contradict the revealed Word of God, in various passages +both of the New and Old Testament; and the thing itself is a truth to +which every nation in the world hath in its turn borne testimony, either +by examples seemingly well attested, or by prohibitory laws which at least +suppose the possibility of a commerce with evil spirits. The civil law +punishes with death not only the sorcerers themselves, but also those who +consult them; imitating in the former the express law of God, 'Thou shalt +not suffer a witch to live!'" Without calling into doubt the records of +supernatural agency in Holy Writ, evident manifestations of the power and +the will of the Divinity at that period, it may fairly be asked--Can we +promulgate such opinions in the present times, when miraculous events do +not seem to be permitted by our Creator in His inscrutable wisdom, without +incurring the risk of plunging the ignorant in all the dark horrors of the +early ages? Montesquieu himself has justly remarked, "that the most +unexceptionable conduct, the purest morals, and the constant practice of +every duty in life, are not a sufficient security against the suspicion of +crimes like these." And yet, because, forsooth, there may be made to +appear _examples seemingly attested_, and that on the faith of such an +attestation the most absurd and cruel _prohibitory laws_ have been enacted +by every _nation in the world, on the supposition of the possibility of +such a crime_, however ignorant and brutalized by superstition these +nations are or may have been, man is not only authorized by the Scriptures +to persecute some poor miserable fool or vagrant impostor unto death, but +he is sanctioned in founding this barbarous persecution on the laws of +God! The mind sickens at such doctrines. It is grievous to find a man like +our Addison sharing in such preposterous notions; notions which would +induce a doubtful by-stander not to interfere with a mob of miscreants who +were drowning some unfortunate old woman "for a witch." + +"There are," says Addison, "some opinions in which a man should stand +_neuter_, without engaging his assent to one side or the other. It is with +this temper of mind that I consider the subject of witchcraft. When I +consider whether there are such persons in the world as those we call +witches, my mind is divided between the two opposite opinions; or rather, +to speak my thoughts freely, I believe in general that _there is_, and has +been, such a thing as witchcraft, but, at the same time, can give no +credit to any particular instance of it." + +Are we then still to believe that there may exist some supernatural hag, +that can + + --------Untie the winds, and let them fight + Against the churches-------- + Control the moon, make ebbs and flows, + And deal in her command without her power? + +or who, with the influence given to them by our poet Rowe, + + By force of potent spells, of bloody characters, + And conjurations horrible to hear, + Call fiends and spectres from the yawning deep, + And set the ministers of hell to work, + +with the liver of a blaspheming Jew, the nose of a Turk, the lips of a +Tartar, the finger of a birth-strangled babe, and ditch-delivered by a +drab, &c. &c.? If we are to believe in witches with Blackstone and +Addison, we must give credence to all these mystic means by which they +_work_ their _way_. All these _means_ have been _seemingly attested_, and +led, from the just horror they inspired, to those _prohibitory laws_ +enacted by _every nation_; as if the laws of man could be of any avail in +resisting the _admitted_ supernatural powers with which these witches, +sorcerers, magicians, &c. must have been invested by the Deity to perform +their terrific operations! If we deny this authority we are Manicheans. + + + + +VENTRILOQUISM. + + +This peculiar faculty was well known to the ancients. Hippocrates verily +believed that there did exist individuals who could draw a voice from +their belly. He speaks of the wife of Polimarchus, who, being affected +with a quinsy, spoke in this manner; hence this power was called +_Engastrimysm_. Plato gives the history of Euricles, who mentions three +persons whom St. Chrysostom and Oecumenius considered to be endowed with +a heavenly gift. Caelius Rhodiginus describes an old woman of Rovigo who +used to deliver her oracles in the like manner, and who was never so +eloquent as when stripped to the skin, when she would answer most +accurately all the questions put to her by a familiar who attended upon +her, and was called Cincinnatulus. Anthony Vandael, a physician of Harlem, +considered ventriloquism as a supernatural power, enabling the voice to +proceed "ex ventre inferiore et partibus genitalibus;" and he describes a +woman of seventy-three years of age, called Barbara Jacobi, who used to +ventriloquise with an imp of the name of Joachim, who would weep most +piteously, or fall into roars of laughter, and sometimes danced and sung +with remarkable grace and elegance, according to the depressing or the +exhilarating nature of Mrs. Jacobi's communications. In the Septuagint the +Hebrew word _Ob_ is rendered by _Engastrimythos_; and it was supposed that +the Pythoness who evoked Samuel had recourse to this power. Oleaster, +Grand Inquisitor of Portugal, in a work published at Lisbon in 1656, +mentions a woman of the name of Cecilia who was brought before the court, +and expressed herself in a ventriloquial voice, which she said was that of +one Peter John, who had been dead for many years; but Peter John pleaded +in vain for his hostess, for, despite his abdominal eloquence, she was +sentenced to be transported. Whether Peter John accompanied her in exile +is not stated. In 1643, Dickinson mentions a man at Oxford, who was called +the King's Whisperer, and who expressed himself most clearly without +opening the mouth or moving the lips. This faculty has frequently been +employed in various speculations. In the sixteenth century, Borden relates +the story of a valet of Francis I., named Brabant, who thus persuaded the +mother of a young girl he courted to grant her consent to their marriage +as speedily as possible, if she wished her husband's soul to get out of +the torments of purgatory: after marriage, however, he was disappointed in +his pecuniary expectations, and he applied his powers of ventriloquism to +terrify a rich banker of Lyons, of the name of Corner, to bestow a fortune +upon his wife; for which purpose he assumed the voice of Corner's father, +who supplicated him to give the money as the only means of sending his +poor consuming soul to paradise. + +One of the most celebrated ventriloquists was a grocer of St. Germains, +one St. Gilles; but he applied the faculty he possessed to benevolent +purposes. Being called to reclaim a newly-married young man from a +disgraceful connexion, which rendered his wife most unhappy, his +supernatural voice, supposed to come from heaven, succeeded; and he was +equally fortunate in bringing to a sense of propriety one of the most +sordid misers of his time. + +St. Gilles was not so felicitous in a trick he played to some monks, +vainly attempting to prove the absurdity of their superstitious notions. +One of the community had lately died, and, according to custom, the +deceased was laid out in the church, and his brethren, grouped around him, +were pouring forth prayers for the repose of his soul, when St. Gilles, +throwing his voice into the coffin, returned them all the thanks of the +departed friar for their supplications in his behalf. The astonished monks +were most edified at this miraculous event; and their prior, who knew St. +Gilles to be a freethinker, endeavoured to impress upon his mind the +wonder that he himself had performed, and to inveigh most earnestly +against the impiety and incredulity of modern philosophers, who +entertained sceptic ideas concerning miracles. After a long exhortation, +our ventriloquist burst into a fit of laughter, and avowed the deception +he had practised: to convince the brotherhood of the veracity of his +assertion, he gave them various specimens of his skill,--but to no +purpose; he was called an infidel, a scoffer, an atheist, and, had it been +in Spain, the stake would in all probability have rewarded his perilous +frolic, or his stiff-necked impiety in refusing to believe in his own +miracles. + +It is now pretty generally admitted that ventriloquism simply consists in +a slow and gradual expiration, preceded by a strong and deep inspiration, +by which a considerable quantity of air is introduced into the lungs, +which is afterwards acted upon by the flexible powers of the larynx and +the trachea: any person therefore, by practice, can obtain more or less +expertness in this exercise; in which, although not apparently, the voice +is still modified by the mouth and the tongue. Mr. Lespagnol, in a very +able dissertation on this subject, has demonstrated that ventriloquists +have acquired by practice the power of exercising the veil of the palate +in such a manner, that, by raising or depressing it, they dilate or +contract the inner nostrils. If they are closely contracted, the sound +produced is weak, dull, and seems to be more or less distant; if, on the +contrary, these cavities are widely dilated, the sound is strengthened by +these tortuous infractuosities, and the voice becomes loud, sonorous, and +apparently close to us. Thus any able mimic who can with facility disguise +his voice, with the aid of this power of modifying sounds, may in time +become a ventriloquist. + + + + +CHAUCER'S DESCRIPTION OF A PHYSICIAN. THE DOCTOR OF PHYSIC. + + + With us there was a doctour of phisike; + In all this world, ne was there none him like + To speake of phisike and of surgerie, + For he was grounded in astronomie. + He kept his patient a full great dell + In houses: by his magike naturell + Well couth he fortune the assendent + Of his image for his pacient. + He knew the cause of every malady, + Whether it were of cold, heate, moist, or dry. + And whereof engendered was each humour. + He was a very parfit practisour; + The cause I knew, and of his haime the roote, + Anon he gave to the rich man his boot. + Full ready had he his apoticaries + To send him drugs and his lectuaries; + For each of them made other for to winne, + Their friendship was not new to beginne. + Well he knew the old Esculapius, + And Diascorides, and eke Ruffus, + And Hippocrates, and Galen, + Serapion, Rasis, and Avicen, + Aberrois, Damascene, and Constantin, + Bernard, Galisden, and Gilbertin + Of his diet measurable was he, + For it was of no superfluitie; + But of great nourishing and digestible. + His study was but little on the Bible. + In sanguine and in percepolad withall + Lined with taffata and with sendall; + And yet he was but easy of dispence. + He kept that he won in time of pestilence; + For gold in phisike is a cordial, + Therefore he loved gold speciall. + +It appears from this quaint and satirical picture, that, in our Chaucer's +days, astrology formed part of a physician's study. It also plainly proves +that a disgraceful collusion prevailed between medical practitioners and +their apothecaries, mutually to enrich each other at the expense of the +patient's purse and constitution. The poet, moreover, seems to tax the +faculty with irreligion: that unjust accusation was not uncommon; hence +the old adage, "Ubi tres medici, duo athei." To the disgrace of many +illiberal persons of the present age, we have known some of our most able +and praiseworthy physiologists charged with materialism. + + + + +DAEMONOMANIA. + + +This disease is perhaps the most distressing species of insanity; since, +with the exception of the miserable belief of being possessed by the evil +spirit, the patient is often in full possession of his other faculties, +and will even endeavour to reason with his attendants, with some apparent +plausibility, on the very aberration that constitutes the malady. + +The word 'daemon' among the ancients was not considered as specific of an +evil spirit; on the contrary, it signified genius, intellect, mind. +[Greek: Daimonion], from [Greek: daimon], meant wisdom, science. The first +notions of daemons were probably brought from Chaldea, whence they spread +amongst the Persians, Egyptians, and Greeks. Gales maintains that the +original institution of daemons was an imitation of the Messiah. The +Phoenicians called them _Baalim_. So far do these early opinions +prevail, that among the Anabaptists we find a sect called Daemoniac, who +believe that devils shall be saved at the end of the world. + +Plato gave the name of daemons to the benevolent spirits who regulated the +universe. The Chaldeans and Jews considered them as the causes of all +human maladies. Saul was agitated by an evil spirit, and Job and Joram +suffered under a similar visitation. + +Daemonomania differs widely from the mental disease called Theomania. In +the latter state of insanity the patient fancies that he is placed in +communication with the Deity or his angels; in the former, he feels +convinced that he has become the prey of the destroyer of mankind. + +Under the head of "Unlawful Cures," instances are related of the firm +belief in the power of evil spirits to cause various diseases. Perhaps the +origin of daemonomania may be traced to fanatical persecution; never was +the malady so common as during the denunciations of Calvin, when torture +was frequently resorted to, to make the victims of bigotry renounce a +supposed pact with the devil. D'Agessau was right when, in advising the +parliament of Paris to repeal all statutes against sorcery, he recommended +that daemoniacs should be handed over to the physician, instead of the +priest or the executioner. + +The sufferings which daemoniacs say they endure must be excruciating; so +powerful is moral influence over our physical sensations. They will tell +you that the devil is drawing them tight, and suffocating them with a +cord; that he is pinching and lacerating their entrails, burning and +tearing their heart, pouring hot oil or molten lead in their veins, while +internal flames are consuming them. Their strength is exhausted, their +digestive functions impaired, their appearance soon becomes miserable in +the extreme, their countenances pale and haggard: the wretched creatures +endeavour to conceal themselves during their scanty meals, or their +attempts to enjoy a broken slumber; they are persuaded that they no longer +possess a corporeal existence that requires refection or repose,--the evil +spirit has borne away their bodies, the devil requires no earthly support; +they even deny their sex: they are doomed to live for ever in constant +agony. These unfortunate creatures are mostly women. One of them asserts, +with horrid imprecations, that she has been the devil's wife for a million +of years, and had borne him a numerous family; her body is nothing but a +sack made of a devil's skin, and filled with their offsprings in the shape +of devouring snakes, toads, and venomous reptiles. She exclaims that her +husband constantly urges her to commit murder, theft, and every imaginable +crime; and sometimes with bitter tears supplicates her keeper to put on a +strait waistcoat, to prevent her from doing evil. Another woman, +forty-eight years of age, assures us that she has two devils who have +taken up their residence in both her hips, and have grown up to her ears: +one of them is black and yellow, the other black, both in the shape of +cats. She fills her ears with snuff and grease to satisfy their diabolical +cravings. She eats with voracity, but is a perfect skeleton in appearance; +the devils consume all, and leave her nothing. They constantly bid her to +go and drown herself; but she cannot obey them, since eternity is her +doom. They are scarcely sensible of painful agents, and are unconscious of +heat, cold, or the inclemency of the weather. Their perspiration, +frequently profuse, exhales a most unpleasant odour; hence the vulgar +fancy that they smell of the lower regions. This circumstance is the usual +consequence of many nervous affections, and arises, most probably, from +the foulness of the breath, a natural result of impaired digestion, and +from a peculiar acrimony of the cutaneous secretions. + +Pinel relates the case of a missionary whose enthusiastic aberrations led +him into the horrible belief, that he could only be saved from eternal +torments, by what he called a _baptism of blood_. This fatal mania induced +him to attempt the life of his wife, who was fortunate to escape from the +danger, after he had immolated two of his children, to secure their +salvation! Tried for this crime he was sentenced to perpetual confinement +in Bicetre. In his dungeon he fancied himself the _fourth person in the +trinity_, maintained that he was sent upon earth to baptize with blood, +and all the power of the universe could not affect his life. During ten +years' confinement this miserable wretch, betrayed the same insanity +whenever religious subjects were touched upon, in all other matters, he +reasoned most soundly. His lucid intervals at last became so long in their +duration and calm, that it was questioned whether he might not be +liberated--until on a Christmas eve, his sanguinary monomania resumed all +its intensity, and having by some means or other obtained possession of a +leather-cutter's knife, he inflicted a desperate wound on one of his +keepers, and cut the throat of two patients who were near them; many other +inmates of the establishment would, no doubt, have been sacrificed by the +desperate maniac had he not been secured. This case might decidedly be +considered one of true daemonomania. + +It has been generally remarked that cases of daemonomania are more common +amongst women than in men. Their greater susceptibility to nervous +affections, their warmth of imagination and strong passions, which habit +and education compel them to restrain, produce a state of concentration +that must cause increased excitement, and render them more liable to those +terrific impressions that constitute the disease. These terrors, from +false notions of the Deity, make them anticipate in this world the +sufferings denounced in the next. One woman has been known to become +daemonomaniac after an intense perusal of the Apocalypse, and another by +the constant reading of the works of Thomas a Kempis. Women, moreover, at +certain critical periods are subject to great mental depression, which +they have not the power to relieve by exciting pursuits, like men. +Melancholy succeeds a dull sameness. Religion, viewed in a false light, +becomes her refuge; more especially at an advanced period of life, when +loss of youth and beauty is bitterly felt, as galled vanity compares the +present with the past. Hysteric symptoms are now developed: the passions, +which are too frequently increased even to intensity, rather than cooled, +by years, prompt her to rebellious thoughts that religion and virtuous +feelings strive to restrain; and these powerful agents, acting upon a +predisposition morbidly impressionable from ignorance or the errors of +education, accelerate the invasion of this cruel malady. Jacobi informs +us, that this is still the character which, in some catholic countries, +insanity connected with superstition frequently assumes. + +Pliny tells us that women are the best subjects for magical experiments; +Quintilian is of the same opinion: Saul consults a witch; Bodin, in his +calculations, estimates the proportion between wizards and witches as one +to fifty. It is, perhaps, owing to these remarks that many ungenerous +writers have denied _women_ a soul, as not belonging to _mankind_. There +exists a curious anonymous work, published at the close of the sixteenth +century, to prove that women are not men, or, in other words, reasonable +creatures, and entitled "_Dissertatio perjucunda qua Anonymus probare +nititur Mulieres homines non esse_." Our author upon this principle +endeavours to show that women cannot be saved. One Simon Geddicus, a +Lutheran divine, wrote a serious confutation of this libel upon the fair +sex, in 1595, and promises the ladies an expectation of salvation on their +good behaviour. According to a popular tradition among the Mahometans, +women are excluded from paradise: St. Augustin, however, calls them the +_devout sex_; and in the prayer to the Virgin of the Romish Church we find +"_Intercede pro devoto foemineo sexu_." An hypothesis still more absurd +was broached by a Doctor Almaricus, a theological Parisian writer of the +twelfth century, who advanced that, had it not been for the original sin, +every individual of our species would have come into existence a complete +man; and that God would have created them by himself, as he created Adam. +Our worthy doctor was a disciple of Aristotle, who maintained that woman +was a defective animal, and her generation purely fortuitous and foreign +to nature. Howbeit, my fair readers will learn with satisfaction that the +doctrines of this aforesaid Almaricus were condemned by the church as +heretical, and his bones were therefore dug up, and cast into a common +sewer, as an _amende honorable_ to the offended ladies. + +"A woman," says one of the primitive fathers of the church, "went to the +play, and came back with the devil in her; whereupon, when the unclean +spirit was urged and threatened, in the office of exorcising, for having +dared to attack one of the faithful, 'I have done nothing,' replied he, +'but what is very fair; I found her on my own grounds, and I took +possession of her.'" + +St. Cyprian informs us, that when he was studying magic, he was +particularly intimate with the devil. "I saw the devil himself," he says; +"embraced him; I conversed with him, and was esteemed one of those who +held a principal rank about him." Who can doubt the assertion of a saint! +It appears, that in those wonderful days the devil usually wore a black +gown, with a black hat; and it was observed that, whenever he was +preaching, his _glutei muscles_ were as cold as ice. + +At all times satire has endeavoured to make invidious distinctions between +the sexes: this is not fair. Women are generally what men have made them. +In a physical, and, consequently, to a certain degree in a moral point of +view, their organization is essentially different from ours; therefore, a +masculine woman is as intolerable as an effeminate man. The education of +females tends in a great measure to increase that susceptibility to +trifling excitements, which in after-life urges them to the extremes of +good or evil. While the toys and amusements of boys are of a manly nature, +a girl is taught to practise upon her darling doll all the arts which a +few years after she will practise upon herself. Many intelligent writers +have doubted the expediency of giving woman any education beyond the +sphere of her domestic pursuits and occupations; Erasmus wrote largely on +this subject to Budaeus. Vives treats of it in his _Institutio foeminae +Christianae_; and a German authoress, Madame Schurman, has published a +treatise on the problem, "_Num foeminae Christianae conveniat studium +literarum?_" + +It is this nervous flexibility in women that exposes them to that constant +succession of emotions which are expressed by a rapid transition from +tears to smiles; and, anomalous as it may appear, they are more exposed to +fond impressions in their grief than at any other moment; they then feel +more helpless, and stand in greater need of consolation. The story of the +Matron of Ephesus is not so great a libel on the sex as one might imagine. +Their mind is prone to romantic enthusiasm; they delight in the +extraordinary, the terrible, and as Madame de Sevigne, who well knew her +sex, expresses it, they enjoy in chivalric tales _les grands coups +d'epee_. Prudence preventing them too frequently from expressing their +thoughts, thinking becomes more intense; and Publius Syrus has said, +"_Mulier quae sola cogitat, male cogitat_:" but when the suppressed volcano +bursts forth, its eruptions are boundless; it is then that one may +exclaim, "_Notumque fuerit quid foemina possit_." No passion is more +overwhelming than when it has been kept down by dissimulation; opportunity +is their curse: Montaigne has too truly said, "_Oh le furieux avantage que +l'opportunite_!" and our Denham has beautifully illustrated its fearful +circumstances: + + Opportunity, like a sudden gust, + Hath swell'd my calmer thoughts into a tempest. + Accursed opportunity! + That works our thoughts into desires; desires + To resolutions; those being ripe and quickened, + Thou giv'st them birth, and bring'st them forth to action. + +It is a perilous ordeal for such to whom the lines of Ovid might apply, + + Quae, quia non liceat, non facit; illa facit. + +To what prejudice against women are we to trace their sex having been +chosen to represent the Furies, stern and inexorable ministers of Divine +wrath; the Harpies, who defiled all they touched; the perilous Sirens; +unless it be to woman's fascinations in youth, and envious bitterness in +old age--the conventional type of witchcraft? This unhappy selection of +woman for working _malefices_ has been attributed to the facility which +the devil found in tempting Eve. A witch is supposed by the most learned +in the black art to be in compact with Satan, whom she is obliged to obey; +whereas a sorcerer commands the devil himself by his knowledge of charms +and invocations, but more especially of perfumes that the evil spirits +delight in when properly suffumigated, or abhor when maliciously given +them to smell. Thus the burning of a fish's liver by Tobit drove the devil +into the remote parts of Egypt; and Lilly informs us, that one Evans +having raised a spirit at the request of Lord Bothwell and Sir Kenelm +Digby, and forgotten his favourite fumigation or incense, the angry elf +whipped him up, and carried him from his house in the Minories to +Battersea Causeway. + +Although fairies are mostly considered juvenile, and many of their kind +acts are recorded, yet are they in general mischievous imps; Mr. Lewis +describes those he saw in the silver and lead mines of Wales, as only +being about half a yard high. As a punishment for their vagaries, all +their children are stunted and idiotic; and this accounts for their +abominable custom of substituting their own "base elfin breed" for healthy +infants. Hence are idiots commonly called changelings. + +Daemoniacs are prone to commit suicide, less from their loathing an irksome +life than through fear, not of future torments, but of the renewal or the +continuance of their worldly sufferings. Perhaps they may entertain some +doubts as to the punishment of another existence, while their actual +condition is intolerable; we not unfrequently see desperate men rushing to +meet the very fate they dread. + +Daemonomania may be referred to a false view of divine justice,--ignorance, +and consequent weakness of intellect,--and a pusillanimous apprehension of +perhaps a merited chastisement. It is a disease which seldom admits of a +cure. If the consolations of true religion are proffered, they are either +spurned with anger, or merely produce an evanescent melioration. Zacutus +relates the case of a daemoniac who was cured by a person who appeared to +her in the form of an angel, to inform her that her sins had been +forgiven: it is possible that stratagems of a similar nature might +prevail. I attended a monomaniac lady in Paris, who fancied herself in +Jerusalem on the eve of its destruction. She furiously opposed all +endeavours to move her from her residence; and it was only by personating +a Jewish rabbi, and offering to take her to New Jerusalem as a place of +refuge, that she consented to accompany me in a carriage to a _maison de +sante_ near the capital. Here imagination subdued imagination. I have had +the pleasure to hear that ever since I thus succeeded in breaking a link +in the morbid association of her fancies, her state of mind rapidly +improved, and that she is now restored to perfect sanity. + +Daemonomania has been known to be epidemic. From 1552 to 1554 no less than +eighty-four persons became possessed in Rome. The endeavours of a French +monk to exorcise them proved of no avail; and as most of the unfortunate +victims of credulity were Jewesses who had consented to be baptized, the +Jews were of course accused of sorcery. About the same period a similar +disease broke out in a convent near Kerndrop, in Germany, when all the +nuns were possessed, and denounced their cook, who, having confessed that +she was a witch, was duly burnt alive with her mother. + +Daemonomania has been considered an hereditary visitation, and whole +families have therefore been deemed in pact with the evil one. Insanity is +unfortunately known to attach itself to certain generations; but perhaps +it has not been sufficiently observed, when endeavouring to account for +this melancholy fact, that the mind becomes gradually influenced by the +nature of the constant conversation we daily and hourly are exposed to +hear; and it is not impossible but that this transmission of mental +disease may be attributed to morbid moral and physical sympathies, which +might be avoided by withdrawing the persons exposed to it from the sphere +of their action. Constant anxious thoughts and painful reflections tend to +produce an increased sensorial power in the brain, with a diminished +sensibility to external impressions. So great has been this effect upon +the senses, that maniacs have been seen to gaze upon the meridian sun +without any sensible effect on the organs of vision. It is therefore +possible that an individual who beholds with incessant horror insanity in +his family, or who constantly hears of their aberrations, may ultimately +experience a similar peculiarity of the mind: hence wit as well as madness +have been known to be the heir-looms of a race. Although the examples of +vice, one might imagine, would inspire a love for virtuous actions, yet we +daily see profligacy the characteristic of an entire family; and there are +names which have been rendered by misconduct synonymous with depravity. +This sad fact can only be attributed to natural temperament, whether it be +sanguine or melancholic. It has been observed that our constitutions +exercise a control over diseases, that modifies them in a peculiar manner. +The more acute the sensibility, the greater is the predisposition to +insanity. Warm and ungovernable passions will drive one female into all +the horrid excesses of nymphomania, while the timid hypochondriac and +hysteric woman will gradually sink into a morose or a malevolent +despondency. Burton attributes daemonomania to other causes, and tells us +that the devil is so cunning that he is able to deceive the very elect; +and, to compel them the more to stand in awe of him, he sends and cures +diseases, disquiets their minds, torments and terrifies their souls, to +make them adore him; and all his study, all his endeavour, is to divert +them from true religion to superstition; and because he is damned himself, +and is in error, he would have all the world participate of his errors, +and be damned with him. + +Amongst the various motives that induced the evil one to pay his sinister +visits to frail mortality, that of inflicting upon them a salutary, or a +vexatious fustigation, is frequently recorded by the fathers and other +writers. It was more especially upon the backs of saints that this +castigation took place. St. Athanasius informs us that St. Anthony was +frequently flagellated by the devil. St. Jerome states that St. Hilarius +was often whipped in a similar manner; and he calls the devil "a wanton +gladiator," and thus describes his mode of punishment: "Insidet dorso ejus +festivus gladiator; et latera calcibus, cervicem flagello verberans." +Grimalaicus, a learned divine, confirms the fact in the following passage: +"Nonnumquam autem et aperta impugnatione grassantes, daemones humana +corpora verberant, sicut B. Antonio fecerant." St. Francis of Assisa +received a dreadful flogging from the devil the very first night he came +to Rome, which caused him to quit that city forthwith. Abbe Boileau's +remarks on this circumstance savour not a little of impiety and +freethinking, for he says, "It is not unlikely that, having met with a +colder reception than he judged his sanctity entitled him to, he thought +proper to decamp immediately, and when he returned to his convent told the +above story to his brother monks." Howbeit, Abbe Boileau is no authority, +and it is to be feared that, partaking of the satirical disposition of his +brother, he sacrificed piety to wit; for it is well known, beyond the +power of sceptic doubts, that the aforesaid saint's assertion cannot +possibly be impugned by proper believers. His power over the fiery +elements was established; whereby he possessed the faculty of curing +erysipelas, honoured by the appellation of St. Anthony's fire. In the like +manner St. Hubert cured hydrophobia, and St. John the epilepsy. + +It is, however, pleasing to know that it was not always that the beatified +succumbed to these Satanic pranks, and many instances are recorded of the +devil's being worsted in these sacrilegious amusements, as fully appears +in the history of the blessed Cornelia Juliana, in whose room, one day, +says her history, "the other nuns heard a prodigious noise, which turned +out to be a strife she had had with the devil, whom, after having laid +hold of him, she fustigated most unmercifully; then, having him upon the +ground, she trampled upon him with her foot, and ridiculed him in the most +bitter manner (_lacerabat sarcasmis_)." This occurrence is +incontrovertible, being affirmed by that learned and pious Jesuit, +Bartholomew Fisen. + +This partiality of devils for flagellation can most probably be attributed +to their horribly jealous disposition; for it is well known that the +saints took great delight in fustigating, not only those who offended +them, but their most faithful votaries. Flagellation was therefore the +most grateful punishment that could be inflicted to propitiate the +beatified; and we have several well-authenticated facts which prove that +the Virgin was frequently appeased by this practice. Under the pontificate +of Sextus IV., a heterodox professor of divinity, who had written against +the tabernacle, was flogged publicly by a pious monk, to the great +edification of the by-standers, more particularly the ladies. The +description of this operation would lose materially by translation, I +therefore give it in the original. "Apprehendens ipsum revolvit super ejus +genua; erat enim valde fortis. Elevatis itaque pannis, quia ille minister +contra sanctum Dei tabernaculum locutus fuerat, coepit cum palmis +percutere _super quadrata tabernacula_ quae erant nuda, non enim habebat +_femoralia vel antiphonam_; et quia ipse infamare voluerat beatam +Virginem, allegando forsitan Aristotelem in libro priorum, iste praedicator +_illum confutavit legendo in libro ejus posteriorum_: de hoc autem omnes +qui aderant gaudebant. Tunc exclamavit _quaedam devota mulier_, dicens, +'_Domine Praedicator, detis ei alios quatuor palmatus pro me_; et alia +postmodum dixit, 'Detis ei etiam quatuor; sicque _multae aliae_ rogabant, +ita quod si illarum petitionibus satisfacere voluisset, per totum diem +aliud facere non potuisset." + +We need not seek for similar instances of the mighty power of proper +fustigation in foreign parts. The Annals of Wales record a singular +instance of the kind, which happened in the year 1188, as related by +Silvester Gerald, in such a circumstantial manner that the most obdurate +incredulity alone could doubt the fact:--"On the other side of the river +Humber," he says, "in the parish of Hoeden, lived the rector of that +church, with his concubine. This concubine, one day, sat rather +imprudently on the tomb of St. Osanna, sister to King Osred, which was +made of wood, and raised above the ground in the shape of a seat: when she +attempted to rise from that place, she stuck to the wood in such a manner +that she could not be parted from it, till, in the presence of the people +who flocked to see her, she had suffered her clothes to be torn from her, +and had received a severe discipline on her naked body, and that too to a +great effusion of blood, and with many tears and devout supplications on +her part; which done, and after she had engaged to submit to further +penitence, she was divinely released." + +In this instance, as in many others, freedom from vulgar habiliments +appears to have been considered as acceptable to Heaven; so much so, +indeed, that the state of greater or lesser nudity has been commensurate +with the degree of the offence. The Cynic philosophers of Greece, among +whom Diogenes made himself most conspicuous, used to appear in public +without a rag upon them. The Indian wise men, called Gymnosophists, or +naked sages, indulged in the same vagaries. In more modern times, the +Adamites appeared in the simple condition of our first father. In the 13th +century, a sect called _Les Turlupins_ (a denomination which appears to +have been an opprobrious nickname), perambulated France, disencumbered of +vain accoutrements; and, in 1535, some Anabaptists made an excursion in +Amsterdam in the condition in which they had quitted their baths, for +which breach of decorum the impious burgomasters had them bastinadoed. We +further read of one Friar Juniperus, a worthy Franciscan, who, according +to history, "entered the town of Viterboo, and, while he stood within the +gate, he put his hose on his head, and his gown being tied round his neck +in the shape of a load, he walked through the streets of the town, where +he suffered much abuse and maltreatment from the wicked inhabitants; and, +still in the same situation, he went to the convent of the brothers, who +all exclaimed against him, but he cared little for them, _so holy was the +good little brother_ (_tam sanctus fuit iste fraticellus_)." + +The pranks of brother Juniper have been performed at sundry periods by +various holy men. Are we not warranted in conceiving that these +individuals were daemonomaniacs? for surely the devil alone could have +inspired them with such fancies, although Cardinal Damian defends the +practice in the following terms, when speaking of the day of judgment: +"Then shall the sun lose its lustre, the moon shall be involved in +darkness; the stars shall fall from their places, and all the elements be +confounded together: of what service then will be to you those clothes and +garments with which you are now covered, and which you refuse to lay +aside, to submit to the exercise of penitence?" + +It must be remarked, in extenuation of these exhibitions, that they were +accompanied by flagellation; which sometimes bore a close analogy to those +of the Saturnalia and Lupercalia, and the discipline of the flagellants +was not always dissimilar to that of the Luperci. + +To resume: Daemonomania may be considered the result of a morbid condition +of the mind, and the dread of supernatural agency. The belief of an +incarnation of the devil leads to the natural apprehension of his having +taken possession of our bodies, when a credulous creature fancies that he +has fallen into his snares, and forsaken the ways of the Omnipotent. This +sad delusion has been admirably illustrated by Sir Walter Scott in his +curious and learned Demonology. "It is, I think," says he, "conclusive +that mankind, from a very early period, have their minds prepared for such +events (supernatural occurrences) by the consciousness of the existence of +a spiritual world. But imagination is apt to intrude its explanations and +inferences founded on inadequate evidence. Sometimes our violent and +inordinate passions, originating in sorrow for our friends, remorse for +our crimes, our eagerness of patriotism, or our deep sense of +devotion,--these, or other violent excitements of a moral character, in +the visions of the night, or the rapt ecstasy of the day, persuade us that +we witness with our eyes and ears an actual instance of that supernatural +communication, the possibility of which cannot be denied. At other times +the corporeal organs impose upon the mind, while the eye and the ear, +diseased, deranged, or misled, convey false impressions to the patient. +Very often both the mental delusion and the physical deception exist at +the same time; and men's belief of the phenomena presented to them, +however erroneously, by the senses, is the firmer and more readily +granted, that the physical impressions corresponded with the mental +excitement." + +From the foregoing observations we may venture to conclude, that an +individual who gives credence to apparitions will also believe in the +incarnation of the devil. In both cases we infer that spiritual beings can +assume corporeal forms; and, although we may not presume to question the +possibility of such appearances when it may please the Omnipotent so to +will it, to believe in possession is actually to admit that the devil is a +spiritual being endowed with specific attributes and powers, and acting +either independently or with the consent of the Almighty. This admission +would to a certain extent border on the heresy of the Manicheans, who +believed, with the heresiarch Cubricus, that there existed a good and an +evil principle coeternal and independent of each other. We find in Holy +Writ that indulgence was granted to Satan to visit the earth. But the +period when miraculous power ceased, or rather was withdrawn from the +church, is not determined. The Protestants bring it down beneath the +accession of Constantine, while the Roman Catholic clergy still claim the +power of producing or procuring supernatural manifestations when it suits +their purpose; but, as Scott justly observes, it is alike inconsistent +with the common sense of either Protestant or Roman Catholic, that fiends +should be permitted to work marvels, which are no longer exhibited on the +part of religion. + +Cullen's opinion on this disease is worthy of remark. He says, "I do not +allow that there is any true daemonomania, because few people nowadays +believe that demons have any power over our bodies or our minds; and, in +my opinion, the species recorded are either a species of melancholy or +mania,--diseases falsely referred by the spectators to the power of +demons,--feigned diseases,--or diseases partly real or partly feigned." + +Esquirol, moreover, justly observes, that "in modern times the punishments +that the priest denounces have ceased to influence the minds and the +conduct of men, and governments have recourse to restraints of a +different kind. Many lunatics express now as much dread of the tribunals +of justice, as they formerly entertained of the influence of stars and +demons." + +We frequently meet with despondent monomaniacs labouring under the fatal +delusion of having forfeited all hopes of salvation, and being in fact +inevitably doomed to perdition, but who are apparently of sound mind when +touching upon other subjects. The case of one Samuel Brown was peculiarly +striking. This unfortunate man, at a period when all his intellectual +faculties were in full vigour, fancied that his rational soul had +gradually succumbed under divine displeasure, and that he solely enjoyed +an animal life in common with brutes. + +Esquirol affirms that this form of lunacy is of rare occurrence, and that +out of upwards of 20,000 insane persons whom he has observed, scarcely one +case of daemonomania could be found in a thousand, and these were amongst +the lowest and most uneducated classes of society. The most powerful charm +to withstand the efforts of the evil spirit, is the following one +generally made use of in Livonia. + +_Two eyes have seen thee--may three eyes deign to cast a favourable look +upon thee, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost._ + + + + +THE PLAGUE. + + +Pestilential diseases have ever been considered a punishment inflicted on +mankind for their manifold offences. The ancients deified the calamity, +and viewed it in the light of an avenging god. In the Oedipus of +Sophocles, the chorus implore Minerva to preserve them from that divinity, +which, without sword or buckler, strews the Theban streets with corpses, +and is more invincible than Mars himself. Lucretius describes the plague +of Athens as a holy fire,-- + + Et simul, ulceribus quasi inustis, omne rubore + Corpus, ut est, per membra _sacer_ quum diditur _ignis_. + +The plague was known in an early era both to the Israelites and to the +Greeks, and its ancient and modern histories have descended to us depicted +in the most terrific colours, in a regular stream of Hebrew, Greek, +Arabic, and Roman writers, in most instances offering little variety from +the descriptions of neoteric observers. + +The pestilences that visited the Israelites were, however, of a different +character. They were also considered as a Divine chastisement of the sins +of that stiff-necked nation. This visitation, accurately described in Holy +Writ, has led to the most curious disquisitions. Bryant has endeavoured by +the most recondite researches to give us the reasons why the Creator +thought proper thus to visit his disobedient people. It has been truly +observed that the sublime is not far removed from the ridiculous; and it +may be said with equal correctness, that enthusiasm in religion too +frequently borders upon impiety. Bryant, in his erudite labour, has +unhappily fallen into this extreme, in assigning human motives to the +decrees of the Deity. This matter is treated in so curious a manner that +it will not be irrelevant to notice his bold assertions. + +In the first instance, taking the language of the Exodus in the most +literal sense, he tells us that the river was turned into blood, _because_ +it was a punishment particularly well adapted to that blinded and +infatuated people, as a warning to the Israelites of the insufficiency of +the false gods that the Egyptians worshipped. They had rendered divine +homage to the Nile; and Herodotus informs us that the Persians held their +rivers in the highest veneration; while the same worship obtained among +the Medes, the Parthians, and the Sarmatians. The Greeks adored the +Spercheius, to whose god Peleus vowed the hair of his son; the laureated +Peneus, the earth-born Achelous, and the loving Alpheus. For, although it +may be said that these streams were merely venerated as the symbols of +their respective gods, it is possible that the Greeks might have fallen +into the same errors as the worshippers of saintly images in more modern +and enlightened times. Therefore, says our learned author, there was a +great propriety in the judgment brought upon this people by Moses. They +must have felt the utmost astonishment and horror when they beheld the +sacred stream changed and polluted, and the divinity which they worshipped +so shamefully soiled and debased. Moreover, he tells us that the Egyptian +priests were particularly nice and delicate in their outward habits, +making constant ablutions; and abhorred blood, or any stain of gore. In +this plague the fish that were in the river died, and the river stunk. Now +the priests and holy men not only never tasted fish, but looked upon them +as deities. A city was built in honour of the god-fish, Oxyrunchus; the +Phagrus[12] was worshipped at Syene, the Maeotis at Elephantis, and +Antiphanes tells us that the Egyptians equally reverenced the eel. + +The second plague were frogs, _because_, further saith our sapient +authority, they added to the stink of the land, as they "died out of the +houses, out of the villages, and out of the fields, and were gathered +together in heaps, and the land stunk," Exodus viii. 13, 14. Bryant +candidly confesses that he is rather uncertain if this reptile was an +object of reverence, or of abhorrence to the Egyptians; nevertheless, he +draws the conclusion that, as the ancients worshipped many deities of +dread, and others that they despised, (such as Priapus, Fatua, Vacuna, +Cloacina,) Mephitis, or foul effluvia, was held in religious awe,--and, to +use his own expressions, since Mephitis "signified stink in the abstract," +and had a temple at Cremona, the pestilential emanation from the dead +frogs might have been considered as entitled to some reverence.[13] +Plutarch tells us that the frog was an emblem of the sun in Egypt, and +that the brazen palm-tree at Delphi had many of these animals engraved on +its basis. On the Bembine table we find it sitting upon the lotus, a +circumstance observed in various ancient gems; the water-lily being, +perhaps, congenial to this aquatic tribe, which were denominated the +attendants of the deities of streams and fountains. It is also alleged +that the frog was deemed an emblem of Apollo and Osiris, from its habit of +inflation, which was looked upon as being typical of inspiration. That +frogs were considered as evil symbols further appears in the Apocalypse, +where we find that "three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth +of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of +the false prophet; they are the spirits of devils working miracles." + +The third plague was lice, _because_ the Egyptian priests affected great +external purity, wore linen under their woollen garments, and shaved their +heads, according to Herodotus, every third day, to prevent any louse, or +any other detestable object, from finding a comfortable shelter. Some +scholastics have ventured to insinuate that this insect was a species of +gnat; but St. Jerome and Origen very properly observe that this would have +been a presumptious anticipation of the plague of flies, which constituted +the _fourth_ visitation, _because_ flies were also held sacred by the +Egyptians, and were worshipped under the name of _Achon_, _Acoron_, and +_Zebub_, more particularly in the city of _Acaron_ or _Accoron_. Baal was +the god of flies, and the fly was worshipped at _Ekron_, where it was +called _Baal-ze-bub_,--hence _Belzebub_. + +The next plague was the murrain of beasts; _because_ it was necessary that +the Israelites should not only see that the cattle of the Egyptians were +all infected, while theirs were exempted from the evil; but that their +very living symbol of the bull Apis, in whom the soul of Osiris had taken +up its dwelling, was affected with epizooty in common with other herds of +horned deities, who were called _Dii Stercorei_; though it appears that +the ass and the camel were involved in the same calamity. + +Our commentator attempts to account for the sixth plague of boils and +blains with equal ingenuity. He affirms that this cruel disorder was sent +among the Egyptians to show the Israelites that the medical men to whom +they attributed divine powers, could neither cure nor alleviate the +disease. The science of medicine bequeathed by Isis to her son Orus was of +no avail, and the learned records of Tosorthrus yielded no information. In +vain did their leeches search their cryptae and sacred caverns, or consult +their mystic obelisks, which, according to Manetho, were inscribed with +the aphorisms of medical experience; their physicians only increased the +number of the _botches_ of the land. The Scriptures state that this +pestilential malady was produced by the ashes that Aaron and Moses +scattered up towards heaven to be wafted over the country. Bryant also +accounts for this circumstance, and attributes this method of extending +the calamity to the barbarous practice of the Egyptians of burning human +victims and scattering the ashes in the air, in a like manner to +propitiate their gods. + +The fall of rain, hail, fire, and thunder, that constituted the seventh +plague, was a chastisement inflicted on the worshippers of these supposed +elements. Their Isis presided over the waters, and Osiris and Hephaistus +governed fire. Moreover the flax was smitten, whereby the Egyptians were +deprived of the means of making linen, the finest of which was their boast +and their pride. The barley was also destroyed, and they had no materials +for brewing their favourite potation, barley-wine; a species of beer which +constituted their chief beverage when the waters of the Nile were turbid +and not potable.[14] + +But, according to Jacob Bryant, this destruction was not deemed +sufficient, since the fecundity of Egypt would soon have replenished their +granaries, manufactures, and breweries; therefore locusts were sent to +devour every thing that the former devastation had spared; and this plague +was a punishment of their belief that Hercules and Apollo had the power of +controlling these ravenous insects, which were called _Parnopes_ and +_Cornopes_, whence Apollo was named _Parnopius_, and Hercules _Cornopion_. +It also appears that the grasshoppers, or _cicadae_, were venerated, both +as sacred and musical; and the Athenians wore golden ones in their hair, +to denote the antiquity of their race of earth-born breed. + +Now it is somewhat singular, that while our ingenious author makes such +learned inquiries to account for the motives that induced God thus to +visit the Egyptians, he does not venture to assign motives for similar +calamities which befel other nations and countries; although his +researches on the subject are so curious and interesting, that they +deserve insertion. + +The following is the account given by Beauplam of the destructive inroad +of these devourers in the Ukraine:--"Next to the flies, let us talk of the +grasshoppers or locusts, which here are so numerous, that they put one in +mind of the scourge of God sent upon Egypt when he punished Pharaoh. These +creatures do not only come in legions, but in whole clouds, five or six +leagues in length, and two or three in breadth, eating up all sorts of +grain or grass, so that wheresoever they come, in less than two hours they +crop all they can find, which causes great scarcity of provisions. It is +not easy to express their numbers, for all the air is full and darkened; +and I cannot better represent their flight to you, than by comparing it to +the flakes of snow driven by the wind in cloudy weather; and when they +alight to feed, the plains are all covered. They make a murmuring noise as +they eat, and in less than two hours they devour all close to the ground; +then rising, they suffer themselves to be carried away by the wind. When +they fly, though the sun shines never so bright, the air is no lighter +than when most clouded. In June 1646, having stayed in a new town called +Novogorod, I was astonished to see so vast a multitude. They were hatched +here last spring; and being as yet scarcely able to fly, the ground was +all covered, and the air so full of them, that I could not eat in my +chamber without a candle, all the houses being full of them, even the +stables, barns, chambers, garrets, cellars, &c. I have seen at night, when +they sit to rest themselves, that the roads have been four inches thick of +them, one upon another. By the wheels of the carts and the feet of our +horses bruising these creatures, there came from them such a stink, as +not only offended the nose but the brain. I was not able to endure the +stench, but was forced to wash my nose with vinegar, and to hold a +handkerchief dipped in it to my nostrils perpetually. These vermin +increase and multiply thus: they generate in October, and with their tails +make a hole in the ground, and having laid three hundred eggs in it, and +covered them with their feet, die; for they never live above six months +and a half. And though the rains should come, they would not destroy the +eggs; nor does the frost, never so sharp, hurt them. But they continue to +the spring, which is about mid-April; when the sun warming the earth, they +are hatched, and leap about, being six weeks old before they can fly; when +stronger, and able to fly, they go wherever the wind carries them. If it +should happen that a north-east wind prevails, it carries them all into +the black sea; but if the wind blows from any other quarter, they go into +some other country to do mischief. I have been told by persons who +understand the languages well, that the words _Boze Guion_, which mean the +scourge of God, are written in Chaldee characters upon their wings." + +Norden mentions that there were supposed to be hieroglyphic marks upon the +heads of these insects. Such was the pestilential scourge of the Ukraine; +although I do not apprehend that its inhabitants ever worshipped +_Parnopius_ or _Cornopion_, or decorated their filthy heads with golden +grasshoppers. Other regions were occasionally visited by these insects. +Ludolphus, in speaking of Ethiopia, says, "But much more pernicious than +these (the numerous serpents) are the locusts, which do not frequent the +desert and sandy places, like the serpents, but the places best manured, +and orchards laden with fruit. They appear in prodigious multitudes, like +a cloud which obscures the sun; nor plants, nor trees, nor shrubs appear +untouched, and wherever they feed, what is left appears as it were parched +with fire. A general mortality ensues; and regions lie waste for years." + +Francis Alvarez thus speaks of the same calamity in the country of Prester +John. "In this country, and in all the dominions of Prete Janni, there is +a very great and horrible plague: this arises from an innumerable number +of locusts, which eat and consume all the corn and the trees. And the +number of these creatures is so great as to be incredible, and with their +numbers they cover the earth, and fill the air in such wise, that it is a +hard matter to see the sun. And if the damage they do were general through +all the provinces, the people would perish with famine. But one year they +destroy one province, sometimes two or three of the provinces; and +wherever they go the country remaineth more ruined and destroyed than if +it had been set on fire." The author adds, that he exorcised them upon +their invading a district in which he resided, when they all made off; but +in the mean time, he adds, "there arose a great storm and thunder towards +the sea, which came right against them. It lasted three hours, with an +exceeding great shower and tempest. It was a dreadful thing to behold the +dead locusts, (whom, by the way he had exorcised,) which we measured to be +above two fathoms high upon the banks of the rivers." + +Barbot, in describing Upper Guinea, tells us that "famines are some years +occasioned by the dreadful swarms of grasshoppers or locusts, which come +from the eastward, and spread all over the country in such prodigious +multitudes, that they darken the air, passing over our heads like a mighty +cloud." + +Orosius states that in the consulship of Marcus Plautius Hypsaeus and +Marcus Fulvius Flaccus, A.R. 628, Africa was desolated by a swarm of these +insects, which for a while were supported in the air, but were ultimately +cast into the sea. "After this," he adds, "the surf threw up upon that +long extended coast such numerous heaps of their dead and corrupted +bodies, that there ensued from putrefaction a most unsupportable and +poisonous stench. This soon brought on a pestilence, which affected every +species of animals, so that all birds, and sheep, and cattle, also the +wild beasts of the field died, and their carcases being soon rendered +putrid by the foulness of the air, added greatly to the general +corruption. In respect to men, it is impossible, without horror, to +describe the shocking devastation. In Numidia, where at the time Micipsa +was king, eighty thousand persons perished. Upon that part of the +sea-coast which bordered upon the regions of Carthage and Utica, the +number of those carried off by this pestilence is said to have been two +hundred thousand." + +Now when man in all his proud ignorance dares to assume the power of +canvassing the acts of the Almighty, and to attribute to his inscrutable +will human motives, which generally arise from mortal frailty, he might as +well endeavour to account for similar casualties which visited other +nations than the Egyptians, and seek for the causes of the scourges of +Carthage, Ethiopia, and Tartary. It is grievous to see the intellectual +faculties of man perverted in such idle, one might venture to say, in such +impious researches. It is strange that the learned Bryant did not +associate the death of the first-born with ideas of primogeniture! + +The ninth plague of darkness he attributes to the prevalence of the +worship of the sun, under the title of Osiris, Ammon, Orus, Isis, and the +like. _Because_ the Egyptians, the Ethiopians, Persians, Phoenicians, +Syrians, Rhodians, and various other nations, considered themselves +Heliadae, or descendants of the sun. "What, then, can be more reasonable," +continues our antiquary, "than for a people who thus abused their +faculties, who raised to themselves a god of Day, their Osiris, and +instead of that intellectual light, the wisdom of the Almighty, +substituted a created and inanimate element as a just object of +worship,--what could be more apposite than for people of this cast to be +doomed to a judicial and temporary darkness?" Unfortunately, in the very +next paragraph we are told that the Egyptians showed an equal reverence to +night and darkness: obscurity, therefore, was only replacing one false god +by another. They paid a religious regard to the _mugall_, a kind of mole, +on account of its supposed blindness; and night was conceived more sacred +than day, from its greater antiquity, since, according to the Phoenician +theology, the wind _Copias_ and his wife _Baan_ were esteemed the same as +night, and were the authors of the first beings. In the poems of Orpheus, +Night is considered as the creative principle; and in the Orphic hymns we +find Night invoked as "the parent of gods and men, and the origin of all +things." + +This attempt to show an analogy between the crimes and sins of the +Egyptians and the punishment they received, is too curious to be +overlooked. The mania of seeking for the cause of every thing, reminds one +of a singular character in Trinity College, Dublin, formerly well known, +who invariably gave a reason for every direction he thought proper to +issue; and he was once heard to address a servant in the following words: +"Pat, put a cover upon that mutton. It is not for the purpose of keeping +it hot, _because_ it is cold, but it is _because_ I do not wish the flies +to get at it, _because_ fly-blown meat is both unpleasant to the taste and +injurious to the health." + +It appears probable that the plague originated in Egypt. From time +immemorial to the present day the lower provinces have been subject to +this cruel scourge. Wars, intestine commotions, and misrule have too +frequently prevented the local authorities from paying proper attention to +measures of public salubrity. Herodotus tells us, that when he was at +Memphis, Egypt was just liberated from a long-protracted war, during +which political economy had been neglected, canals had been abandoned and +choked up, and the frontiers of the land were infested with banditti, +while the interior was desolated by pestilential disorders. My much +esteemed friend Baron Larrey, in his valuable work upon Egypt, has given a +topographical description of the country; and the influence that the +seasons exercise upon it, must be evident. He informs us that after the +spring equinox, and especially towards the beginning of June, the +southerly winds are prevalent for about fifty days. Their scorching +influence is experienced for upwards of four hours, while they waft with +fatal rapidity putrid emanations exhaled by animal and vegetable bodies +decomposed in the lakes formed by the receding waters of the Nile. From +various observations it has been concluded that the plague is both an +endemic and contagious disease in Lower Egypt, but simply contagious in +Upper Egypt, Syria, the other Turkish provinces, and Europe. No account of +the plague in Abyssinia, Sennaar, or the interior of Africa, is given by +any traveller. + +The most fatal European plagues were probably those that desolated London +in 1664, and Marseilles in 1720. The accounts of these fearful visitations +are as curious as they are appalling. In London it broke out in the +beginning of December, when two foreigners (Frenchmen it was reported) +died of this disorder in Long-Acre, near Drury Lane. The cold weather and +frost that followed, seemed to check its progress, until the month of +April, when it appeared with intensity in the parishes of St. Andrew, +Holborn, and St. Clement Danes. In May, the parish of St. Giles buried a +great number. Wood Street, Fenchurch Street, and Crooked Lane, were soon +visited, until terror was so general, that crowds of inhabitants +panic-struck, on foot, on horse, in coaches, waggons, and carts, were +thronging Broad Street and Whitechapel, fleeing from the calamity. To such +an extent was migration carried, that not a horse could be bought or +hired. Many fugitives, fearful of stopping at inns, carried tents to lie +in the fields, and people moved in the centre of the streets, in dread of +coming into contact with others sallying forth from their houses. During +this state of universal panic, it may be easily imagined that hypocrisy +and roguery were busily employed in increasing the evil, at the expense of +the credulous. Pretended wizards and cunning people affirmed that a comet +had appeared several months previous to the increase of the malady, as a +similar meteor had visited London before the great fire; only the fire +comet was bright and sparkling, and the plague comet was dull, and of a +languid colour. Lilly's Almanac and Gadbury's Astrological Predictions +were in general demand; while pamphlets, entitled "Come out of her, my +people, lest you be partakers of her plagues," "Fair Warning," and +"Britain's Remembrancer," were eagerly circulated, as they denounced the +utter ruin of the city. One of these prophets ran about the streets, +without the encumbrance of any garment, roaring out, "Yet forty days, and +London shall be destroyed;" while another, equally divested of raiment, +bellowed out, "Oh! the great and the dreadful God!" Some asserted that +they had seen a hand with a flaming sword coming out of the clouds, while +others beheld hearses and coffins floating in the air. + +The following is a quaint narrative of these absurdities: "One time before +the plague was begun, I think it was in March, seeing a crowd of people in +the street, I joined with them to satisfy my curiosity, and I found them +all staring up in the air to see what a woman told them appeared plain to +her, which was an angel clothed in white, with a fiery sword in his hand, +waving it and brandishing it over his head. She described every part of +the figure to the life, showed them the motions and the form; and the poor +people came into it readily. 'Yes, I see it all plainly,' says one; +'there's the sword as plain as can be.' Another saw his very face, and +cried out, 'What a glorious creature he was!' One saw one thing, and one +another. I looked as earnestly as the rest, and said I could see nothing +but a cloud. However, the woman turned from me; called me a profane fellow +and a scoffer; told me that it was a time of God's anger, and dreadful +judgments were approaching, and that despisers such as I should _wonder +and perish_. Another encounter I had in the open day also, in going +through a narrow passage from Petty-France into Bishopsgate churchyard. In +this narrow passage stands a man looking through between the palisadoes +into the burying-place, and he was pointing now to one place, then to +another, and affirming that he saw a ghost walking upon such a +grave-stone; he described the shape, the posture, and the movement of it +so exactly, crying on a sudden, 'There it is--now it comes this way--now +'tis turned back!' till at length he persuaded the people into so firm a +belief of it, that they fancied they saw it; and thus he came every day, +making a strange hubbub, till Bishopsgate clock struck eleven, and then +the ghost would start and disappear on a sudden." + +Such sanctimonious tricks are historical. Don Bernal Dias del Castello +tells us, in his account of the Mexican conquest, that St. Jago appeared +in the van of the army, mounted on a white horse, and leading the troops +on to victory. He frankly owns that he did not see this blessed vision; +nay, that a cavalier, by name Francisco de Morla, mounted on a chestnut +steed, was fighting in the very place where the patron of Spain was said +to have appeared; but, instead of drawing the natural conclusion, that the +whole business was got up as an illusion, he devoutly exclaims, "Sinner +that I was, what am I that I should have been permitted to behold the +blessed apostle!" + +These impostures remind us of the story of the wag who, fixing his eyes +upon the lion over Northumberland House, exclaimed, "By heaven! it +wags--it wags!" and contrived by these means to collect an immense mob in +the street, many of whom swore that they did absolutely see the lion +wagging his tail. + +Crowds of pretended fortune-tellers, and astrologers and cunning men, were +soon in good business, and their trade became so generally practised, that +they had signs denoting their profession over their doors, with +inscriptions announcing, "Here lives a fortune-teller,"--"Here you may +have your nativity cast;" and the head of Friar Bacon, Mother Shipton, or +Merlin, were their usual signs: and if any unfortunate man of grave +appearance, and wearing a black cloak, went abroad, he was immediately +assailed by the mob as a necromancer, and supplicated to reveal futurity. +At such a period, it may be easily imagined that quacks were not satisfied +with mere gleanings; and _infallible pills_, _never-failing +preservatives_, _sovereign cordials_, and _incomparable drinks_, against +the plague, were announced in every possible manner; and _universal +remedies_, _the only true plague-water_, and _the royal antidote_, became +themes of universal discourse. An eminent _High_ Dutch physician, newly +come over from Holland, where he resided during all the time of the +plague,--an Italian gentlewoman, having a choice secret to prevent +infection, and that did wonders in a plague that destroyed twenty thousand +people a-day, were announced by bills at every corner. + +One ingenious mountebank realized a fortune by announcing _that he gave +advice to the poor for nothing_: crowds flocked to consult him; but he +took half-a-crown for his remedy, on the plea that, although his advice +was given gratis, he was obliged to sell his physic. While these +speculations were going on, all "plays, bear-baiting, games, singing of +ballads, and buckler-play," were prohibited; all feasting, "particularly +by the companies of this city," was punished; watchmen guarded the doors +of the pestiferated, to prevent their egress, and a red cross was painted +on their houses. The inhabitants, thus shut up to suffer the pangs of +starvation in addition to those of pestilence, made the best of their way +out of their prison by every possible stratagem and bribery. While fervent +prayers and loud ejaculations for mercy were heard amongst distracted +families, the most offensive blasphemy and ribaldry prevailed amongst the +gravediggers, dead-cart drivers, and their wanton companions. If any one +ventured to rebuke them, he was asked, with a volley of oaths, "what +business he had to be alive, when so many better fellows were shovelled in +their graves?" to which was added a salutary recommendation to go home and +pray, until the dead-cart called for him. The watchmen got their share of +ill-usage and abuse. + +All the guards had been marched out of town, with the exception of small +detachments at Whitehall and the Tower. Robbery of every description was +of course in full vigour, and every vice indulged in with impunity, while +despair drove many to madness and suicide,--several individuals rushing +naked out of their houses, and running to the river to drown themselves if +not stopped by the watch. People fell dead while making purchases of +provisions in the market; where, instead of receiving the meat from the +butcher's hands, each buyer unhooked his purchase, and paid for it by +throwing the value in a vessel filled with vinegar. Mothers destroyed +their children, and nurses smothered their patients, while the bedclothes +were stolen from the couch of the dead. + +Among the curious anecdotes of the time, the following is worth insertion: +"A neighbour of mine, having some money owing to him from a shopkeeper in +Whitecross-street, sent his apprentice, a youth of eighteen years of age, +to get the money; he came to the door, and finding it shut, knocked pretty +hard until he heard somebody coming down stairs. At length the man of the +house came to the door; he had on his breeches or drawers, a yellow +flannel waistcoat, no stockings, and a pair of slipt shoes, a white cap on +his head, and death in his face. When he opened the door, he said, 'What +do you disturb me thus for?'--'I come from such a one, my master,' replied +the boy, 'to ask for the money you owe him.'--'Very well, my child,' +returns the living ghost; 'call as you go by at Cripple-gate church, and +bid them toll the bell.' So saying, he went up stairs again, and died the +same hour." + +The story of the piper is founded on fact. This poor fellow having made +merry in a public-house in Coleman-street, fell fast asleep under a stall +near London Wall, Cripplegate; the under-sexton of St. Stephen's, one John +Hayward, was going his rounds with his dead-cart, when he espied the +piper, and, conceiving him to be a dead man, tumbled him on his heap of +corpses, till, arrived at the burying-pit at Mount Hill, as they were +about shooting the cart, the musician awoke, and, to the utter terror of +the sexton and his comrades, began to set up his pipes. + +The following relation of a case of grief is rather remarkable. "A man was +so much affected by the death of all his relations, and overcome with the +pressure upon his spirits, that by degrees his head sunk into his body so +between his shoulders, that the crown of his head was very little seen +above the bones of his shoulders, and, by degrees losing both voice and +sense, his face looking forward, lay against his collar-bone, and could +not be kept up any otherwise unless held up by the hands of other people; +and the poor man never came to himself again, but languished near a year +in this condition, and died." This was _depression_ with a vengeance! + +Some of these unfortunate victims of the pestilential disease seem to have +had poetical inspirations, for one of two men who had fled to the country +was found dead with the following inscription cut out with his knife on a +wooden gate near him: + + OmIsErY + WE. BoTH ShaLL. DyE + WoE. WoE: + +and our historian, who fortunately escaped the calamity, terminates his +work with the following lines: + + A dreadful plague in London was + In the year sixty-five, + Which swept an hundred thousand souls + Away; yet I alive. + +Astrologers were of opinion that the plague of London arose from a +conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Sagittarius on the tenth of October, +or from a conjunction of Saturn and Mars in the same sign on the twelfth +of November.[15] + +Great as the mortality was during this affliction, the history of various +other pestilences in foreign countries presents as melancholy a result. In +Moscow, the plague introduced by the Turkish army carried off 22,000 +inhabitants in a single month, and sometimes 12,000 in twenty-four hours. +In Morocco, the mortality amounted to 1000 daily; in Old and New Fez, to +1500; in Terodant to 800. The total loss sustained in these cities and in +the Mogadore was estimated at 124,500 souls. + +The black pestilence of the fourteenth century also caused the most +terrific ravages in England. It has been supposed to have borne some +resemblance to the cholera, but that is not the case; it derived its name +from the dark livid colour of the spots and boils that broke out upon the +patient's body. Like the cholera, the fatal disease appeared to have +followed a regular route in its destructive progress; but it did not, like +the cholera, advance westward, although like that fearful visitation it +appears to have originated in Asia. + +The black pestilence descended along the Caucasus to the shores of the +Mediterranean, and instead of entering Europe through Russia, first spread +over the south, and after devastating the rest of Europe penetrated into +that country. It followed the caravan, which came from China across +Central Asia, until it reached the shores of the Black Sea; thence it was +conveyed by ships to Constantinople, the centre of commercial intercourse +between Asia, Europe, and Africa. In 1347 it reached Sicily and some of +the maritime cities of Italy and Marseilles. During the following year it +spread over the northern part of Italy, France, Germany, and England. The +northern kingdom of Europe was invaded by it in 1349, and finally Russia +in 1351,--four years after it had appeared in Constantinople. + +The following estimate of deaths was considered far below the actual +number of victims: + + Florence lost 60,000 inhabitants + Venice " 10,000 " + Marseilles " in one month 56,000 " + Paris " " 50,000 " + Avignon " " 60,000 " + Strasburg " " 16,000 " + Basle " " 14,000 " + Erfurth " " 16,000 " + London " " 100,000 " + Norwich " " 50,000 " + +Hecker states that this pestilence was preceded by great commotion in the +interior of the globe. About 1333, several earthquakes and volcanic +eruptions did considerable injury in upper Asia, while in the same year, +Greece, Italy, France, and Germany suffered under similar disasters. The +harvests were swept away by inundations, and clouds of locusts destroyed +all that the floods had spared, while dense masses of offensive insects +strewed the land. + +As in the recent invasion of cholera, the populace attributed this scourge +to poison and to the Jews, and these hapless beings were persecuted and +destroyed wherever they could be found. In Mayence, after vainly +attempting to defend themselves, they shut themselves up in their +quarters, where 1200 of them were burnt to death. The only asylum found by +them was Lithuania where Casimir afforded them protection; and it is +perhaps owing to this circumstance that so many Jewish families are still +to be found in Poland. + +A curious monumental record of the plague is to be seen at Eyam, an +insignificant village in Derbyshire, to the eastward of Tideswell. It is +an ancient stone cross of curious form and workmanship, erroneously stated +to have been erected to commemorate the extinction of the pestilence which +was supposed to have been brought there in a bag of woollen clothes, sent +from London to a tailor of the place. The hamlet was soon infected, and +its panic-struck inhabitants fled in every direction, scattering death in +their flight, until driven back within their boundaries. During the +prevalence of this scourge, tradition makes honourable mention of the +rector of the parish, William Mompesson. Determined not to abandon his +flock in the hour of need, he never quitted the devoted spot. In vain he +entreated his wife to remove from the pestilential sphere of action--she +would not leave him. Eyam was now cut off from all communication with the +neighbourhood. The worthy clergyman addressed the Earl of Devonshire, then +residing at Chatsworth, acquainting him with his resolution, and +requesting that regular supplies of provisions might be duly placed in +certain points of the adjacent hills. If this request was attended to, he +pledged himself that none of his parishioners should transgress a given +boundary. Troughs and wells, which are still there, were dug to secure +water supplied by a stream, which to this day bears the hallowed name of +_Mompesson brook_. The following account of this benevolent pastor's +conduct in this emergency is not without interest: + +"Aware that any assemblage of people breathing the same air under a +confined roof, and coming into immediate contact with each other, must be +highly dangerous, he closed the door of the church, availing himself of a +nobler substitute "not made with hands,"--a rock that projected from the +side of a steep hill, near the village, in a deep and narrow dingle. This +rock is excavated through in different directions, the arches being from +12 to 19 feet high. In the middle of this romantic dell, from one of these +natural porticoes, three times a week did he read prayers, and twice on +Sundays did he address to his death-stricken congregation, the words of +eternal life. By his own immediate directions, they arranged themselves on +the declivity near the bottom, at the distance of a yard asunder. This +spot is deservedly still held sacred, and known by the name of _Cucklet +church_." + +The following letter from this worthy clergyman, dated 20th November, +1666, energetically describes the calamity: + +"The condition of this place has been so sad, that I persuaded myself it +did exceed all history and example. I may truly say that our place has +become a Golgotha--the place of a skull; and had there not been a small +remnant of us left, we had been as Sodom, and been made like unto +Gomorrha; my ears never heard, my eyes never beheld such ghastly +spectacles. Now, blessed be God, all our fears are over, for none have +died of the infection since the 11th of October, and all the pesthouses +have been long empty. I meant, God willing, to spend most of this week in +seeing all woollen clothes fumed and purified, as well for the +satisfaction as the safety of the country. + +"Here has been such burning of goods, that the like I think was never +known. I have scarcely left myself apparel to shelter my body from the +cold, and have wasted more than needed, merely for example. As for my +part, I cannot say that I had ever been in better health than during the +time of this dreadful visitation, neither can I say that I have had any +symptoms of the disease." + +During a considerable time the benevolent man and his wife had escaped the +malady, but at last his excellent wife was smitten, and died in his arms +at the age of 27--far from her children, who had been sent away at the +commencement of the invasion. + +In 1813, Malta was visited with this fatal malady; when the scenes of the +plague that desolated the island in the sixteenth century were renewed, +notwithstanding all the sanitary precautions adopted by various +governments since that period. + +Count Ciantar in his "_Malta illustrata_," gives an interesting account of +the introduction of the plague at four different periods in that island. +The first was in 1592; when, in the month of May, four galleys belonging +to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, entered the port to procure pilots for the +service. By permission of the Grand Master, Cardinal Verclula, a pilot was +obtained, and the vessels steered towards the Egyptian coast. In the +vicinity of Alexandria, they captured a galley bound to Constantinople, +having on board 150 Turks. On hearing that the plague was raging at +Alexandria, they returned to Malta with their prize, which was discovered +to be infected, and for the first time the plague was brought into the +country. + +The second plague broke out in 1623, and originated in the house of Paulus +Emilius Ramadus, guardian of the port. But the whole of the infected +persons having been immediately sent to the Lazaretto, the progress of the +disease was checked, and it only carried off forty-five persons. + +The third plague took place in 1633, and broke out at the Marina gate, +where vessels from the Levant usually anchored. The proprietor of a house +in that quarter, having had some communication with one of these ships, +contracted the disease, and infected his sister, who resided in the +country at Casal Zeitun, and shortly after the whole family was attacked, +their speedy removal to the Lazaretto, however arrested the disease. + +The fourth appearance of this malady in Malta, was far more destructive +than it had been in the preceding years, even in 1675, and it continued +its ravages for seven months. This circumstance has been attributed to a +difference of opinion that prevailed among the members of the +commissioners appointed to take the necessary steps for checking the +progress of the disease. It appears that doubts were entertained as to the +nature of the malady, hence the requisite precautions were not enforced; +and instead of separating the diseased from the healthy part of the +community, with the utmost rigour, prayers were put up, vows and offerings +were made, and processions paraded the streets, nor it was not until the +Grand Master had sent to France for medical aid, that the scourge was +mitigated. On their arrival the first steps adopted by these physicians +was to confine the inhabitants to their homes, and to remove the sick to +the Lazaret. The ravages of the disease must have been very great, since +out of a population of about 60,000, there died in Valetta 4000, in Burgo +1800, Senglen 2000, Burmola 1200, and in the villages upwards of 200. + +The last plague was supposed to have been brought in by a vessel from +Alexandria, that entered the port on the 28th of March, 1813. It appeared +that two of the crew had been seized during the voyage with symptoms of +plague, then prevailing in Alexandria, which place the vessel had left +with a foul bill of health. On the same day another vessel, the Nancy +arrived from the same port, having also on board two men labouring under +the disease, and she was followed by a Spanish polacca, the Bella Maria, +from the same quarter. It was on the 16th of April that the disease first +appeared in the island, in the case of a shoemaker in the Strada St. +Paolo. The increase of the disorder was gradual, and from Valetta it +spread to Citta Vecchia Bircharcara. + +My late friend, staff-surgeon Tully, thus describes the situation of the +Island at this period: "The warm season was now rapidly advancing, the +thermometer having risen several degrees at the latter end of May, and +unfortunately, through the superstitious prejudices of the natives, +considerable dependence was placed upon the anxiously-looked-for +alteration in the state of the atmosphere, and every day was consequently +expected to diminish the danger. This belief was too generally inculcated +not to be productive of much mischief, as most persons felt assured that, +if they could avoid danger until the summer heat set in, the evil would +cease, and that the greatly-dreaded disease would then die a natural +death. The consequence of this unfortunate belief was fatal--the freedom +of intercourse produced by this blind confidence, led to a very general +contamination, and men every where exposed to the baneful influence of the +plague, became the active agents of the dissemination throughout the whole +island." + +While the plague was thus raging at Malta, it made its appearance amongst +the inhabitants of the Morea, having, it is supposed, been introduced from +Romelia, by a man of the name of Kalangi, who was taken ill on his +arrival, and died in two days. The following day his wife and daughter +were attacked by the malady, which rapidly extended to Tornovo, and all +the neighbouring towns. During the years 1813 and 1814, the banks of the +Lepanto and the shores of Albania were nearly depopulated. + +In 1815 the fatal scourge broke out in the island of Corfu, in the village +of Marathia. None of the medical men who attended the sick during this +period, attributed the invasion of the disease to contagion. + +The doubt that had arisen in the minds of several experienced +practitioners in regard to the non-contagious nature of the plague, is a +matter of vital interest, since it not only concerns the health of +nations, but in a commercial point of view it becomes a question of +political economy of the utmost importance, as the severity of the +quarantine laws, which must materially effect the prosperity of trade, +would become useless if it could be proved that no contagion is to be +apprehended from a free intercourse. It is somewhat curious that Dr. Mead +long ago expressed his decided opinion that whenever the doctrine of +non-contagion should be revived in England, (and it will be so, he adds, +even a hundred years hence,) it will always excite alarm amongst those +nations who are more prudent than ourselves, and less eager to entertain +every kind of wild and visionary speculation. + +The contagionists affirm that the destructive ravages of the plague of +Marseilles in 1720, when 60,000 inhabitants were carried off, arose from +neglect in enforcing a rigid separation of the diseased from the healthy +part of the community. The mortality in the plague of Messina, in 1743, +during which 43,000 people fell victims to the disorder, is also referred +to similar causes. They also maintain that the London plague of 1593, +which destroyed 11,503 persons, was ascertained to have been introduced +from Alkmaer; that the pestilence of London in 1603, which carried off +36,269 inhabitants, was brought from Ostend, and further that in 1636, the +scourge which destroyed 13,480 victims in our metropolis, had been +imported from Leyden. In 1665, when its still more fatal ravages swept +away 68,596 citizens, it had also been traced to our foreign intercourse. +Dr. Merlens who has accurately described the plague that raged at Moscow +in 1771, asserts that it was introduced by a communication with the +Turkish army. Notwithstanding which, by keeping the patients strictly +guarded, the city was maintained free from infection, while the disease +raged around in every quarter. + +Mr. Jackson gives a similar account of the plague at Morocco; and he adds, +that daily observations convinced him that the epidemic was not caught by +approach, unless that approach was accompanied by an inhaling of the +breath, or by tending upon the infected person. With such a discrepance of +opinion, we cannot be surprised at this anxiety to impugn the doctrine of +those practitioners who maintain, that contagion is not to be dreaded, and +that severe sanitary precautions are therefore vexatious and oppressive. +If the progress of the disease, say the non-contagionists, depends upon +personal contact with infected persons or goods, its ravages would never +cease in those countries where no precautionary measures are taken to +prevent communication between the infected and the healthy; that in Turkey +for instance, where these precautions are not resorted to, there would be +no cessation of the malady until it had swept away the whole of the +population. + +To these arguments, plausible as they may appear in theory, it has been +replied, that the plague to a certain extent has never ceased to exist in +the Ottoman empire, but breaks out occasionally after temporary +intermissions. As to the permanence of the diseases it is well known that +like all other epidemic or endemic diseases, the plague may also be +subject to atmospheric influence and be arrested in its progress without +human aid. Sir James M'Grigor illustrates this fact in his "Sketches of +the Expedition of the Indian Troops to Egypt." When the disease first +broke out in the army, the cases sent from the regiments were from the +commencement attended with typhoid symptoms; while those from the Bengal +volunteer battalion, and the other corps encamped near the marshes of El +Hamed, were of an intermittent and remittent type. The cases that occurred +in the cold and rainy months of December and January, were of an +inflammatory character, after which, as the weather became warmer, the +disease at Cairo, Ghiza, Boula, and the isthmus of Suez assumed the form +of a mild continual fever. The plague of London in 1665, was in like +manner distinguished by a peculiar constitution of the atmosphere. + +It has also been doubted whether the plague be contagious in every +instance of its appearance. Various persons have inoculated themselves +with its virus with impunity, though several were ultimately victims of +the bold experiment. In Egypt Dr. White inoculated himself ten times, but +died of the disease after the eleventh trial.[16] + +The atmosphere of contagion it appears is limited, and strict attention to +keep up a line of separation generally proves effectual in arresting or +checking its progress. Contact appears necessary to extend the malady, and +a direct absorption through the skin forms the ordinary means of +transmission. When the cutaneous pores are closed by oil, or any other +substance of the kind, an exemption from the fatal scourge has been +frequently observed. Mr. Baldwin states, that among upwards of a million +of inhabitants carried off by the plague in Upper and Lower Egypt during +the space of four years, not a single oil-man, or dealer in oil, had +suffered. Mr. Jackson made the same observation in the plague of Tunis. +Dr. Assalini, an intelligent medical officer of the French army in Egypt, +does not attribute this exemption to the stoppage of the pores, but as the +result of profuse perspiration which the inunction of oil produces. The +_zeit jagghy_ or olive oil, is considered a specific by most of the +Asiatics; and my late friend Mr. Tully observed that all the attendants +upon patients suffering from the plague, who carefully smeared their +persons and their clothes with this substance, were exempt from the +infection. The same observation was corroborated by Sir Brooke Faulkener, +during the plague of Malta. + +Various have been the remedial means proposed in this terrific malady, and +preservatives against it have been recorded in the following distich: + + Haec tria labificum tollunt adverbia pestem; + Mox, longe, tarde,--cede, recede, redi. + +The celebrated plague-water was composed of master-wort, angelica, peony, +and butter-bur, viper-grass, Virginia snake-root, rue, rosemary, balm, +carduus, water-germander, marygold, dragon-blood, goats'-rue, and mint, +infused in spirits of wine. + +It appears manifest from all the evidence adduced by the contending +theorists, that we may come to the following corollaries: + +1. Plague may generally be considered as arising from contagion. + +2. The spread and decline of the disease is influenced by local +peculiarities and revolutions in atmospheric constitution. + +3. It appears probable, that under peculiar local circumstances, it may +have arisen spontaneously, without having been introduced by contagion; +but this invasion must be considered of very rare occurrence. + +4. Although transmitted by contagion, a certain distance preserves the +healthy from the contamination of the diseased. + +5. The enforcement of a limit of separation must be considered +indispensable in all our sanitary regulations, in the framing of which +great attention must be paid to discriminate between contagion and +infection--two sources of distemper essentially different from each other. + +Although these precautions are pointed out by the result of long and +unbiassed experience, they will in all probability be solely applicable to +the plague: for we have every reason to believe that these sanitary +measures will not prove efficient against the invasion of cholera, the +yellow fever, and other diseases, which are by no means proved to be +infectious or contagious. Without entering into the discussion, I feel no +hesitation in giving it, as my decided opinion, that the cholera and +yellow fever are not contagious. + + + + +ABSTINENCE. + + +Hippocrates asserted that most individuals who abstain from food for seven +days, die within that period; or, if they survive this time, and are even +then prevailed upon to eat or drink they still perish. Various instances +of persons who have lived much longer without sustenance have been +observed. In the records of the Tower we find the history of Cicely de +Ridgeway, who was condemned to death for the murder of her husband in the +reign of Edward III., and who remained for forty days without food or +drink. This being ascribed to a miracle, she was of course pardoned. From +the result of this starvation, the story may be considered fabulous for +two reasons: first, from the improbability of the alleged abstinence; and, +secondly, from the selection of forty days, a period clearly fixed upon +for miracle-making, being the exact number of days our Saviour fasted. + +We have a better authenticated case in the one mentioned by Dr. Eccles in +the Edinburgh Medical Essays for 1720. The starved person was a beautiful +young lady, about sixteen years of age, who, in consequence of the sudden +death of her father, was thrown into a state of tetanus (lock-jaw) so +violent as to render her incapable of swallowing for two long and distinct +periods,--the first of thirty-four, and the second of fifty-four +days,--during which she neither experienced a sense of hunger nor of +thirst, and when she recovered, she was scarcely reduced in size. Sir +William Hamilton saw a girl, sixteen years of age, who was extricated from +the ruins of a house at Oppido, in which she had remained eleven days: an +infant in her arms, but a few months old, had died on the fourth day, as +the young are not so able to endure abstinence. Dr. Willan attended a +young man who had abstained from any sustenance except a little water +flavoured with orange-juice for sixty days: death ensued a fortnight +after. Fodere mentions some workmen who were extricated alive from a cold +damp cavern, in which they had been immured under a ruin for fourteen +days. Cetois, a physician of Poitiers, relates a still more singular case +of total abstinence in a girl, who, from the age of eleven to that of +fourteen, took no nourishment. + +Ann Moore, called the fasting woman of Tutbury, was to a certain extent an +impostor, for although there was no truth in her assertion that she lived +an incredible time without food, yet it appeared evident that her chief, +if not her only support, was tea. That fluid is sufficient to maintain +life appears evident from two papers inserted in the Philosophical +Transactions; one of them giving an account of four men who were compelled +to subsist upon water for twenty-four days, and the other of a young man +who tasted nothing but the same fluid for eighteen years. An imposition +having been suspected, he was shut up in close confinement for twenty days +as a trial, when he uniformly enjoyed good health. + +Another wonderful instance of the same kind is that of Janet M'Leod, +published by Dr. M'Kenzie. She was at the time thirty-three years of age, +unmarried, and from the age of fifteen had had various attacks of +epilepsy, which had produced so rigid a lock-jaw that her mouth could +rarely be forced open by any contrivance; she had lost very nearly the +power of speech and deglutition, and with this all desire to eat or drink. +Her lower limbs were retracted towards her body; she was entirely confined +to her bed, slept much, and had periodical discharges of blood from the +lungs, which were chiefly thrown out by the nostrils. During a few +intervals of relaxation, she was prevailed upon with great difficulty to +put a few crumbs of bread comminuted in the hand into her mouth, together +with a little water sucked from her own hand, and, in one or two +instances, a little gruel; but, even in these attempts, almost the whole +was rejected. On two occasions, also, after a total abstinence of many +months, she made signs of wishing to drink some water, which was +immediately procured for her. On the first experiment the whole seemed to +be returned from her mouth, but she was greatly refreshed in having it +rubbed upon her throat. On the second occasion she drank off a pint at +once, but could not be prevailed upon to drink any more, although her +father had now fixed a wedge between her teeth. With these exceptions, +however, she seemed to have passed upwards of four years without either +liquids or solids of any kind, or even an appearance of swallowing; she +lay for the most part like a log of wood, with a pulse scarcely +perceptible from feebleness, but distinct and regular. Her countenance was +clear and pretty fresh; her features neither disfigured nor sunk; her +bosom round and prominent, and her limbs not emaciated. Dr. M'Kenzie +watched her with occasional visits for eight or nine years, at the close +of which period she seemed to be a little improved. + +A Dutch girl of the name of Eve Hergen is reported to have lived from the +year 1597 to 1611 with no other support than the scent of flowers. The +magistrates of Meurs suspecting imposition, had her closely watched for +thirteen successive days, without being able to detect any fraud. Over her +picture were affixed some Latin verses, of which the following translation +was given in a book called "An Apologie or Declaration of the Power and +Providence of God, by George Hakewell, 1635:" + + This maid of Meurs thirty-six yeares spent, + Fourteen of which she tooke no nourishment; + Thus pale and wan, she sits sad and alone, + A garden's all she loves to looke upon. + +According to Pliny, the _Astoni_ had no other food than this Batavian +maiden, being unfortunately born without mouths. Sauvages mentions an +academician of Toulouse who never thirsted, and passed his summers, +notwithstanding the intense heat, without drinking. In most of the +recorded cases of total or nearly total abstinence, water has been found +more or less necessary, but not invariably. + +That some animals can thrive upon water, and even upon air, is +demonstrated by naturalists. Snails and chameleons have been known to +exist upon air for years. Garman has found that this nutriment is +sufficient for the support of spiders; and Latreille has confirmed the +experiment by fixing a spider to a piece of cork, and precluding it from +any communication. Every entomologist repeatedly sees insects living in +their cases, although pinned down for an incredible length of time. Mr. +Baker relates that he kept a beetle shut up for three years without any +food. Mr. Bruce kept two cerastes, or horned snakes, in a glass jar for +two years, without any apparent food; he did not observe that they slept +in the winter season, and they cast their skin as usual on the last day of +April. + +Rudolphi kept a _Proteus Anguinus_ five years, and Zoys had one for ten +years living on spring water renewed from time to time. Redi found that +birds could sustain the want of food from five to twenty-eight days. A +seal lived out of the water and without nourishment for four weeks. Four +individuals of a large species of larval shell, (_Bulimus_,) from +Valparaiso, were brought to England by Lieut. Graves. They had been packed +up in a box, and enclosed in cotton; two for a space of thirteen, one for +seventeen, and a fourth for upwards of twenty months; but on being exposed +to the warmth of a fire in London, and provided with tepid water and +leaves, they revived and lived for several months in Mr. Loddige's palm +house, till accidentally drowned. Dogs can live without food from +twenty-five to thirty-six days, but man does not easily support starvation +more than a week, except in disease or insanity. + +The general effects of long fasting, however, are highly injurious when +not destructive. They are chiefly feelings of great debility, fever, +delirium, violent passion alternating with deep despondency. In general +the temperature of the body falls several degrees, although Currie +observed the contrary in a patient who died of inanition in consequence of +a stricture of the oesophagus; the respiration becomes fetid, the +secretion of the kidneys acrid and burning, and according to Magendie and +Collard bloody, and the stomach is found contracted after death. +Experiments on the duration of life in man and animals deprived of food, +show that the warm-blooded animals are best able to support the want of +food. + +But a phenomenon still more wonderful is the faculty that animals have +been known to possess of living when deprived of atmospheric support. A +hog, weighing about one hundred and sixty pounds, was buried in his sty +under thirty feet of the chalk of Dover cliff for one hundred and sixty +days. When dug out, it weighed but forty pounds, and was extremely +emaciated, but clean, and white. The animal had nibbled the wood of the +sty, and eaten some loose chalk. Lizards, especially the Newt, have been +found embedded in chalk-rock, apparently dead, but have reassumed living +action on exposure to the atmosphere. On their detection in this state, +the mouth is usually closed with a glutinous substance so tenaciously, +that they are often suffocated in their efforts to extricate themselves +from confinement. Toads have been repeatedly discovered in a similar +situation, embedded in blocks of stone, or in the very heart of trees. Dr. +Edwards, a learned physiologist in Paris, has ascertained that blocks of +mortar and heaps of sand possess sufficient porosity to admit enough air +to support the life of reptiles; but they all perish if immersed in water +or mercury, when surrounded by an exhausting receiver. The duration of +existence of the amphibials of the Batrachian family, when plunged in +water, depends in a great measure on its temperature. They die speedily if +the water be lower than 32 deg. Fahrenheit, or higher than 108 deg.; and +the longest duration of life is under 32 deg. + +How can we account for these anomalies? Various solid substances are known +to proceed from invisible elementary principles. Do water and air contain +them? Metallic stones of large volume fall from the air: how are they +produced? whence come they? How vain and feeble are our pursuits, when the +vanity of science seeks to penetrate into the arcana of nature; searching +and endeavouring to account for the causes of causation! What absurd and +impertinent hypotheses have not been broached on scholastic benches! They +remind us of an anecdote related of the old Parisian Academy, when one of +its sapient members read a voluminous memoir to prove that tides were +provided by the Creator for the purpose of bringing vessels in and out of +harbour; when one of the Encyclopedian wits gravely observed, that he had +no doubt of the fact, since he had discovered, after unceasing and +laborious research, that noses were made for the purpose of wearing +spectacles! + +Although total abstinence from food for any length of time, excepting with +hibernating animals, is a wondrous phenomenon, yet it is singular how +little aliment is necessary for the purpose of sustaining life, and even +health. Many instances of a frugality bordering upon starvation are known. +The most economical housekeeper on record was Roger Crabb, the +Buckinghamshire hermit, who allowed himself three farthings a week. + +Dr. Gower of Chelmsford had a patient who lived for ten years on a pint of +tea daily, now and then chewing half a dozen raisins and almonds, but +without swallowing them; once a month, by way of a treat, she ate a morsel +of bread the size of a nutmeg. + +The late Duke of Portland, after a long illness, during which he was +attended by Dr. Warren, lived on bread and water for six weeks, at the +expiration of which he was allowed _one boiled smelt_. Numerous persons +have been known to live to old age, in perfect health, who never used +animal food or wine; such was Dr. Hecquet, the Sangrado of Lesage, who +published a curious treatise on fasting in Lent: Paris, 1709. + +The following lines were written on a man named Offley: + + Offley three dishes had of daily roast; + An egg, an apple, and the third a toast. + +Most unquestionably, if this Offley was not a man of hard labour, or who +took much exercise, this diet, scanty as it may appear, would have been +quite sufficient to support life, for his fare was sumptuous, compared to +the diet prescribed by St. Theresa to her Carmelite nuns, and which +consisted of one egg, herb-soup, with wormwood ashes and aloes. However, +in regard to the wondrous fasting of various hermits and holy men, we must +take their histories _cum grano salis_. They clearly belonged to two +classes,--enthusiasts or impostors: enthusiasm, which is little short of +lunacy, enables the monomaniac to endure starvation with ease; and as to +impostors, it is probable that, like Friar Tuck they had a _bonne bouche_ +in a corner of their cells. + + + + +POISON OF THE UPAS, OR IPO. + + +Such are the names given by the natives of the Molucca Islands and in the +Indian Archipelago to a deadly poison which is used to impregnate the +heads of their arrows. The tree from which it is extracted is named _Bohou +Upas_, _Boa Upas_, and _Pohou Antiar_. Various accounts of its deleterious +nature have been given by ancient travellers. Cleyer and Spielman +described it upwards of a century back, and state that no antidote to its +dreadful action is known, though vomiting, produced by the most disgusting +means, was considered the only method of arresting its dire effects. +Spielman asserts that the land for several miles round these trees is +desolate and barren, for no plant can grow under their influence. The +poison, he states, flows in a milky form from the tree, and no one can +approach it at this period, as one drop of the fatal juice falling upon +the face or hands produces instant stiffness of every limb, followed by +rapid death; it is therefore obtained at the end of long bamboo canes, +armed with a pointed tube to receive it when plunged into the bark. +Rumphius confirms in a great measure the above statements, and describes +the tree, which he divides into male and female: he adds, that they only +grow in the island of Celebes, and that all around the dreaded spot is +desert and consumed. A more recent Dutch traveller, Foersech or Fooerch, +did not let so fertile a subject escape, and has cultivated most +industriously this dreary desert in the following account. + +Sterility prevails for upwards of ten miles round this dreadful tree on +the part of the island of Java where it grows. When criminals are +sentenced to death, they are offered a free pardon if they consent to seek +a small boxful of this valuable yet terrific poison. They are first sent +to the dwelling of a priest who resides at a safe distance from the spot; +there they arrive, accompanied by their disconsolate and wailing families. +They remain with this holy man for a few days, during which he affords +them both spiritual comfort and good advice; the latter urging the +precaution not to set out until the wind blows in such a direction as to +waft from them the floating emanations. On their departure on this dreaded +expedition he gives them a small box of silver or tortoise-shell, covers +their head and face with a leathern hood with glass eyes, and protects +their hands with a thick pair of gloves of the same material. He then +accompanies them about two miles on their sad journey, and then he +describes the hellish spot where this treasure is to be found as minutely +as any one can describe what he has not seen; then, giving the poor +pilgrim his blessing, he departs on his return. This worthy man informed +our traveller that, during thirty years which he had held that enviable +situation, he had sent off no less than seven hundred criminals, of whom +only twenty-two returned: and he confirmed the statement by exhibiting a +list bearing their names and the offences for which they had been tried. +Mynheer Foersech further assures his gentle readers that he witnessed +several of these expeditions, and entreated the culprits to bring him some +branches of the tree; but two withered leaves were the only specimens he +could obtain from the solitary wretch who had the good fortune to escape, +and who described the tree as growing on the borders of a rivulet, being +of moderate height, and surrounded by a cluster of young ones. The ground +around them was of a brown sandy nature, and strewed with the remains of +human victims. He also clearly ascertained that no living creature can +exist within fifteen miles of the spot. The streams that flow near it +yield no fish, and the birds that fly over it fall to the ground; several +of the latter were occasionally brought to the priest,--whether he ate +them, or not, the Dutchman does not inform us. Amongst various offenders +doomed to death by this poison he relates the case of thirteen ladies, +who, for the crime of infidelity, were inoculated in the bosom with the +point of a kritz or Malayan dagger dipped in the upas; and in sixteen +minutes they had ceased to live. By recent experiments upon animals this +part of his narration may be credited; but, in regard to the other +account, we must apply to it the French saying, "_Il vaut mieux y croire +que d'y aller voir_." Indeed the whole of Foersech's account is justly +considered a fiction. + +However, some French travellers thought otherwise; and Mr. Deschamps, +physician and naturalist attached to the expedition of Mr. +D'Entrecasteaux, when in Java, ascertained that this wonderful tree was +not uncommon in the forests of the country, nor was the approach to it in +the slightest degree apprehended. The juice procured by incisions in the +bark was called by the natives _upas_ or _oupas_, and was of so active a +nature that it caused immediate death when thrown into the circulation. +The Malays mixed it with various other ingredients more especially galanga +and garlic, when they employed it. The Javanese only impregnated their +arrows with it for the chase: a proof that they did not consider it as +affecting the system of the slain animal. Most probably Foersech's priest +was aware of this circumstance when he accepted from the privileged +malefactors the game killed by the tree they had sought. + +This tree, according to Deschamps, is named in the country, _pohou +antiar_; it frequently rises to the height of thirty or forty feet. When +one of its branches is broken, or its bark incised, a milky juice exudes, +which becomes inspissated when in contact with the atmosphere. In +appearance this tree bears some resemblance to our elm. Mr. Deschamps +confirms the relation of Rumphius, who stated that the Dutch, in their +wars with the natives, were obliged to wear thick buff cuirasses to +protect them against their poisoned missiles, the wounds of which were +inevitably fatal. + +Further information relative to the upas has been afforded by the +ingenious Mr. Leschenault, who, during his residence in Java, procured two +specimens of the poisonous substance obtained in Java, and of that brought +from the islands of Borneo and Macassar. In Borneo, the mountaineers of +the interior, who are called _Orang-Daias_, collect it, and keep its +preparation a profound secret. They carry it carefully wrapped up in +palm-leaves. Their hunting arrows have heads spear-pointed, and +impregnated with this substance; those that are prepared for war bear a +shark's tooth fixed in a brass socket, and merely attached to the shaft by +the gum resin of the ipo; the barbed point remaining rankling in the wound +it has inflicted, the gum dissolves, and speedily brings on death. Mr. +Leschenault tried these arrows on dogs and other animals, and they expired +shortly after in horrible convulsions. + +But the latest account of this celebrated tree is given by Dr. Horsfield +who was in Java during its occupation by our troops. He informs us that +although the Dutch surgeon Foersech's account must have been a +fabrication, yet there did exist a tree called the _Anchar_ from the sap +of which the natives prepared a fatal poison. The tree belongs to the 21st +class of Linnaeus, the _Monaecia_. The male and female flowers are produced +on the same branch at no great distance from each other, the females being +in general above the males. The seed-vessel is an oblong drupe, covered +with the calyx; the seed an ovate nut with cells. The top of the stem +sends off a few stout branches, which spreading nearly horizontally with +several irregular curves, divide into smaller branches, and form a +hemispherical, not very regular crown. The stem is cylindrical, +perpendicular, and rises completely naked to the height of sixty or +seventy, and even eighty feet. Near the surface of the ground it spreads +obliquely like many of our large forest trees. The bark is whitish, +slightly bursting into longitudinal furrows. Near the ground this bark is, +in old trees, more than half an inch thick, and when wounded yields +copiously the milky juice from which the poison is prepared. This juice is +yellowish, frothy, and becomes brown when exposed to the air. + +In making these researches Dr. Horsfield had some difficulty with the +native labourers, who feared a contagious eruption, but nothing more. The +Doctor further informs us that it is fatal to animals,--destroying dogs in +an hour, mice in ten minutes, monkeys in seven, and cats in fifteen, while +a buffalo subjected to the experiment was two hours and ten minutes dying. + +The natives of Macassar also call this venomous production _ipo_. They +have two varieties of the tree, as in Java; the one called _upas antiar_, +and the other, much more violent and prompt in its action, _upas tieute_ +In the preparation of the poison for use much mystery is observed by the +natives, and various ingredients are mixed up with it; but as they are +known to be harmless, such as onion and garlic juice, pepper, ginger, +galanga, they are most probably employed to deceive the curious who might +wish to ascertain the nature of this deadly composition. + +Mr. Leschenault having brought home a small quantity of this poison, it +was tried by Messrs. Delile and Magendie in several experiments, when it +was found to act more or less violently, according to the age and size of +the individual, or the quantity of the upas. One grain and a half +inoculated in a young dog killed it in four minutes, only producing one +convulsive fit. In a dog weighing fourteen pounds, half a grain of upas +occasioned death at the expiration of one hour and fifty-seven minutes, +during which the animal experienced several violent convulsions. A few +drops of diluted upas, injected in the chest of a dog, weighing twenty +pounds, occasioned a lock-jaw, which destroyed him in a minute and a half. +Eight drops injected in the jugular vein of a horse produced immediate +tetanus and speedy death. For further information regarding these cruel +experiments we must refer to the experimenter's publication. It appears, +however, that the power of this venomous substance is so intense that time +does not weaken it; for the upas employed in these experiments had been +collected and kept for upwards of seven years, when its effects were as +prompt as when tried in a recent state. The natives of Java consider +sea-salt as the best antidote, but Mr. Delile found it quite inert: +various experiments induced him to think that in these cases death is +produced by asphyxia; and he considers the means employed to restore +suspended animation in persons supposed to have been drowned, as the most +likely to save the life of individuals who might be wounded with this +substance. The rapidity with which poisonous substances are absorbed in +the system is truly terrific, more especially in such as are of a narcotic +nature. The latter act by abolishing all nervous energies, but when +applied locally their effects are also local, as is shown by the following +experiments of Mueller: + +"I held the nerve of a frog's leg which was separated from the body, in a +watery solution of opium for a short time, and that portion of the nerve +lost its irritability, i.e. its property of exciting twitchings of the leg +when it was irritated; but below the part that the poison had touched the +nerve still retained this function." + +It is therefore evident that before narcotic poisons can exert a general +influence they must be carried into the circulation. Duprey and Brachet, +two French physiologists, have sought to prove that animals cannot be +destroyed by narcotic poisons, introduced in the stomach, if the _nervus +vagus_ has been divided on both sides; at least, that they do not die so +soon. However, Wernscheidt, in thirty experiments on mammalia, could not +perceive this difference, provided the animals were of the same size and +species. + +Prussic acid exerts its influence so rapidly that it cannot be supposed to +have been thrown into the circulation. The spirituous solution of the +extract of nux vomica introduced in the mouth of a rabbit, produces +immediate death, whereas when applied to any nerve distant from the brain +it produces no general symptoms. + +This rapid effect of prussic acid is supposed to arise from its great +volatility and powers of expansion, by which it is diffused more quickly +through the circulation than the blood. According to Schrader one drop of +this substance introduced in the bill of a bird killed it in four or five +minutes. Hydrocyanic acid gas mixed with atmospheric air has when inhaled +destroyed dogs, cats, rabbits, and various birds, in from two to ten +seconds. Magendie found that the introduction of one drop of the acid in +the jugular vein caused instantaneous death; a glass tube dipped in this +perilous substance applied to the tongue of a dog, produced a similar +effect, which was also the result when applied to the eye. + +It is not generally known that tobacco and its preparations are deadly +poisons, one drop of oil of tobacco introduced in the mouth of a dog +produced violent convulsions with hurried breathing; a quarter of an hour +after, the unfortunate animal seemed to be recovered, when the +introduction of another drop killed it in two minutes. M'Cartney and +Orfila obtained similar results, though no such effects were produced when +it was applied to a nerve or the surface of the brain. + +The French poet Santeuil died from having drank wine in a glass containing +some snuff. In all cases of death produced by this substance the lungs are +found dense and livid. + +It is not only in the upas that the Indians seek the means of poisoning +their missiles. In America they employ the _Ticronas_ a juice extracted +from various plants, and the preparation of which, transmitted from one +generation to another is considered a valuable secret. La Condamine +asserts that its mere odour is sufficient to destroy the criminals doomed +to smell it, but Fontana has found by many experiments that this assertion +was made upon report, which travellers too frequently rely upon to save +themselves the trouble of investigation. Arrows saturated with this +poison, become more active after having been dipped in hot water. + +The Indians of Guiana dip their arrows in the juice of the _Woorara_, and +the _Curara_, which also occasions rapid death and decomposition of the +lungs. Humboldt informs us that the _Curara_ is obtained from the bark of +a tree called _Vejuco_ de _Mavacure_; it is inspissated over a slow fire +and then mixed with a gum drawn from the _Kiracagnero_. The Abbe Salvador +Gilii tells us in his history of America, that he has seen the strongest +animals succumb instantly when thus wounded, but the poison does not +produce any effect on their meat. + + + + +HOMOPHAGOUS AND POLYPHAGOUS. + + +These are appellations given to certain individuals of a depraved +appetite, that enables them to devour raw meat, and various other +substances which most unquestionably would destroy any person not gifted +or cursed with such an omnivorous digestion. + +Various are the ancient stories related of such voracious wretches. Ovid +describes one Erisichthon, who, as a punishment for cutting down the +groves of Ceres, (very possibly to obtain fuel to cook his food,) was +sentenced to perpetual hunger, and terminated his gluttonous career by +eating up his own limbs. Theagenes thought nothing of an ox for his +dinner; and the famed Crotonian athlete, Milo, knocked down bullocks with +his fist for his daily meals, which usually consisted of twenty _minae_ of +meat and the same ration of bread. Vopiscus relates that a man was brought +before the Emperor Maximilian, who devoured a whole calf, and was +proceeding to eat up a sheep, had he not been prevented. To this day, in +India, some voracious mountebanks devour a live sheep as an exhibition. +Dr. Boehmen of Wittenberg witnessed the performance of one of these +polyphagous individuals, who commenced his repast by eating a raw sheep, a +sucking-pig, and, by way of dessert, swallowed sixty pounds of prunes, +stones and all. On another festive occasion, he ate two bushels of +cherries, with several earthen vases, and chips of a furnace. This meal +was followed up by sundry pieces of glass and pebbles, a shepherd's +bagpipe, rats, various birds with their feathers, and an incredible number +of caterpillars. To conclude his dinner, he swallowed a pewter inkstand, +with its pens, a pen-knife, and a sandbox. During this deglutition he +seemed to relish his food, but was generally under the influence of +potations of brandy. His form was athletic, and he could carry four heavy +men on his shoulders for a league. He lived to the age of seventy-nine, +but died in a most emaciated state, and, as might be imagined, toothless. + +Helwig knew an old man who was in the habit of eating eighty pounds of +different articles of food daily. Real Colomb mentions an omnivorous +glutton, who, in the absence of any salutary aliment, satisfied his +cravings with any other substance, and was once known, when hungry, to eat +the contents of a sack of charcoal, and then to swallow the bag to +facilitate its digestion. One of the attendants on the menagerie of the +Botanical Gardens in Paris, who bore the euphonious name of _Bijou_, used +to devour all the offals of the theatre of Comparative Anatomy, and ate a +dead lion in one day. He was active, and lived to the age of sixty. A +cannibal once desolated the Vivarais, by dragging human victims to his +den, where he devoured them. On the opening of the corpse of a convict in +the galleys of Brest, there were found in his stomach about six hundred +pieces of wood, pewter, and iron. + +All these accounts might appear most exaggerated, perhaps fabulous, had +not many physicians in Paris known the celebrated Tarrare. The history of +this monster is as curious as his habits were disgusting. He commenced his +career in life in the capacity of clown to an itinerant quack, and used to +attract the notice of the populace by his singular powers of deglutition, +swallowing with the utmost ease corks, pebbles, and basketsful of apples. +However, these experiments were frequently followed by severe pain and +accidents, which once obliged him to seek assistance in the Hotel Dieu of +Paris. His sufferings did not deter him from similar experiments; and he +once tried to exhibit his wonderful faculties by swallowing the watch, +chain and seals, of Mr. Giraud, then house-surgeon of the establishment. +In this repast he was foiled, having been told that he would be ripped up +to recover the property. In the revolutionary war, Tarrare joined the +army, but was soon exhausted on the spare diet to which the troops were +obliged to submit. In the hospital of Sultzen, although put upon four full +rations, he was obliged to wander about the establishment to feed upon any +substance he could find however revolting, to subdue his voracious hunger. +These singular powers induced several physicians to ascertain how far +these omnivorous inclinations could carry him in his unnatural cravings. +In presence of Dr. Lorentz he devoured a live cat, commencing by tearing +open its stomach, and sucking the animal's blood with delight. What was +more singular, after this horrible feast, like other carnivorous brutes, +he rejected the fur and skin. Snakes were to him a delicious meal, and he +swallowed them alive and whole, after grinding their heads between his +teeth. One of the surgeons, Mr. Courville, gave him a wooden lancet-case +to swallow in which a written paper had been folded. This case was +rejected undigested, and the paper being found intact, it became a +question whether he might not be employed to convey secret correspondence; +but having been taken up at the Prussian outposts as a spy, being +disguised as a peasant without a knowledge of the language, he received a +severe bastinado, which effectually cured him of an appetite for secret +service, and on his return he had recourse to the safer means of obtaining +food in kitchens, slaughter-houses, and dunghills. At last, a child of +fourteen months old having disappeared under suspicious circumstances, he +was driven out of the hospital, and lost sight of for four years, when he +applied for admission into the hospital of Versailles, in a state of +complete exhaustion, labouring under a violent diarrhoea, which +terminated his hateful existence in his twenty-sixth year. He was of the +middle size, pale, thin, and weak; his countenance was by no means +ferocious, but, on the contrary, displayed much timidity; his fair hair +was remarkably fine and soft; his mouth was very large, and one could +scarcely say that he had any lips; all his teeth were sound, but their +enamel was speckled; his skin was always hot, in a state of perspiration, +and exhaling a constant offensive vapour. When fasting, the integuments of +his abdomen were so flaccid that he could nearly wrap them round him. +After his meals the exhalation from his surface was increased, his eyes +and cheeks became turgid with blood, and, dropping into a state of +drowsiness, he used to seek some obscure corner where he might quietly lie +down and digest. After his death, all the abdominal viscera were found in +a state of ulceration. + +Instances are recorded where a similar facility to swallow fluids had been +observed. At Strasburg the stomach of a hussar was exhibited who could +drink sixty quarts of wine in an hour. Pliny mentions a Milanese, named +_Novellus Torquatus_, who, in presence of Tiberius, drank three _congii_ +of wine. Seneca and Tacitus knew a man of the name of Piso who could drink +incessantly for two days and two nights; and Rhodiginus mentions a +capacious monster called _the Funnel_, down whose throat an amphora of +liquor could be poured without interruption. + +To what are we to attribute these uncommon, nay, these unnatural +faculties? Neither physiological experiments during life, nor anatomical +investigation after death, have hitherto enabled us to form an opinion. +Great as the progress of science has been, we are still doubtful as to the +nature of the digestive process. All the hypotheses on the subject are +liable to insuperable objections. Hippocrates and Empedocles attributed +digestion to the _putrefaction_ of food. Experiments have clearly +demonstrated the fallacy of this doctrine: rejected food is never in a +state of putridity; on the contrary, meat in a perfect state of +putrescence has been restored to sweetness and freshness on being received +into the stomach. Dead snakes have been found with animal substances, +part of which had been swallowed and the remainder hanging out of their +mouths; when the swallowed portion was fresh, and the portion exposed to +the atmosphere in a state of corruption. Galen, and after his school, Grew +and Santarelli, ascribed digestion to a _concoction_, during which, food +was maturated by the stomach's heat, like fruit by the solar rays. Pringle +and Macbride advocated the doctrine of _fermentation_; while Borelli, +Keil, and Pitcairn resolved the question by the mechanism of +_trituration_, making a mill of the stomach, which ground down food, +according to Pitcairn's calculations, with a pressure equal to a weight of +one hundred and seventeen thousand and eighty pounds. Boerhaave +endeavoured to reconcile the opinions of the _concocters_ and _grinders_, +by combining the supposed theory of _concoction_ and _trituration_. +Lastly, Cheselden fancied that digestion was operated by a peculiar +secretion in the stomach, called _gastric juice_; and Haller, Reaumur, +Spallanzani, Blumenbach and most other modern physiologists, concur with +him in the same opinion, although admitting that this function is most +probably assisted by various accessory circumstances. + +This juice was found, upon experiment, to be endowed, not only with the +antiseptic power of preserving the contents of the stomach from +putrefaction, but with the property of being a most powerful solvent. +Pieces of the toughest meats and bone have been enclosed in perforated +metallic tubes, and thrust down the stomach of carnivorous birds, and in +the space of about twenty-four hours the meats were found to be +diminished, or, in other words, digested to three-fourths of their bulk, +while the bones had totally disappeared. Dr. Stevens had recourse to a +similar experiment on the human stomach, by means of a perforated ivory +ball, and with the same result. The gastric juice of the dog dissolves +ivory; and that of a hen has dissolved an onyx, and diminished a golden +coin. Not long since, upon examining the stomach and intestines of a man +who died in a public-house, he was found to have been a _polyphagous_ +animal, since several clasp-knives that he had swallowed were discovered +with their blades blunted and their handles consumed. Since these +experiments, however, Dr. Montegre of Paris, who was gifted with the +faculty of discharging the contents of his stomach at will, has fully +proved that this gastric juice, when not in an acid state, is subject to +putrefaction when submitted to external animal heat; that this corruption +did not occur when an acid prevailed, and saliva intermixed with vinegar +was equally free from a similar decomposition. He moreover asserts, that +he had recourse to numerous experiments to digest food artificially in +this supposed solvent, but without obtaining results similar to those +advanced by Spallanzani; and, finally, he found little or no difference +between the gastric juice and saliva. This acid, which generally exists in +the gastric juice, has been ascertained by Dr. Prout to be the muriatic, +both free and in combination with alkalis: while Tiedemann and Gmelin +maintain that, in its natural state, no acid is to be met with; but that, +when food is commingled, an acid which they consider the acetic acid is +produced in considerable quantity.[17] + +The ostrich, that may be considered a connecting link between birds and +quadrupeds, is gifted with powerful digestive organs, and is known to +swallow stone, glass, and iron; but this faculty appears to be a gift of +all-bounteous Providence, to enable the creature to digest the various +substances it meets with when traversing burning deserts for hundreds of +miles, when these hard bodies actually perform the function of teeth in +the animal's stomach, by aiding the comminution of its indigestible food. +The structure of the ostrich has a near resemblance to that of the camel, +destined to perform the same dreary journeys. The wings are not designed +for flight, and in speed he equals the horse. Adanson affirms that he had +seen two ostriches at the factory of Podore, that were broken in to carry +single or double riders, and the strongest and youngest would run more +swiftly with two negroes on his back than the fleetest racer. + +Spallanzani endeavoured to prove that the pebbles and gravel swallowed by +various birds were of no use in the process of digestion; but Hunter, who +had found two hundred pebbles in the gizzard of a turkey, and one thousand +in that of a goose, demonstrated their utility in the trituration of their +food, since these birds were found to be unable to digest, and +consequently to thrive upon their nourishment when deprived of this +mechanical aid. It is curious that the owl, which easily digests meat and +bones, cannot be made to digest bread or grain, and yet dies if confined +to animal food. The eagle, and other birds of prey, can dissolve both. A +singular process of digestion is observed in the stormy petrel, which +lives entirely on oil and fat substances whenever it can obtain them; but +when fed with other articles of food, Nature, true to her laws, converts +them into oil; the bird still discharges pure oil at objects that offend +him, and feeds his young with the same substance. The petrel must, no +doubt, be a bilious subject, for he delights in misery, and his presence +is a sure presage of foul weather to the experienced seamen; and when + + The wrathful skies + Gallow the very wanderers of the dark, + And make them keep their caves, + +he is seen riding triumphantly on the whirlwind, and skimming the deepest +chasms of the angry waves. This bird is said to be named 'petrel' from +Peter, since, like that saint, he is supposed to have the power of walking +on the waters. + +The singular appetites which have been noticed seem to have been +individual peculiarities, uninfluenced by a morbid condition; but there +are cases in which a depraved appetite is symptomatic of disease, where we +see persons otherwise possessed of sound judgment longing, not only for +the most improper and indigestible food, but for substances of the most +extraordinary and even disgusting nature. Thus we have seen patients, more +especially young females and pregnant women, devouring dirt, cinders, +spiders, leeches, hair, tallow, and paper. An ingenious writer affirms +that "more literature in the form of paper and printed books has been thus +devoured, than by the first scholars in Christendom." + +Dr. Darwin tells us that he saw a young lady about ten years of age that +used to fill her stomach with earth out of a flowerpot, and then vomited +it up, with small stones, bits of wood, and wings of various insects. John +Hunter has described an endemic disease among the Africans in Jamaica, in +which they devoured dirt. Mason Good, when speaking of this affection, +says, "that the longing for such materials is, in this disease, a mere +symptom, and rarely shows itself till the frame is completely exhausted by +atrophy, dropsy, and hectic fever, brought on by a longing of a much more +serious kind,--a longing to return home, a pining for the relations, the +scenes, the kindnesses the domestic joys, of which the miserable sufferers +have been robbed by barbarians less humanized than themselves, and which +they have been forced or trepanned to resign for the less desirable +banquet of whips, and threats, and harness, and hunger." + +Roderic a Castro relates the case of a lady who could eat twenty pounds of +pepper, and another who lived upon ice. Tulpius mentions a woman who, +during her pregnancy, longed for salt herrings, and ate fourteen hundred +at the rate of five herrings per diem. Longius affirms that a lady in +Cologne, who was in that state that ladies wish to be who love their +lords, took such a fancy to taste the flesh of her husband that she +actually assassinated him, and, after indulging in as much fresh meat as +the weather permitted, salted the remainder for further use. This cannibal +inclination seems not to be uncommon. The said Roderic a Castro knew a +woman in the same thriving condition, who felt an inexpressible desire for +a bit of the shoulder of a neighbouring baker, and her husband was +persecuted by her constant prayers and lamentations to prevail on the +worthy man to allow her one bite for charity's sake: but the first bite +was so heartily inflicted, that the crusty baker would not submit to a +second. + +In the Philosophical Transactions there is a case related of a woman whose +fancies were not quite so solid, and who used to gratify her aerial +appetites by putting the nozle of a bellows down her throat, and blowing +away until she was tired. These longings of parturient women are most +common; but it is rather curious, that, among our negroes in the West +Indies, the husbands pretend to long for their wives, and endeavour to +gratify them by proxy. Possibly such might have been the fancy of Cambes, +the Lydian prince, who, according to Aelian, took it into his head one +night to eat up his beloved wife. + + + + +CAUSES OF INSANITY. + + +Madness is attributed to moral and physical causes. Physicians do not +agree as to the prevalence of either of these sources of human misery. +Some of them, most unjustly accused of materialism, seem to lean to the +opinion that, generally speaking, physical causes can be traced in _post +mortem_ examination; while others, equally skilled in accurate anatomical +investigations, maintain that these organic derangements are very seldom +met with. + +Lawrence affirms that he had "examined after death the heads of many +insane persons, and had hardly seen a single brain which did not exhibit +obvious marks of disease;" and he further states, "that he feels convinced +from his own experience, that very few heads of persons dying deranged +will be examined after death without showing diseased structure, or +evident signs of increased vascular activity." The celebrated Morgagni +gives similar results of his extensive dissections. Meckel and Jones are +of the same opinion. However, Pinel, whose anatomical pursuits on the +subject were most extensive, clearly declares that he never met with any +other appearance within the cavity of the skull than are observable in +opening the bodies of persons who have died of apoplexy, epilepsy, nervous +fevers and convulsions. Haslam, whose experience in this matter was also +very great, asserts that nothing decisive can be obtained in reference to +insanity from any variations of appearance that have hitherto been +detected in the brain. Greding observed in two hundred and sixteen +maniacal cases which he examined, the whole of whom died of disorders +unconnected with their mental ailments, that three of the heads were +exceedingly large, two exceedingly small; some of the skull bones were +extremely thick, others peculiarly thin; in some the frontal bones were +small and contracted, in others the temporal bones compressed and narrow. + +In this confusion and clashing of opinions, when unfortunately each +theorist views, or fancies that he views, functional or organic +derangements sufficiently evident (in his eyes at least) to support his +doctrine, it is no easy matter to come to a fair conclusion. It can only +be observed, that, as the wonderful sympathies of the brain with other +organs especially the viscera of the abdomen, are universally +acknowledged, the morbid condition in which the brain is occasionally +found may have arisen from a primary morbid condition of some other organ. +Hence it is difficult to say whether insanity is most generally a primary +or a secondary affection. Physical causes act both upon the brain and the +abdominal system. Concussion and compression of the brain will occasion +nausea, vomiting, and hepatic affections, and the presence of worms in the +intestines will excite convulsions and epilepsy. In regard to moral +causes, they may also act directly or indirectly upon the brain, or the +parts that sympathize with it. Sudden or violent emotions are known to +produce an immediate effect upon our digestive functions, which may in +turn by their sympathetic connexion act upon the brain and the mind, +although the connexion between brain and mind is not yet proved in any +conclusive manner. + +However, in a practical point of view, whatever discrepancy of opinion may +prevail on this subject, I think it will be found advisable to consider +most, if not all recent cases of insanity, as arising from physical +causes, and therefore to submit the patient to such a medical treatment in +addition to moral aid, as the prevalence of morbid symptoms of local +derangement are more or less evident. My own experience has fully +convinced me that a morbid condition of the cerebral organ, and the +viscera of the thorax and abdomen, are invariably met with, and must have +proved of sufficient importance to develop symptoms which the slightest +observations might have detected. How far the organic derangement may have +been either the cause or the result of insanity I am not prepared to say, +but they have generally borne the appearance of having originated in undue +excitement. + +On this most important subject I feel much gratification in quoting the +following opinion of the experienced Pinel: "It appears in general that +the primitive seat of insanity is in the region of the stomach and +intestinal canal, and it is from this central part that mental aberration +is propagated as by irradiation." Esquirol is of opinion that insanity +arises from a lesion of the vital functions of the brain, and not +unfrequently from a disturbance in the various points of sensibility in +different parts of the system. + +That mental emotions, whether producing any alteration in the physical +condition of the individual, or not, occasion various degrees of insanity, +is proved by experience. The French revolution, during its execrable +phases, offered a wide and fertile field of observation on this subject; +and the various events that marked those fearful times were certainly well +calculated to affect any brain capable of becoming deranged. The following +results of these observations are curious: "Among the lunatics confined at +Bicetre," says Pinel, "during the third year of the Republic, I observed +that the exciting causes of their maladies, in a great majority of cases, +were extremely vivid affections of the mind; such as ungovernable or +disappointed ambition, religious fanaticism, profound chagrin, and +unfortunate love. Out of one hundred and thirteen madmen with whose +history I took pains to make myself acquainted, thirty-four were reduced +to this state by domestic misfortunes, twenty-four by obstacles to +matrimonial union, thirty by political events, and twenty-five by +religious fanaticism. Those were chiefly affected who belonged to +professions in which the imagination is unceasingly or ardently engaged, +and not controlled in its excitement by the exercise of the tamer +functions of the understanding, which are more susceptible of satiety and +fatigue. Hence the Bicetre registers were chiefly filled from the +professions of priests, artists, painters, sculptors, poets, and +musicians, while they contained no instances of persons whose line of life +demands a predominant exercise of the judging faculty,--not one +naturalist, physician, chemist, or geometrician." + +The following is a return of the supposed moral causes of insanity +observed in the Salpetriere. In the years 1811 and 1812 + + Domestic affliction 105 + Disappointed love 46 + Political events 14 + Fanaticism 8 + Fright 38 + Jealousy 18 + Anger 16 + Misfortunes in circumstances 77 + Offended vanity 1 + --- + Total 323 + +In Mr. Esquirol's private establishment during the same period: + + Domestic affliction 31 + Disappointed love 25 + Political events 32 + Fanaticism 1 + Fright 8 + Jealousy 14 + Misfortunes 14 + Offended vanity 16 + Baffled ambition 12 + Intense study 13 + Misanthropy 2 + --- + Total 168 + +It must be observed that the latter return, in which we find twenty-eight +persons maddened by disappointed ambition and offended pride, is of a +private establishment, whose inmates of course belonged to the better +classes of the community. + +By the return from Pennsylvania, out of fifty lunatics, thirty-four cases +arose from moral causes. Of physical causes hereditary madness is the most +prevalent, as appears clearly from the following table extracted from the +registers of the Salpetriere. + + Hereditary insanity 105 + Convulsion during gestation 11 + Epilepsy 11 + Female derangements 55 + Diseases of child-birth 52 + Critical periods 27 + Old age 60 + Insolation 12 + Injuries of the head 14 + Fever 13 + Syphilis 8 + Effects of mercury 14 + Worms 24 + Apoplexy 60 + +When speaking of hereditary madness, Dr. Abercrombie is of opinion that +where a tendency to insanity exists, there may be in many cases, +circumstances in mental habits or mental discipline calculated to favour +or to counteract the tendency, when the mind wanders away from the proper +duties of life or luxuriates amid scenes of imagination, thus permitting +mental emotions, of whatever kind, to be excited in a manner +disproportional to the true relation of the object which gave rise to +them; allowing the mind to ramble among imaginary events, or to be led +away by slight and casual relations, instead of steadily exercising the +judgment in the investigation of truth. + +These observations are no doubt most luminous, yet as I have elsewhere +remarked, hereditary predisposition to insanity may be brought into +action, by the constant scenes that pass in the presence of those +individuals who may daily have to witness the aberrations of an unhappy +relative. The mind dwells on the sad subject, and it becomes a source of +constant apprehension, when the mere dread of an hereditary evil is +perhaps sufficient to drive to madness. So powerful is the sway even of +imaginary terror, that we need not wonder that natural fear should be +productive of results still more injurious to our intellects. There seems +to exist a certain fascination in what we should dread and avoid; instead +of resisting evil, by a strange fatality we seem to be self-impelled to +court it. We indulge in thoughts, in hopes and fears, too often +chimerical, instead of endeavouring to dismiss them from our mind, by +other pursuits and busy occupation; and we brood upon future and ideal +miseries until we actually, from supineness and timidity, sink under their +overwhelming influence. + +Esquirol relates some curious coincidences of hereditary insanity. A Swiss +merchant lost both his sons in a state of mania at the age of 19. A lady +lost her senses after childbirth at the age of 25. Her daughter became +insane in her 25th year. In one family, the grandfather, the father, and +the son, destroyed themselves at the age of 50. Near Newton, seven insane +sisters had been observed in one family. An unfortunate female in the +Salpetriere, under the influence of liquor, threw herself three times in +the river and her sister in a state of intoxication drowned herself. A +gentleman whose intellects became deranged in consequence of the +misfortunes of the revolution remained for ten years secluded in his +chamber. His daughter became insane about the same period, and with equal +obstinacy could not be prevailed upon to leave her room. + +There is no doubt, but that were these early predispositions attended to +and watched, an active course of education adopted, and change of locality +resorted to, much future misery might be avoided, and possibly the +invasion of the malady arrested. + +If the observations of the phrenologist are entitled to consideration, the +mind may become mainly instrumental in attaining this _desideratum_, as +the detection of certain propensities may place us upon our guard in the +education of youth. This would be a point of still greater importance, +were these organs innate, dooming us to the blind law of fatality; but the +phrenologists maintain, that the development of these organic inequalities +on the surface of the cranium are produced and developed by a +corresponding enlargement of the brain, which is greater or lesser in the +ratio of the preponderance of the organ as the indulgence in the +propensities which they indicate. + +Pinel relates a curious case of hereditary mania in a man who, up to the +age of fifty, fulfilled with intelligence and activity the duties of an +important office which he held. At this period he indulged in various +excesses, and sunk in the debasement of the lowest society. These excesses +he represented to his wondering friends and acquaintances as the source of +divine pleasure and celestial enjoyment. He declared that he would erect a +temple to the god of love, and officiate himself as high priest at his +altars; he compared the very lowest of women to angelic creatures; and +finally was confined, a furious and desperate maniac. + +Education carried on upon mistaken principles has also been known to +prepare the way to insanity, and La Bruyere has justly observed, that +there are parents, the study of whose life appears to have been, their +giving their children just reason not to regret their loss. Pinel has +given us the interesting history of two orphan brothers, who had been +brought up in a most anomalous manner--with extreme kindness and +effeminacy by a nurse, and with much harshness and injustice by a tutor. +The result of this erroneous management was a deficient development in +their intellectual faculties, and a debilitated frame, which gradually led +to a state of imbecility. When examined by Pinel at the age of twenty and +twenty-two, their conversation was puerile in the extreme, and they both +displayed a taste for infantile sports and pastimes, befitting children of +three or four years old. They sought to express themselves with great +volubility, but their language, consisting chiefly of broken syllables, +was scarcely intelligible. Notwithstanding their apathic appearance, by a +sort of automatic habit, every evening brought on an absurd scene of +sentimentality. They would join each other in earnest conversation in a +corner of the room; and, with bitter tears and deep sighs, bewail the loss +of their parents, who had thus left them in a helpless orphan condition, +in their tender years, expressing the sincerest affection for their nurse, +but speaking of their tutor with bitter imprecations. A great partiality +shown to one sister has driven another one to a state of dementia, that +arose from her continually dwelling on the wrongs she experienced, which, +of course, were exaggerated by jealousy. + +External agents producing sudden terror have been frequently known to +bring on insanity. It is related of a child of three years of age, who was +so terrified on being brought into a madhouse, that he was subject to +horrible dreams and visions until his seventeenth year, when he became a +perfect lunatic. Women frightened during pregnancy have often become +alienated; and there are two cases reported of young ladies who were found +insane the day after their nuptials. + +While disappointments and misfortunes are often the origin of insanity, a +sudden melioration in circumstances, and unexpected pleasing intelligence +have been also known to derange the intellects. A man who came into the +possession of a large fortune, after having lived for many years in +penury, was so alarmed at the thought of losing this property, that the +apprehension of the evil deprived him of his senses. An instance is +recorded of a young girl, long separated from her lover by parents averse +to their union, who became insane immediately after her marriage. + +Children are generally exempted from this calamitous visitation; yet Frank +relates the case of a child at St. Luke's who had been deranged since he +was two years old. Age, to a certain extent, seems to influence insanity, +and most individuals are alienated between their twentieth and fiftieth +years. Haslam states, that out of one thousand six hundred and sixty-four +patients admitted into Bedlam, nine hundred and ten came within this +period of life. In France it appears that most cases of insanity are +noticed between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five. One-fifteenth of +these cases among men, and one-sixth among women, are observed before +their twentieth year; and in the wealthy classes of society one-fourth +occur before the same period. The following table from Bicetre regarding +age is not without interest. + + Years. Aged 15 20 30 40 50 60 Total. + ------------------------------------------- + 1784 ... 5 33 31 24 11 6 110 + 1785 ... 4 29 49 25 14 3 124 + 1786 ... 4 31 40 32 15 5 127 + 1787 ... 12 39 41 26 17 7 142 + 1788 ... 9 43 53 21 18 7 151 + 1789 ... 6 38 39 33 14 2 132 + 1790 ... 6 28 34 19 9 7 103 + 1791 ... 9 26 32 16 7 3 93 + 1792 ... 6 26 33 18 12 3 98 + 1793 ... 4 36 28 22 13 10 113 + ---------------------------- + Total 65 329 380 236 130 53 1193 + +Thus it would appear that the astounding events which took place in +France, but more especially in Paris, from the year 1789, the breaking out +of the revolution, to 1793, the reign of terror, had no effect upon the +intellects of the population; unless it is supposed that the entire nation +being in a state of insanity, either madmen were not noticed as any +peculiarity, or rushed into mischief and were murdered. This observation +as to the influence of public events is confirmed by the following +statement of admissions in the Salpetriere during the comparatively +tranquil years of 1811, 1812, 1813, and 1814, although many cases of +insanity were said to have arisen from the harsh laws of the conscription. + + Years. Aged 20 25 30 35 40 50 60 70 80 Total. + ------------------------------------------------------ + 1811 ... 34 37 38 27 48 38 24 12 4 262 + 1812 ... 52 34 33 18 38 57 26 19 3 280 + 1813 ... 43 29 33 41 32 57 31 13 6 285 + 1814 ... 42 35 38 31 26 53 34 22 10 291 + ---------------------------------------- + Total 171 135 142 117 144 205 115 66 23 1118 + +Therefore one might fairly conclude that the taking of the Bastille, the +execution of Louis XVI., the bloody sway of the Jacobins, the ambitious +wars of Napoleon, and the restoration of Louis XVIII., did not in the +slightest degree affect the brains of our happy and philosophical +neighbours. + +It has been generally imagined that women are more subject to mental +alienation than men; this, however, is by no means proved by observation +in other countries, as will appear by the following calculation: + + Men. Women. + 1756 Marseilles 50 49 + 1786 Paris 500 509 + 1786-1794 Bedlam 4992 882 + 1807 St. Luke's 110 153 + 1802 Paris 1 to 2 + ---- Berlin 1 to 2 + ---- Vienna 117 94 + ---- Pennsylvania 2 to 1 + 1807-1812 Various Madhouses in France 488 700 + 1802-1814 Mr. Esquirol's establishment 191 144 + ---- ---- + Total 6452 6536 + +In the Lunatic Asylum of Hanwell I have now under my care 265 males, and +351 females. + +It has long been a current opinion that madness is a more common disease +in our country than any where else. This may possibly arise from the +greater number of our eccentric countrymen that are widely scattered over +the globe; and whenever an individual is observed whose manners and +conduct are totally at variance with the habits of any other member of the +community, he is generally considered an Englishman. Voltaire came to the +sweeping conclusion that one half of the nation was scrofulous, and the +other moiety insane. + +However, it would appear that insanity is on the increase; for in the +report of the commissioners for licensing lunatic establishments we find +the following statement: "Insanity appears to have been _considerably_ on +the increase; for if we compare the sums of two distant lustra, the one +beginning with 1775, and the other ending with 1809, the proportion of +patients returned as having been received into lunatic asylums during the +latter period, is to that of the former nearly as one hundred and +twenty-nine to one hundred." Dr. Burrows has endeavoured to impugn the +correctness of this statement by proving that suicide is more frequent in +other countries; now, unless Dr. Burrows can prove that suicide is always +an act of insanity, which will by no means be admitted, his observation +can bear no weight. + +It is but too true that in melancholy madness we often observe a +prevailing propensity to self-destruction. Dr. Abercrombie's views on this +subject are so luminous that I shall transcribe them. + +"When the melancholic hallucination has fully taken possession of the +mind, it becomes the sole object of attention, without the power of +varying the impression, or of directing the thoughts to any facts or +considerations calculated to remove or palliate it. The evil seems +overwhelming and irremediable, admitting neither of palliation, +consolation, nor hope. For the process of mind calculated to diminish such +an impression, or even to produce a hope of the palliation of the evil, is +precisely that exercise of mind which in this singular condition, is lost +or suspended; namely, a power of changing the subject of thought, of +transferring the attention to other facts and considerations, and of +comparing the mental impression with these, and with the actual state of +external things. Under such a conviction of overwhelming and hopeless +misery, the feeling naturally arises of life being a burden, and this is +succeeded by a determination to quit it. When such an association has once +been formed, it also fixes itself upon the mind, and fails to be corrected +by those considerations which ought to remove it. That it is in this +manner the impression arises, and not from any process analogous to the +determination of a sound mind, appears, among other circumstances, from +the singular manner in which it is often dissipated, namely by the +accidental productions of some new impression not calculated in any degree +to influence the subject of thought, but simply to give a momentary +direction of the mind to some other feeling. Thus a man mentioned by Pinel +had left his house in the night, with the determined resolution of +drowning himself, when he was attacked by robbers. He did his best to +escape from them, and having done so, returned home, the resolution of +suicide being entirely dissipated. A woman mentioned, I believe by Dr. +Burrows, had her resolution changed in the same manner, by something +falling on her head, after she had gone out for a similar purpose. + +"A very irregular modification occurs in some of these cases. With the +earnest desire of death, there is combined an impression of the +criminality of suicide; but this instead of correcting the hallucination, +only leads to another and most extraordinary mode of effecting the +purpose; namely by committing murder, and so dying by the hand of justice. +Several instances are on record in which this remarkable mental process +was distinctly traced and acknowledged; and in which there was no mixture +of malice against the individuals who were murdered. On the contrary, +these were generally children; and in one of the cases, the maniac +distinctly avowed his resolution to commit murder, with the view of dying +by a sentence of law; and at the same time his determination that his +victim should be a child, as he should thus avoid the additional guilt of +sending a person out of the world in a state of unrepented sin. The mental +process in such a case presents a most interesting subject of reflection. +It appears to be purely a process of association, without the power of +reasoning. I should suppose that there had been at a former period, during +a comparatively healthy state of the mental faculties, a repeated +contemplation of suicide which had been always checked by an immediate +contemplation of its dreadful criminality. + +In this manner a strong connexion had been formed, which when the idea of +suicide afterwards came into the mind, during the state of insanity, led +to the impression of its heinousness, not by a process of reasoning, but +by simple association. The subsequent steps are the distorted reasonings +of insanity, mixed with some previous impression of the safe condition of +children dying in infancy. This explanation I think is strongly +countenanced by the consideration that, had the idea of the criminality of +suicide been in any degree a process of reasoning, a corresponding +conviction of the guilt of murder must have followed it. I find, however, +one case which is at variance with this hypothesis. The reasoning of that +unfortunate individual was, that if he committed murder, and died by the +hand of justice, there would be time for his making his peace with the +almighty between the crime and his execution, which would not be the case +if he should die by suicide. This was a species of reasoning but it was +purely the reasoning of insanity." + +Still these remarks do not go to prove that suicide is always the result +of insanity, since it can in most instances be attributed to a moment of +despair and impatience under a heavy visitation of calamity, or the dread +of contempt of society. The frequency of this rash act, cannot therefore +be adduced as a proof of the greater prevalence of madness in any country. +With greater reason, self-destruction is to be referred to the want of a +proper religious education and feeling, which will enable man to bear up +against the world's vicissitudes, and deem life a more or less painful +journey to a peaceful abode. + +Montesquieu was one of the many writers who attributed this propensity as +being nearly exclusive to the English. "Les Anglais," he says, "se tuent +sans qu'on puisse imaginer aucune raison qui les y determine; ils se tuent +dans le sens meme du bonheur. Cette action, chez les Romains etait l'effet +de l'education, elle tenait a leur maniere de penser et a leurs coutumes; +dans les Anglais c'est l'effet d'une maladie, elle tient a l'etat physique +de la machine." + +Two very curious works on suicide have been lately published in Germany by +Dr. Arntzenius and Dr. Schlegel. The former writer divides this fatal +propensity into acute and chronic; the first marked by great physical +excitement, the latter accompanied or preceded by sadness, moroseness, and +love of solitude. Curious cases are related in illustration of this +doctrine, amongst others we remark that of an English nobleman who cast +himself into the crater of Vesuvius. A German in the same year, not being +able perhaps to travel so far, threw himself into a smelting furnace. +Several cases are recorded of individuals who formed the desperate +resolution of starving themselves. It appears that in many instances the +most trifling circumstance has driven these reckless beings to the +commission of this desperate action. The case of a young Parisian author +of the name of Escoupe, who suffocated himself because one of his dramatic +productions had been severely criticised, is well known. A German student +destroyed himself because he had a club-foot, and another youth put an end +to his existence in consequence of his not having been allowed to put on +his Sunday clothes. Dr. Schlegel has given a curious table of the means of +destruction resorted to according to the several ages of individuals, and +we give the following abstract: + + By pistol. By hanging. + Between 10 and 20 years of age. 61 68 + " 20-30 " 283 51 + " 30-40 " 182 94 + " 40-50 " 150 188 + " 50-60 " 161 256 + " 60-70 " 126 235 + " 70-80 " 35 108 + " 80-90 " 2 + ---- ---- + 1000 1000 + +In classing 9000 cases of suicide which happened in Paris between the +years 1796 and 1830, Dr. Schlegel concludes that what he terms the +"philosophic suicide," is that which is perpetrated after deliberation, +during the night or shortly before sunrise; whilst when it is not the +result of premeditation, it occurs during the day. + +The choice between shooting and hanging may be accounted for on the same +grounds. A young man, in a fit of frantic passion, from disappointed love, +or losses at play, will probably, on his return home, seize a pistol and +blow out his brains; whereas hanging needs reflection and some preparation +and precaution, which would alone suffice to bring a reflective creature +to a proper sense of his folly, unless predetermined to destroy himself by +"philosophic suicide." + +It appears in these accounts that suicide in France has greatly increased +since the revolution. The average number during the last forty-two years +being 409-5/6, the number in Paris being 1639 annually. Dr. Schlegel +informs us that there exists a society in Paris called, "Society of the +Friends of Suicide." It consists of twelve members, and a lot is cast +annually to decide which of them is to destroy himself in the presence of +the others. Certain qualifications and testimonials were required before a +candidate could be admitted into this amiable club: + +1. He must prove himself a man of honour. + +2. He must have experienced the injustice of mankind, been injured by a +dear friend, or betrayed by a mistress or a wife. + +3. He must have experienced, for some considerable time, a miserable +vacuity of soul, and a discontent with every thing in the world. + +This association reminds me of a ball that was established in Paris after +the reign of terror, called _Le Bal des Victimes_, to which no person +could be admitted unless they had had a near relation guillotined. + +Dr. Schlegel has also given the following statistical table of the +proportion of suicides to various populations--both as regarding counties +and principal cities: + + _Countries._ _Proportion of suicides to population._ + + Sweden 1 in 92,375 + The Milanais 1 ... 72,570 + Russia, 1819-1820 1 ... 36,860 + ---- 1824-1827 1 ... 34,246 + Prussia 1 ... 14,224 + Saxony 1 ... 8,446 + St. Petersburg 1 ... 416 + London, 18th century 1 ... 10,572 + ---- 19th century 1 ... 21,491 + Paris 1 ... 2,215 + Geneva 1 ... 3,714 + Berlin, 1788-1797 1 ... 23,066 + ---- 1798-1807 1 ... 12,917 + ---- 1813-1822 1 ... 3,312 + Hamburg 1 ... 4,800 + Leipzig 1 ... 3,143 + Milan 1 ... 1,821 + Naples 1 ... 27,230 + New York 1 ... 9,474 + Baltimore 1 ... 15,696 + Philadelphia 1 ... 20,000 + +According to our ingenious author, drunkenness is the chief cause of +suicide in England, Prussia, and Germany; love and gambling in France; +whilst bigotry, or the fear of dying without having received the +sacrament, he supposes, prevents it in Spain, where, comparatively +speaking, suicide is seldom heard of. + +The same remark may apply to Italy, where a Roman lady, having heard of +such an action, exclaimed, "_Dev' essere un forestiere; gli Italiani non +sono tanto matti_." She was right, the suicide was a melancholy German +tailor. + +In India, where the doctrine of predestination is generally prevalent, it +is calculated that in one year there were forty suicides in a population +of 250,000, twenty-three of which were females. + +Arntzenius quotes Gall's opinion, that suicide arises from too great a +predominance of the organ of cautiousness. Combe and other phrenologists +are of opinion, that with this predominance a deficient development of +hope and a large destructiveness must be conjoined. + +It has been remarked that in Spain and Portugal, where insanity is +comparatively rare, malconformation of the brain and consequent idiotism +are very frequent. + +Since the peace it may be more difficult to arrive at any conclusion on +the subject of increase of lunacy, founded on the admission of lunatics +into public and private establishments, since emigration has carried so +many families and operatives of every description abroad, many of whom, +from various disappointments and vexations, might have been predisposed to +insanity. + +It appears that in 1836 there existed in England and Wales 6402 lunatics, +7265 idiots--13,667 lunatics and idiots. Of paupers alone, or lunatics and +idiots, there were 1.00098 of the total population, or 1 in 1024. + +However, according to the most probable calculation, the number of +lunatics in England amounts to about 14,000, out of which about 11,000 are +paupers. Idiots are nearly as numerous as lunatics. Sir A. Halliday states +the former to amount to 5741, and the latter to 6806. To this it must be +observed that many harmless idiots are allowed to remain in their usual +residence. In Wales it appears that idiots are to lunatics in the +proportion of seven to one. The difficulty of obtaining any certain +information on this subject, however, is such, that it is scarcely +possible to decide the question with any chance of a probable certainty. + +In regard to the prevalence of lunacy in other countries, the following +are curious statistical statements: + +In Spain, in 1817, according to the report of Dr. Luzuriaga, there only +existed in the asylums of Toledo, Granada, Cordova, Valencia, Cadiz, +Saragossa, and Barcelona, 509 lunatics--only fifty were in the hospitals +of Cadiz, sixty in that of Madrid, and thirty-six in the kingdom of +Granada. + +In Italy, in twenty-five asylums in Turin, Genoa, Milan, Brescia, Verona, +Venice, Parma, Modena, Bologna, Ferrara, Florence, Sienna, Lucca, and +Rome, Mr. Brierre only found 3441 patients. The population of these parts +of Italy amounting to about 16,789,000 inhabitants, which gives one +lunatic to 4879 persons. + +Scott, who accompanied Lord Macartney's embassy to China, observed that +very few insane persons were to be found there. Humboldt states that +madness is rare amongst the natives of South America. Carr made the same +remark in Russia. In Spain and Italy, religious melancholy, and that most +vexatious species of insanity called _erotomania_, are the more common. + +In the savage tribes of Africa and America insanity is very rare. Dr. +Winterbotham affirms, that among the Africans near Sierra Leone, mania is +a disease which seldom if ever occurs. Idiotism was likewise a rare +phenomenon among them. Among the negro slaves in the West Indies it is +scarcely known, and during three years' residence in the Bahamas, only one +case of monomania fell under my observation. Amongst the native races of +America it scarcely exists. From these observations we may conclude, with +Esquirol, that insanity belongs almost exclusively to civilized races of +men, that it scarcely exists among savages, and is rare in barbarous +countries. To what circumstance are we to attribute this exemption? +Possibly it may be attributed to simplicity in living, which predisposes +to less disease and morbid varieties of organization, and to the absence +of that refined education which exposes man to the artificial wants and +miseries of high civilization. It is moreover probable that the constant +occupation which the existence of the savage requires to satisfy his +absolute necessities, does not leave him leisure time to ponder over +gloomy ideas and fictitious sufferings. In addition to these +circumstances, Dr. Pritchard has justly remarked, that we might also +conjecture that congenital predisposition is wanting in the offspring of +uncivilized races. The same author admits the probability of the brain +receiving a different development in the progeny of cultivated races, or +of those whose mental faculties have been awakened. + +Various professions have been supposed to exercise much influence on the +intellectual faculties. The following observations at the Salpetriere +during one year may tend to illustrate this subject: + + Field labourers 43 + Servants 51 + Needlework women 85 + Cooks 16 + Shopkeepers 21 + Pedlars 16 + Shoemakers 8 + House-painters and varnishers 5 + Housekeepers 192 + Women of the town 33 + +In Mr. Esquirol's establishment: + + Farmers 3 + Military men 33 + Seamen 3 + Merchants 50 + Students 25 + Clerks in public offices 21 + Engineers 2 + Lawyers 11 + Chemists 4 + Physicians 4 + Artists 8 + +According to the prevalence of the ideas connected with their former +pursuits do we observe the hallucination of these unfortunate persons to +be of a different character. Dr. Abercrombie relates the case of a Scotch +clergyman, who was brought before a jury to be what is called in Scotland +_cognosced_, or declared incapable of managing his affairs. Amongst the +acts of extravagance alleged against him was, that he had burnt his +library. When he was asked by the jury what account he would give of this +part of his conduct, he replied in the following terms: "In the early part +of my life I had imbibed a liking for a most unprofitable study, namely, +controversial divinity. On reviewing my library, I found a great part of +it to consist of books of this description, and I was so anxious that my +family should not be led to follow the same pursuits, that I determined to +burn the whole." He gave answers equally plausible to questions which +were put to him respecting other parts of his conduct; and the result was, +that the jury found no sufficient ground for cognoscing him; but in the +course of a fortnight from that time, he was in a state of decided mania. + +What a school of humility is a lunatic asylum! What a field of observation +does it not present to the philosopher who ranges among its inmates! We +find the same aberrations that obtain in society; similar errors, similar +passions, similar miserable self-tormenting chimeras, empty pride, +worthless vanity, and overweening ambition. There we + + See that noble and most sovereign reason, + Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh. + +Each madhouse has its gods and priests, its sovereigns and its subjects, +terrific mimicry of worldly superstitions, pomp, pride, and degradation! +There, tyranny rules with iron sway, until the keeper's appearance makes +tyrants know there does exist a power still greater than their own. In +madhouses egotism prevails as generally as in the world, and nothing +around the lunatic sheds any influence unless relating to his wretched +self. In this struggle between the mind and body, this constant action and +reaction of the moral and the corporeal energies, when reason has yielded +to the brute force of animal passions, and the body with all its baseness +has triumphed over the soul, one cannot but think of Plutarch's fanciful +idea, that, should the body sue the mind for damages before a court of +justice, it would be found that the defendant had been a ruinous tenant to +the plaintiff. + +In many cases of insanity we observe a singular fertility of glowing +imagination and a vivacity of memory which is often surprising. Dr. Willis +mentions a patient who was subject to occasional attacks of insanity, and +who assured him that he expected the paroxysms with impatience, as they +proved to him a source of considerable delight. "Every thing," he said, +"appeared easy to me. No obstacles presented themselves either in theory +or in practice. My memory acquired of a sudden a singular degree of +perfection. Long passages of Latin authors occurred to my mind. In general +I have great difficulty in finding rhythmical terminations, but then I +could write verse with as much facility as prose." + +Old associations thus recalled into the mind are often mixed up with +recent occurrences, in the same manner as in dreaming. Dr. Gooch mentions +a lady who became insane in consequence of an alarm of fire in her +neighbourhood. She imagined that she was transformed into the Virgin Mary, +and that a luminous halo beamed round her head. + +It is said that the Egyptians placed a mummy at their festive board, to +remind man of mortality. Would not a frequent visit to a lunatic asylum +afford a wholesome lesson to the reckless despot, the proud statesman, and +the arbitrary chieftain? There they might converse with tyrants, +politicians, and self-created heroes, in all the naked turpitude of the +evil passions, who in their frantic gestures would show them that which +they wish to be--that which the world considers they are! Often would they +hear the maniac express the very thoughts that ruffle their own pillows, +until the dreaded bell that announces the doctor's visit, and which with +one loud peal destroys his fond illusions, herald of that knell which +sooner or later must call them from the busy world they think their own. +How beautifully has Filmer expressed the madman's fears! + + See yon old miser laden with swelling bags + Of ill-got gold, with how much awkward haste + He limps away to shelter! See how he ducks, + And dives, and dodges with the gods; and all + Only in hope to avoid, for some few days + Perhaps, the just reward of his own sad extortions. + The hot adulterer, now all chill and impotent + With fear, leaps from the polluted bed, + And crams himself into a cranny! + There mighty men of blood, who make a trade + Of murder, forget their wonted fierceness; + Out-nois'd, they shrink aside, and shake for fear + O' th' louder threat'nings of the angry gods. + +Whatever may be the nature of insanity or our fallacious views regarding +it, it is a matter of great consolation to find that our mode of treating +it is at last founded on rational and humane principles. The unfortunate +lunatic is no longer an object of horror and disgust, chained down like a +wild beast, and sunk by ignorance or avarice, even below the level of that +degradation in the scale of human beings, to which it had pleased +Providence to reduce him,--we no longer behold him rising from his foul +and loathsome bed of straw, scantily covered with filthy tatters, his hair +and beard wild and grisly--his eyes under the influence of constant +excitement, darting menacing looks--the foam bubbling through his gnashing +teeth--clanking his fetters with angry words and gestures, threatening +heaven and earth--gazed at with dismay, through massive bars--the very +female seeming of doubtful sex: + + Her unregarded locks + Matted like fury-tresses, her poor limbs + Chain'd to the ground; and stead of those delights + Which happy lovers taste, her keeper's stripes, + A bed of straw, and a coarse wooden dish + Of wretched sustenance.[18] + +Now, the unfortunate persons are restored to social life as much as their +sad condition allows; they enjoy every comfort that can solace them in +their lucid intervals, when their hallucinations cease; in illness they +are treated with kindness and liberality, and in health, their former +associations with the busy world, are recalled by labour, voluntarily +performed or stimulated by the incentive of some additional comfort. No +coercion is resorted to, except to prevent the furious maniac from +injuring himself and others, and then, such means are adopted that +restrain his violence without a painful process. Even the straight +waistcoat, which impedes respiration, is generally banished in all +well-regulated establishments, and belts, sleeves, and muffs, which merely +secure the hands, without preventing a free motion of the articulations, +are usually resorted to. To such an extent is healthy occupation carried +on in lunatic asylums, that at this moment at Hanwell, out of upwards of +600 inmates under my care, 421 are at work and distributed as follows: + + _Males._ + + 57 Working in the garden and grounds. + 53 Handicrafts at various trades. + 38 Assistants in the wards. + 28 Picking coir, or the external fibre of the cocoa-nut, + for stuffing mattresses, &c. + 2 Clerks in the office. + ---- + 178 + ---- + + _Females._ + + 120 At needlework. + 2 Making brushes. + 21 In the kitchen and dairy. + 21 Assisting in the wards. + 26 Picking coir. + 30 Working in the garden. + 23 In the laundry. + ---- + 243 + ---- + +Hanwell may be said to be an asylum for incurables, since it is doomed to +receive old cases that scarcely ever afford a chance of recovery; to which +are added a large proportion of the idiots and epileptics of Middlesex, +whose families cannot support them. + +Let us hope from this gradual amelioration in the condition of this +illfated class of our fellow-creatures, that every institution, both +public and private, will shortly be conducted upon a similar plan, having +sufficient grounds attached to it, to give occupation to such of their +inmates as may still be able to enjoy some share, however trifling it may +be, of the blessings of this life. + + + + +LEPROSY. + + +Bontius informs us that this disease was observed on the banks of the +Ganges, where it was known by the name of _Cowrap_. Kaempfer noticed it in +Ceylon and Japan. In Sumatra, whole generations are infected with both +leprosy and elephantiasis; and those who are labouring under the latter +disease, although it is not contagious, are driven into the woods. +Christopher Columbus found lepers in the island of Buona Vista in 1498, +and frictions of turtle blood were used to relieve them. + +In our days it is a disease of rare occurrence, at least in Europe; yet it +was observed at Vetrolles and Martignes, in France, in 1808, and at Pigua +and Castel Franco, in Italy, in 1807. The elephantiasis still prevails in +our West India colonies, more especially that species which is called +"elephant leg," and which is not uncommon at Barbadoes, St. Christopher, +and Nevis. Parsons, in his Travels in Asia and Africa, informs us that a +similar complaint exists on the coast of Malabar, where it is called the +"Cochin leg." The Hindoo physicians treat it with pills of arsenic and +black pepper. + +A curious species of leprosy appeared in Rome under the reign of Tiberius, +which was brought thither from Asia. The eruption first broke out upon the +chin, whence it was called _Mentagra_, and is thus alluded to by Martial: + + Non ulcus acre, pustulaeve lucentes; + Nec triste mentum, sordidive lichenes. + +From the chin it extended over the entire body, and on its disappearance +left scars more unsightly, if possible, than the former disease. Its +virulence and difficulty of cure induced the Romans to send to Egypt for +attendance. The same disease prevailed in the second century, and Soranus, +a physician of Aquitania, was sent for to heal it. Crispus, a friend of +Galen, is said to have discovered the best method of cure. Pliny has given +an accurate account of the mentagra in his Natural History, lib. xxvii. +cap. 1. According to the same writer, elephantiasis was brought to Rome by +Pompey's troops. Plutarch fixes its apparition to the time when +Asclepiades of Bithynia flourished as one of his disciples. Themison wrote +a treatise on the disease, which is mentioned by Caelius Aurelianus, but +has not been preserved from the ravages of time. Lucilius called the +affection _odiosa Vitiligo_. The _Gemursa_ of Pliny appears to have been a +similar complaint; and Triller thinks that it was the _Gumretha_ of the +Talmud. + +Formerly, in England, the causes of lepers were committed to the +ecclesiastical courts, as it was prohibited to prosecute a leper before a +lay judge, as they were under the protection of the church, which +separated them from the rest of the people by a ritual. At this period a +law existed, called _Leproso amovendo_, for the removal of lepers who +ventured to mix in society. Thus leprosy may be considered one of the most +terrific maladies inflicted on mankind. Holy Writ affords us abundant +proofs of its fatal character. It is probable that this disease was first +observed under the scorching sun of Egypt, whence it spread its ravages to +Greece and Asia; and when the East was obliged to submit to the Roman +legions, the conquerors carried the scourge of the vanquished to their own +country. From Italy the disorder extended to France; and in the reign of +Philip I. we find some members of the church militant, called +_hospitaliers_, who spent their arduous life in attending upon lepers, and +waging war against the infidels. + +The Hebrew tribes, on quitting Egypt, were subject to three kinds of +leprosy; all of them were distinguished by the name of _Berat_ ([Hebrew]), +or "bright spot." One called _Boak_ ([Hebrew]), of a dull white; and two +named _Tsorat_ ([Hebrew]), or "venom or malignity:" the first variety of +the latter being the _Berat Lebena_, or bright white berat; and the next +the _Berat Cecha_, or the dark and dusky berat; both of which were highly +contagious, and rendered those who laboured under their attack unclean, +and dangerous to society. + +Manetho, Justin, and several historians, pretend that the Hebrews were +expelled from Egypt in consequence of their being infected with this +formidable disease; a reproach from which Josephus attempted to exculpate +his countrymen. It appears, however, that, during their captivity of one +hundred and thirty-four years, the Israelites laboured under this awful +visitation; and, three thousand years after their migration we find +Prosper Alpinus describing the banks of the Nile as the principal seat of +the disease. Lucretius gives the same account of it: + + Est Elephas morbus, qui, propter flumina Nili + Gignitur, Aegypto in media, neque praeterea usquam. + +Pliny and Marcellus Empiricus refer the calamity to the same source. They +state, however, that it was more general in the lower classes, although it +sometimes attacked their sovereigns; an event which added to the horrors +of the infliction, since it appears that royalty had the privilege of +bathing in human blood as one of the most effectual curative means. Gaul +and Avicenna attribute its fatal prevalence in Alexandria to the influence +of the climate, and the quality of their food. The Persian writer thus +expresses himself: "Et quando aggregatur caliditas aeris cum malitia cibi, +et ejus essentia ex genere piscium, et carne salita, et carne grossa, et +carnibus asinorum, et lentibus, procul dubio est ut eveniat lepra, sicut +multiplicatur in Alexandria." + +The _Boak_, or slighter berat, which is not considered to be contagious, +still bears the same denomination amongst the Arabs, and is the [Greek: +lepra alphos] or dull white leprosy of the Greeks. The bright white and +dusky berats of the Hebrews were distinguished on account of their +malignity, and with the _Tsorat_ ([Hebrew]) are still called among the +Arabians by the Hebrew generic term with a very slight alteration, for the +_Berat Lebena_ is their _Beras Bejas_, and the _Berat Cecha_, the _Beras +Asved_. + +While the Arabians borrowed the Hebrew terms, the Greeks took their +denominations from the same source; and from _Tsorat_ they adopted the +word _Psora_. The _Tsorat_ is restrained by the Hebrews to the contagious +form of leprosy. Amongst the Greeks Lepra was a generic synonyme of +_Berat_ or _Beras_. + +This confusion in the adaptation of the names given to the varieties of +leprosy has occasioned much perplexity in the study of the disease. +Actuarius, in endeavouring to rectify these errors, has produced a greater +confusion. According to him, they are different forms of a common genus. +However, the most important distinction was that which defined the +contagious and the non-contagious forms. The leprosy described by Moses +under the name of _Boak_ or _Bohak_ was the [Greek: alphos] of +Hippocrates; _Seeth_ the [Greek: phakos]; _Saphachath_ and _Misphachath_ +the [Greek: leichen]; and _Bahereth_ the [Greek: leuke]; and according to +Carthenser and other writers, this leprosy was the _Leuce_ of the Greeks. + +The elephantiasis was long confounded with leprosy; but the former is a +tubercular affection of the skin, widely different from the scaly leprosy, +and certainly not contagious. Its singular name was derived from the +condition of the surface of the huge misshapen limbs of those who were +affected with the malady, and which bore some resemblance to the leg of an +elephant. This morbid state is not uncommon in the island of Barbadoes, +and in England it has been called "the Barbadoes leg." The original Arabic +name for this affection was _Dal Fil_, or "the elephant's disease," which +is now the common denomination; although it is frequently abridged into +_Fil_ alone, literally _Elephas_. The elephantiasis is not even alluded to +by Moses in his descriptions of leprosy. However, the elephant leg of the +Arabians is a disease totally different from the specific elephantiasis, +which is a disorder of the skin, the roughness of which led to the name, +and which the Arabians called _Juzam_ or _Judam_. + +These errors of description amongst medical writers have of course +occasioned much obscurity and perplexity in the productions of travellers +and historians, who have generally confounded all these diseases with the +Hebrew leprosy, or the leprosy which for so long a period desolated the +fairest portions of Europe, where every country was crowded with hospitals +established for the exclusive relief of the malady. The number of +leper-houses, as they were denominated, has been singularly exaggerated. +Paris has been made to assert that there were nineteen thousand of these +hospitals, whereas he merely stated that the Knights Hospitalers, under +various patron saints, but more particularly St. Lazarus, were endowed +with nineteen thousand manors to support their extensive establishments; +and he thus clearly expressed himself: "_Habent Hospitalarii novemdecim +millia maneriorum in Christianitate_." It appears that in the reign of +Louis VIII., France had no less than two thousand of these hospitals. +Leprosy was well known in the eighth century, and St. Ottomar and St. +Nicholas, were considered the first founders of establishments for its +treatment in France and in Germany. The Crusaders, however, by their +connexions with the East, materially increased its inroads in Europe, and +the disgusting malady appears to have been considered as a proof of +holiness. Moehser, in his work "_De medicis equestri dignitate +ornatis_," informs us that the Knights of the order of St. Lazarus were +not only intrusted with the care of lepers, but admitted them into their +noble order: their Grand Master was himself a leper. The Crusaders, +returning from their useless wars, eaten up with the disease, received the +honourable distinction of being _pauperes Christi, morbi beati Lazari +languentes_. The most distinguished individuals in the land attended upon +them with the utmost humility; and Robert, King of France, used to wash +and kiss their filthy feet to keep himself in odour of sanctity. All these +attentions, however, did not always prevent the lepers from complaining of +their complicated sufferings, but they were exhorted by holy men (who of +course had never experienced the miseries of the malady) to be of good +comfort, as their illness was a blessed favour conferred upon them as the +elect of the land. St. Louis thought the Sire de Joinville an unbeliever; +for having once asked him which he would prefer, being a _mezieu_ or +_laide_ (a leper), or having to reproach his conscience with any mortal +sin, his favourite replied to the singular question, that he would rather +be guilty of thirty deadly sins; whereupon the sanctified monarch severely +rebuked him by telling him in the quaint language of the times, "Nulle si +laide mezeuerie n'est, comme de estre en peche mortel." + +Notwithstanding the sanctity of their disease, lepers were by various laws +separated from the healthy portion of the community. The ceremonies used +on these occasions were curious; and we find the following description of +them in the History of Bretagne: A priest in his sacerdotal robes went to +the leper's dwelling, bearing a crucifix. He was then exhorted to submit +with resignation to the affliction: he afterwards threw holy water upon +him, and conducted him to church. There he was stripped of his ordinary +vestments, and clothed in a black garment; he then knelt down to hear +mass, and was again sprinkled with holy water. During these ceremonies, +the office for the dead was duly sung, and the leper was finally led to +his destined future residence. Here he again knelt, received salutary +exhortations to be patient, while a shovelful of earth was thrown on his +feet. His dwelling was most diminutive: his furniture consisted of a bed, +a water-jug, a chest, a table, a chair, a lamp, and a towel. He further +received a cowl, a gown, a leathern girdle, a small cag with a funnel, a +knife, a spoon, a wand, and a pair of _cliquettes_, (a sort of castanets,) +to announce his approach. Before leaving him, the priest added another +blessing to these gifts, and departed, after commanding him under the +severest penalties never to appear without his distinctive apparel, and +barefooted; never to enter a church, a mill, or a baker's shop; to perform +all his ablutions in streams and running waters; never to touch any +article he wanted to purchase, except with his wand; never to enter +drinking-houses, but to buy his liquor at their doors, having it poured +into his barrel by means of the funnel graciously given him for that +purpose; never to answer any question unless he was to windward of his +interlocutor; never to presume to take a walk in a narrow lane; never to +touch or go near children, or look at a good-looking wench; and only to +eat, drink, and junket with his brother lepers; and invariably to announce +his unwelcome approach by rattling his castanets. + +The offsprings of these sequestrated creatures were seldom baptized; and +when this rite was performed, the water was thrown away. After this +oration his ghostly adviser took his final leave, and the patient's former +dwelling was burnt to the ground. The sepulchre of St. Mein, in Britanny, +was frequently visited by these poor creatures; and on such occasions they +were obliged to have both their hands covered with woollen bags, as a +distinguishing mark amongst the other pilgrims. Lepers were only allowed +to intermarry with fellow-sufferers; yet we find in one of the Decretals +of St. Gregory, that any woman who chose to run the chances of contagion +could please her fancy. St. Gregory perhaps thought this the most +effectual method of preventing the dreaded intercourse, as most probably, +had it been prohibited, lepers would have been in great request, they +having always been notorious for their amorous propensities. Muratori +informs us that these unfortunate persons did not always submit quietly to +these severe regulations, but several times joined the Jews in a revolt +against the authorities. + +This affliction has been observed in various countries. In Iceland it is +called _Likraa_; in Norway, _Radesyge_ or _Spedalskhed_. It is to be +apprehended that many of these cases of leprosy belong more particularly +to the elephantiasis: such is the red disease of Cayenne, and the _Boasi_ +of Surinam. + +It is especially in the East, its probable original seat, that leprosy is +observed. In Damascus there are two hospitals for its treatment. The +waters of the Jordan are still considered efficacious in its cure, and the +waters of Abraham's well are looked upon as a specific. In Candia the +disease was common, and lepers were noted for their obscene profligacy. +From Crimea it has also been carried to Astracan, whence it infected the +Cossacks of Jaick. Pallas and Gmelin have given an accurate account of its +invasion. + + + + +THE ASPIC. + + +Various opinions are entertained respecting the reptile that inflicted the +fatal sting on Cleopatra. According to Pliny, it had hollow fangs, which +distilled the venom in the same manner as the tail of the scorpion. Aelian +states it to have been a snake that moves slowly, covered with scales of a +reddish colour, his head crowned by callous protuberances, his neck +becoming swollen and inflated when he sheds his poisonous secretion. Other +naturalists affirm that the scales are shining, and the eyes of a dazzling +brightness; while some authorities maintain that the reptile's hue is of a +dark brown colour, and that, like the chameleon, it can assume the colour +of the ground on which it drags its writhing form. However, later +observers have now clearly ascertained that the aspic of the ancients is +the _coluber haje_, called by the Arabs _nascher_, and classed by Lacepede +as the Egyptian viper. Lucan seems to have described this serpent in the +following lines: + + Hic, quae prima caput movit de pulvere tabes + Aspida somniferum tumida cervice levarit. + +According to Hasselquist, the aspic's head is raised in a protuberance on +both sides behind the eyes; the scales which cover the back are small, of +a dirty white colour, and speckled with reddish spots. The lower surface +of the reptile is striated with one hundred and eighteen small parallel +zones, and forty-four smaller ones are under the tail. The teeth resemble +in their structure those of other vipers; and, when the animal is +irritated, its neck and throat are swelled up to the size of the body. +Authors vary in regard to its length. Hasselquist, from whom we have +derived the above description, says that it is a short reptile; while +Savary assures us that it sometimes measures six feet. + +The ancients stated that the poison of the aspic did not occasion any +pain, but that the person it had stung gradually sunk into a calm and +languid state, which was followed by a sound sleep, the forerunner of +dissolution. Modern travellers assure us, on the contrary, that this venom +is most active; and Hasselquist has observed an aspic in Cyprus, the bite +of which brought on a rapid mortification, which generally proved fatal in +a very few hours. + +In Egypt the viper is still made use of in medicinal preparations; and a +great number of them are sent to Venice for the confection of the +celebrated _Theriaca_. Under Nero, we are told, that these reptiles were +imported into Rome for pharmaceutical purposes. + +In the above description, and endeavour to ascertain the nature of the +aspic of the ancients, there must be some error. The _coluber aspis_ of +Linnaeus is not venomous, and we may therefore conclude that the aspic was +of the same species as our viper. The venom of this animal is of a yellow +tinge, and small in quantity, seldom exceeding two grains in weight. In +hot weather it becomes more active in its effects. Time does not seem to +deprive it of its fatal properties; for instances have been known of +persons having pricked their fingers with the pointed fangs of a viper +preserved in spirits, when the most serious accidents have followed. The +dried teeth lose this noxious power. The venom of the viper may be +swallowed without any risk, provided there is not an ulcer in the mouth. +Fontana has made upwards of six thousand experiments to prove the activity +of this substance. A sparrow died under its influence in five minutes, a +pigeon in eight or ten; a cat sometimes did not experience any +inconvenience, a sheep seldom or never; and the horse appears to be proof +against its action. + +Some naturalists have affirmed that the female viper, in cases of sudden +alarm, possesses the faculty of securing the safety of her young by +swallowing them and keeping them concealed in her stomach, as the kangaroo +secures her offspring in her pouch. This assertion, although fabulous, was +credited by Sir Thomas Brown, and since by Dr. Shaw. Stories equally +absurd have been circulated of this reptile. The Egyptians considered the +viper as a typification of a bad wife, since they believed that during +their union the female was in the habit of biting off her partner's head. +They also looked upon it as the emblem of undutiful children, from the +idle belief that the viper came into the world by piercing an opening in +its mother's side. + + + + +SELDEN'S COMPARISON BETWEEN A DIVINE, A STATESMAN, AND A PHYSICIAN. + + +If a physician sees you eat any thing that is not good for the body, to +keep you from it he cries out "It is _poison_!" If the divine sees you do +any thing that is hurtful to your soul, to keep you from it he cries out +"You are _damned_!" + +To preach long, loud, and damnation, is the way to be cried up. We love a +man who damns us, and we run after him again to save us. If a man has a +sore leg, and he should go to an honest and judicious surgeon, and he +should only bid him keep it warm, or anoint it with some well-known oil +that would do the cure, haply he would not much regard him, because he +knows the medicine beforehand to be an ordinary medicine. But if he should +go to a surgeon that should tell him, "Your leg will be gangrene within +three days, and it must be cut off; and you will die, unless you do +something that I could tell you," what listening there would be to this +man! "Oh! for the Lord's sake, tell me what this is:--I will give you any +contents for your pains." + +This ingenious antiquary has also made some quaint comparisons between +doctors of the body and doctors of the public interests. "All might go on +well," he says, "in the commonwealth, if every one in the parliament would +lay down his own interest and aim at the general good. If a man was rich, +and the whole college of physicians were sent to him to administer to him +severally; haply, so long as they observed the rules of art, he might +recover. But if one of them had a great deal of scammony by him, he must +put off that; therefore will he prescribe scammony; another had a great +deal of rhubarb, and he must put off that; therefore he prescribes +rhubarb: and they would certainly kill the man. We destroy the +commonwealth, while we preserve our own private interests and neglect the +public." + +Grotius called John Selden "the honour of the English nation;" and Bacon +had such an implicit faith in his judgment, that he desired in his will +that his advice should be taken respecting the publication or suppression +of his posthumous works. + + + + +THE LETTUCE. + + +Various species of this plant were known to the ancients. Its type is +supposed to be the _Lactuca quercina_, or the _Lactuca scariola_; both of +Asiatic origin. Many powerful effects were formerly attributed to its use. +It was considered as producing sleep, and recovery from intoxication; it +was in consequence of this belief that this salad was served up after +meals. Thus Martial tells us, + + Claudere quae coenas Lactuca solebat avorum, + Die mihi cur nostras inchoat illa dapes. + +Columella thus describes its properties: + + Jamque salutari properet Lactuca sapore + Tristia quae relevet longi fastidia mori. + +This belief in its narcotic qualities induced the ancients to esteem it as +an aphrodisiac: the Pythagoreans had therefore named it [Greek: +eunouchion]; and Eubulus calls it the food of the dead, _mortuorum cibum_. +Venus covered the body of her beloved Adonis with lettuce-leaves to calm +her amorous grief; and vases, in which they were planted, were introduced +in the Adonian festivals. Galen, who had faith in its powers, called it +the herb of sages, and in his sleepless nights sought its influence by +eating it at supper. It was also frequently put under the pillow of the +rich to lull them to repose. Its cooling qualities were so much dreaded by +the Roman gallants, that its use was abandoned; but Augustus's physician, +Antonius Musa, having calmed by its prescription his master's uneasiness +in a hypochondriac attack, lettuce recovered its popularity: a statue was +erected to the doctor, and salad once more became the fashion, although +the prejudices against it could not be removed. Lobel informs us that an +English nobleman, who had long wished for an heir, but in vain, was +blessed with a numerous family by leaving off this Malthusian vegetable. + + + + +MEDICAL FEES. + + +Such is the perversity of our nature, that the remuneration given with the +greatest reluctance is the reward of those who restore us, or who +conscientiously endeavour to restore us to health. The daily fees, it is +true, are not handed with regret, for the patient is still suffering; but +if they were to be allowed to accumulate to a considerable amount, they +would be parted with, with a lingering look. The lawyer's charges for a +ruinous litigation, the architect's demands for an uncomfortable house, +are freely disbursed, though if exorbitant they may be taxed; but the +doctor's--a guinea a visit!--is sheer extortion. 'Send for the apothecary: +the physician merely gives me advice; the apothecary will send me plenty +of physic: at any rate I shall have something for my money.' + +To what can this unjust, this illiberal feeling be attributed? Simply to +vanity and pride. Illness and death level all mankind. The haughty +nobleman, who conceives himself contaminated by vulgar touch, can scarcely +bring himself to believe that he is placed upon the same footing as a +shoe-black. All _prestiges_ of grandeur and worldly pomp vanish round the +bed of sickness; and the suffering peer would kneel before the humblest +peasant for relief. Then it is that money would be cheerfully lavished to +mitigate his sufferings. But how soon the scene is changed! The patient is +well, thrown once more in the busy vortex of business or of pleasure. He +had been slightly indisposed; his natural constitution is excellent: the +doctors mistook his case; thought him very ill, forsooth; but nature cured +him. + +Could the ambitious mother admit for one moment that her daughter had been +seriously ill?--a sick wife is an expensive article! If her medical +attendant unfortunately hinted that the young lady had been in danger, he +is considered a busy old woman, exaggerating the most trifling ailment to +obtain increase of business; in fact, a dangerous man in a family where +there are young persons--to be provided for. Nor can we marvel at this. No +one likes to be considered morally or physically weak, excepting +hypochondriacs, who live upon groans, and feel offended if you tell them +that they do not look miserable. The soldier will describe the slightest +wound he received in battle as most severe and dangerous; a feeling of +pride is associated with the relation. The bold hunter will boast of a +fractured limb; the accident showed that he was a daring horseman. Nay, +the agonizing gout is a fashionable disease, which seems to proclaim good +living, good fellowship, and luxury: it is, in short, a gentlemanly +disease. But the slow ravages of hereditary ailments, transmitted from +generation to generation with armorial bearings, the development of which +may be averted by proper care, or hurried on by fashionable imprudence! +how difficult even to hint to a family the presence of the scourge, when, +through the transparent bloom of youth and beauty, our experienced eye +reads the fierce characters of death in the prime of years. The aerial +coronet floats in fond visions before the doting mother's ambitious eyes. +A man would be a barbarian, nay, a very brute, to deprive the darling girl +of the chances of Almacks, the delights of the pestiferous ball-room, or +the galaxy of court or opera! + +To attend the great is deemed the first stepping-stone to fortune, and +patronage is considered as more than an equivalent of remuneration. Too +frequently does the physician placed in that desirable situation forget +what Hippocrates said of the profession. "The physician stands before his +patient in the light of a demi-god, since life and death are in his +hands." + +Curious anecdotes are related of this unbecoming subserviency. A courtly +doctor, when attending one of the princesses, was asked by George III. if +he did not think a little ice might benefit her. "Your majesty is right," +was the reply; "I shall order some forthwith." "But perhaps it might be +too cold," added the kind monarch. "Perhaps your majesty is right again; +therefore her royal highness had better get it warmed." + +This absurd deference to rank and etiquette by a physician who at the +moment is superior to all around him, reminds one of an account given by +Champfort of a fashionable doctor. "D'Alembert was spending the evening at +Madame Du Deffand's, where were also President Henault and M. Pont de +Vesle. On this flexible physician's entering the room, he bowed to the +lady with the formal salutation, '_Madame, je vous presente mes tres +humbles respects_.' Then, addressing M. Henault, '_J'ai bien l'honneur de +vous saluer_.' Turning round to M. de Vesle he obsequiously said, +'_Monsieur, je suis votre tres humble serviteur_;' and at last, +condescending to speak to D'Alembert, he nodded to him with a '_Bonjour, +Monsieur_!'" On such occasions a condescending smile from power is +considered a fee. + +Reluctance in remunerating medical attendants was also manifested by the +ancients; and Seneca has treated the subject at some length. The +difficulty in obtaining remuneration has unfortunately rendered many +physicians somewhat sordid, and loth to give an opinion unless paid for. +In this they are unquestionably right, as gratuitous advice is seldom +heeded; and one of the most distinguished practitioners used to say, that +he considered a fee so necessary to give weight to an opinion, that, when +he looked at his own tongue in the glass, he slipped a guinea from one +pocket into another. + +To consider themselves in proper hands, patients must incur expenses, and +as much physic as possible be poured down. Malouin, physician to the Queen +of France, was so fond of drugging, that it is told of him, that once +having a most patient patient, who diligently and punctually swallowed all +the stuff he ordered, he was so delighted in seeing all the phials and +pill-boxes cleaned out, that he shook him cordially by the hand, +exclaiming, "My dear sir, it really affords me pleasure to attend you, and +you _deserve_ to be ill." Our apothecaries must surely meet with incessant +delight! + +The most extraordinary remuneration was that received by Levett, Dr. +Johnson's friend and frequent companion. It was observed of him that he +was the only man who ever became intoxicated from motives of prudence. His +patients, knowing his irregular habits, used frequently to substitute a +glass of spirits for a fee; and Levett reflected that if he did not accept +the gin or brandy offered to him, he could have been no gainer by their +cure, as they most probably had nothing else to give him. Dr. Johnson says +"that this habit of taking a fee in whatever shape it was exhibited, could +not be put off by advice or admonition of any kind. He would swallow what +he did not like, nay, what he knew would injure him, rather than go home +with an idea that his skill had been exerted without recompence; and had +his patients," continues Johnson, "maliciously combined to reward him with +meat and strong liquors, instead of money, he would either have burst, +like the dragon in the Apocrypha, through repletion, or been scorched up, +like Portia, by swallowing fire." But though this worthy was thus +rapacious, he never demanded any thing from the poor, and was remarked for +his charitable conduct towards them. + +Various professional persons have sometimes endeavoured to remunerate +their medical attendants by reciprocal services: thus an opera-dancer +offered to give lessons to a physician's daughters for their father's +attendance upon him; and a dentist has been known to propose to take care +of the jaws of a whole family to liquidate his wine bill. One of the +wealthiest merchants of Bordeaux wanted to reduce the price of a +drawing-master's lessons, on the score of his taking his children's daubs +with him to sell them _on account_. This arrangement, however, did not +suit the indignant artist, who left the Croesus in disgust. + +A singular charge for medical attendance was lately brought before the +court of requests of Calcutta, by a native practitioner. He demanded 314 +rupees for medicine alone, and in the items of drugs appeared pearls, gold +leaf, and monkeys' navels! + +In one of the old French farces there is an absurd scene between Harlequin +and his physician. The motley hero had been cured, but refused to +remunerate his Esculapius, who brought an action for his fees, when +Harlequin declares to the judge that he would rather be sick again; and he +therefore offers to return his health to the doctor, provided he would +give him back his ailments, that each party might thus recover their own +property. This incident was perhaps founded on an ancient opinion of +Hippocrates, who frequently mentioned salutary diseases. In 1729, a Dr. +Villars supported a thesis on this subject, entitled "_Dantur-ne morbi +salutares?_" and Theodore Van Ween has also written a learned dissertation +on the same subject. + +A celebrated Dublin surgeon was once known to give a lesson of economy to +a wealthy and fashionable young man remarkably fond of his handsome face +and person. He was sent for, and found the patient seated by a table, +resting his cheek upon his hand, whilst before him was displayed a +five-pound note. After some little hesitation he removed his hand, and +displayed a small mole on the cheek. "Do you observe this mark, +doctor?"--"Yes, sir, I do."--"I wish to have it removed."--"Does it +inconvenience you?"--"Not in the least."--"Then why wish for its +extirpation?"--"I do not like the look of it."--"Sir," replied the +surgeon, "I am not in the habit of being disturbed for such trifles; +moreover, I think that that little excrescence had better remain +untouched, since it gives you no uneasiness; and I make it a rule only to +take from my patients what is troublesome to them." So saying, he took the +five-pound note, slipped it into his pocket, and walked out of the room, +leaving the patient in a state of perfect astonishment. + +It is related of a physician who received his daily fee from a rich old +miser, who had it clenched in his fist when he arrived, and turned his +head away when he opened his hand for the doctor to take it, that, on +being informed his patient had died in the morning, not in the least +disconcerted he walked up to the dead man's chamber, and found his +clenched fist stretched out as usual; presuming that it still grasped the +accustomed remuneration, with some difficulty he opened the fingers, took +out the guinea, and departed. + +The Egyptian physicians of old were paid by the state, but they were not +prevented from accepting remuneration from individuals, and they were +allowed to make demands for their attendance except on a foreign journey, +and during military services. + +When we compare the value of money it appears probable that the fees of +olden practitioners were more considerable than the remuneration of the +present day. Attendance upon royalty and the court seems also to have been +more profitable. Dr. Radcliffe says, that he received from King William +200_l._ a year more than any other physician in ordinary--this monarch +upon his appointment, gave him moreover, 500 guineas out of the privy +purse for his attendance on the Earl of Portland, and the Earl of +Rochford. When the same physician went to Hanau to attend Lord Albemarle, +he received 1200_l._ from the king, with 400 guineas from his patient, +besides a valuable diamond ring. + +Dr. Radcliffe's fortune must have been considerable, as appears from his +legacies, bequeathing 5000_l._ for the improvements of University +College--4000_l._ for the building of a library at Oxford--and 500_l._ +yearly for the amelioration of the diet of St. Bartholomew's hospital. +Radcliffe had not been a year in London when he received 20 guineas daily, +and he mentions that his fee for a visit from Bloomsbury Square to Bow, +was five guineas. + +We do not exactly know what was the exact honorarium of Doctors in former +days, yet Baldwin Hammey informs us that in 1644, Dr. Robert Wright who +had only been settled three years in London, was in the habit of receiving +a thousand broad pieces (22 shillings) in the course of the year. + +The following is a curious account of a puritan's consultation with Dr. +Hammey. + +"It was in the time of the civil wars when it pleased God to visit him +with a severe fit of sickness, or peripneumonia, which confined him a +great while to his chamber, and to the more than ordinary care of his +tender spouse. During this time he was disabled from practice; but the +very first time he dined in his parlour afterwards, a certain great man in +high station came to consult him on an indisposition--(_ratione vagi sui +amoris_,) and he was one of the godly ones too of those times. After the +doctor had received him in his study, and modestly attended to his long +religious preface, with which he introduced his ignominious circumstances, +and Dr. Hammey had assured him of his fidelity, and gave him hopes of +success in his affair, the generous soldier (for such he was) drew out of +his pocket a bag of gold and offered it all at a lump to his physician. +Dr. Hammey, surprised at so extraordinary a fee, modestly declined the +acceptance of it; upon which the great man, dipping his hand into the bag +himself, grasped up as much of his coin as his fist could hold, and +generously put it into the doctor's coat-pocket, and so took his leave. +Dr. Hammey, returned into his parlour to dinner, which had waited for him +all that time, and smiling (whilst his lady was discomposed at his being +absent so long), emptied his pocket into her lap. This soon altered the +features of her countenance, who telling the money over, found it to be +thirty-six broad pieces of gold: at which she being greatly surprised, +confessed to the doctor that surely this was the most providential fee he +ever received; and declared to him that during the height of his severe +illness, she had paid away (unknown to him) on a state levy towards a +public supply, the like sum in number and value of pieces of gold; lest +under the lowness of his spirits, it should have proved a matter of +vexation, unequal to his strength at that time to bear; which being thus +so remarkably reimbursed to him by Providence, it was the properest +juncture she could lay hold on to let him into the truth of it." It has +been supposed, that the sanctimonious sufferer was no other than Ireton, +Cromwell's son-in-law. + +During the imprisonment of Dr. Friend in the tower, Dr. Head attended his +patients, and on his liberation he presented him with 5000_l._ the amount +of the fees received on his account. Dr. Meade's practice averaged from +5000_l._ to 6000_l._ per annum. It is somewhat strange, that this +celebrated physician whose evenings were generally spent in convivial +meetings at Batson's Coffee-house, used in the forenoon to receive +consulting apothecaries at a tavern near Covent-garden, prescribing for +the patients without seeing them at half-a-crown fee. + + + + +ENTHUSIASM. + + +Enthusiasm, from its derivation, might in strictness be called a _fixity +of idea in divinity_; but Locke has given a better definition of this +morbid state of our intellectual faculties in considering it as a heated +state of the imagination, "_founded neither on reason nor divine +revelation, but arising from the conceits of a warmed or overweening +brain_." I shall not venture to take the field of controversy to support +this doctrine against that of some metaphysicians, who most probably would +consider this mental aberration as an original and natural judgment +inspired by the Almighty, founded not on reason or reflection, but an +instinctive impulse of the powers of the mind. + +The Hebrews named this impulse _Nabi_ [Hebrew], (plural _Nebiim_,) "to +approach or enter," on the surmise that the spirit pervaded the prophets, +who were called _Roeh_ [Hebrew], or _Seeing_, hence _Seers_. + +Plato divided enthusiasm into four classes. I. _The Poetical_, inspired by +the Muses. II. _The Mystic_, under the influence of Bacchus. III. _The +Prophetic_, a gift of Apollo; and IV. _The Enthusiasm of love_, a blessing +from Venus Urania. This immortal philosopher was not the visionary +speculatist which some writers have represented him; his logic did not +consist of frivolous investigations, but embraced the more useful subject +of correct definition and division, as he sought to reconcile practical +doctrines of morality with the mysticism of theology by the study of +Divine attributes. Whatever some of the Eclectic philosophers might have +asserted, Plato considered that our ideas were derived from external +objects, and never contemplated the extravagant doctrine of imbodying +metaphysical abstractions, or personifying intellectual ideas. + +To this day, the attentive observer will find Plato's classification of +enthusiasm to be correct. The ecstatic exaltation of religion and of love +are not dissimilar; only the latter can be cured, the former seldom or +never admits of mitigation: the fantastic visions of the lover may be +dispelled by infidelity in the object of his misplaced affection; the +phantasies of fanaticism can only yield to an improbable state of +infidelity. Shaftesbury has justly observed, "There is a melancholy which +accompanies all enthusiasm, be it of love or religion; nothing can put a +stop to the growing mischief of either, till the melancholy be removed, +and the mind be at liberty to hear what can be said against the +ridiculousness of an extreme in either way." + +Our poet Rowe has beautifully pointed out the facility with which a noble +and martial soul can free itself from love's ignoble trammels. + + Rouse to the combat, + And thou art sure to conquer; war shall restore thee: + The sound of arms shall wake thy martial ardour, + And cure this amorous sickness of thy soul, + Begot by sloth, and nurs'd by too much ease. + The idle God of Love supinely dreams + Amidst inglorious shades and purling streams; + In rosy fetters and fantastic chains + He binds deluded maids and simple swains; + With soft enjoyment woos them to forget + The hardy toils and labours of the great: + But if the warlike trumpet's loud alarms + To virtuous acts excite, and manly arms, + The coward Boy avows his abject fear, + On silken wings sublime he cuts the air, + Scar'd at the noble horse and thunder of the war. + +The only trumpet that can arouse the religious enthusiast from his ascetic +meditations is the war-whoop that calls him to destroy all those who +impugn his doctrines in a battle-field, where each champion seeks +pre-eminence in cruelty, and rancorous persecution. + +When we contemplate the miseries that have arisen from fanaticism, or +fervid enthusiasm, although it is but a sad consolation, yet it affords +some gratification in our charitable view of mankind, to think, nay to +know, that this fearful state of mind is a disease, a variety of madness, +which may in many instances be referred to a primary physical +predisposition, and a natural idiosyncrasy. It is as much a malady as +melancholy and hypochondriacism. In peculiar constitutions it grows +imperceptibly. Lord Shaftesbury has made the following true observation: +"Men are wonderfully happy in a faculty of deceiving themselves whenever +they set heartily about it. A very small foundation of any passion will +serve us not only to act it well, but even to work ourselves in it beyond +our own reach; a man of tolerable goodnature, who happens to be a little +piqued, may, by improving his resentment, become a very fury for revenge." + +Thus it is with enthusiasm, a malady which in its dreadful progress has +been known to become contagious, one might even say epidemic. Vain terrors +have seized whole populations in cities and in provinces; when every +accident that happened to a neighbour was deemed a just punishment of his +sins, and every calamity that befel the fanatic was considered the hostile +act of others. Jealousy and dark revenge were the natural results of such +a state of mind, when the furious fire of bigotry was fanned by ambition +until monomania became daemonomania of the most hideous nature, and every +maniac bore in his pale and emaciated visage the characteristic of that +temperament which predisposes to the disease. Seldom do we observe it in +the _sanguineous temperament_, remarkable for mental tranquillity, yet +determined courage when roused to action. The _choleric_ and _bilious_, +impetuous, violent, ambitious, ever ready to carry their point by great +virtues or great crimes, may no doubt rush into a destructive career; but +then they lead to the onset the atrabilious, men saturated with black +bile, and constituting the _melancholy temperament_. Here we behold the +countenance sallow and sad; the visage pale and emaciated, of an unearthly +hue; gloom, suspicion, hate, depicted in every lineament; the mirror of a +soul unfitted for any kind sentiment of affection, pity, or forgiveness. +Detesting mankind, and detested, they seek solitude, to brood upon their +wretchedness, or to derive from it the means to make others as miserable +as themselves. Such do we usually find the enthusiastic monomaniac. His +ideas are concentrated into a burning focus, which consumes him like an +ardent mirror. His life of relation is nearly extinguished. His external +senses are rendered so obtuse and callous that he becomes insensible to +hunger and thirst, to heat and cold however intense; and bodily injuries, +which would occasion excruciating agonies in others, he bears without any +apparent feeling. On this subject of religious enthusiasm the remarks of +Evagrius are worthy of notice. "Contrarieties," he says, "are in +themselves so tempered, and the grace of God maketh in them such an union +of discordant things, that life and death, which are in essence so +opposite to each other, seem to join hands and dwell together in them. +Happy are they while they live, and happier still when they depart." It +has been known amongst these rigid ascetics that when a stranger visited +them, they mortified themselves by entertaining him and partaking of the +good cheer. Thus inventing a novel kind of fasting--eating and drinking +against their will. + +It is related of St. Macarius, that one day having killed a gnat that had +stung him, he was struck with such compunction at the sight of blood, that +by way of atonement, he threw off his clothes, and remained in a state of +nudity for six months in a marsh exposed to the bites of every noxious +insect. Sozomen in praising this mortification, assures us that this +exposure to the inclemency of the weather, did so harden and tan him that +his beard could not make its way through the skin. + +It has been erroneously supposed that such individuals, being hostile to +mankind, are prone to do evil,--this is not generally the case; they seem +satisfied with their own sufferings, and only seek to inflict them upon +others when roused from their concentration by fanaticism. + +A late ingenious writer, in his work entitled "The Natural History of +Enthusiasm," has somewhat overdrawn the portrait of these unfortunate but +dangerous beings when labouring under the disease, which he thus defines: +"It will be found that the elementary idea attached to the term in its +manifold applications, is that of fictitious fervour in religion, rendered +turbulent, morose, or rancorous by junction with some one or more of the +unsocial emotions; or, if a definition as brief as possible were demanded, +we should say that fanaticism is enthusiasm inflamed by hatred. Fanaticism +supposes three elements of belief: the supposition of malignity on the +part of the object of our worship; a consequent detestation of mankind at +large, as the subjects of malignant power; and then, a credulous conceit +of the favour of Heaven shown to the few, in contempt of the rules of +virtue." + +Shaftesbury had already said, that "nothing besides ill-humour, either +natural or forced, can bring a man to think seriously that the world is +governed by any devilish or malicious power." Such a fearful conviction +constitutes a clear case of daemonomania. Patients labouring under that +malady are ever prone to injure themselves and others, prompted, as they +constantly avow, by an evil spirit; but enthusiasts, who live in solitary +mortification until a paroxysm of fanaticism draws them from their +retreat, seldom or never meditate mischief to others, or indeed that +hatred to mankind which our author considers a feature of their condition. +Society may become irksome, and may be shunned for ever, without a +sentiment of hate. The gayest of the gay may be impelled by feelings more +or less morbid to seek a voluntary endurance, to expiate real or imaginary +offences, without experiencing a desire of a uselessly vindictive +sentiment towards the former companions of their vices or follies. +Extremes of depravity and contrition do not infrequently meet; and it has +been remarked in Eastern countries, where asceticism arose, that the gates +of the most splendid and luxurious cities open upon desert wilds or +mountainous solitudes, to which the penitent may flee from his former +scenes of ambition and enjoyment. + +Such enthusiasts, excepting when enjoying the beatitude of ecstatic +exaltation, are more to be pitied than feared. Persecution would most +probably drive them to a dangerous state of fanatic rage; and the noble +philosopher whom I have already quoted, very justly observes, "They are +certainly ill physicians in the body politic who would needs be tampering +with these mental eruptions, and, under the specious pretence of healing +the itch of superstition, and saving souls from the contagion of +enthusiasm, should set all nature in an uproar, and turn a few innocent +carbuncles into an inflammation and a mortal gangrene." + +Enthusiasts are supposed by their followers to be gifted with the faculty +of prophecy; and it is somewhat strange that the ancients considered +certain temperaments as best fitted for this inspiration. The atrabilious +temperament took the lead; and this melancholy state was to be increased +by abstinence, mortification, and more especially rigid continence. The +latter privation, indeed, was deemed indispensable for prophets; and the +Jewish Rabbins inform us that Moses abandoned his wife Zipporah the very +moment that he was prophetically inspired. A physical reason has been +adduced to prove the necessity of a chaste life, which I here must be +allowed to pass over; but upon the same principle, emasculation was +considered as rendering man totally unfit for prophetic revelation, or +indeed any holy inspiration; and we find in the first of Deuteronomy that +such subjects were not admissible to the service of the Temple. + +Jesaias, and some other Jewish writers, have affirmed that Daniel belonged +to that class of beings; but it has been shown that the name of _Spado_, +which he bore, merely gave him the high rank that eunuchs held at the +Assyrian court. Potiphar bore the same title among the Pharaohs. Baruch +Spinosa maintained that temperaments should vary according to the nature +of the prophecy; thus, a gay prophet would predict victory and happiness, +a gloomy one misery and wars; peace and concord, if he is human; +destruction and merciless events, if he were sanguinary: and, in support +of his doctrine, he quotes the passage in Kings, where Elisha, when +brought before Jehosophat, called for a minstrel ere he predicted that +victory should crown the arms of Judah. + +Various artificial means have been resorted to at all periods to prepare +the intellects for inspirations, by creating a heated imagination. Pliny +informs us that, in his days, the root of the _Halicacabum_, supposed to +be a species of hyoscyamus, was chewed by soothsayers. Christopher +D'Acosta relates that the Indians employ a kind of hemp called _Bangue_ +for the same purpose: and in St. Domingo their supposed prophets masticate +a plant called _Cohaba_. The priestesses of Delphi were also in the habit +of chewing laurel-leaves before they ascended the tripod, which it is +stated was originally formed of a laurel-tree root with three branches. +Sophocles calls the Sibyls [Greek: daphnephagos], laurel-eaters; and thus +Tibullus, + + Vera cano, sic usque sacras innoxia lauros + Vescar, et aeternum sit mihi virginitas. + +Auguries were drawn from the burning of the laurel-leaf. If it crackled +and sparkled during combustion, the inference was favourable; the +reverse, if it was consumed in silence. Propertius alludes to this belief: + + Et tacet extincto laurus adusta foco. + +Yet so far from possessing exhilarating qualities, laurel-leaves were +supposed to diminish the excitement produced by wine; and Martial affirms +that the Roman ladies made use of them to drink large potations with +impunity: + + Foetere multo Myrtale solet vino; + Sed fallat ut nos, folia devorat lauri, + Merumque, cauta fronde, non aqua miscet. + +May it not be inferred that the leaves given to the Pythia might have been +those of the _Lauro-cerasus_, the effects of which are similar to those of +prussic acid, producing vertigo, dizziness, and various convulsive +symptoms? This tree was first observed by Belon, who discovered it in his +eastern voyages in 1546; but it might have been well known to the +ancients. We may thus account for the violent convulsions in which the +priestesses of Apollo were thrown on these mystic occasions, and which +were said to arise from the gas over which they were seated. Although the +tree from which the leaves were gathered grew near the temple, and was the +common _Lauros nobilis_, yet the leaves of the _Lauro-cerasus_ might have +easily been substituted on the occasion; since, always green and shining, +they are not very unlike each other, and the flowers of both trees are +pedunculate; and, no doubt, the priests well knew to what extent they +could carry the dose to serve their purposes; possibly the modern +preparation of _noyau_ might have been a Pythian dram. + +The effects of enthusiasm in rendering its victims insensible to all +external agents is truly surprising, and cannot be better illustrated than +by a relation of the horrors which the famous Convulsionists of Paris and +other parts of France underwent, not only voluntarily, but at their most +earnest prayer and solicitation. + +This work of miracles, as it was called, was first performed by a priest +of the name of Paris, in 1724, and strange to say, the aberration +continued for upwards of twelve years. Paris having departed this life in +the odour of sanctity, (at least according to the conviction of the +Jansenists, who had opposed with no little violence the famous bull +_Unigenitus_), the Appellants, for such they thought proper to denominate +their sect, appealed to the remains of their beatified companion to +operate miracles in support of their common cause. The Appellants were +absurdly persecuted, therefore miracles became manifestations easy to +obtain. Having succeeded in finding credulous dupes, the next step was to +work their credulity into a useful state of enthusiasm. They therefore +summoned all the sick, lame, and halt of their sectarians to repair to the +tomb of St. Paris for radical relief. Crowds were soon collected round his +blessed sepulchre. It is now generally supposed that animal magnetism was +resorted to in these curative operations, or rather religious ceremonies. +Had not the means thus employed for the purpose been recorded and +authenticated by the most irrefragable authorities, the sceptic might long +pause before he would yield them credence. + +The patient (a female) was stretched on the ground, and the stoutest men +that could be found were directed to trample with all their might and main +upon her body; kicking the chest and stomach, and attempting to tread down +the ribs with their heels. So violent were these exertions, that it is +related a hunchbacked girl was thus kicked and trampled into a goodly +shape. + +The next exercise was what they called the plank, and consisted in laying +a deal board upon the patient while extended on the back, and then getting +as many athletic men as could stand upon it, to press the body down; and +in this endeavour they seldom showed sufficient energy to satisfy the +supposed sufferer, who was constantly calling for more pressure. + +Next came the experiment of the pebble, a diminutive name they were +pleased to give to a paving-stone weighing two-and-twenty pounds, which +was discharged by the operator upon the patient's stomach and bosom, from +as great a height as he could well raise the weighty body. This terrific +blow was frequently inflicted upwards of a hundred times, and with such +violence, that the house, and the furniture of the room, vibrated under +the concussion, while the astonished bystanders were terrified by the +hollow sound re-echoed by the enthusiast at every blow. + +Carre de Montgeron affirms that the _pebble_ was not found sufficiently +powerful, and the operator was obliged in one case to procure an iron +fire-dog (_chenet_), weighing about thirty pounds, which was discharged as +violently as possible on the pit of the patient's stomach at least a +hundred times. This instrument having for the sake of curiosity been +hurled against a wall, brought part of it down at the twenty-fifth blow. +The operator further states, that he had commenced according to the usual +practice, by inflicting moderate blows, until he was induced by her +lamentable entreaties to redouble his vigour, but all to no purpose; his +strength was unavailing and he was obliged to employ a more athletic +surgeon, who fell to work with such energy that he shook the whole house. +The convulsionist, who was of the gentle sex, would not allow sixty blows +she had received from her first doctor to be included in the calculation +of the dose, but insisted upon having her whole hundred as prescribed. It +further appears, that at each stroke the delighted enthusiast would +exclaim in ecstacy, "Oh, how nice!" "Oh, what good it does me!" "Oh, dear +brother, hit away--again--again!" For be it known, these operators were +called by the affectionate name of brothers, whose claims to fraternal +affection were in the ratio of the weight of their kindness towards the +sisterhood. + +One of these young ladies, who was not easily satisfied, wanted to try her +own skill, and jumped with impunity into the fire, an exploit which +obtained her the glorious epithet of Sister Salamander. The names that +these amiable devotees gave to each other were somewhat curious. They all +strove to imitate the whining and wheedling of spoiled children, or petted +infants; one was called _L'Imbecile_, another _L'Aboyeuse_, a third _La +Nisette_, and they used to beg and cry for barley-sugar and cakes; +barley-sugar signified a stick big enough to fell an ox, and cakes meant +paving-stones. The excesses of these maniacs were at last carried to so +fearful an extent, and their religious ceremonies were so debased by +obscenities that the police was obliged to interfere, and forbid these +detestable practices; hence it was affirmed that the following somewhat +impious notice was suspended over the church-door: + + De par le Roi, defense a Dieu, + De faire miracle en ce lieu. + +These lunatics, for such they must be considered, were not impostors. They +had been worked to this degraded state by the plastic power of +superstition, and implicit reliance was placed in their assertions; for, +as Pascal said, "we must believe people who are ready to have their +throats cut." Whether the Jansenist priests belonged to the same class, I +leave to the reader to decide. + +Cabanis, in his interesting work, "Rapports du Physique et du Moral de +l'Homme," offers the following remarks on this most curious subject: +"Sensibility may be considered in the light of a fluid the quality of +which is determined, and which, when carried to certain channels in +greater proportion than to others, must of course be diminished in the +latter ones. This is evident in all violent affections, but more +especially in those ecstasies where the brain and other sympathetic organs +are possessed of the highest degree of energetic action, while the faculty +of feeling and of motion--in short, the vital powers--seem to have fled +from the other parts of the system. In this violent state, fanatics have +received with impunity severe wounds, which, if inflicted in a healthy +condition, would have proved fatal or most dangerous; for the danger that +results from the violent action of external agents on our organs depends +on their sensibility, and we daily see poisons, which would be deleterious +to a healthy man, innocuous in a state of illness. It was by availing +themselves of this physical disposition that impostors of every +description, and of every country operated most of their miracles; and it +was by these means that the Convulsionists of St. Medard amazed weak +imaginations with the blows they received from swords and hatchets, and +which in their ascetic language they called _consolations_. This was the +magic wand with which Mesmer overcame habitual sufferings, by giving a +fresh direction to the attention, and establishing in constitutions +possessed of great mobility a sense of action to which they had been +unaccustomed. It was thus also that the _Illuminati_ of France and Germany +succeeded in destroying external sensations amongst their adepts, +depriving them in fact of their relative existence." + +In these phenomena we do not witness miracles or supernatural agency. +Enthusiasts are simply maniacs. Like maniacs, their vital endowments are +deranged; they lose the faculty of feeling, of reasoning, of comparing, of +associating their ideas; their volition, their memory have fled, and all +the functions of organic life are more or less disturbed. Rousseau never +proved more clearly that his own intellectual faculties were occasionally +impaired, than when he stated "that the state of reflection is unnatural, +and that the man who meditates is a depraved animal." + +Insanity may be divided into four species: + +1st, _Monomania_, and _melancholy_, in which the delirium is confined to +one or few objects. + +2nd, _Mania_, where the delirium embraces a variety of impressions, and is +accompanied with violence. + +3rd, _Dementia_, or insanity in the full acceptation of the word, where +the senses are totally bewildered, and the faculty of thinking destroyed. + +4th, _Imbecility_ or _idiotcy_, where, from imperfect organisation, +ratiocination cannot be correct. + +To the first of these categories enthusiasts generally belong. Delirium, +or wandering, is to a certain extent applicable to all, being a want of +correspondence between judgment and perception. Locke and Condillac +characterize madness as a _false judgment_, or a disposition to associate +ideas incorrectly, and to mistake them for truths. Hence it is observed by +Locke that "Madmen err, as men do that argue right from wrong principles." +Dr. Beattie refers madness to _false perception_; and Dr. Mason Good, +justly remarks, that "the perceptions in madness seem, for anything we +know to the contrary, to be frequently as correct as in health, the +judgment or reasoning being alone diseased or defective." + +I hope that I may not be accused of _materialism_ when I venture to affirm +that all these enthusiasts labour under a physical disease; but whether +this state was originally brought on by a morbid condition of the +intellectual or the empassioned faculties of the mind, or, in other words, +whether a diseased state of the mind brought on a diseased state of the +body, I shall not at present venture to decide, as the disquisition would +be foreign to the nature of this work, and lead us into investigations of +little interest to the generality of readers. + +In the German Psychological Magazine we meet with a curious case of a +patient who believed that he was supernaturally endowed with the power of +working miracles. The man was a gend'arme of the name of Gragert, of a +harmless and quiet disposition, but rather of a superstitious turn of +mind. From poverty, family misfortunes, and severe military discipline, a +series of sleepless nights and a mental disquietude were brought on that, +according to his own report, nothing could dissipate but a perusal of +pious works. In reading the Bible he was struck with the book of Daniel, +and was so much pleased with it, that it became his favourite study; from +that moment the idea of miracles so strongly possessed his imagination, +that he began to believe that he could perform some himself. He was +persuaded more especially that if he were to plant an apple-tree with the +view of its becoming a cherry-tree, such was his power that it would bear +cherries. He was wont to answer every question correctly, except when the +subject concerned miracles, in regard to which he ever entertained his old +notions; adding, however, that he would relinquish this thought if he +could be convinced that the event of his trials did not correspond with +his expectations. + +That many enthusiasts, although incurable in their peculiar aberration, +have possessed some amiable qualities, is undeniable. Such rare +occurrences remind one of the curious case of madness recorded by Tidemann +of a lunatic of the name of Moses, who was insane on one side, and who +observed his insanity with the other; his better half constantly rebuking +his worse half for its absurdities. This case was certainly typical of the +married state. + +In vain have physicians endeavoured to break through this morbid +catenation of incongruous ideas by diversions, or what the French call +_distractions_, which in general answered to our literal translation of +the word, and _distracted_ their patients. Dramatic performances were once +allowed in a mad-house near Paris; but the violence of the maniacs, the +moroseness of the melancholy, and the stupidity of the idiots, rendered +the exertions of the actors perilous to some, and idle to all. Mr. +D'Esquirol once took one of his patients to a play, and the man swore that +every performer who came on was making love to his wife; and a young lady, +placed in a similar situation, exclaimed that all the people were going to +fight about her. Jealousy and vanity were, no doubt, the ruling passions +in both these cases. Travel has been recommended both by the ancients and +the moderns. Seneca on this subject quotes Socrates, who replied to a +melancholy wight who complained that his journeys had afforded him no +amusement, "_I am not surprised at it, since you were travelling in your +own company_." + +The contagion of enthusiasm is a marvellous fact. Pausanias relates that +the malady of the daughters of Proetus, who ran about the country +fancying that they were transformed into cows, was common amongst the +women of Argos. Plutarch states that a disease reigned in Miletium, in +which most of the young girls hung themselves; recent observations have +confirmed this singular circumstance. Dr. Deslages, of St. Maurice, +relates that a woman having hanged herself in a neighbouring village, most +of her companions felt an invincible desire to follow her example. +Primrose and Bonet tell us that at one period it was found difficult to +prevent the young girls in Lyons from casting themselves into the river. +Simon Goulard has recorded the prevalent madness amongst the nuns of the +States of Saxony and Brandenburg, and which soon extended its influence to +Holland, during which these religious ladies "predicted, capered, climbed +up walls, spoke various languages, bleated like sheep, and amused +themselves by biting each other." History has recorded the horrible +judicial murder of Urbain Grandier, at Laudun, who was sacrificed for +bedevilling a nunnery. The recent gift of tongues amongst the _Irvingites_ +is still in full vigour, and the _Southcotians_ are still on the look-out +in London, as the _Sebastianists_ are in Lisbon. + +Addison has remarked that an enthusiast in religion is like an obstinate +clown, and a superstitious man like an insipid courtier. On this subject +he quotes the following old heathen saying recorded by Aulus +Gellius--_Religentem esse oportet, religiosum nefas_; for, as the author +tells us, Nigidius observed upon this passage, that the Latin words which +terminate in _osus_ generally imply vicious characters, or the having any +quality to excess. That we should enthusiastically admire all that is +holy, sublime, or endowed with uncommon superiority in religion, in +poetry, in the fine arts, is not only justifiable but praiseworthy. Genius +cannot exist without a certain degree of fervour; its inspiration is a +gift divine, naturally associated with a religious feeling. The man thus +inspired must bend in humble admiration before the wondrous harmony that +surrounds him. The poet, the painter, the musician, can only seek +excellence by studying primitive perfection. Nothing that is not natural +can be truly sublime or beautiful. A rigid observation of nature can alone +lead to superiority, and we can only be taught to create by, endeavouring +to imitate the beauties of the creation. How distant are these generous +feelings from the low grovelling prejudices of bigotry! We admire +perfection even in our enemies; and Erasmus was not a truant to his faith +when, transported with Socrates's dying speech, he exclaimed, "O Socrates! +I can scarce forbear kneeling down to thee, and praying, + + _Sancte Socrates, ora pro nobis_." + +While considering this interesting subject, a curious question arises: is +enthusiasm more frequently excited by truth than by error? I sadly fear +that the latter influence will in general be found to predominate, +although falsehood then assumes the deceptive garb of veracity. The noble +writer whom I have already cited,[19] has justly said, "that truth is the +most powerful thing in the world, since even fiction itself must be +governed by it, and can only please by its resemblance." + +To what then are we to attribute this power that fallacy possesses of +inspiring the mind with visionary hopes and fears? Simply because we cease +to reason upon matter of fact, and soar in fanciful regions in search of a +flittering phantom, a creature of our own imaginative faculties. What +falls every day under our personal observation ceases to amaze, and one +might even become familiarized to miracles were they of frequent +occurrence. Man is naturally disposed to admire what he cannot understand, +and to venerate what is incomprehensible. The nature of the divinity being +essentially incomprehensible, a religious character is attached to all +other subjects that are equally beyond the limits of our understanding. +Sir Thomas Brown has said, "Methinks there be not impossibilities enough +in religion for an active faith. I love to lose myself in a mystery, to +pursue my reason to an _O altitudo_! I can answer all the objections of +Satan and my rebellious reason, with that odd resolution I learned from +Tertullian, _Certum est quia impossibile est_." From our earliest infancy +we are delighted with fictions, which we verily fancy to be relations of +true facts, and whether we believe with the ancients in the metamorphoses +of heathen mythology, the absurd papal stories of the miracles of their +saints, or the wondrous incidents of a fairy tale, we listen to these +rhapsodies with avidity; whether Jupiter is turned into a shower of gold, +St. Denis and St. Livarius travel with their heads under their arm, or Tom +Thumb pulls on his seven-league boots. These absurdities are our day +thoughts, our night dreams--nay, busy fancy does so dwell on these +enchanting phantasies, that, in some cases, the intellectual faculties +become deranged, and I have at present under my care, a female who lost +her reason by constantly reading the Arabian Nights, and who in her +hallucinations, describes as many marvellous voyages as could have done +the sailor Sinbad. + +The foundation of incredulity no doubt is ignorance, but too often we find +men of refined education and feeling the most easily imposed upon by +incredible assertions; we seldom experience as much enthusiasm in the +possession of any object as in the pursuit, more especially if that +pursuit be vain. The merchant who has realized a splendid fortune in his +commercial ventures, is satiated with his business, and becomes careless +in the pursuit of greater riches, but let him for one moment contemplate +the possibility of discovering the philosopher's stone, he will lose, and +cheerfully too, all his past earnings in the chimerical pursuit, and the +man who would doze over his ledger, will spend his sleepless nights +contemplating his crucibles, and studying the black art. + +What is there of an exciting nature in the common events of life and the +usual course and uniformity of nature? Very little. However wondrous the +works of the creation may be, habit has so accustomed us to behold them, +that they are familiar to our eyes; they become matter of fact, and +science has taught us to comprehend the nature of many phenomena, which +might otherwise have appeared incredible: but when we seek for an +unattainable object, however fallacious its attraction may be, the mind is +roused to energetic action: if we strive to excel all others in the fine +arts, in poetical productions, we become fired with an exalted zeal, which +age and experience alone can temper. In our vain pursuit of ideal +perfection, the mind may be compared to a focus in which our burning +thoughts are concentrated, until we are consumed by disappointment: the +love of Pygmalion was probably the most ardent passion that could fire the +breast of man. Enthusiasm laughs to scorn the suggestion of the senses and +common understanding, therefore all its priests and votaries are +surrounded with a deceptive halo; and Plotinus maintained that a proper +worship of the gods consisted in a mysterious self annihilation and a +total extinction of every faculty. The same may be said of love, which, +like all other enthusiastic passions, may be considered a temporary +hallucination. + +Moreover the language of fiction is not required to maintain the +self-evident testimonies of facts. + + As true as truth's simplicity, + And simpler than the infancy of truth. + +Whereas false doctrines and fallacious opinions need all the aid of +imagination's vivid colours to disguise their real form with a goodly +outside. We may in general conclude that enthusiasts are at first deceived +themselves to become in turn deceivers. Seldom does man display sufficient +humility to admit that he has erred in his favourite doctrines, and how +much less will he be disposed to confess his deviation from rectitude, +when imposture becomes the source of wealth and power, and hypocrisy a +trade: to the ghostly speculator we may well apply the lines of Massinger: + + Oh, now your hearts make ladders of your eyes, + In show to climb to heaven, where your devotion + Walks upon crutches. + +It is, however, fortunate that errors generally assist the development of +truth. The progress of the Christian faith was materially forwarded by the +absurdities and fallacies of all other religions; and Helvetius has truly +observed that if we could for a moment doubt the truth of Christianity, +its divine origin would be proved by its having survived the horrors of +popery. False theories led Columbus to correct geographic conclusions, and +Galileo's discoveries overthrew his own former theories. + + + + +MEDICINAL EFFECTS OF WATER. + + +Amongst the various means resorted to by quackery to speculate upon the +credulity of mankind, simple river or spring water, coloured and flavoured +with inert substances, has not been the least productive; and many a time +the Thames and Seine have been fertile sources of supposed invaluable +medicines. Sangrado's doctrines on aqueous potations have long prevailed +in the profession; and it has been stoutly maintained that a water diet +can cure the gout and various other diseases. That relief, if not cures, +have been obtained by this practice, there cannot be the least doubt. Are +we to attribute these favourable results to the effects of the +imagination, the beneficial efforts of nature, or the salutary abstinence +which this prescription imposed? Possibly they all combined to assist the +physician's efforts, or rather aid his effete treatment. Cold water and +warm water have in turn been praised to the very skies by their eulogists, +and become the subject of ridicule and persecution on the part of more +spirited practitioners. + +In surgery, water has ever been considered of great utility; it, no doubt, +was instinctively used by man to cleanse and heal his wounds. Patroclus, +having extracted the dart from his friend Eurypylus, washes the wound; and +the prophet Elisha prescribes to Naaman the waters of Jordan. Rivers had +various qualities, and were supposed to prove as different in their action +on the economy as the mineral springs which from time immemorial, have +been resorted to. These effects may in fact not be altogether doubtful; +for, although these salutary streams may not possess sufficient active +ingredients to be recognised by chemical tests, yet we know that +substances which appear perfectly inert may prove highly active and +effectual when combined and diluted naturally or artificially. Moreover, +in the effects of watering-places on the invalid or valetudinarian, we +must not forget the powerful influence of change of air and habit, the +invigorating stimulus of hope, and the diversion from former occupations. +To these auxiliaries many a remedy has owed its high reputation; and +probably when Wesley attributed his recovery to brimstone and +supplication, he in a great measure might have considered rest from +incessant labour the chief agent in his relief. The exhilarating effects +of the picturesque site of many of these salutary places of resort is +universally acknowledged. Montaigne, Voltaire, Alfieri, acknowledged their +influence on the imagination. Petrarch's inspirations flowed with the +waters of Vaucluse, some of Sevigne's most delightful letters were written +at Vichy, and Genlis and Stael were particularly happy in their epistolary +elegance at Spa and Baden. + +We owe to accident many valuable discoveries in medicine. It is said that +several Indians, having used the waters of a lake in which a cinchona tree +was growing, experienced the benefit which led to the use of the Peruvian +bark; and the thermal properties of the baths of Carlsbad were first made +known by the howling of one of Charles the Fourth's hounds, that had +fallen in them in a hunt. It has been also observed, in various countries, +that particular waters produced various morbid affections; and to this +cause have been attributed goitres, cretinism, calculi, and other +distressing diseases. The ancients dreaded the impurity of their rivers. +The Romans boiled their water in extensive _thermopolia_, where not only +potations were drunk hot, but occasionally refrigerated with ice and snow, +and, when thus prepared, called _decocta_. Juvenal and Martial refer this +custom to the Greeks. Herodotus informs us that the Persian monarchs were +accompanied on their expeditions by chariots laden with silver vases +filled with the water of the _Choaspes_ that had been boiled, and which +was solely destined for the king's use: Athenaeus tells us that it was +light and sweet. Many ancient coins and inscriptions have recorded these +salutary properties of certain waters. + +This real or supposed efficacy was scarcely discovered before it became +the domain of priests: and common rain or river water became valuable and +sanctified when blessed by them: hence the introduction of lustral water. +The fluid extracted from the gown of Mahomet is the sacred property of the +sultan. The moment the fast of the Ramazan is proclaimed, this holy +vestment is drawn from a gold chest, and, after having been kissed with +due devotion, plunged in a vase of happy water, which, when wrung from the +garment, is carefully preserved in precious bottles, that are sent by the +monarch as valuable presents, or sold at exorbitant prices as cures for +any and every disease. Thus were the good effects of ablution, especially +in wounds, attributed to some secret charm or quality conferred upon it by +clerical benediction or the legitimacy of princes. When a quack of the +name of Doublet cured the wounded at the siege of Metz in 1553, the water +he used was considered to have been of a mystic nature; and Brantome +describes his treatment in the following words: "Durant le susdit et tant +memorable siege, etait en la place un chirurgien nomme Doublet, lequel +faisait d'estranges cures avec du simple linge blanc, et belle eau claire +venant de la fontaine ou du puit; mais il s'aidait de sortileges et +paroles charmees, et chacun allait a luy." This Doublet, no doubt, was +acquainted with an ingenious treatise on gun-shot wounds, written by +Blondi in 1542, in which he strongly recommended the use of cold water; +but, as his recommendation was not founded on any miraculous quality, he +was forgotten, while Doublet was considered a supernatural being. Previous +to this simple and sagacious method of healing wounds, various curious +applications were in high repute; more especially the oil of kittens, +which the celebrated Pare discovered to his great delight, was prepared by +boiling live cats, coat and all, in olive oil, and was until then a +valuable secret preparation, called _oleum catellorum_, and its use, with +that of other nostrums, was known under the name of _secret +dressing_.[20] + +This simple mode of dressing wounds, especially those that were inflicted +by fire-arms, was a great desideratum; for, up to this era in surgery, +these injuries were healed by the application of scalding oil or red-hot +instruments, under the impression that they were of a poisonous nature. +Pare was one of the first army-surgeons who exploded this barbarous +practice. Having, according to his own account, expended all his boiling +oil, he employed a mixture of yolk of egg, oil, and turpentine, not +without the apprehension of finding his patients labouring under all the +effects of poison the following day; when, to his great surprise, he found +them much more relieved than those to whom the actual cautery had been +applied. In more recent times, armies have been unjustly accused of making +use of poisonous balls; and this absurd charge was brought against the +French after the battle of Fontenoy, when the hospital fever broke out +among the wounded crowded in the neighbouring villages. Chewing bullets +was also considered a means of imparting to them a venomous quality. Lead +and iron, the metals of which these projectiles were usually cast, were +also deemed of a poisonous nature. A sort of aristocratic feeling seemed +to obtain in those days; and it is related that two Spanish gentlemen had +procured gold balls to fire at Francis I. at the battle of Pavia, that so +noble and generous a prince should not fall by the vile metal reserved for +vulgar people; and, in the adverse ranks, La Chatarguene, a noble of the +French court, had prepared bullets of the same costly material for the +reception of Charles V. It was under the impression of this poisonous +nature of wounds, that individuals of both sexes, called suckers, followed +armies, and endeavoured to extract the venom by suction; the records of +chivalry give us instances of lovely damsels who condescended to perform +this operation with their lovely mouths upon their _damoiseaux_; and +Sibille submitted the wounds of her husband, Duke Robert, to a similar +treatment: indeed, these suckers were chiefly females. May not this +practice be the origin of the term _leech_, applied in ancient times to +medical men? Leechcraft was the art of healing. Thus Spenser: + + And then the learned leech + His cunning hand 'gan to his wounds to lay, + And all things else the which his art did teach. + +To this day, the custom of sucking wounds prevails among soldiers; and +there is every reason to hope, from the experiments of the late Sir David +Barry, that the exhaustion produced by cupping-glasses will be found of +essential service in all venomous wounds. This practice of suction, no +doubt, was known in Greece; Machaon performed it at the siege of Troy. The +mothers and wives of the ancient Germans had recourse to the same process. +In India the suction of wounds constitutes a profession. It was by this +means that the Psylli cured the bite of serpents; and it is related of +Cato, that his abhorrence of the Greek surgeons was such, that he directed +Psylli to follow the Roman armies. + +Water affords a beautiful illustration of that indestructibility with +which the Creator invested matter for the preservation of the world he +formed from elementary masses, and appears to have existed unchangeable +from the commencement of the universe. Its constituent parts are not +broken into by any atmospheric revolution; they continue the same, whether +in the solid ice, the fluid state of a liquid, or the gaseous form of a +vapour. Its powers are undiminished, whether in the wave or the steam; the +most effective agent in the hands of man to promote that welfare and +happiness which his own errors deprive him of, frequently bringing on +those calamities that his perversity attributes to the will of the +Omnipotent. Water is the same in the atmosphere as on the earth, and falls +in the very same nature as it ascends; electricity has no other influence +upon it than that of hastening its precipitation. Chemical agents, however +powerful, can only decompose its elementary principles upon the most +limited scale. The heterogeneous substances with which water may +occasionally be alloyed must be considered as purely accidental. + +The homogeneous characters of this fluid admit of no alteration, and, like +atmospheric air, are still obtained as pure most probably as when they +first emerged from chaotic matter. The same principles are found in the +clouds, the fogs, the dews, the rain, the hail, and the snow. For the +preservation of the world it was indispensable that water should be +endowed with the property of ever retaining its fluid form, and in this +respect become subject to a law different from that of other bodies, which +change from fluid to solid. This is a deviation from a general decree of +Nature. Were it not for this wise provision of the Creator, the world +would shortly have been converted into a frozen chaos. All bodies contract +their dimensions, and acquire a greater specific gravity by cooling; but +water is excepted from this law, and becomes of less specific gravity, +whether it be heated, or cooled below 42 deg. 5'. Were it not for this +exemption, it would have become specifically heavier by the loss of its +caloric, and the waters that float on the surface of rivers would have +sunk as it froze, until the beds of rivers would have been filled up with +immense masses of ice. From the observations of Perron, there is reason to +believe that the mountainous accumulations of ice that have hitherto +arrested the progress of polar navigators have been detached from the +depths of the ocean to float upon its surface. This circumstance would +account for the difference of temperature of the sea according to its +depth. The experiments of Perron, made with an instrument of his own +invention, which he called the thermobarometer, gave the following +results: + +1st, The temperature of the sea upon its surface, and at a distance from +shore, is at the meridian, lower than that of the atmosphere in the shade; +much more elevated at midnight, but in a state of equilibrium morning and +evening. + +2nd, The temperature rises as we approach continents or extensive islands. + +3rd, At a distance from land, the temperature of the deep parts of the sea +is lower than that of the surface, and the cold increases with the depth. +It is this circumstance which led this ingenious philosopher to conclude +that even under the equator the bottom of the sea is eternally frozen. + +Humboldt is of a contrary opinion, and maintains that the temperature is +from two to three degrees lower in shallow water; and he therefore is of +opinion that the thermometer might prove of material use to navigators. He +attributes this diminution of temperature to the admixture of the lower +bodies of water with that of the surface. Who is to decide between these +two ingenious experimentalists? "Experientia fallax, judicium difficile." +The curious reader may consult in this investigation the tables of Forster +in Cook's second voyage, those of Lord Mulgrave when Captain Phipps, and +various other navigators. + +The salutary medicinal effects of sea-bathing are generally acknowledged, +although too frequently recommended in cases which do not warrant the +practice; in such circumstances they often prove highly prejudicial. The +ancients held sea-water baths in such estimation, that Lampridius and +Suetonius inform us that Nero had it conveyed to his palace. As +sea-bathing is not always within the reach of those who may require it, +artificial sea-water has been considered a desirable substitute; and the +following mode of preparing it, not being generally known, may prove of +some utility. To fifty pounds of water add ten ounces of muriate of soda, +ten drachms of muriate of magnesia, two ounces of muriate of lime, six +drachms of sulphate of soda, and the same quantity of sulphate of +magnesia. This is Swediaur's receipt. Bouillon Lagrange, and Vogel, +recommend the suppression of the muriate of lime and sulphate of soda, to +be replaced with carbonate of lime and magnesia; but this alteration does +not appear necessary, or founded on sufficient chemical grounds for +adoption. + +Sea-water taken internally has been considered beneficial in several +maladies; and, although not potable in civilized countries, it is freely +drunk by various savage tribes. Cook informs us that it is used with +impunity in Easter Island; and Schouten observed several fishermen in the +South Sea drinking it, and giving it to their children, when their stock +of fresh water was expended. Amongst the various and capricious +experiments of Peter the Great, an edict is recorded ordering his sailors +to give salt water to their male children, with a view of accustoming them +to a beverage which might preclude the necessity of laying in large stocks +of fresh water on board his ships! The result was obvious: this nursery of +seamen perished in the experiment. Russel, Lind, Buchan, and various other +medical writers, have recommended the internal use of sea-water in +scrofulous and cutaneous affections; but its use in the present day is +pretty nearly exploded. + + + + +PROVERBS AND SAYINGS REGARDING HEALTH AND DISEASE. + + +An ague in the spring is physic for a king. + +Agues come on horseback, but go away on foot. + +A bit in the morning is better than nothing all day. + +You eat and eat, but you do not drink to fill you. + +An apple, an egg, and a nut, you may eat after a slut. + +_Poma, ova, atque nuces, si det tibi sordida, gustes._ + +Old young and old long. + +They who would be young when they are old, must be old when they are +young. + + When the fern is as high as a spoon, + You may sleep an hour at noon. + When the fern is as high as a ladle, + You may sleep as long as you are able. + When fern begins to look red, + Then milk is good with brown bread. + +At forty a man is either a fool or a physician. + +After dinner sit a while, after supper walk a mile. + +After dinner sleep a while, after supper go to bed. + +A good surgeon must have an eagle's eye, a lion's heart, and a lady's +hand. + +Good kale is half a meal. + +If you would live for ever you must wash milk from your liver. + +_Vin sur lait, c'est souhait; lait sur vin, c'est venin._ + +Butter is gold in the morning, silver at noon, and lead at night. + +He that would live for aye, must eat sage in May. + +_Cur moriatur homo, cui salvia crescit in horto?_ + +After cheese comes nothing. + +An egg and to bed. + +You must drink as much after an egg as after an ox. + +He that goes to bed thirsty rises healthy. + +_Qui couche avec la soif, se leve avec la sante._ + +One hour's sleep before midnight is worth two hours after. + +Who goes to bed supperless, all night tumbles and tosses. + +Often and little eating makes a man fat. + +Fish must swim thrice. + +_Poisson, goret, et cochon vit en l'eau, mort en vin._ + +Drink wine and have the gout, drink no wine and have it too. + +Young men's knocks, old men feel. + +_Quae peccamus Juvenes, ea luimus Senes._ + +Go to bed with the lamb, and rise with the lark. + + Early to bed, and early to rise, + Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. + +Wash your hands often, your feet seldom, and your head never. + +Eat at pleasure, drink by measure. + +_Pain tant qu'il dure, vin a mesure._ + + Cheese is a peevish elf, + It digests all but itself. + + _Caseus est nequam, + Quia digerit omnia se quam._ + +The best physicians are Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet, and Dr. Merryman. + + _Si tibi deficiant medici, medici tibi fiant + Haec tria; mens laeta, requies, moderata diaeta._ + + Drink in the morning staring, + Then all the day be sparing. + +Eat a bit before you drink. + +Feed sparingly and dupe the physician. + +Better be meals many than one too many. + +You should never touch your eye but with your elbow. + +_Non patitur ludum fama, fides, oculus._ + +The head and feet keep warm, the rest will take no harm. + +_Tenez chaud le pied et la tete, au demurant vives en bete._ + +_Qui ne boit vin apres salade, est en danger d'etre malade._ + +Cover your head by day as much as you will, by night as much as you can. + +Fish spoils water, but flesh mends it. + +Apples, pears, and nuts spoil the voice. + +Quartan agues kill old men and cure young. + +Old fish, old oil, and an old friend. + +_Pesce, oglio, ed amico vecchio._ + +Raw pullet, veal, and fish, make the churchyard fat. + +Of wine the middle, of oil the top, of honey the bottom. + +_Vino di mezzo, oglio di sopra, e miele di sotto._ + +The air of a window is the stroke of a cross-bow. + +_Aria di finestra, colpo di balestra._ + +_Piscia chiaro, ed incaca al medico._ + +When the wind is in the east, it's neither good for man nor beast. + +A hot May makes a fat churchyard. + +That city is in a bad case, whose physicians have the gout.--_Hebrew +Proverb._ + +When the sun rises, the disease will abate.[21] + +If you take away the salt, throw the meat to the dogs. + +_Splen ridere facit, cogit amare jecur._[22] + + Lever a cinq, diner a neuf. + Souper a cinq, coucher a neuf. + Font vivre dans nonante neuf. + +_Surge quinta, prande nona, coena quinta, dormi nona, nec est morti vita +prona._ + +Hunger's the best sauce. + +_Optimum condimentum fames._ + +_Plures occidit gula quam gladius._ + +_Qui a bu, boira._ Ever drunk ever dry. + +_Vinum potens, vinum nocens._ + +The child is too clever to live long. + +_Praecocibus mors ingeniis est invida semper._ + + Le chant du cocq, le coucher du corbeau, + Preservent l'homme du tombeau. + +Bitter to the mouth, sweet to the heart. + +_Paulo deterior, sed suavior potus est cibus; meliori quidem, sed ingrato, +praeferendus est._ + + Apres la soupe, un coup d'excellent vin + Tire un ecu de la poche du medecin. + + + + +THE NIGHT-MARE. + + +The Night-mare or Ephialtes, _incubus_, from [Greek: ephallomai], "to leap +upon," and _incubo_, "to lie upon," may be considered a sympathetic +affection of the brain during our sleep, generally arising from a +derangement in the digestive functions. We therefore observe it after a +heavy supper, or the use of any article of food of difficult digestion. It +is to these circumstances more than to the "unusual loss of volition," +which some physiologists consider as its cause, that we are to attribute +this unpleasant perturbation of our repose, which impresses the sleeper +with the idea of some living being pressing upon the chest, inspiring +terror, impeding respiration, and subduing all voluntary action that might +endeavour to remove the unwelcome visiter. It has been observed that +persons of a melancholy and contemplative disposition are more subject to +it than the gay and the vivacious. Sedentary employment and anxiety of +mind often bring it on; and it has been noticed in _nostalgia_, or regret +of home, in soldiers and sailors. The sense of apprehension remains after +the sufferer is awakened, and the fluttering of the heart and quick pulse +are observed for some time after, while drops of cold perspiration +frequently trickle down his brow. When the night-mare is the result of too +much repletion, it is possible that its symptoms denote a pressure of the +loaded stomach on the solar plexus. + +It is said that the _night-mare_ derives its name from _Mara_, an evil +spirit of the Scandinavians, which, according to the Runic theology, +seized men in their sleep, and deprived them of the powers of volition. +Our old Anglo-Saxon name for the disease was _Elf-Sidenne_, or +elf-squatting; hence the popular term "hag-ridden." + +There is a variety of the malady which makes its attack by day, and when +waking: it has been called the day-mare, or _ephialtes vigilantium_. This +affection, although uncommon, has been noticed by Forestus, Rhodius, +Sauvages, and Good. Forestus has known it to return periodically like an +intermittent fever. + +It is not always that the patient experiences unpleasant sensations in +these nocturnal attacks, which were not unfrequently of a curious nature. +The ancients thought that these intruders were sometimes sportive Fauns; +hence Pliny calls the affection _ludibria Fauni_. At a subsequent period, +superstition replaced the Fauns by _Incubi_, or evil spirits, who visited +the earth to destroy virtuous women; and it was once gravely discussed by +the Sorbonne, whether the offspring of such an union should be considered +human, or the fair lady's reputation injured by the involuntary act of +giving a young incubus to the world. The absurd stories of the pranks of +the _Succubi_ and _Incubi_ are well known. + +Ephialtes has been known to be epidemic, and has attacked numbers at a +time. Caelius Aurelianus informs us that Silimachus, a disciple of +Hippocrates, observed the phenomenon in Rome, when the disease generally +proved fatal. It is more than probable that in these cases the night-mare +was merely symptomatic of other complaints. A French physician, Dr. +Laurent, however, has related a very curious instance of a species of +night-mare attacking an entire regiment; he thus relates the singular +occurrence: + +"The first battalion of the regiment Latour d'Auvergne, of which I was the +surgeon, was garrisoned at Palmi, in Calabria, when we received a sudden +order at midnight to march with all possible speed to Tropea; a flotilla +of the enemy having appeared off the coast. It was in the month of June; +we had a march of forty miles of the country, and only arrived at our +destination at seven o'clock the following evening, having scarcely halted +during those thirty-one hours, and suffered considerably from the heat of +the sun. On our arrival the men found their rations cooked and their +quarters prepared; but, having arrived the last, our regiment had the +worst accommodation, and eight hundred men were pent up in a building +scarcely capacious enough for half the number. The soldiers were in +consequence much crowded, and slept upon the straw without any bedding, +and most uncomfortably. The building was an abandoned monastery; and the +inhabitants warned us that we should not be able to occupy it quietly, as +it was haunted every night. We laughed at their superstitious fears, but +were much amazed when, towards midnight, we heard loud cries, and the +soldiers rushed tumultuously, and in evident terror, out of their rooms. +Being interrogated as to the causes of this alarm, they all affirmed that +the devil was in the abbey; that they had seen him enter in the shape of a +large black dog, that had jumped upon their breasts and disappeared. To +convince them of the absurdity of their fears was of no avail; not a +single man could be persuaded to return to his quarters, and they +wandered about the town until daybreak. On the following morning I +questioned the most steady non-commissioned officers and the oldest +soldiers; and though under ordinary circumstances they were strangers to +fear, and never gave credit to any tales of supernatural agency, they +assured me that the dog had weighed them down and nearly suffocated them. +We remained that day in Tropea, and had no other quarters to occupy but +the same monastery, and the soldiers would only take up their residence on +the condition that we should remain with them: the men retired to +sleep--we watched; all was quiet until about one in the morning; when they +awoke in the same terror, and fled from the building in dismay. We had +looked out most attentively, but could not perceive the cause of this +commotion. The following day we returned to Palmi; and, although we +marched over a great part of Italy, and were frequently equally crowded +and uncomfortable, a similar scene never recurred." + +Dr. Laurent very judiciously attributes this singular attack to the +pernicious local influence of some deleterious gas, and the very crowded +state the men slept in. It is also probable that they did not take off +their accoutrements, and lay down with their belts on: might they not also +have eaten some unwholesome fruit upon the line of march, for it was in +the month of June, when various berries grow in abundance along the +road-side? + +Hippocrates's theory of the night-mare was, that, during our sleep, our +volition being suspended, the soul, still awake, watches over all the +functions of the body. It is rather odd that the animal that most persons +pretend to have thus annoyed them, is a long-haired black dog. Forestus +assures us that it was a similar visiter that tormented him in his youth. +This circumstance can only be attributed to vulgar superstition and +tradition. Dubosquet has preceded his Treatise on Ephialtes with the +engraving of a large monkey who had perplexed a young lady whom he +attended; the monkey most probably came on horseback, as his steed is also +delineated looking over the sleeping victim. + +Various medicines have been recommended to prevent these attacks; amongst +others, saffron and peony: and several learned commentators have +endeavoured to prove and disprove that they were only specific in the form +of an amulet. Zacutus Lusitanus recommends aloes, and his advice is +perhaps as good a one as could be given. The ancients attributed many +powerful effects to saffron, and, amongst other properties, it was +considered as an effective narcotic, and was said to occasion violent +headaches. Curious anecdotes are related of its effects. Amatus Lusitanus +having exhibited this medicine to accelerate a tardy accouchement, the +woman was delivered of two yellow daughters; and Hertodt, in his work +called Crocology, relates that, having tried it on a bitch, all her pups +were of a similar colour. The ancients called saffron the king of plants, +the vegetable panacea, and the soul of the lungs. In modern times we do +not recognise any peculiar property in this production; and in Spain and +Italy it is used as a condiment with perfect impunity. Peony was also +deemed a valuable remedy, when gathered as the decreasing moon was passing +under Aries: the slit root being then tied round the neck of an epileptic +person, he was forthwith cured. "Unlimited scepticism," Dugald Stewart +observes, "is as much the child of imbecility as implicit credulity." How +difficult it is to steer the vessel of our understanding between those +shoals! + +Medical writers have divided the night-mare, according to its phenomena, +into complete, incomplete, mental, and bodily. The complete night-mare, in +which the suspension of the functions had been so powerful, has been known +to prove fatal. In the incomplete, we fancy ourselves placed in a peculiar +situation, opposed by some unexpected obstacle, and all our efforts seem +of no avail to extricate ourselves from our difficulties. There is an +incubus, called indirect, in which the dreamer is not the individual +arrested in his movements; but he is impeded in his progress by the +stoppage of his horse, his carriage, his ship, which no power can propel. +In the mental or intellectual night-mare, the flow of our ideas is +embarrassed, all the associations of our very thoughts appear to be +singularly unconnected; we think in an unintelligible language; we write, +and cannot decipher our manuscript: all is a mental chaos, and no thread +can lead us out of the perplexing labyrinth. In the corporeal ephialtes, +we imagine that some of our organs are displaced, or deranged in their +functions. One man fancies that a malevolent spectre is drawing out his +intestines or his teeth: a patient of Galen felt the cold sensation of a +marble statue having been put into bed with him. These, however, are +nothing else than the actual sensations we experience at the time. Thus +Conrad Gesner fancied that a serpent had stung him in the left side of the +breast; an anthrax soon appeared upon the very spot, and terminated his +existence. Arnauld de Villeneuve imagined that his foot had been bitten, +and a pimple which broke out on the spot soon degenerated into a fatal +cancerous affection. Corporeal night-mare may therefore be simply +considered as a symptom of disease, and not as a mysterious forewarning. + +The cold stage of fever that often invades us in our sleep is the natural +forerunner of the malady. This was the case with Dr. Corona, the physician +of Pius VI. who upon two occasions was attacked with typhus fever, ushered +in by a distressing dream or incubus. These physical phenomena only +strengthen the opinion, that in our sleep we are equally alive to mental +impressions and bodily sufferings; and that, correctly speaking, there is +no suspension of our intellectual faculties of perception, nor is there +any interruption in the susceptibilities of our relative existence. The +various doctrines regarding dreams illustrate this position. + + + + +INCUBATION OF DISEASES. + + +The term "incubation" in its rigid sense applies to the act of hatching +eggs, either naturally or artificially. It has however been adopted by +physicians to denote that state of predisposition to disease, in which the +germ of the malady lurks, latent and unperceived by the inexperienced +observer. Too frequently the individual who is thus menaced is totally +unaware of his condition. So far from being depressed in spirits, his +hopes are more sanguine, and his future projects more industriously formed +than usual. At other times, on the contrary, he labours under a load of +despondency which he cannot explain, and his gloom seems to anticipate his +end. This presentiment has oftentimes been singularly prophetic. Moreau de +St. Remy relates the case of one of his most intimate friends, who visited +him, saying, "I come to die near you." He was apparently in perfect +health, but the prediction too soon proved true. + +It is no doubt probable, that in these cases the influence of the mind +labouring under these fatal impressions brings about, by its all-powerful +sympathetic power on our functions, the expected yet dreaded event. + +Incubation is observed in many contagious affections; and in hydrophobia +its duration is amazing, this dreadful malady developing itself years +after the original accident. In mental diseases, aberrations of the +intellectual faculties are noticed long before the patient can be +pronounced insane; oddities, as they are called, are frequently the +precursors of mania. + +The ancient Greeks and Egyptians use the term "incubation" in another +sense. With them it expressed the religious ceremony of sleeping in the +temples of the gods, to be inspired with the means of relieving their +sufferings. Nothing can express this superstitious rite more forcibly than +the following letter from Aspasia to Pericles, recorded by one of the +scholiasts of Aelian. + +"Aspasia to Pericles, greeting. Podalirius! Podalirius, to whom Love +taught the art of healing, and who in return didst consecrate thine art to +Love, I return thee my thanks. Athens will once more see me beauteous! I +shall have lost none of my attractions, and Pericles shall find in his +Aspasia all that he once held dear! Podalirius, I return thee my thanks; +and thou, Pericles, be grateful to my benefactor. I did not wish to write +to thee until I was certain that I had been cured. I shall relate to thee +my voyage. I punctually followed the instructions of Nocrates, that wise +and enlightened physician. I first repaired to Memphis, where I visited, +but without success, the temple of Isis. I there beheld the goddess, and +her son Orus, seated on a throne, supported by two lions. The +_Sebestus_[23] grew round her shrine! Incense was burnt in the morning, +myrrha during the day, and cyplis at eve. I was assured that young +Alexander had come to this temple not long before to indulge in a holy +contemplation, and learn by inspiration the means of curing his friend +Ptolemy: his supplications were heeded. I also slept in the temple, but +found no relief. This misfortune, alas! was attributed to my incredulity. +I took my departure, and repaired to Patras. There I saw in her temple the +divine Hygeia; not as she was represented by Aristophanes, when she +relieved Plutus, sweet and graceful, clothed in an aerial robe and a short +tunic, and holding in her hand a cup of _Musa_, whence a serpent was seen +to spring, but she appeared to me in the form of a mysterious pentagon. I +first paid a devout visit to the fountain; and while I deposited my +offerings at the feet of the goddess, a mirror was floating on the surface +of the waters upon which I gazed by order of the priests, but I was not +cured! Thence I went to sleep at Pergania and at Hercyna. But the gods +seemed to slumber when Aspasia slept! On a sudden the name of Podalirius +struck mine ear! I was informed that his temple was at Lacera. I instantly +sought it; and, on my arrival, bathed in the Althonus. After the bath, I +was anointed with the perfumed balsams that our friend Sosinius had given +me in the temple of Mercury the day I left Athens. I then put up my +prayers to deserve the favour I implored from the god. At nightfall I +sought repose on the skin of a ram close to the statuary pillar. I soon +found myself in that state when we are no longer wide awake, but when +sleep has not yet lulled our senses to repose. Methought that a celestial +light was shed around me. Aesculapius appeared to me with his two +daughters; and, from the clouds that surrounded him, he promised me my +pristine health. I soon after fell into a profound sleep; but towards the +break of day I beheld Cypris--Cypris who was always the friend of +Podalirius: she came herself! I recognised her, although she had assumed +the form of a gentle dove. Yes, Cypris came to cure me. Podalirius! +Aesculapius! Cypris! each day shall you be thanked by Aspasia and by +Pericles. + +"I must now relate to thee the vision of a Daunian, who slept near me. She +suffered from an affection of her breast, and this she dreamed:--She +beheld the young god Harpocrates lying on leaves of lotos, and covered +with bandages from the head to the feet. He appeared weak and emaciated; +he cried like an infant, supplicating the poor woman to nurse him. Soon +after, she dreamt that a lamb came to seek his sustenance from her bosom. +The dream was fulfilled,--it clearly indicated the use of a certain plant; +but, until it could be obtained, the Daunian was advised to eat nothing +but stewed raisins. Learn that here various names are given to various +inspirations. The last dream I have related is called _allegorical_. When +a dream prescribes a certain remedy, it is named _theorematic_. Here are +many dreams: wise Pericles, thou art perhaps smiling at them; but what is +_not_ visionary is my perfect recovery, and my love for thee. Farewell!" + +Although this letter of Aspasia is an evident fiction, yet it gives an +excellent, though a romantic description of the incubation of the +ancients. Aspasia was supposed to be labouring under one of the most +vexatious disorders that can affect a pretty woman,--an eruption in the +face; hence the gods sent her a mirror, that her devotion might be +increased by her unsightly appearance. It is not improbable that in those +days, as in the present era, women of a certain, or rather an uncertain +age, were more fervid in their endeavours to render themselves acceptable +to Heaven when they ceased to be admired and sought for upon earth. + + + + +QUACKERY AND CHARLATANISM. + + +The origin of the word "quack" is not ascertained. Johnson derives it from +the verb "_to quack_, or gabble like a goose." Butler uses this verb as +descriptive of the encomiums empirics heap upon their nostrums. Thus in +Hudibras: + + Believe mechanic Virtuosi + Can raise them mountains in Potosi, + Seek out for plants with signatures + To _quack_ of universal cures. + +The word _charlatan_ is equally enveloped in obscurity. Furetiere and +Calepin say that it is derived from the Italian word _Ceretano_, from +_Caeretum_, a town near Spoleto, whence a band of impostors first sallied +forth, marching under the banners of Hippocrates, and roving from town to +town, selling drugs and giving medical advice.[24] Menage has it that +_charlatan_ springs from _Circulatanus_, from _Circulator_. Other +etymologists trace it to the Italian _Ciarlare_, to chatter; hence +_Ciarlatan_. + +The Romans called their quacks _Agyrtae_, or _Seplasiarii_, from +_Seplasium_, the generic name of aromatic substances. _Seplasium_ was the +place where they vended their drugs. Thus Martial: + + Quodque ab Adumaeis vectum _seplasia_ vendunt, + Et quidquid confert medicis lagaea cataplus. + +An empiric was also called _Planus_ and _Circulator_ "_unde Plani unde +levatores_." + +Some of the stratagems resorted to by needy empirics to get into practice +are very ingenious, and many a regular physician has been obliged to have +recourse to similar artifices to procure employment. It is related of a +Parisian physician, that, on his first arrival in the capital, he was in +the habit of sending his servant in a carriage about daybreak to rap at +the doors of the principal mansions to inquire for his master, as he was +sent for to repair instantly to such and such a prince, who was dying. The +drowsy porter naturally replied, with much ill-humour, "that he knew +nothing of his master."--"What! did he not pass the night in this house?" +replied the footman, apparently astonished. "No," gruffly answered the +Swiss; "there's nobody ill here."--"Then I must have mistaken the house. +Is not this the hotel of the Duke of ----?"--"No. Go to the devil!" +exclaimed the porter, closing the ponderous gates. From this house his +valet then proceeded from street to street, alarming the whole +neighbourhood with his loud rap. Of course nothing else was spoken of in +the porter's lodge, the grocer's shop, and the servants' hall for nine +days. + +Another quack, upon his arrival in a town, announced himself by sending +the bellman round, offering fifty guineas reward for a poodle belonging to +Doctor ----, Physician to his Majesty and the Royal Family, Professor of +Medicine, and Surgeon General, who had put up at such and such an inn. Of +course the physician of a king, who could give fifty guineas for a lost +dog, must be a man of pre-eminence in his profession. + +Another indigent physician having complained of his ill-fortune to an +ingenious friend, received the following advice: The _Cafe de la Regence_ +is now in fashion: I play at chess every day at two o'clock, when a +considerable crowd is assembled. Come there at the same hour; do not +pretend to know me; call for a cup of coffee, and always pay the waiter +his money in a rose-coloured paper: leave the rest to me. The doctor +followed his advice; and his eccentric manners were soon observed,--when +his friend informed the persons around him, that he was one of the ablest +practitioners in the land; that he had known him for upwards of fifteen +years, and that his cures were most marvellous,--his extreme modesty alone +having prevented him from giving publicity to his abilities. He further +added, I have long wished to become intimate with so great a man; but he +is so absorbed in the study of his profession, that he scarcely ever +enters into conversation with any one. In a short time, the Rose-colour +Doctor was in extensive business. + +Many years ago, the jaw-breaking words _Tetrachymagogon_ and _Fellino +Guffino Cardimo Cardimac Frames_, were chalked all over London, as two +miracle-working doctors. Men with such names must have some superior +qualification, and numbers flocked to consult them. Another quack put up +as an advertisement, that he had just arrived in town, after having made +the wonderful discovery of the green and red dragon and the female +fern-seed. This was sure to attract notice. An advertisement was handed +about of a learned physician, "who had studied thirty years by +candle-light for the good of his countrymen." He was, moreover, the +seventh son of a seventh son, and was possessed of a wonderful cure for +hernia, as both his father and his grandfather had been ruptured. This +reminds one of the oculist in Mouse Alley, mentioned in the Spectator, who +undertook to cure cataracts, in consequence of his having lost an eye in +the Imperial service. Dr. Case made a fortune by having the lines, _Within +this place, lives Doctor Case_, written in large characters upon his door. + +The accidental circumstances which frequently bring medical men into +extensive practice, or that notoriety which may lead to it, are truly +curious. It is well known that a most eminent English physician owed all +his success to his having been on a particular occasion in a state of +intoxication. Disappointed on his first arrival in London, he sought +comfort in a neighbouring tavern, where the servant of the house at which +he lodged went to fetch him one evening, after a heavy potation, to see a +certain countess. The high-sounding title of this unexpected patient +tended not a little to increase the excitement under which he laboured. He +followed a livery footman as steadily as he could, and was ushered in +silence into a noble mansion, where her ladyship's woman anxiously waited +to conduct him most discreetly to her mistress's room; her agitation most +probably preventing her from perceiving the doctor's state. He was +introduced into a splendid bedchamber, and staggered towards the bed in +which the lady lay. He went through the routine practice of pulse-feeling, +&c., and proceeded to the table to write a prescription, which, in all +probability, would have been mechanically correct. But here his powers +failed him. In vain he strove to trace the salutary characters, until, +wearied in his attempts, he cast down the pen, and, exclaiming "Drunk, by +G--!" he made his best way out of the house. Two days afterwards he was +not a little surprised by receiving a letter from the lady, enclosing a +check for 100_l._, and promising him the patronage of her family and +friends, if he would observe the strictest secrecy on the state he found +her in. The fact simply was, that the countess had been indulging in +brandy and laudanum, which her abigail had procured for her, and was +herself in the very condition which the doctor had frankly applied to +himself. + +Chance, more than science or ability, has frequently brought professional +men to the summit of their business. There is an Eastern story of a +certain prince who had received from a fairy the faculty of not only +assuming whatever appearance he thought proper, but of discerning the +wandering spirits of the departed. He had long laboured under a painful +chronic disease, that none of the court physicians, ordinary or +extraordinary, could relieve; and he resolved to wander about the streets +of his capital until he could find some one, regular or irregular, who +could alleviate his sufferings. For this purpose he donned the garb and +appearance of a dervish. As he was passing through one of the principal +streets, he was surprised to see it so thronged with ghosts, that, had +they been still inhabitants of their former earthly tenements, they must +have obstructed the thoroughfare. But what was his amazement and dismay +when he saw that they were all grouped with anxious looks round the door +of his royal father's physician, haunting, no doubt, the man to whom they +attributed their untimely doom. Shocked with the sight, he hurried to +another part of the city, where resided another physician of the court, +holding the second rank in fashionable estimation. Alas! his gateway was +also surrounded with reproachful departed patients. Thunderstruck at such +a discovery, and returning thanks to the prophet that he was still in +being, despite the practice of these great men, he resolved to submit all +the other renowned practitioners to a similar visit, and he was grieved to +find that the scale of ghosts kept pace with the scale of their medical +rank. Heartbroken, and despairing of a cure, he was slowly sauntering back +to the palace, when, in an obscure street, and on the door of an humble +dwelling, he read a doctor's name. One single poor solitary ghost, leaning +his despondent cheek upon his fleshless hand, was seated on the doctor's +steps. "Alas!" exclaimed the prince, "it is, then, too true that humble +merit withers in the shade, while ostentatious ignorance inhabits golden +mansions. This poor neglected doctor, who has but one unlucky case to +lament, is then the only man in whom I can place confidence." He rapped; +the door was opened by the doctor himself, a venerable old man, not rich +enough, perhaps, to keep a domestic to answer his infrequent calls. His +white locks and flowing beard added to the confidence which his situation +had inspired. The elated youth then related at full length all his +complicated ailments, and the still more complicated treatment to which he +had in vain been submitted. The sapient physician was not illiberal enough +to say that the prince's attendants had all been in error, since all +mankind may err; but his sarcastic smile, the curl of his lips, and the +dubious shake of his hoary head, most eloquently told the anxious patient +that he considered his former physicians as an ignorant, murderous set of +upstarts, only fit to depopulate a community. With a triumphant look he +promised a cure, and gave his overjoyed client a much-valued prescription, +which he carefully confided to his bosom; after which he expressed his +gratitude by pouring upon the doctor's table a purse of golden sequins, +which made the old man's blinking eyes shine as brightly as the coin he +beheld in wondrous delight. His joy gave suppleness to his rigid spine, +and, after bowing the prince out in the most obsequious manner, he +ventured to ask him one humble question: "By what good luck, by what kind +planet, had he been recommended to seek his advice?" The prince naturally +asked for the reason of so strange a question: to which the worthy doctor +replied, with eyes brimful with tears of gratitude, "Oh, sir, because I +considered myself the most unfortunate man in Bagdad until this happy +moment; for I have been settled in this noble and wealthy city for these +last fifteen years, and have only been able to obtain one single +patient."--"Ah!" cried the prince in despair, "then it must be that poor, +solitary, unhappy-looking ghost that is now sitting on your steps!" + +It has been observed that religious sects have materially contributed to +the elevation of physicians in society, and political associations have +been equally beneficial. The celebrated Mead was the son of a +non-conforming minister, who, knowing the influence he possessed over his +numerous congregation, brought him up as a physician, in the full +confidence of obtaining the splendid result that rewarded the speculation. +His example was followed by several dissenting preachers; among whom we +may name Oldfield, Clarke, Nesbitt, Lobb, Munckly, whose sons all rose to +extensive and most lucrative practice. At that period, St. Thomas's and +Guy's Hospitals were under the government of Dissenters and Whigs; and so +soon as any one became a physician to the establishment, his fortune was +made. The same advantages attended St. Bartholomew's and Bethlem, both of +royal foundation. + +Dr. Meyer Schomberg, who was a poor Jew of Cologne, came to London without +any profession, when, not knowing what to do to obtain a living, to use +his own words, he said, "I am a physician;" and, having thus conferred a +degree upon himself, he sedulously cultivated the acquaintance of all his +fellow Jews about Duke's-place, got introduced to some of their leading +and wealthy mercantile brethren, and a few years after Dr. Schomberg was +in the annual receipt of four thousand pounds. It is rather strange, but +the Jew was succeeded in his lucrative practice by a Quaker. This was the +celebrated Dr. Fothergill. Brought up an apothecary, he took out a Scotch +degree, and, attaching himself to Schomberg, calculated on following his +example; and, on his patron's decease, he slipped into the practice of +both Jew and Gentile. + +Amongst many singular instances of good fortune may be mentioned a surgeon +of the name of Broughton, to whom our East India Company may consider +themselves as most indebted, since he was the person who first pointed out +the advantages that might result from trading in Bengal. Broughton +happened to travel from Surat to Agra in the year 1636, when he had the +luck to cure one of the daughters of the Emperor _Shah-Jehan_. To reward +him, this prince allowed him a free trade throughout his dominions. +Broughton immediately repaired to Bengal to purchase goods, which he sent +round by sea to Surat. Scarcely had he returned, when he was requested to +attend the favourite of a powerful nabob, and he fortunately restored her +to health, when, in addition to a pension, his commercial privileges were +still more widely extended; the prince promising him at the same time a +favourable reception for British traders. Broughton lost no time in +communicating this intelligence to the Governor of Surat; and it was by +his advice that the company sent out two large ships to Bengal in 1640. + +There are some amusing anecdotes related regarding a vocation for the +medical profession. Andrew Rudiger, a physician of Leipsic, when at +college, made an anagram of his name, and, in the words _Andreas Rudiger_ +he found "_Arare Rus Dei Dignus_," or "worthy to cultivate the field of +God." He immediately fancied that his vocation was the church, and +commenced his theological studies. Showing but little disposition for the +clerical calling, the learned Thomasius recommended him to return to his +original pursuits. Rudiger confessed that he had more inclination for the +profession of medicine than the church; but that he had considered the +anagram of his name as a divine injunction. "There you are in error," +replied Thomasius; "that very anagram calls you to the art of healing; for +_Rus Dei_ clearly meaneth the churchyard." + +The subject of quackery, in every sphere of life, whether it be resorted +to by diplomatists or physicians, sanctimonious adventurers or fashionable +_roues_, leads to serious consideration. How comes it that man seems more +anxious to be deceived than enlightened? Simply from the errors of his +education, which foster a love for the marvellous, and induce him to +admire that which really is not or cannot be comprehended. The superiority +of the intellectual faculties of the ancients, at an earlier age than the +generality of men in the present times, is solely to be attributed to +their having been brought up with philosophical views. Mallebranche has +justly said, "that to become a philosopher, we must _see clearly_; but to +be endued with faith, we must _believe blindly_." Although we cannot admit +this axiom in matters of revealed religion, yet in many worldly concerns +it does hold. If a youth was not educated with the scholastic jargon, +commonly called learning, he would be considered ignorant. Helvetius has +said, that man is born ignorant, but not a fool; and that it is even no +easy matter to make him one; and the same writer has very justly divided +stupidity into that which is natural, arising from ignorance, and that +which is acquired and the result of instruction. It is thus that, by +speaking to the passions, naturally weak, and to our desires and +apprehensions, ever ready to grasp at a favourite phantom,--the artful +manage to exercise a more powerful control, and incline persons to believe +what their senses actually discredit. The traffic of hope and fear has +ever been a lucrative trade; and while fear became the staple commodity of +priestcraft, hope was the fortune of medical quacks. The multiplication of +sins increased the profits of the one; the various diseases, real and +imaginary, to which flesh is heir, became the source of emolument to the +other. It is under these cherished impressions of ameliorating our +condition, that many men of common sense, and even of judgment, are +induced to rely on the most absurd and fallacious promises; so prone are +we to believe all that we wish;--the fidelity of a woman, the truth of a +sycophant, and the candour of a flatterer. If there could be established a +regular college of quackery, where the errors of mankind might be studied, +and pupils taught to avail themselves of their follies, as a future +vocation, a more perfect knowledge of the world would be acquired than in +all the universities in Europe. Our sovereigns would be wise in selecting +their ministers amongst the graduates of this academy. Cardinal Du Perron, +who, in a long homily, convinced his sovereign, Henry III., of the +existence of a God, and afterwards informed him that he would prove the +contrary, if it could afford his Majesty any consolation, might have been +selected as a proper rector for such an institution. + +It is also to be observed that the founders of all doctrines, however +hypothetical and absurd, have generally assumed a dogmatic language, which +gives to their fallacious assertions an appearance of truth, and Bacon has +long ago said, "Method, carrying a show of total and perfect knowledge, +has a tendency to general acquiescence." + +Quackery is considered by many practitioners as necessary to forward the +views of medical men. It is related of Charles Patin, that being on a +visit to a physician at Basle, where his son was studying medicine, he +questioned the youth on the principal studies required to form a +physician; to which the future candidate for medical popularity replied, +"Anatomy, physiology, pathology, and therapeutics." "You have omitted the +chief pursuit," replied his catechiser, "_quackery_." + +When we cast our eyes on the absurd names which many Italian academies +adopted to characterize the nature of their studies, we find an ample +illustration of this science in the _Seraphici_, the _Oscuri_, the +_Immaturi_, the _Infecundi_, the _Offuscati_, the _Somnolenti_, and +_Phantastici_! + +The most ridiculous and disgusting epithets have been considered +honourable distinctions. Thus, when the science of _Uroscopia_ and +_Uromancy_ prevailed, we find a Dr. Theodorus Charles, a Wirtemberg +physician, calling another learned practitioner, "_Urinosa Claritas_." + + + + +ON THE USE OF TEA. + + +Such is the growing consumption of this now indispensable article in +England, that in 1789 there were imported 14,534,601 lbs., and in 1833 the +quantity was increased to 31,829,620 lbs.; the latter importation yielding +a revenue of 3,444,101_l._ In other countries we find the consumption much +less. Russia in 1832 imported 6,461,064 lbs.; Holland consumes about +2,800,000 lbs., and France only 230,000 lbs. + +It is supposed that tea was first introduced into Europe by the Dutch, +about the middle of the seventeenth century; and Lords Arlington and +Ossory are said to be the first persons who made it known in England. In +1641, Tulpius, a Dutch physician, mentioned it in his works. In 1667, +Fouquet, a French physician, recommended it to the French faculty; and in +1678, an elaborate treatise was written on it by Cornelius Boutkoe, +physician to the Elector of Brandenburg. About the same time, several +travellers and missionaries, amongst whom we find Koempfer, Kalm, +Osbeck, Duhalde, and Lecomte, give various accounts of the plant and its +divers qualities. + +The Chinese name of this plant is _theh_, a _Fokien_ word. In the Mandarin +it is _tcha_, and the Japanese call it _tsjaa_. _Loureiro_, in his _Flora +Cochin-China_, describes three species of tea. It is a polyandrous plant +of the natural order _Columniferae_, growing to a height varying from three +to six feet, and bearing a great resemblance to our myrtle. The blossom is +white, with yellow style and anthers, not unlike that of the dog-rose; the +leaves are the only valuable part of the plant. The _camellias_, +particularly the _camellia sesanqua_, of the same natural family, are the +only plants liable to be confounded with it. The leaves of the latter +camellia are indeed frequently used as a substitute for those of the +tea-plant in several districts of China. This shrub is a hardy evergreen, +growing in the open air from the equator to the forty-fifth degree of +northern latitude; but the climate that appears the most congenial to it +seems to be between the twenty-fifth and thirty-third degree. Almost every +province and district in China produces tea for local consumption: but +what is cultivated for trade is chiefly in Fokien, Canton, Kiang-nan, +Kiang-si, and Che-Kiang; Fokien being celebrated for its black tea, and +Kiang-nan for the green. The plant is also cultivated in Japan, Tonquin, +and Cochin-China, and in some parts of the mountainous tracts of Ava, +where, in addition to its use in infusion, it is converted into a pickle +preserved in oil. When tea was first introduced as a luxury on particular +occasions in the wild districts of Ireland, the people used to throw away +the water in which it had been boiled, and eat the leaves with salt-butter +or bacon like greens. The Dutch are now endeavouring to propagate this +valuable plant in Java, and for that purpose employ cultivators, who have +emigrated from Fokien. The Brazilians are making similar attempts, and +some tolerable tea has been reared near Rio Janeiro. + +The black teas usually imported from Canton are the _bohea_, _congou_, +_souchong_, and _pekoe_, according to our orthography: the French +missionaries spelt them as follows: _boui_, _camphou_ or _campoui_, +_saotchaon_, and _pekao_ or _peko_. Our green teas are the _twankay_, +_hyson-skin_, and _hyson_, _imperial_, and _gunpowder_; the first of which +French travellers write _tonkay_, _hayswin-skine_, and _hayswin_. The +French import a tea called _tehulan_, but it is artificially flavoured +with a leaf called _lan hoa_, or the _olea fragrans_ of Linnaeus. + +The tea-plant grows to perfection in two or three years: the leaves are +carefully picked by the family of the growers, and immediately carried to +market, where they are purchased for drying in sheds. The tea-merchants +from Canton repair to the several districts where it is produced, and, +after purchasing the leaves thus simply desiccated, submit them to various +manipulations; after which they are packed in branded cases and parcels +called _chops_, from a Chinese word meaning a seal. Some of the leaf-buds +of the finest black tea plants are picked early in the spring, before they +expand: these constitute _pekoe_, sometimes called "white-blossomed tea," +from their being intermixed with the blossoms of the _olea fragrans_. The +younger the leaf, the more high-flavoured and valuable is the tea. Green +teas are grown and gathered in the same manner; but amongst these the +gunpowder stands in the grade of the _pekoe_ among the black, being +prepared with the unopened buds of the spring crops. The alleged +preparation of green teas upon copper plates, to give them a verdant +colour, is an idle story. They are dried in iron vases over a gentle fire; +and the operator conducts this delicate work with his naked hand, and the +utmost care not to break the fragile leaves. This part of the +manipulation is considered the most difficult, as the leaves are rolled +into their usual shape between the palms of the hands until they are cold, +to prevent them from unrolling. Teas are adulterated by various +odoriferous plants, more especially the _vitex pinnata_, the _chloranthus +inconspicuus_, and the _illicium anisatum_. In our markets the chief +adulteration is operated by the mixture of sloe and ash leaves, and +colouring with terra Japonica and other drugs. + +That tea is a substance injurious to health is beyond a doubt. Nothing but +long habit from early life renders it less baneful than it otherwise would +be: persons who take its infusion for the first time invariably experience +uncomfortable sensations. It is well known that individuals who are not in +the practice of taking tea in the evening, never transgress this habit +with impunity; and it is quite clear that a preparation which deprives +them of sleep, and renders them restless during a whole night, cannot be +salubrious by day; and although the following opinion of Dr. Trotter +regarding the use of this leaf is somewhat exaggerated, it is founded on +experience; and I have known several persons afflicted with a variety of +serious affections who never could obtain relief until they had ceased to +consume it. + +"Tea is a beverage well suited to the taste of an indolent and voluptuous +age. To the glutton it affords a grateful diluent after a voracious +dinner; and, from being drunk warm, it gives a soothing stimulus to the +stomach of the drunkard: but, however agreeable may be its immediate +flavour, the ultimate effects are debility and nervous diseases. There may +be conditions of health, indeed, where tea can do no harm, such as in the +strong and athletic; but it is particularly hurtful to the female +constitution, to all persons who possess the hereditary predisposition to +dyspepsia, and all diseases with which it is associated, to gout, and to +those who are naturally weak-nerved. Fine tea, where the narcotic quality +seems to be concentrated, when taken in a strong infusion, by persons not +accustomed to it, excites nausea and vomiting, tremors, cold sweats, +vertigo, dimness of sight, and confusion of thought. I have known a number +of men and women subject to nervous complaints, who could not use tea in +any form without feeling a sudden increase of all their unpleasant +symptoms; particularly acidity of the stomach, vertigo, and dimness of the +eyes. As the use of this article of diet extends among the lower orders of +the community and the labouring poor, it must do the more harm. A man or +a woman who has to go through much toil and hardship has need of +substantial nourishment; but that is not to be obtained from an infusion +of tea. And if the humble returns of their industry are expended in this +leaf, what remains for the purchase of food better adapted to labour? In +this case tea becomes hurtful, not only from its narcotic quality, but +because that quality acts with double force in a body weakened from other +causes. This certainly is one great reason for the increased and +increasing proportion of nervous, bilious, spasmodic, and stomach +complaints, &c. appearing among the lower ranks of life." + +It is well known that tea is frequently resorted to by literary men to +keep them awake during their lucubrations. Dr. Cullen said he never could +take it without feeling gouty symptoms; and we frequently see aged +females, who are in the habit of taking strong green tea, subject to +paralytic affections. Many experienced physicians, such as Grimm, +Crugerus, Wytt, Murray, Letsom, condemn the abuse of the plant as highly +dangerous.[25] That it is a most powerful astringent we well know; and the +hands of the Chinese who are employed in its preparation are shrivelled, +and, to all appearance, burned with caustic. Chemists have extracted from +it an astringent liquor containing tannin and gallic acid. This liquor, +injected in the veins or under the integuments of frogs, produces palsy of +the posterior extremities, and, applied to the sciatic nerve for half an +hour, has occasioned death. + +There is no doubt that tea acts differently on various individuals. In +some it is highly stimulant and exhilarating; in others its effects are +oppression and lowness of spirits; and I have known a person who could +never indulge in this beverage without experiencing a disposition to +commit suicide, and nothing could arouse him from this state of morbid +excitement but the pleasure of destroying something, books, papers, or any +thing within his reach. Under no other circumstances than this influence +of tea were these fearful aberrations observed. It has been remarked that +all tea-drinking nations are essentially of a leucophlegmatic temperament, +predisposed to scrofulous and nervous diseases. The Chinese, even the +degraded Tartar races amongst them, are weak and infirm, their women +subject to various diseases arising from debility. Although their +confined mode of living, and want of the means of enjoying pure air and +exercise, materially tends to render them liable to these affections; +still their immoderate use of strong green tea, taken, it is true, in very +small quantities at the time, but repeatedly, greatly adds to this +predisposition. + +From long experience I am convinced that, although tea may in general be +considered a refreshing and harmless beverage, yet in some peculiar cases +it is decidedly injurious; and many diseases that have baffled all medical +exertions, have yielded to the same curative means so soon as the action +of tea had been suspended. + + + + +MANDRAGORE. + + +Self-styled wandering Turks and Armenians are frequently met with in +crowded cities vending rhubarb, tooth-powder, and various drugs and +nostrums, exciting the curiosity of the idlers that group around them, by +exhibiting a root bearing a strong resemblance to the human form. This is +the far-famed mandragore, of which such wonderful accounts have been +related by both ancients and moderns. + +This plant is the _Atropa Mandragora_ of Linnaeus, and grows wild in the +mountainous and shaded parts of Italy, Spain, and the Levant, where it is +also cultivated in gardens. The root bears such a likeness, at least in +fancy's eyes, to our species, that it was called _Semi-homo_. Hence says +Columella, + + Quamvis semihominis vesano gramine foeta + Mandragora pariat flores moestamque cicutam. + +The word _vesano_ clearly refers to the supposed power it possessed of +exciting delirium. It was also named _Circaea_, from its having been one of +the mystic ingredients employed in Circe's spells; although the wonderful +mandragore was ineffectual against the more powerful herb the _Moly_, +which Ulysses received from Mercury. This human resemblance of the root, +which is, moreover, of a blackish hue and hairy, inspired the vulgar with +the idea that it was nothing less than a familiar daemon. It was gathered +with curious rites: three times a magic circle was drawn round it with a +naked sword; and the person who was daring enough to pluck it from the +earth, was subject to manifold dangers and diseases, unless under some +special protection; therefore it was not unusual to get it eradicated by a +dog, fastened to it by a cord, and who was whipped off until the precious +root was pulled out. According to Josephus, the plant called _Buaras_, +which was gifted with the faculty of keeping off evil spirits, was +obtained by a similar canine operation. Often, it was asserted, did the +mandragore utter piteous cries and groans, when thus severed from mother +earth. Albertus the Great affirms that the root has a more powerful action +when growing under a gibbet, and is brought to greater perfection by the +nourishing secretions that drop from the criminal's dangling corpse. + +Amongst its many wonderful properties, it was said to double the amount of +money that was locked up with it in a box. It was also all-powerful in +detecting hidden treasures. Most probably the mandragore had bad qualities +to underrate its good ones. Amongst these, we must certainly class the +blackest ingratitude, since it never seemed to benefit the eloquent +advocates of its virtues, who, in general, were as poor as their boasted +plant was rich in attraction. + +It was also supposed to possess the delightful faculty of increasing +population and exciting love; and the Emperor Julian writes to Calixines +that he is drinking the juice of mandragore to render him amorous. Hence +was it called _Loveapple_; and Venus bore the name of _Mandragontis_. It +has been asserted by various scholiasts, that the _mandrake_ which Reuben +found in the fields and carried to his mother, Leah, was the mandragore; +the _Dudaim_, however, which he gathered was not, according to all +accounts, an unpleasant fruit, but is supposed to have been a species of +orchis, still used in the East in love-philters and prolific potions. The +word _Dudaim_ seems to express a tuberculated plant; and in Solomon's +Songs, he thus describes it: "The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates +are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for +thee, O my beloved." Now it is utterly impossible, whatever may have been +the revolution in taste since the days of Solomon, that the nauseous and +offensive mandragore could have been considered as a propitiating present +to a lady. + +The etymology of the word _Dudaim_ would seem to describe it. It is +derived from the word [Hebrew], (_Dadim_) breasts, or [Hebrew], (_Dodim_) +friends, neighbours, twins; which indicates that this plant is formed of +two similar parts. It is thought that the _Dudaim_ might be the +highly-scented melon which is cultivated in the East, especially in +Persia, and known by the name of _Destenbuje_, or the _Cucumis Dudaim_ of +Linnaeus, and which is also found in Italy, where its powerful aroma is +imparted to garments and chambers. It must have been an odoriferous +production, since in the _Talmud_ we find it denominated _Siglin_, which +has been considered the jessamine or the lily. The orchis is remarkable +for its double bulbous roots and its agreeable perfume; we may therefore +justify the idea that the _Dudaim_ of the Jews was a species of this +plant. + +Frontinus informs us that Hannibal employed mandragore in one of his +warlike stratagems, when he feigned a retreat, and left in the possession +of the barbarians a quantity of wine in which this plant had been infused. +Intoxicated by the potent beverage, they were unable to withstand his +second attack, and were easily put to the sword. Was it the mandragore +that saved the Scotch in a similar _ruse de guerre_ with the Danish +invaders of Sweno? It is supposed to have been the _Belladonna_, or deadly +nightshade, the effects of which are not dissimilar to those of the plant +in question. + +In the north of Europe, this substance is still used for medicinal +purposes; and Boerhaave, Hoffberg, and Swediaur have strongly recommended +it in glandular swellings, arthritic pains, and various diseases where a +profuse perspiration may be desirable. + +Machiavel has made the fabulous powers of the mandragore the subject of a +comedy, and Lafontaine has employed it as an agent in one of his tales. + +Another root that excited superstitious phantasies and reverential awe, +from its supposed resemblance to the human form, was the Gin-seng, a +Chinese production, which, according to the author of the +_Kao-li-tchi-tsan_, or Eulogium of the Kingdom of Corea, "imitates the +configuration of man and the efficacy of spiritual comfort, possessing +hands and feet like a human being, and the mental virtues that no one can +easily comprehend." According to Jartoux, _Gin-seng_ signifies "the +representation of man." It appears, however, that the learned father was +in error. _Jin_, it is true, signifies _man_; but _Chen_ does not mean +representation, but a _ternary body_. Hence _Gin-seng_ signifies the +_ternary of man, making three with man and heaven_!--no doubt some +superstitious tradition, since this root bears various names in other +countries, that plainly denote the veneration in which it was held. In +Japan it is called _Nindsin_, and _Orkhoda_ in the Tatar-Mandchou +language, both of which mean "the queen of plants." Father Lafitau +informs us that the name of _Garent-oguen_ of the Iroquois, which it also +bears, means the _thighs of man_. The _Gin-seng_ is a native of Tartary, +Corea, and also thrives in Canada, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, in shaded +and damp situations, as it soon perishes under the solar rays. The Chinese +attach considerable value to it. Thunberg informs us that it sometimes is +sold for forty pounds a pound; and Osbeck states that in his time it was +worth twenty-four times its weight in silver. This enormous price +frequently induced foreign smugglers to bring it into the Chinese +territory; but the severest laws were enacted to punish this fraudulent +traffic. The Tartars alone possess the privilege of cultivating and +collecting it; and the districts that produce this precious plant are +surrounded with palisades, and strictly guarded. In 1707, the Emperor of +China, to increase his revenue, sent a body of ten thousand troops to +collect the gin-seng. According to the Chinese physicians, this root +possesses the faculty of renovating exhausted constitutions, giving fresh +vigour, raising the drooping moral and physical faculties, and restoring +to health and _embonpoint_ the victim of debauchery. It is also said that +a bit of the root chewed by a man running a race will prevent his +competitor from getting the start of him. It is somewhat singular that the +same property is attributed to garlic; and the Hungarian jockeys +frequently tie a clove of it to their racers' bits, when the horses that +run against them fall back the moment they breathe the offensive odour. It +has been proved that no horse will eat in a manger if the mouth of any +other steed in the stable has been rubbed with the juice of this plant. I +had occasion to ascertain this fact. A horse of mine was in the same stall +with one belonging to a brother officer; mine fell away and refused his +food, while his companion throve uncommonly well. I at last discovered +that a German groom, who had charge of the prosperous animal, had recourse +to this vile stratagem. It is also supposed that men who eat garlic knock +up upon a march the soldiers who have not made use of it. Hence, in the +old regulations of the French armies, there existed an order to prohibit +the use of garlic when troops were on a march. + + + + +BARBER-SURGEONS, AND THE PROGRESS OF CHIRURGICAL ART. + + +No consideration should render man more thankful to his Creator, and +justly proud of the progress of human intellect, than the perfection to +which the art of surgery has been carried. In its present improved +condition, we are struck with horror at the perusal of the ancient +practice, and marvel that its barbarity did not sooner induce its +professors to diminish the sum of misery it inflicted on their victims. +Ignorance, and its offspring Superstition, seemed to sanctify this +darkness. Improvement was considered as impious and unnecessary; and to +deny the powers of the chirurgical art, heresy against the holy men, who +alone were permitted to exercise it. + +This supposed divine attribute of the priesthood can be traced to remote +ages: Aesculapius was son of Apollo, and princes and heroes did not +consider the art of surgery beneath their dignity. Homer has illustrated +the skill of Podalirius and Chiron; and Idomeneus bids Nestor to mount his +chariot with Machaon, who alone was more precious than a thousand +warriors; while we find Podalirius, wrecked and forlorn on the Carian +coast, leading to the altar the daughter of the monarch whom he cured, and +whose subjects raised a temple to his memory, and paid him divine honours. + +Tradition informs us, that in the infancy of the art all its branches were +exercised indiscriminately by the medical practitioners. It was not then +supposed that the human body was subject to distinct affections, external +and internal; yet, as its study advanced, the ancients were led into an +opposite extreme, and we find that in Egypt each disease became the +province of a special attendant, regulated in his treatment by the sacred +records handed down by their hierarchy. + +Herodotus informs us, that "so wisely was medicine managed by the +Egyptians, that no physician was allowed to practise any but his own +peculiar branch." Accouchments were exclusively the province of females. + +These practitioners were remunerated by the state; and they were severely +punished, when, by any experimental trials, they deviated from the +prescribed rules imposed upon them, and, in the event of any patient +dying under a treatment differing from the established practice, the +medical attendant was considered guilty of a capital offence. These wise +provisions were made, says Diodorus, in the full conviction that few +persons were capable of introducing any new treatment superior to that +which had been sanctioned and approved by old practitioners. + +Pliny complains that no such laws existed in Rome, where a physician was +the only man who could commit murder with impunity; "Nulla praeterea lex," +he says, "quae puniat inscitium capitalem, nullum exemplum vindictae. +Discunt periculis nostris, et experimenta per mortes agunt: medicoque +tantum hominem occidisse impunitas summa est." + +By one of these singular anomalies in public opinion, this supposed divine +science was soon considered an ignoble profession. In Rome it was chiefly +practised by slaves, freedmen, or foreigners. From the overthrow of the +Roman empire till the revival of literature and the arts in Europe, +medicine and surgery sought a refuge amongst the Arabians, who studied +both branches in common; for, though exiled to the coast of Africa in +point of scientific cultivation, it was necessarily cultivated in other +countries, and in the greater part of Europe became the exclusive right of +ecclesiastics. In time, however, it was gradually wrested from their hands +by daily necessities; and every one, even amongst the lowest classes, +professed himself a surgeon, and the cure of the hurt and the lame was +intrusted to menials and women. + +As the church could no longer monopolize the art of healing, it became +expedient to stigmatize it, although that very faculty had but lately been +their boast; but it had fallen within the powers of vulgar and profane +comprehension, and therefore was useless to maintain sacerdotal +pre-eminence. In 1163, the Council of Tours, held by Pope Alexander III., +maintained that the devil, to seduce the priesthood from the duties of the +altar, involved them in mundane occupations, which, under the plea of +humanity, exposed them to constant and perilous temptations. The edict not +only prohibited the study both of medicine and law amongst all that had +taken religious vows, but actually excommunicated every ecclesiastic who +might infringe the decree. It appears, however, that the temptations of +the evil one were still attractive, as Pope Honorius III., in 1215, was +obliged to fulminate a fresh anathema on transgressors, with an additional +canon, ordaining that, as the church abhorred all cruel or sanguinary +practices, not only no priest should be allowed the practice of surgery, +but should refuse their benediction to all who professed it.[26] + +The practice then fell into the hands of laymen, although priests, still +regretting the advantages that it formerly had yielded them, were +consulted in their convents or houses; and when patients could not visit +them without exposing them to clerical censure, they asserted their +ability to cure diseases by the mere inspection of the patient's +dejections; and so much faith was reposed in this filthy practice, that +Henry II. decreed that upon the complaints of the heirs of persons who +died through the fault of their physicians, the latter should suffer +capital punishment, as having been the cause of their patient's death, +unless they had scientifically examined what was submitted to their +investigation by the deceased's relatives or domestics: and then proceeded +to prescribe for the malady. + +Unable to quit their cloisters, in surgical cases, which could not be so +easily cured at a distance, sooner than lose the emoluments of the +profession, they sent their servants, or rather the barbers of the +community, who shaved, and bled, and drew teeth in their neighbourhood +ever since the clergy could no longer perform these operations, on the +plea of the maxim "_Ecclesia abhorret a sanguine_;" bleeding and +tooth-drawing being, I believe, the only cases where this maxim was +noticed. From this circumstance arose the barber craft or barber-surgeons. + +These practitioners, from their various avocations, were necessarily +dexterous; for, in addition to the skill required for good shaving, +tonsurating the crowns of clerical heads was a delicate operation; and it +was about this period that Pope Alexander III. revised the canon issued by +the synod of Carthage respecting the tonsure of the clergy. Surgery being +thus degraded, the separation between its practice and that of medicine +became unavoidable, and the two branches were formally made distinct by +bulls of Boniface VI. and Clement V. + +St. Louis, who had witnessed the services of surgeons in the field of +battle during the crusades, had formed a college or _confrerie_ of +surgeons, in honour of St. Cosme and St. Damian, in 1268; and wounds and +sores were dressed _gratis_ in the churches dedicated to those saints on +the first Monday of every month. To this body, of course, the +barber-surgeons, or _fraters_ of the priests, who had not received any +regular education, did not belong. Hence arose the distinction, which even +to the present day obtains in various parts of the Continent, where +surgeons are divided into two classes,--those who had gone through a +regular course of studies, and those who, without any academical +education, were originally employed as the servants of the priests and +barbers. So late as the year 1809, one of my assistants in the Portuguese +army felt much hurt at my declining his offer to shave me; and in 1801, +some British assistant-surgeons, who had entered the Swedish navy, were +ordered to shave the ship's company, and were dismissed the service in +consequence of their refusal to comply with this command. + +But to return to our barbers.--These ambitious shavers gradually attempted +to glean in the footsteps of the regular chirurgeons, and even to encroach +upon their domain, by performing more important operations than phlebotomy +and tooth-drawing; the audacious intruders were therefore very properly +brought up _ex officio_ by the attorney-general of France, and forbidden +to transgress the boundaries of their art, until they had been duly +examined by master chirurgeons; although these said masters were not +better qualified than many of the barbers. Such was their ignorance +indeed, that Pitard, an able practitioner, who had successively been the +surgeon of St. Louis, Philip the Brave, and Philip the Fair, obtained a +privilege to examine and grant licences to such of these masters who were +fit to practise, without which licence all practitioners were liable to be +punished by the provost of Paris; and in 1372 barbers were only allowed to +dress boils, bruises, and open wounds. + +Although this account chiefly refers to France and its capital, yet the +same distinction and division between surgeons and barbers prevailed in +almost every other country; and privileges were maintained with as much +virulence and absurdity as the present controversial bickerings between +physicians and surgeons. + +In 1355 these master-surgeons constituted a faculty, which pocketed +one-half of the penalties imposed upon the unlucky wights who had not the +honour of belonging to their body. They also enjoyed various immunities +and exemptions; amongst others, that of not keeping guard and watch in the +city of Paris. To increase their emoluments, they granted as many honorary +distinctions as they could in decency devise, and introduced the +categories of bachelors, licentiates, masters, graduates, and +non-graduates of surgery. The medical faculty now began to complain of the +encroachments of the master-surgeons on their internal domain of poor +mortality with as much bitterness as the masters complained of the +impertinent invasion on the part of the barbers, of their external +dominion. To court the powerful protection of the university against these +interlopers, the surgeons consented to be considered as the scholars of +the medical faculty, chiefly governed by clerical physicians. + +In 1452 a fresh source of dissension arose amongst clerical physicians, +lay physicians, master surgeons, and barbers. Cardinal Etoutville +abolished the law which bound the physicians of the university to +celibacy, when, to use the historian's words, "many of the clerical +physicians, thinking there was more comfort to be found in a wife without +a benefice than could be expected in a benefice without a wife, abandoned +the priesthood, and were then permitted to visit their patients at their +own houses." Thus thrown into the uncontrolled practice of medicine, these +physicians became jealous of the influence of the surgeons, to whom they +had been so much indebted; and they had recourse to every art and +manoeuvre that priestcraft could devise to oppress and degrade them. To +aid this purpose, they resorted to the barbers, whom they instructed in +private, to enable them to oppose the master-surgeons more effectually. +The surgeons, indignant at this protection, had recourse to the medical +faculty, supplicating them to have the barbers shorn of their rising +dignity. Thus for mere motives of pecuniary interest, and the evident +detriment of society, did these intriguing practitioners struggle for +power and consequent fees; and, according to the vacillation of their +interests, the barbers became alternately the allies of the physicians or +the mercenary skirmishers of the surgeons. + +From this oppression of the art, for nearly three centuries surgery was +considered a degrading profession. Excluded from the university, not only +were surgeons deprived of all academic honours and privileges, but +subjected to those taxes and public burdens from which the members of the +university, being of the clerical order, were exempted. This persecution +not only strove to injure them in a worldly point of view, but the priests +carried their vindictive feelings to such a point of malignity that when +Charles IX. was about to confer the rites of apostolical benediction upon +the surgeons of the long robe, the medical faculty interposed on the plea +of their not being qualified to receive this benediction, as they did not +belong to any of the four faculties of the university; and as the +chancellor, or any other man, had not the power of conferring a blessing +without the pope's permission and special mandate, both surgeons and +barbers ought to be irrevocably damned. The apostolical benediction in +those days was considered of great value, since it exempted all candidates +from examination in anatomy, medicine, surgery, or any other +qualification, when they applied for a degree. + +Ever since the healing art ceased to be a clerical privilege, and a state +of rivalry prevailed between spiritual and corporeal doctors, the former +have sought to represent their opponents as infidels and atheists--the +unbelief of physicians became prevalent, and to this day medical men are +generally considered freethinkers;--an appellation which in a strictly +correct acceptation might be considered more complimentary than +opprobrious, since it designates a man, who extricating his intellectual +faculties from the meshes of ignorance or prejudices, takes the liberty of +thinking for himself. + +Sir Thomas Brown in his "Religio Medici," alludes to this injurious +opinion entertained of medical men, when he says, "For my religion, though +there be several circumstances that might persuade the world I have none +at all, _as the general scandal of my profession_, the natural course of +my studies, the indifferency of my behaviour and discourse in matters of +religion--yet in despite thereof, I dare, without usurpation, assume the +honourable style of Christian." + +Sir Kenelm Digby in his observations on the work from which the above is +extracted, entertains a similar opinion, and quotes Friar Bacon in support +of it. The following are his words: "Those students who busy themselves +much with such notions as reside wholly in the fantasy, do hardly ever +become idoneous for abstracted metaphysical speculations; the one having +bulky foundations of matter, or of the accidents of it, to settle upon--at +the least with one foot; the other flying continually, even to a lessening +pitch in the subtile air. And accordingly it hath been generally noted, +that the excellent mathematicians, who converse altogether with lines, +figures, and other differences of quantity, have seldom proved eminent in +metaphysics or speculative divinity. Nor again, the profession of their +sciences in other arts, much less can it be expected that an excellent +physician, whose fancy is always fraught with the material drugs that he +prescribeth his apothecary to compound his medicines of, and whose hands +are inured to the cutting up, and eyes to the inspection of anatomized +bodies, should easily and with success ply his thoughts at so towering a +game, as a pure intellect, or separated and unbodied soul." + +That such ideas should be maintained in former days, when bigotry and +prejudice reigned paramount, we cannot be surprised; but one must marvel +to see a modern and intelligent annotator of Brown's work,[27] coincide in +this illiberal opinion, in the following terms: + +"Imaginative men, that is, persons in whom the higher attributes of genius +are found, seldom delight in the sciences conversant with mere matter or +form; least of all in medicine, the object of which is the derangement, or +imperfection of nature, and the endeavour to substitute order and harmony +in the place of their opposites. Brought thus chiefly into contact with +diseased organization, surrounded by the worst elements of civil society, +(for their experience must in general be among the intemperate and the +vicious,) they may be said to exist in an infected moral atmosphere, and +it is therefore not greatly to be wondered at that among such persons a +highly religious frame of mind should be the exception and not the rule." + +The absurdity of this observation can only be equalled by its extreme +illiberality. Can it be for one moment entertained, that the physician who +gives his care to every class of society and at all ages "exists in an +infected moral atmosphere?" Supposing that he is not fortunate enough to +attend upon the opulent and the great, and is limited to a pauper or an +hospital practice, does Mr. St. John mean to say that instances of +intemperance and vice are confined to the indigent, although want of +education, and poverty may degrade them in crapulous pursuits? If there +does exist a profession pre-eminent for its philanthropic character, and +the power of discrimination between good and evil, and right and wrong, it +is undoubtedly that of medicine. The finest feelings of humanity are +constantly brought to bear, both in seeking to relieve bodily sufferings +and solacing an afflicted mind--whether it be with the scalpel in hand in +an anatomical theatre, or by the bedside of an agonized sufferer, whom he +hopes, under Providence, to restore to health and to his family, the +physician has daily opportunities of beholding the wonders of the creation +and the benevolence of the Creator--he is a constant witness of the +fervent supplication of the unfortunate and the heartfelt gratitude of +those suppliants at the throne of mercy, whose prayers have been heard. A +man of exalted benevolence (and such a physician ought to be), he must be +alive to all the generous feelings of humanity, and he is doomed more +frequently to move in an _infected moral atmosphere_, when gratuitously +attending some of the troublesome and pedantic legislators of the republic +of letters, than when exerting his skill to relieve the grateful poor who +may fall under his care. + +It has been maintained that the physician seeking in the arcana of nature +the causes of every vital phenomenon becomes a materialist: nothing can be +more unjust, nay, more absurd, than such a supposition. The study of +physiology teaches us, more perhaps then any other pursuit, to admire the +wonderful works of our Creator, and Voltaire has beautifully illustrated +the fact in the following lines: + + Demandez a Sylva par quel secret mystere + Ce pain, cet aliment dans mon corps digere, + Se transforme en un lait doucement prepare; + Comment, toujours filtre dans des routes certaines, + En longs ruisseaux de pourpre il court enfler mes veines; + A mon corps languissant donne un pouvoir nouveau, + Fait palpiter mon coeur et penser mon cerveau; + Il leve au ciel les yeux, il s'incline, il s'ecrie + Demandez le a CE DIEU qui m'a donnez la vie. + +Broeseche has justly said, _Tanta est inter deum, religionem, et medicum +connexio, ut sine Deo et religione nullus exactus medicus esse queat_; and +it has truly been said by a later writer, "that a philosophic physician +must seek in religion, strength of mind to support the painful exertions +of his profession, and some consolation for the ingratitude of mankind." + +Amongst the many glaring absurdities which retarded the progress of +medical studies, one cannot but notice the presumptuous claims of the +physicians to the exclusive privilege of teaching surgery to their pupils, +while anatomy was solely professed by surgeons, and not considered +necessary in the instruction of a physician. All these anomalies can be +easily traced to that spirit of dominion, exclusion, and monopoly, which +invariably characterized clerical bodies. To such a pitch was this +destructive practice carried, that surgeons were only allowed to perform +operations in the presence of one or more physicians: nor were they +permitted to publish any work on their profession until it had been +licensed by a faculty who were utterly ignorant of the matter of which it +treated. The celebrated Ambrose Pare could only obtain as a special favour +from his sovereign, the permission to give to the world one of its most +valuable sources of information. + +So late as 1726 we find the medical faculty of Paris making a formal +representation to Cardinal de Noailles and the curates of that capital to +prevent surgeons from granting certificates of health or of disease, and +this application was grounded on the pious motive of enforcing a more +rigid observance of Lent! They further insisted that this indispensable +mortification was eluded in consequence of the facility of obtaining +certificates that permitted persons stated to be indisposed to eat animal +food, eggs, and butter, whence infidelity was making a most alarming +progress, threatening the very existence of church and state, and the +overthrow of every ancient and glorious institution. The faculty were +formally thanked for their pious zeal in the true interests of religion, +and the spiritual welfare of their patients; and orders were affixed upon +the door of every church, anathematizing all certificates that emanated +from the unholy hands of surgeons and barbers. + +These unfortunate barbers, although they humbly submitted to the sway of +both physicians and surgeons when it suited their purpose, were in turn +persecuted by both their allies and alternate protectors; so much so, that +the clerical practitioners at one time prohibited them from bleeding, and +conferred this privilege upon the bagnio-keepers. From the well-known +nature of these establishments, various may be the reasons that led to +this patronage, which was clearly an attempt to qualify bagnio-keepers to +extend their convenient trade. + +At last, in the year 1505, barbers were dignified with the name of +surgeons. Their instructions were delivered in their vernacular tongue, +until the university again interfered, and ordered that lectures should be +delivered in Latin; once more closing alma-mater against illiterate +shavers, who were, however, obliged to give a smattering of classical +education to their sons destined to wield alternately the razor and the +lancet. In 1655, surgeons and barber-surgeons were incorporated in one +college; a union which was further confirmed, in 1660, by royal +ordonnance, under some limitations, whereby the barbers should not assume +the title of licentiates, bachelors, or professors, nor be allowed to wear +the honourable gown and cap that distinguished the higher grades of +learning. Red caps were in former times given by each barber to his +teacher on his being qualified, and gloves to all his fellow-students. + +Thus we find that the high state of perfection which the surgical art has +attained is solely due to the efforts of industry to free itself from the +ignoble trammels of bigotry and prejudice. Intellectual progress has +invariably been opposed in every country by those powerful and interested +individuals who derived their wealth and influence from the ignorance of +society. Corporate bodies monopolizing the exercise of any profession will +invariably retard instruction and shackle the energies of the student. It +is, no doubt, indispensable that the practice of medicine in all its +branches should only be allowed to such persons as are duly qualified; but +whenever pecuniary advantages are derived from the grant of the +permission, abuses as dishonourable as they are injurious to society will +infallibly prevail. In Great Britain the period of study required in +medical candidates is by no means sufficient. Five or six years is the +very lowest period that should be insisted on; and, when duly instructed, +degrees and licences should be conferred without fee, on all applicants, +by a board of examiners unprejudiced and disinterested. This mode of +granting licences would add to the respectability of the profession, while +it would ensure proper attendance to the public. Physicians and surgeons +would then become (what to a certain extent the latter are at present, +though illegally as far as the laws of the college go), general +practitioners, and society would no longer be infested by the swarms of +practising apothecaries, who, from the very nature of their education, can +only be skilled in making up medicines, or who must have obtained +experience in the lessons taught by repeated failures in their early +practice, unless perchance they have stepped beyond the usual confined +instruction of their class. The consequences that arise from this fatal +system are but too obvious. These men live by selling drugs, which they +unmercifully supply, to the material injury of the patient's constitution. +If, after ringing all the changes of their materia medica without causing +the church-bell to toll, they find themselves puzzled and bewildered, a +physician or a surgeon is called in, and too frequently these +practitioners are bound by tacit agreement not to diminish the revenue +that the shop produces. If it were necessary to prove the evils that +result from the monopolizing powers vested in corporate institutions, the +proof might be sought and found in the virulence and jealousy which they +evince in resisting reform, from whatever quarter it may be dreaded; and +it may be said that too many of the practising apothecaries of the present +day stand in the same relative situation in the medical profession as the +barbers of olden times. + +This faculty of exercising every branch of the profession, however +qualified, is of olden date, and we find on the subject the following +lines in the writings of Alcuin in the time of Charlemagne: + + Accurrunt medici mox Hippocratica tecta: + Hic venas findit, herbas hic miscet in olla; + Ille coquit pultes, alter sed pocula perfert. + + + + +ON DREAMS. + + +Philosophical ingenuity has long been displayed in the most learned +disquisitions in an endeavour to account for the nature of these +phenomena. The strangeness of these visionary perturbations of our +rest--their supposed influence on our destinies--their frequent +verification by subsequent events--have always shed a mystic _prestige_ +around them; and superstition, ignorance, and craft, have in turns +characterized them as the warnings of the Divine will, or the machinations +of an evil spirit. + +Macrobius divided them into various categories. The first, the mere +_dream_, _somnium_, he considers a figurative and mysterious +representation that requires to be interpreted. Dion Cassius gives an +example of this in the case of Nero, who dreamt that he saw the chair of +Jupiter pass into the palace of Vespasian, which was considered as +emblematical of his translation to the empire. + +The second distinction he terms a _vision_, _visio_, or a foreboding of +future events. The third he deemed _oracular_, _oraculum_, and this was +the case when a priest, or a relative, a deity, a hero, or some venerable +person, denounced what was to happen, or warned us against it. As an +example of this inspiration, for such it was considered, an anecdote of +Vespasian is related. Having heard that a man in Achaia had dreamt that a +person unknown to him had assured him that he should date his prosperity +from the moment that Nero should lose a tooth,--a tooth just drawn from +that emperor being shown to him the following day, he foresaw his +destinies: soon after Nero died, Galba did not long survive him, and the +discord that reigned between Otho and Vitellius ultimately placed the +diadem on his brow. These inspirations were considered by Cicero, and +various philosophers, as particularly appertaining to the shrine of the +gods; those who sought that heavenly admonition were therefore recommended +to lie down in temples. The Lacedaemonians sought slumber in the temple of +Pasithea; Brizo, the goddess of sleep and dreams, was worshipped at Delos, +and her votaries slept before her altars with their heads bound with +laurel, and other fatidical symbols; hence divination by dreams was called +_Brizomantia_. Supplications were offered up to Mercury for propitious +visions, and a caduceus was placed for that purpose at the feet of beds; +hence was it called [Greek: ermies]. + +Diodorus informs us that dreams were regarded in Egypt with religious +reverence, and the prayers of the devout were often rewarded by the gods +with an indication of appropriate remedies. But the confidence in +supernatural agency and the power of magic, was only deemed a last +resource, when human skill had been baffled. Some persons promised a +certain sum of money for the maintenance of sacred animals, consecrated to +the divinity whose aid they implored. In the case of infants, a certain +portion of their hair was cut off and weighed, and when the cure was +effected an equal quantity of gold was given to the successful +intermediator. + +The fourth division was _insomny_, _insomnium_, which was characterized by +a disturbed repose, caused either by mental or bodily oppression, or +solicitude. The fifth class of dreams was the _phantasm_ or _visus_, which +takes place between sleeping and waking, in a dozing and broken slumber, +when the person thinks himself awake, and yet beholds fantastic and +chimerical figures floating around his couch. Under this class is placed +the _ephialtes_, or night-mare. Macrobius represents the phantasm and the +insomnium as little deserving of attention, being of no use in divination +and prediction. + +When these notions prevailed, the interpretation of dreams became a +profitable trade; and it is a lamentable truth, that, to the present day, +it is considered a speculation upon credulity. We find in Plutarch's Life +of Aristides that there were tables drawn out for this purpose; and he +speaks of one Lysimachus, a grandson of Aristides, who gained a handsome +livelihood by this profession, taking up his station near the temple of +Bacchus. Rules of interpretation were formed by Artemidorus, who lived in +the reign of Antoninus Pius, and he drew his conclusions from +circumstances considered either propitious or sinister. Thus, to dream of +a large nose, signified subtlety; of rosemary or sage, trouble and +weakness; of a midwife, disclosure of secrets; of a leopard, a deceitful +person. These interpretations became so multiplied, that at last it was +decreed that no dreams which related to the public weal should be +regarded, unless they had visited the brains of some magistrates, or more +than one individual. But what limits can any enactment assign to the +influence of credulity and superstition? Cicero informs us that the Consul +Lucius Julius repaired to the temple of Juno Sospita, in obedience to a +decree of the senate regarding the dream of Caecilia, daughter of +Balearicus. + +In more modern times we have often seen dreams resorted to, in order to +assist the speculations of policy and priestcraft; some of them as absurd +in their nature as revolting in their interpretation. Monkish records +relate that St. Bernard's mother dreamed that she had a little white dog +barking about her, which was interpreted to her by a religious person as +meaning "that she should be the mother of an excellent dog indeed, who +should be the hope of God's house, and would incessantly bark against its +adversaries, for he should be a famous preacher, and cure many by his +medicinal tongue." Our Archbishop Laurence, to whom we owe the church of +Our Lady at Canterbury, was about to emigrate to France under the +discouragement of persecution, until warned in a dream, and severely +scourged by St. Peter for his weakness. It was on the relation not only of +this dream, but on actually exhibiting the marks of the stripes he had +received, that Eadbald was baptized, and became a protector of the church. +It was in a dream of this description that St. Andrew instructed Peter +Pontanus how to find out the spear that had pierced our Saviour's side, +and which was hidden somewhere near Antioch. Antioch was at that time +besieged by the Persians, and half famished; but this weapon being carried +by a bishop, enabled the besieged to beleaguer Caiban, the Persian +general. + +The Peripatetics represented dreams as arising from a presaging faculty of +the mind; other sects imagined that they were suggestions of daemons. +Democritus and Lucretius looked upon them as spectres and _simulacra_ of +corporeal things, emitted from them, floating in the air, and assailing +the soul. A modern writer, Andrew Baxter, entertained a notion somewhat +similar, and imagined that dreams were prompted by separate immaterial +beings, or spirits, who had access to the sleeper's brain with the faculty +of inspiring him with various ideas. Burton divides dreams into natural, +divine, and daemoniacal; and he defines sleep, after Scaliger, as "the rest +or binding of the outward senses, and of the common sense, for the +preservation of body and soul." + +Gradually released from the trammels of superstition, modern philosophers +have sought for more plausible explanations of the nature and causes of +dreams, but perhaps without having attained a greater degree of certainty +in this difficult question than our bewildered ancestors. Wolfius is of +opinion that every dream originates in some sensation, yet the independent +energies of the mind are sufficiently displayed in the preservation of the +continued phantasms of the imagination. He maintains that none of these +phantasms can prevail unless they arise from this previous sensation. De +Formey is of the same opinion, and conceives that dreams are supernatural +when not produced by these sensations. But of what nature are these +sensations? Are they corporeal impressions received prior to sleep, and +the continuances of reflection, or are they the children of an idle brain? +Although it is not easy to trace an affinity between the subjects of our +dreams and our previous train of thought, yet it is more than probable +that dreams are excited by impressions experienced in our waking moments, +and retransmitted to the sensorium, however difficult it may be to link +the connexion of our ideas, and trace their imperceptible catenation. +Moreover, there does not exist a necessary and regular association in the +state of mind that succeeds any particular impressions. These impressions +only predispose the mind to certain ideas, which act upon it with more or +less subsequent energy, and with more or less irregularity, according to +the condition in which the predisposing causes have left it. It has been +observed that we seldom dream of the objects of our love or our +antipathies. Such dreams may not be the natural results of such +sentiments. We may fondly love a woman, and in our dreams transfer this +soft sensation of fondness to another individual,--to a dog that fondles +us, or any other pleasing object. We may have experienced fear--in a storm +at sea; yet we may not dream of being tossed about in a boat, but of being +mounted upon a runaway horse who hurries us to destruction, or of flying +from a falling avalanche. Our mind had been predisposed by fear to receive +any terrific impression, and most probably these alarming phantasms will +be of a chimerical and an extravagant nature. A man who has been bitten by +a dog may fancy himself in the coils of a boa-constrictor. When dreaming, +the mind is in an abstracted state; but still is its reciprocal influence +over the body manifest, although it is powerless on volition. Vigilance in +sleep is still awake; but her assistance is of no avail until the +connexion between mind and body is aroused by any alarm from external +agents. It is well known that a hungry man will dream of an ample repast. +A patient with a blister on his head has fancied himself scalped by +Indians in all their fantastic ornaments. Somnambulism clearly proves that +the mind retains its energies in sleep. Locke has justly observed that +dreams are made up of the waking man's ideas, although oddly put together. +Hartley is of opinion that dreams are nothing but the reveries of sleeping +men, and are deducible from the impressions and ideas lately received, the +state of the body, and association. I have endeavoured to explain, on the +ground of the general effects of predisposition, the anomalies which so +often are displayed in these associations. Of the surprising powers of the +mind in somnambulism we have many instances too well authenticated to be +doubted. Henricus ab Heeres was in the habit of composing in his sleep, +reading aloud his productions, expressing his satisfaction, and calling to +his chamber-fellow to join in the commendation. Caelius Rhodiginus when +busied in his interpretation of Pliny, could only find the proper +signification of the word _ectrapali_ in his slumbers. There is not the +least doubt but that the mind is capable of receiving impressions of +knowledge, but more particularly inspirations of genius, when the body is +lulled in a state of apparent repose. Dreams have been ingeniously +compared to a drama defective in the laws of unity, and unconnected by +constant anachronisms. Yet certain incoherences are not frequent: Darwin +has justly remarked that a woman will seldom dream that she is a soldier, +and a soldier's visions will seldom expose him to the apprehensions of +child-birth. Buffon has observed, "We represent to ourselves persons whom +we have never seen, and such as have been dead for many years; we behold +them alive and such as they were, but we associate them with actual +things, or with persons of other times. It is the same with our ideas of +locality; we see things not where they were, but elsewhere, where they +never could have been." + +Dugald Stewart has endeavoured to account for these phenomena by the +doctrine that in sleep the operations of the mind are suspended, and that +therefore the cause of dreams is the loss of power of the will over the +mind, which in the waking condition is subject to its control. Now, if +this be the case, dreams must consist of mental operations independent of +the will. However, it is not the suspension of the will and of the powers +of volition that alone constitutes sleep; it is the suspension of the +powers of the understanding,--attention, comparison, memory, and judgment. +It is in consequence of this suspension of all our active intellectual +faculties that we never can _will_ during our dreams; in that state there +appears to be a resistance of the powers of volition with which the mind +struggles in vain, and which is expressed both by moans, and the character +of the sleeper's every feature, which portrays a state of anguish and +impatience. In all dreams that are not of a morbid nature, every action is +passive, involuntary. This state is widely different from delirium, in +which the brain is in a morbid state of excitement; and the body is more +susceptible than usual of external agency, while the mind is perplexed by +hallucinations of an erroneous nature. + +Dr. Abercrombie considers insanity and dreaming as having a remarkable +affinity when considered as mental phenomena; the impressions in the one +case being more or less permanent, and transient in the other. +Somnambulism he considers an intermediate state. Dreams, according to his +theory, are divided into four classes: the first, when recent events and +recent mental emotions are mixed up with each other, and with old events, +by some feeling common to both; the second class relates to trains of +images brought up by association with bodily sensations; the third, the +result of forgotten associations; and the fourth class of dreams contains +those in which a strong propensity of character, or a strong mental +emotion, is imbodied in a dream, and by some natural coincidence is +fulfilled. The following interesting cases that fell under Dr. +Abercrombie's immediate notice, illustrate his views and the above +classification. + +Regarding the first class, Dr. A. relates the following: "A woman, who was +a patient in the clinical ward of the infirmary of Edinburgh, under the +care of Dr. Duncan, talked a great deal in her sleep, and made numerous +and very distinct allusions to the cases of other sick persons. These +allusions did not apply to any patients who were in the ward at the time; +but, after some observation, they were found to refer correctly to the +cases of individuals who were there when this woman was a patient in the +ward two years before." + +The following is an instance of phantasms being produced by our +associations with bodily sensations, and tends to show how alive our +faculties continue during sleep to the slightest impressions: + +The subject of this observation was an officer in the expedition to +Louisburg in 1758, who had this peculiarity in so remarkable a degree, +that his companions in the transport were in the constant habit of amusing +themselves at his expense. They could produce in him any kind of dream by +whispering in his ear, especially if this was done by a friend with whose +voice he had become familiar. One time they conducted him through the +whole progress of a quarrel, which ended in a duel; and when the parties +were supposed to have met, a pistol was put into his hand, which he fired, +and was awakened by the report. On another occasion they found him asleep +on the top of a locker in the cabin, when they made him believe he had +fallen overboard, and exhorted him to save himself by swimming. They then +told him that a shark was pursuing him, and entreated him to dive for his +life. He instantly did so, and with so much force as to throw himself from +the locker upon the cabin floor, by which he was much bruised, and +awakened of course. After the landing of the army at Louisburg, his +friends found him one day asleep in his tent, and evidently much annoyed +by the cannonading. They then made him believe that he was engaged, when +he expressed great fear, and showed an evident disposition to run away. +Against this they remonstrated, but at the same time increased his fears +by imitating the groans of the wounded and the dying; and when he asked, +as he often did, who was hit, they named his particular friends. At last +they told him that the man next himself in his company had fallen, when he +instantly sprung from his bed, rushed out of the tent, and was only roused +from his danger and his dream by falling over the tent-ropes. A +remarkable thing in this case was, that after these experiments he had no +distinct recollection of his dreams, but only a confused feeling of +oppression or fatigue, and used to tell his friends that he was sure they +had been playing some trick upon him. It has been observed that we seldom +feel courageous or daring in our dreams, and generally avoid danger when +menaced by a foe, or exposed to any probable peril. + +The third class of dreams relates to the revival of forgotten +associations. The person in question was at the time connected with one of +the principal banks in Glasgow, and was at his place at the teller's +table, where money is paid, when a person entered demanding payment of a +sum of six pounds. There were several people waiting, who were in turn +entitled to be attended to before him; but he was remarkably impatient and +rather noisy, and being besides a remarkable stammerer, he became so +annoying, that another gentleman requested him to pay the money and get +rid of him. He did so accordingly, but with an expression of impatience at +being obliged to attend to him before his turn, and thought no more of the +transaction. At the end of the year, which was eight or nine months after, +the books of the bank could not be made to balance, the deficiency being +exactly six pounds. Several days and nights had been spent in endeavouring +to discover the error, but without success, when he returned home much +fatigued, and went to bed. He dreamt of being at his place in the bank, +and the whole transaction of the stammerer, as now detailed, passed before +him in all its particulars. He awoke under the full impression that the +dream would lead him to the discovery of what he was so anxiously in +search of, and on examination he soon discovered that he had neglected to +enter the sum which he had thus paid. + +The following singular dreams are examples of the fourth class. A +clergyman had come to Edinburgh from a short distance in the country, and +was sleeping at an inn, when he dreamt of seeing a fire, and one of his +children in the midst of it. He awoke with the impression, and instantly +left town on his return home. When he arrived in sight of his house, he +found it on fire, and got there in time to assist in saving one of his +children, who in the alarm and confusion had been left in a situation of +danger. + +A gentleman in Edinburgh was affected with aneurism of the popliteal +artery, for which he was under the care of two eminent surgeons, and the +day was fixed for the operation. About two days before the appointed time, +the wife of the patient dreamt that a favourable change had taken place +in the disease, in consequence of which the operation would not be +required. On examining the tumour in the morning, the gentleman was +astonished to find that the pulsation had entirely ceased, and, in short, +this turned out to be a spontaneous cure,--a very rare occurrence in +surgical practice. + +The following dream is still more remarkable. A lady dreamt that an aged +female relative had been murdered by a black servant, and the dream +occurred more than once. She was then so impressed by it, that she went to +the house of the lady, and prevailed upon a gentleman to watch in an +adjoining room during the following night. About three o'clock in the +morning, the gentleman, hearing footsteps on the stairs, left his place of +concealment, and met the servant carrying up a quantity of coals. Being +questioned as to where he was going, he replied, in a hurried and confused +manner, that he was going to mend his mistress's fire, which at three +o'clock in the morning in the middle of summer was evidently impossible; +and, on further investigation, a strong knife was found concealed beneath +the coals. + +Dreams, to whatever causes they may be attributed, vary according to the +nature of our sleep: if it is sound and natural, they will seldom prevail; +if, on the contrary, it be broken and uneasy, by a spontaneous association +dreams will become fanciful, and might indeed be called visions, so +fantastic and chimerical are all the objects that present themselves in +motley groups to the disturbed mind. This derangement in the sensorium may +be referred to various physical causes,--the sensations of heat or of +cold, obstruction in the course of the circulation of the blood, as when +lying upon the back, a difficult digestion. In a sound sleep our dreams +are seldom remembered except in a vague manner; whereas, in a broken +sleep, as Formey has observed, the impression of the dream remains upon +the mind, and constitutes what this philosopher called "_the lucidity of +dreams_." It not unfrequently happens to us that we have had a similar +dream several times, or at least we labour under this impression; nay, +many persons fancy that particular events of their life at the moment of +their occurrence had clearly taken place at a former period either in +reality or in a dream. Morning "winged dreams" are more easily remembered +in their circumstantial vagaries than those of the preceding night, for at +that period (the morning) our sleep is not sound, and dreams become more +lucid. These _revasseries_, as the French call them, are admirably +described by Dryden: + + A dream o'ertook me at my waking hour + This morn, and dreams they say are then divine, + When all the balmy vapours are exhal'd, + And some o'erpow'ring god continues sleep. + +That we are more or less impressionable in our sleep is rendered evident +by the facility with which even a sound sleeper is disturbed by the +slightest noise: the sparkling of a fire, or the crackling produced by the +wick of our night-lamp when coming into contact with the water in the +glass, the sting of an insect, the slightest admission of a higher or +lower temperature, will occasion a broken sleep and its dreams. It has +been remarked that the sense of seeing is more frequently acted upon in +dreams than that of hearing, and very seldom do we find our smell and +taste under their influence. It is possible that this peculiarity may +arise from the greater variety of impressions with which the sight is +daily struck, and which memory communicates by association or +retransmission. Next to feeling, vision is the first sense brought into +relation with external objects. When we hear noises, explosions, +tumultuous cries, it is more than probable that our dreams partake of a +delirious and morbid nature, or of sensorial or intellectual +hallucinations, in which the mind is actually diseased, and our +perceptions become erroneous: then we speak loudly to others, and to +ourselves. When these hallucinations prevail after sleep, the invasion of +mania may be apprehended. + +Cabanis, in his curious investigations on the mind, has endeavoured to fix +the order in which the different parts of our organization go to sleep. +First the legs and arms, then the muscles that support the head and back: +the first sense that slumbers, according to his notions, is that of sight; +then follow in regular succession the senses of taste, smell, hearing, and +feeling. The viscera fall asleep one after the other, but with different +decrees of soundness. If this doctrine be correct, we may easily conceive +the wild and strange inconsistencies of our dreams, during which the +waking and the sleeping organs are acting and reacting upon each other. + +Corporeal sensations and different organic actions frequently attend our +dreams; but these may be attributed to our mode of living, or the +indulgence in certain unruly desires and conversations. That man and +animals dream of the pursuits of the preceding day there can be no doubt: +hence the line, + + Et canis in somnis leporis vestigia latrat. + +The effects of a heavy meal, more especially a supper, in disturbing our +rest, was well known and recorded by ancient physicians: and Crato tells +us "that the fittest time to repair to rest is two or three hours after +supper, when the meat is then settled in the bottom of the stomach: and +'tis good to lie on the right side first, because at that side the liver +doth rest under the stomach, not molesting any way, but heating him as a +fire doth a kettle that is put to it. After the first sleep 'tis not amiss +to lie upon the left side, that the meat may the better descend; and +sometimes again on the belly, but never on the back." + +Our ancestors had recourse to various devices to procure sound sleep. +Borde recommends a good draught of strong drink before going to bed; +Burton, a nutmeg and ale, with a good potation of muscadine with a toast; +while Aetius recommends a sup of vinegar, which, according to Piso, +"_attenuat melancholiam et ad conciliandum somnum juvat_." Oppression from +repletion will occasion fearful dreams and the night-mare; and bodily +sufferings, when exhaustion has brought on sleep, will also be attended +with alarming and painful visions. + +Levinus Lemnius recommended to sleep with the mouth shut, to promote a +regular digestion by the exclusion of too much external air. The +night-mare is admirably described in Dryden's translation of Virgil: + + And as, when heavy sleep has closed the sight, + The sickly fancy labours in the night, + We seem to run, and, destitute of force, + Our sinking limbs forsake us in the course: + In vain we heave for breath; in vain we cry; + The nerves, unbraced, their usual strength deny, + And on the tongue the falt'ring accents die. + +In the Runic theology it was regarded as a spectre of the night, which +seized men in their sleep, and suddenly deprived them of speech and of +motion. It was vulgarly called witch-riding, and considered as arising +from the weight of fuliginous spirits incumbent on the breast. + +_Somnus ut sit levis, sit tibi coena brevis_, is the ancient axiom of +our distich, + + That your sleep may be light, + Let your supper be slight. + +Notwithstanding this rule of health, it is nevertheless true that many +persons sleep more soundly after a hearty supper; and, most +unquestionably, dreams are more frequent towards morning than in the +beginning of the night. In my opinion, I should apprehend that the sound +sleep of supper-eaters is to be attributed to the narcotic nature of their +potations, more than the meal, although the _siesta_ of southern countries +might be advanced in favour of a contrary opinion. + +When philosophers speak of dreams being mental operations independent of +the will, they speak vaguely, for the operations of the mind when we are +awake are too frequently uncontrolled by volition. Did we possess this +power over our rebellious thoughts, who would constantly ponder on a +painful subject? Our thoughts cannot be suspended at will, and their +influence has been beautifully described by Shakspeare: + + My brain I'll prove the female to my soul, + My soul the father; and these two beget + A generation of still breeding thoughts. + +Volition has no more power over thought when we are awake than sleeping; +and, despite all metaphysical and psychological speculations, it cannot be +demonstrated that the mind does not retain its full energies during sleep, +only they cease to be regulated by judgment, and are not, to use Locke's +words, under the rule and conduct of the understanding; and even on this +opinion it has been fairly observed, that much of incongruity which is +supposed to prove suspension of reason, and much of the wild discordancy +of representation which appears to prevail during our sleep, may arise +from the defect of memory when we are awake, that does not retain the +impression of images which have passed across the mind in light and rapid +succession, and which, therefore, exhibit but a partial and imperfect +sketch of the picture that engaged the attention in sleep. The well-known +fact that the impressions of our dreams are oftentimes more vivid and +correct, when some time has elapsed, than on our awakening, tends to +confirm this hypothesis; and these recollections are the more vivid when +they bear any analogy to circumstances that come to pass. + +Sir Thomas Brown was of opinion that sleep was the waking of the soul; the +ligation of sense, but the liberty of reason; and that our waking +conceptions do not match the fancies of our sleep. He thus expresses +himself in his Religio Medici: "At my nativity my ascendant was the watery +sign of Scorpius; I was born in the planetary hour of Saturn, and I think +I have a piece of that leaden planet in me. I am no way facetious, nor +disposed for the mirth and galliardise of company; yet in one dream I can +compose a whole comedy, behold the action, apprehend the jests, and laugh +myself awake at the conceits thereof. Were my memory as faithful as my +reason is then fruitful, I would never study but in my dreams, and this +time also would I choose for my devotions; but our grosser memories have +then so little hold of our abstracted understandings, that they forget the +story, and can only relate to our awaked souls a confused and broken tale +of that that hath passed." + +Dreams have been considered as prescriptive in various diseases. Diodorus +Siculus relates that a certain Scythian dreamed that Aesculapius had drawn +the humours of his body to one place, or head, to have it lanced. When +Galen had an inflammation of the diaphragm, we are told that he was +directed in a dream to open a vein between the thumb and the fourth +finger--an operation which restored him to health. Marcus Antoninus +asserted that he learned in his dreams various remedies for spitting of +blood. It is related of Sir Christopher Wren, that, when at Paris, in +1671, being disordered with "a pain in his reins," he sent for a +physician, who prescribed blood-letting, but he deferred submitting to it, +and dreamed that very night that he was in a place where palm-trees grew, +and that a woman in a romantic habit offered dates to him. The next day he +sent for dates, which cured him. Now, although this cure, brought about by +a dream, was considered wonderful, its circumstances offer nothing +supernatural. It is more than probable that Sir Christopher had frequently +read in foreign works on medicine, that dates were recommended as an +efficacious remedy in nephritic complaints; and, moreover, had met in his +daily perambulations female quacks, who exhibit themselves to this day in +the French metropolis, fantastically attired, and vending their far-famed +nostrums. That he should have remembered dates, and that the phantasm of +the she-mountebank might at the same time have struck his fancy, were two +associations by no means improbable. + +It is very likely that all the strange stories of prophetic dreams might +be traced to a similar connexion of ideas. I have before observed that +dreams do not always assume their complexion from recent occurrences, and +our bodily sufferings during sleep bring to our recollection every +circumstance that regards the malady. A patient who had a bottle of hot +water placed at his feet dreamed that he was walking in great agony in the +burning lava of Vesuvius. Similar associations exist when awake: the man +whose arm has been amputated constantly refers the pain he experiences to +the lost hand, or to that part of the limb which received the injury; and +the very same nervous illusion prevails during his slumbers. A case is +recorded of an officer who had lost his leg, and, when cold, felt comfort +and warmth by wrapping the stump of his wooden leg in flannel. + +In various diseases the nature and the period of the invasion of dreams +afford a valuable ground of observation to the physician both in his +diagnosis and prognosis of the case. In incipient hydro-thorax, for +instance, dreams occur at the very moment the patient falls asleep, and he +fancies himself suffocated by some impending and destructive weight. +Diseases of the heart are accompanied by alarming dreams, from which the +patient starts up in great terror. In children the perturbation of their +sleep frequently indicates the seat of their sufferings; and the valuable +researches on the nervous system by Charles Bell have enabled the medical +attendant to read in the features of a sleeping infant whether the malady +be in the head, the cavity of the chest, or the abdomen. + +If proof were wanting that dreams arise from our waking thoughts, it might +be found in the circumstance of those sleepers who divulge their secrets, +and verify the lines of Shakspeare: + + There are a kind of men so loose of soul, + That in their sleep will mutter their affairs. + +Reason, therefore, prompts us to reject the idea of dreams being +preternatural suggestions. In general, we may consider them as a morbid +excitement of the brain, arising either from moral or physical causes, and +depending essentially on the condition of our mind and body. Our most +lively hopes are ever linked with fears that prey upon us even when most +secure; and these apprehensions, recurring in our dreams, prove too often +prophetic of the very events we dreaded. The prejudices of early education +shed around these forewarnings circumstantial incidents; and fear is the +greatest ally of superstition. + +If our visions by night are fraught with such singular circumstances, our +"day dreams," or _reveries_, are frequently attended with strange +associations. The impressions received during these ecstatic visions or +trances will occasionally act so powerfully upon the mind, that during our +waking hours and the usual pursuits of life we cannot divest ourselves of +the existence of their reality. + +Dr. Arnould has given the following curious account of a case of this +kind, as narrated by the individual himself:--"One afternoon in the month +of May, feeling himself a little unsettled and not inclined to business, +he thought he would take a walk into the city to amuse his mind, and +having strolled into St. Paul's Churchyard, he stopped at the shop window +of Carrington and Bowles, and looked at the pictures, among which was one +of the cathedral. He had not been long there before a short grave-looking +elderly gentleman, dressed in dark brown clothes, came up and began to +examine the prints, and occasionally casting a glance at him, very soon +entered into conversation with him, and praising the view of St. Paul's +which was exhibited at the window, told him many anecdotes of Sir +Christopher Wren the architect, and asked him at the same time if he had +ever ascended to the top of the dome. He replied in the negative. The +stranger then inquired if he had dined, and proposed that they should go +to an eating-house in the neighbourhood, adding that after dinner he would +accompany him up St. Paul's. It was a glorious afternoon for a view, and +he was so familiar with the place that he could point out every object +worthy of attention. The kindness of the old gentleman's manner induced +him to comply with the invitation, and they went to a tavern in some dark +alley, the name of which he did not know. They dined and very soon left +the table, and ascended to the ball just below the cross, which they +entered alone. + +"They had not been there many minutes, when, while he was gazing on the +extensive prospect and delighted with the splendid scene below him, the +grave gentleman pulled out from an inside coat-pocket something like a +compass, having round the edge some curious figures; then having muttered +some unintelligible words, he placed it in the centre of the ball. He felt +a great trembling, and a sort of horror came over him, which was increased +by his companion asking him if he should like to see any friend at a +distance and to know what he was at that time doing, for if so, the latter +could show him any such person. It happened that his father had been for a +long time in bad health and for some weeks past he had not visited him. A +sudden thought came into his mind, so powerful, that it overcame his +terror, that he should like to see his father. He had no sooner expressed +the wish than the exact person of his father was immediately presented to +his sight in the mirror, reclining in his armchair and taking his +afternoon sleep. Not having fully believed in the power of the stranger to +make good his offer, he became overwhelmed with terror at the clearness +and truth of the vision presented to him, and he entreated his mysterious +companion that they might immediately descend, as he felt himself very +ill. The request was complied with, and on parting under the portico of +the northern entrance, the stranger said to him, 'Remember you are the +slave of the man of the mirror.'" + +He returned in the evening to his home, he does not know exactly at what +hour; felt himself unquiet, depressed, gloomy, apprehensive, and haunted +with thoughts of the stranger. For the last three months he has been +conscious of the power of the latter over him. Dr. Arnould adds, "I +inquired in what way his power was exercised? He cast on me a look of +suspicion mingled with confidence, took my arm, and after leading me +through two or three rooms and then into the garden, exclaimed, 'It is of +no use--there is no concealment from him, for all places are alike open to +him--he sees us--and he hears _us now_.' I asked him where the being was +who saw us and heard us? He replied in a voice of deep agitation, 'Have I +not told you that he lives in the ball below the cross on the top of St. +Paul's, and that he only comes down to take a walk in the churchyard and +get his dinner at the house in the dark alley. Since that fatal interview +with the necromancer,' he continued, 'for such I believe him to be, he is +continually dragging me before him in his mirror--he not only sees me +every moment of the day, but he reads all my thoughts, and I have a +dreadful consciousness that no action of my life is free from his +inspection, and no place can afford me security from his power.' On my +reply that the darkness of the night would afford him protection from +these machinations, he said, 'I know what you mean, but you are quite +mistaken--I have only told you of the mirror, but in some part of the +building which he passed on coming away, he showed me what he called a +great bell, and I heard sounds which came from it, and which went to it, +sounds of laughter, and of anger, and of pain; there was a dreadful +confusion of sounds, and I listened with wonder and affright'--he said, +'this is my organ of hearing; this great bell is in communication with all +the other bells within the circle of hieroglyphics, by which every word +spoken by those under my control is made audible to me.' Seeing me look +surprised at him, he said, 'I have not yet told you all, for he practises +his spells by hieroglyphics on walls and houses, and wields his power, +like a detestable tyrant as he is, over the minds of those whom he has +enchanted, and who are the objects of his constant spite within the circle +of his hieroglyphics.' I asked him what these hieroglyphics were, and how +he perceived them? He replied, 'Signs and symbols which you in your +ignorance of their true meaning have taken for letters and words, and +read, as you have thought, _Day and Martin_ and _Warren's blacking_. Oh! +that is all nonsense! they are only the mysterious characters which he +places to mark the boundaries of his dominions, and by which he prevents +all escape from his tremendous power. How I have toiled and laboured to +get beyond the limits of his influence! Once I walked for three days and +three nights, till I fell down under a wall exhausted by fatigue, and +dropped asleep; but on awaking I saw the dreadful sign before my eyes, and +I felt myself as completely under his infernal spell at the end as at the +beginning of the journey.'" + +Dr. Pritchard remarks on this singular case of insanity, that this +gentleman had actually ascended to the top of St. Paul's, and that +impressions there received being afterwards renewed in his mind when in a +state of vivid excitement, in a dream or ecstatic revery, became so +blended with the creation of fancy, as to form one mysterious vision, in +which the true and the imaginary were afterwards inseparable. + +It is also possible that this person, being of a nervous and susceptible +disposition, had been struck, when on the dizzy height of the cupola, with +a vertigo, or fit, during which these phantasms had struck him in so vivid +a manner as to derange his intellects--the loud and terrific sound of the +bell adding to the horror of his situation. It is well known that persons +have recollected circumstances that occurred around them during an +epileptic and an apoplectic attack. Our worthy visionary was for two years +an inmate of a private asylum. + +In regard to the verification of dreams, they may be easily accounted for +by that proneness that most men, especially if of a weak and +impressionable state of mind, experience in courting the object of their +hopes or fears. Thus have the absurd prognostications of fortune-tellers +been too frequently fatal, as we may work up our thoughts to such an +intensity as to bring on the very death that we apprehend. Dr. Pritchard +relates the case of a clergyman, in an indifferent state of health, who, +when standing one day at the corner of a street, saw a funeral procession +approaching him. He waited till it came near him, saw all the train pass +him, with black nodding plumes, and read his own name on the coffin, which +was carried by, and entered, with the whole procession, into the house +where he resided. This was the commencement of an illness which put an end +to his life in a few days. + +During a severe fever, in the peninsula, my nightly rest was constantly +disturbed by the threatening appearance of animals with fearful horns and +antlers, incessantly hovering about me. For a long time after my recovery +the spectral illusion continued, and every horse or mule that passed by +me appeared to be armed with immense horns. + +It is to be feared that, notwithstanding the ingenuity of the many +physiologists who have sought to investigate the nature of dreams, we +shall never come to any satisfactory conclusion, since we follow too +frequently the example of the German philosopher, Lesage, who, in his +endeavour to throw some light on this obscure subject, sought to ascertain +the intermediate condition of the mind when passing from the waking state +into sleep, a transition which never has been, and, most probably, never +can be ascertained, since sleep, to a certain degree, is a suspension of +all power of attention, perception, volition, and every spontaneous +faculty. + + + + +ON FLAGELLATION. + + +Amongst the various moral and physical remedies introduced by the +priesthood and physicians for the benefit of society, flagellation once +held a most distinguished rank. As a remedy, it was supposed to reanimate +the torpid circulation of the capillary or cutaneous vessels, to increase +muscular energy, promote absorption, and favour the necessary secretions +of our nature. No doubt, in many instances, its action as a revulsive may +be beneficial; and urtication, or the stinging with nettles, has not +unfrequently been prescribed with advantage. As a religious discipline, +for such has this system of mortification been called, it has been +considered as most acceptable to Heaven; so much so, indeed, that the +fustigation was commensurate with the sinner's offence. Under the head of +Daemonomania I have endeavoured to show that whipping was equally agreeable +to the evil spirit, who delighted in flogging the elect. + +It appears that at this period a belief prevailed that heavenly mercy +restored the grace that had been forfeited, commuting for temporal +punishment that which else would have been eternal. The monks of Fonte +Avellana, for instance, had decreed that thirty psalms, said or sung, with +an accompaniment of one hundred stripes to each psalm, would be considered +as a set-off for one year of purgatory; and, by this calculation, the +whole psalter, which would have demanded fifteen thousand stripes, would +have procured a relief of five years from the fiery ordeal. It was no +doubt under this impression that St. Dominic the Cuirassier, so named from +his wearing, day and night, an iron cuirass next his skin, and which he +never took off, adopted this same covering when, upon entering into +priest's orders, his parents presented the bishop who ordained him with a +rich fur garment, an offence for which the holy man wished to atone by +donning an iron vestment. + +This said madman belonged to the congregation of Fonte Avellana, the monks +of which never touched either wine or oil, and, during five days of the +week, lived upon bread and water; moreover, every day after service they +flogged each other. Dominic, in extenuation of his family's offence in +having presented his diocesan with a luxurious gown, lashed himself at the +rate of ten psalters, and thirty thousand lashes _per diem_; by which he +calculated that he was redeeming three thousand six hundred and fifty +years of purgatorial torments _per annum_: but, in addition to this +wholesome allowance, he humbly petitioned his superior to allow him, +during Lent, a supplementary punishment of one hundred years, when his +day's work was two psalters and a half, and thirty-four thousand five +hundred lashes. This punishment did not seem sufficient in his eyes to +propitiate the Creator; and St. Pietro Damiano informs us that, during the +Lenten days, he actually recited the psalter two hundred times, with a +_crescendo_ accompaniment of sixty millions of stripes. It was on this +occasion that Yepes shrewdly observed, that he marvelled less at a man's +head being able to retain so many verses than that his arm was able to +carry on such a flagellation; or, to use his own words, how his flesh, +unless made of iron, could resist such a castigation. This blessed man +must have been endowed with powers that were increased by exertion, since +we find that his ambition gave him such energy, that once beginning his +operations in the evening, and singing and flogging, and flogging and +singing, _con amore_, through the day and night, at the expiration of +twenty-four hours he had gone through the psalms twelve times, begun them +a thirteenth time, and proceeded as far as _Beati quorum_, the +thirty-second psalm; having inflicted upon himself one hundred and +eighty-three thousand one hundred stripes, thereby reducing purgatorial +stock to the amount of sixty-one years, twelve days, and thirty-three +minutes, to a fraction. + +It would be perfectly idle and absurd for any freethinker to doubt this +fact, recorded by an eyewitness--Pietro Damiano, a saint, and moreover a +cardinal; and Calmet himself maintains that no man should dare to doubt a +saint's assertion, more especially when speaking of another beatified +person. Notwithstanding this assertion, a stiff-necked arithmetician +calculated that, if during these twenty-four hours the saint had given +himself two blows every second, the number of lashes would only have +amounted to one hundred and seventy-two thousand eight hundred, being ten +thousand three hundred short of the amount stated! However, this +difficulty was overcome by Father Castaniza, who makes up the amount by +maintaining that he made use of cats with ten tails, and therefore had +actually a balance in his favour in his _winding_-sheet.[28] + +_Ubi stimulus ibi affluxus_, has been a physiological axiom since the days +of Hippocrates; and flagellation thus employed is only a modification of +blistering, or exciting the skin by any other irritating method. The moral +influence of flagellation in the treatment of different diseases has been +appreciated by the ancients: it was strongly recommended by the disciples +of Asclepiades, by Caelius Aurelianus, and since by Rhasis and Valescus, in +the treatment of mania. No doubt, the terror which this castigation +inspires may tend materially to facilitate the management of the insane. +To the present day this opinion has prevailed to a revolting degree, and +it is no easy matter for the humane physician to convince a keeper of the +cruelty or inutility of this practice. Seldom or never does this harsh +management become necessary: I had charge of a military lunatic asylum for +a considerable time, and, with one exception, never found myself warranted +in causing corporal punishment to be inflicted, notwithstanding the +association of ideas of discipline which such a chastisement must have +produced amongst men then exposed to the capricious infliction of the +lash. The case to which I allude was one of a Sergeant N--, who had twice +attempted my life, and who fully remembered every circumstance in the +remissions of his malady; so much so, indeed, that doubts were entertained +in the minds of the casual visiter as to the real condition of his mental +faculties; and in the establishment now under my superintendence a keeper +is discharged when convicted of having struck a patient _under any +circumstances_. + +To return from this digression: the authoritative power of man over the +brute creation is daily witnessed, even with unruly and ferocious +animals; and there are, no doubt, cases where bodily punishment becomes +indispensable, when the body will feel what the judgment cannot +comprehend. Boerhaave relates the case of a hypochondriac who swore that +his legs were made of straw; but an officious servant-maid, who was +sweeping the room, struck him across the shins with her broomstick, and +soon brought him to a sense of his erroneous impression. + +Flagellation draws the circulation from the centre of our system to its +periphery. It has been known in a fit of ague to dispel the cold stage. +Galen had observed that horse-dealers were in the habit of bringing their +horses into high condition by a moderate fustigation; and therefore +recommended this practice to give _embonpoint_ to the lean. Antonius Musa +treated a sciatica of Octavius Augustus by this process. Elidaeus Paduanus +recommends flagellation or urtication when the eruption of exanthematic +diseases is slow in its development. Thomas Campanella records the case of +a gentleman whose bowels could not be relieved without his having been +previously whipped. + +Irritation of the skin has been often observed to be productive of similar +effects. The erotic irregularities of lepers is well authenticated; and +various other cutaneous diseases, which procure the agreeable relief that +scratching affords, have brought on the most pleasurable sensations. There +exists a curious letter of Abelard to his Eloisa, in which he says, +"Verbera quandoque dabat amor, non furor; gratia, non ira; quae omnium +unguentorum suavitatem transcenderent." + +This effect of flagellation may be easily referred to the powerful +sympathy that exists between the nerves of the lower part of the spinal +marrow and other organs. Artificial excitement appears in some degree +natural: it is observed in various animals, especially in the feline +tribe. Even snails plunge into each other a bony and prickly spur that +arises from their throats, and which, like the sting of the wasp, +frequently breaks off and is left in the wound. + +In the monastic orders of both sexes, flagellation became a refined art. +Flagellation was of two species, the upper and the lower; the upper +inflicted upon the shoulders, the lower chiefly resorted to when females +were to be fustigated. This mode was adopted, according to their +assertions, from the accidents that might have happened in the upper +flagellation, where the twisting lash might have injured the sensitive +bosom. In addition to this device, nudity was also insisted upon. In the +article Daemonomania I have recorded various abominations of the kind. Nor +was it only amongst religious orders and their followers that this custom +obtained. It was practised by ladies of high rank amongst their commensals +and attendants. Brantome gives us a curious and quaint account of this +amusing castigation. Mademoiselle de Limeuil, one of the queen's maids of +honour, was flagellated for having written a pasquinade, in company with +all the young ladies who had been privy to the composition. And on another +occasion he tells us: "J'ai oui parler d'une grande dame de par le monde, +voire grandissime, mariee et veuve, qui faisait depouiller ses dames et +filles, je dis les plus belles, et se delectait fort a les voir, et puis +elle les battait du plat de la main, avec de grandes clacquades et +blamuses assez rudes; et les filles qui avaient delinque en quelque chose, +avec de bonnes verges, et elle les clacquait ainsi selon le sujet qu'elles +lui en donnaient, pour les faire ou rire ou pleurer." + +The minions of Henry III. of France, and other princes, were decked in +white robes, then stripped, and whipped in procession for the +gratification of their royal masters. Not unfrequently the ladies +themselves were the executioners in cases where any man had offended them; +and the adventure of Clopinel the poet is worth relating. This unfortunate +wight had written the following lines on the fair sex: + + Toutes etes, serez, ou futes, + De fait ou de volonte putes; + Et qui bien vous chercherait + Toutes putes vous trouverait. + +This libellous effusion naturally excited the indignation of the ladies at +court, who decided that Clopinel should be flagellated by the plaintiffs +without mercy; and it is difficult to say to what extent they might have +carried their vengeance but for a timely witticism of the culprit, who +piteously addressing the angry yet beauteous group around him with +uplifted arm and rod, humbly entreated that the first blow might be struck +by the honourable damsel who felt herself the most aggrieved. It is +needless to add that not a lash was inflicted. + +Medical men were frequently consulted as to the adoption of the upper or +lower discipline, as flagellation on the shoulders was said to injure the +eyesight. It was from the fear of this accident that the lower discipline +was generally adopted amongst nuns and female penitents, as appears by the +following rule: "Quippe cum ea de causa capucini, multaeque moniales, +virorum medicorum ac piorum hominum consilio, ascesim flagellandi sursum +humeros reliquerint, ut sibi nates lumbosque strient asperatis virgis, ac +nodosis funiculis conscribillent." + +In a medical point of view, urtication, or stinging with nettles, is a +practice not sufficiently appreciated. In many instances, especially in +cases of paralysis, it is more efficacious than blistering or stimulating +frictions. Its effects, although perhaps less permanent, are more general +and diffused over the limb. This process has been found effectual in +restoring heat to the lower extremities; and a case of obstinate lethargy +was cured by Corvisart by repeated urtication of the whole body. During +the action of the stimulus, the patient, who was a young man, would open +his eyes and laugh, but sink again into profound sleep. His perfect cure, +however, was obtained in three weeks. + + + + +ON LIFE AND THE BLOOD. + + +THE LIFE OF ALL FLESH IS THE BLOOD THEREOF. On this doctrine, expressed in +the Mosaic books, many of the olden writers founded their hypothesis that +blood was the principle of life. It is, however, more than probable that +this opinion was derived from a more ancient ritual than the Levitical +code, since we find a similar belief among the Parsees, Hindoos, and other +Oriental nations of very remote antiquity, who no doubt owed the practice +of abstaining from blood to the early patriarchs. + +The Greeks and the Romans, if we take the expressions of their poets as +being conclusive, entertained similar notions regarding the vital fluid; +and the "purple death" of Homer and "the purple life" of Virgil, are +phrases evidently applicable to this theory, which Critias, Empedocles, +and their sects maintained. This opinion, however, does not appear to have +dictated the expressions made use of by Moses. When he says "the life of +all flesh is the blood thereof," it merely signifies that when the blood +is abstracted death ensues; a circumstance that must have been daily and +hourly observed. It is probable that this injunction was promulgated to +check the barbarous custom of devouring raw meat, which seems to have +prevailed long before the Jewish legislator. We read in Genesis ix. 4, +"Flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall you not +eat." From this circumstance we may infer that, like the Abyssinians of +Bruce's time, the Jews were in the habit of tearing and cutting flesh from +live animals. Saul's army was guilty of a similar practice. It therefore +behoved their legislators to oppose a custom that increased the natural +ferocity and cruelty of the nation they ruled. + +This theory of the ancients has been frequently revived in modern times, +and has not a little contributed to increase the mystery that veils the +nature of our existence. Harvey, who discovered the circulation of the +blood, was a convert to this doctrine; Hoffman also adopted it; and Huxham +not only fully believed in it, but sought the immediate part of the blood +that constituted life, and fancied that he had discovered it in its red +particles. It was John Hunter, however, who first established the system +on any thing like a rational basis, although his arguments on the subject +have led to much doubt and illiberal controversy. "The difficulty," says +he, "of conceiving that blood is endowed with life while circulating, +arises merely from its being a fluid, and the mind not being accustomed to +the idea of a living fluid. I shall endeavour," he continues, "to show +that organization and life do not in the least depend upon each other; +that organization may arise out of living parts and produce action; but +that life can never arise out of or produce organization." The errors of +this doctrine are obvious, and have led many ingenious physiologists into +a maze of idle wandering. The fact is, that life is the instrument of +organization, or, in other words, organization is the result of life. The +embryo could not be developed, did not the fluid that animates it possess +a principle of vitality which it communicates to a body previously +organized. In this confusion the word "life" has sometimes been applied to +the power, and at others to the result. Without organization, life cannot +be transmitted; and the moment the principle of life ceases, a +disorganization, more or less rapid, ensues. + +The doctrine of the vitality of the blood has very lately been maintained +by several physiologists. Professor Schultz speaks of an active vital +process which can be seen constantly going on between the individual +molecules of the blood and the substance of the vessels; but Muller +asserts that, during ten years, he examined the circulation of the blood +in various parts, at every opportunity and with different instruments, +but had never seen what Schultz describes--the constant assimilation, +disappearance, and new formation of the globules; nor had Rudolphi, +Purkinje, Koch, and Meyer, been more successful in their investigation; +and Muller further maintains that the motion of these red particles in the +circulation is purely passive, which may be proved by compressing the +vessels of the limb, or the limb itself. + +Eber and Meyer pretended that these red particles were infusory animals. +On this important and curious subject I shall quote Muller's opinion: "The +question whether the blood be living fluid or not, calls to mind a +critical state of our science. Every thing which evidences an action which +cannot be explained by the laws of inorganic matter, is said to have an +organic, or, what is the same thing, a vital property. To regard merely +the solids of the body as living, is incorrect, for there are strictly no +organic solids; in nearly all, water constitutes four-fifths of their +weight. Although, then, organic matter generally be considered as merely +'susceptible of life,' and the organized parts as 'living,' yet the blood +also must be regarded as endowed with life, for its action cannot be +comprehended from chemical and physical laws. The semen is not merely a +stimulus for the fructification of the egg, for it impregnates the eggs of +the Batrachia and fishes out of the body; and the form, endowments, and +even tendencies to disease, of the father, are transferred to the new +individual. The semen, therefore, although a fluid, is evidently endowed +with life, and is capable of imparting life to matter. The impregnable +part of the egg, the germinal membrane, is a completely unorganized +aggregation of animal matter; but, nevertheless, is animated with the +whole organizing power of the future being, and is capable of imparting +life to a new matter, although soft, and nearly allied to a fluid. The +blood also evidences organic properties; it is attracted by living organs, +which are acted upon by vital stimuli. There subsists between the blood +and the organized parts a reciprocal vital action, in which the blood has +as large a share as the organs in which it circulates." + +This doctrine is, no doubt, ingenious, but I do not consider it as +conclusive. It is not because that in inflammation, the blood becoming +solid, forming pseudo membranes, which are shortly after supplied with a +proportion of blood-vessels, blood possesses life. If this adventitious +coagulation were not supplied with blood, it would prove a foreign body; +but it is not, therefore, shown that the circumstance of its possessing +vitality after its formation is a proof of the life of the blood; it only +shows that the secretions of the blood are endowed with a susceptibility +of life, when having assumed a solid form, needing vessels for its +support. I shall not dwell longer on a professional question of great +interest, but which would need a development foreign to the nature of +these sketches. + +The Greeks had distinct appellations for the cause and result of life; the +former they termed [Greek: psyche] the latter [Greek: zoe]. The essential +nature of life is, and most probably will ever remain, an impenetrable +mystery. Living matter is endowed with a property which we call life; but +to find out to what we may venture to attribute this property, is a vain +and hypothetical attempt. Equally vain and absurd have been the endeavours +to ascertain whether life began at the creation to be subsequently +transmitted from parent to offspring, or owed its origin to a spontaneous +generation from matter. Many ancient philosophers considered matter as +eternal: such was the doctrine of the Pythagoreans; amongst whom we must +particularly notice Lucanus Ocellus, whose system, developed in a work +written in the Attic dialect, was adopted by Aristotle, Plato, and +Philo-Judaeus. This work was first translated into Latin by Nogarola. These +doctrines led to the unanswerable question, What was this matter--this +_invisa materia_--from which every thing visible has proceeded? Has it +existed from all eternity, or has it been called into being by the +Creator? Has it uniformly exhibited its present harmonious arrangement, or +was it once a waste and shapeless chaos? Was this matter endowed with +intelligence as a whole, or in its separate fractions? + +The eternity of matter was maintained by these philosophers from the +belief that _no thing could be created out of nothing, and that no thing +could ever return to nonentity_. Such was the doctrine of the Epicureans, +of Democritus, and of Aristotle. The poets were of the same belief; and +Lucretius expresses himself as follows: + + Ubi viderimus nihil posse creari + De nihilo, tune, quod sequimur, jam rectius inde + Perspiciemus. + +Persius maintains the same idea: + + Gigni + De nihilo nil, in nihilum nil posse reverti. + +This dogma was no doubt transmitted to the Greeks from the East; and, to +the present day, it is a doctrine of the Brahminical creed, clearly +expressed in the following terms in their Yajur Veid: "The ignorant assert +that the universe in the beginning did not exist in its author, and that +it was created out of nothing. O ye, whose hearts are pure! how could +something arise out of nothing?" The fathers of the church embraced a +similar belief; and Justin Martin says that "the word of God formed the +world out of _unfashioned matter_. This Moses distinctly asserts, Plato +and his adherents maintain, and ourselves have been taught to believe." + +Such was the doctrine of the schools that professed the eternal nature of +matter. Other philosophers supported as warmly a different opinion. Thales +of Miletus, Zeno of Citium, Xenocrates, and Dicearchus the Messenian, +insisted that the human race had a first origin at a period when mankind +did not exist. According to this hypothesis, the universe is an emanation +or extension of the essence of the Creator. Zeno and the Stoics attribute +this creation to the universal elements of fire and water. Anaximander the +Milesian asserted that the primitive animals were formed of earth and +water mixed together, heated and animated by the solar rays; these aquatic +creatures became amphibious, and were gradually transformed into the human +races. Strange to say, this extraordinary idea has found proselytes even +in our days, and was advocated by Professor De Lamark in his Zoological +Philosophy. This fancy pervades the poetry of the ancients. Homer makes +Tethys, the wife of Ocean, the daughter of Uranus and Terra, the first +parents; and Hesiod, in his Cosmogony, raises Venus and Proteus from the +foam of the sea. + +The vital and intellectual fire of the ancients that animated all living +beings was admitted by most of their physicians, especially by +Hippocrates, Galen, and Aretaeus. Aristotle describes an universal creative +agent in all the elements, the source of life upon earth, and of the +celestial movements in the firmament. Descartes, in modern times, +maintained that a vital flame existed in the heart of every animal. This +fire, and the genial warmth that it diffused, was considered the soul of +the universe; and on this subject Gassendi expresses himself as follows: +"Si quis velit talem calorem etiam animam dicere, nihil est similiter quod +vetet." + +It was natural for man, even in an uncivilized state, to attribute to +solar heat the same influence on animals as was manifest in its actions +upon plants. When life had fled, the inanimate corpse was cold, and +caloric was therefore considered the principle of vitality. It was from +this conviction that we find the sun and fire objects of adoration both in +ancient times and amongst savages to the present day. Fire is idolized by +the Tartars, and various African tribes. The Yakouts, a Siberian horde, +believe that the deity of good and evil has taken his abode in this +supposed element. The Columbian Indians were fire-worshippers; and Pallas +informs us that the Chinese on the confines of Siberia held it in such +religious respect, that they never attempted to extinguish it even when +their dwellings were burning. + +The doctrine of man and the universe having been created an emanation of +the Creator, renders the Creator material, or matter itself; matter being +considered intelligent, and susceptible of this organization. This was the +belief of the Brahmins, and was no doubt transmitted to the Academic and +Eleatic schools of Greece by Pythagoras. We find in the Yajur Veid, +already alluded to, the following passages, that clearly demonstrate this +belief: "The whole universe is the Creator, proceeds from the Creator, and +returns to him. The ignorant assert that the universe in the beginning did +not exist in its author, and that it was created out of nothing. O ye, +whose hearts are pure! how could something arise out of nothing? This +first being alone, and without likeness, was the ALL in the beginning. He +could multiply himself under different forms. He created fire from his +essence, which is light." And further: "Thou art Brahma! thou art Vishnu! +thou art Kodra! thou art the moon! thou art substance! thou art Djam! thou +art the earth! thou art the world!" + +These Brahminical doctrines were, beyond doubt, also held by the Greeks. +In a poem ascribed to the fabled Orpheus we find the following lines, +translated by Mason Good with as much correctness as elegance: + + Jove first exists, whose thunders roll above, + Jove last, Jove midmost; all proceeds from Jove. + Female is Jove--immortal Jove is male; + Jove the broad earth--the heavens' irradiate pale. + Jove is the boundless spirit, Jove the fire, + That warms the world with feeling and desire; + The sea is Jove, the sun, the lunar ball; + Jove king supreme, the sovereign source of all. + All power is his; to him all glory give, + For his vast form embraces all that live. + +It may be easily imagined that a subject so recondite and obscure must +have led philosophers into the wildest speculations. By some, life was +considered as the result of a general consent or harmony between the +different organs of which the vital frame is formed; while, as we have +seen, many have attributed its phenomena to the blood. That blood, to a +certain extent, is endowed with vitality is beyond a doubt; Hunter has +endeavoured to prove the fact by various experiments. It is capable of +being acted upon and contracting like the solid fibres; this we daily +witness when blood is coagulated and comes into contact with the +atmosphere. It preserves an equality of temperature in whatever medium an +animal may move. He also has shown that this fluid can form solid vessels +of every description; and its life is also proved by the death inflicted +when any excessive stimulus destroys the muscular fibre. Thus, in a body +struck with lightning, the muscles remain flaccid and uncontracted, while +the blood preserves its fluidity, and is left uncoagulated. + +All this specious reasoning shows that blood is a living fluid, but does +not in the slightest degree demonstrate to what principle this vitality is +to be attributed. It merely proves that every part of a living animal, +whether solid or fluid, is endowed with a certain degree of life; but +leaves us in impenetrable darkness as to the nature of life. The one +cannot be killed without the other; and, as Mason Good justly observes, +"that which is at one time alive, and at another dead, cannot be life +itself." It is clear that life cannot exist without blood, but at the same +time it is equally evident that the blood is merely a secretion of the +living system, and dependent upon the action of the solids, which +influence its quantities and properties.[29] + +It is from this notion of the vitality of the blood that the absurd idea +of transfusing it was first conceived. Transfusion consisted in the +injection of the arterial blood of young and healthy animals into the +veins of the aged and the debilitated. It was about forty years after the +discovery of the circulation of the blood by Harvey that this singular +project was tried upon animals, and afterwards upon man. Medicated liquids +had already been introduced in Germany into the system by this method, +principally by Wahrendorf. Dr. Christopher Wren, an English physician, was +the first who proposed the injection of blood, and Dr. Lower put it into +practice. The result of his experiments seemed to warrant their adoption. +An animal was drained of a considerable proportion of blood, and lay faint +and expiring; but the blood of another animal being thrown into the +languid system, active circulation was restored, and the patient ran about +with as much facility as before the experiment. When too great a quantity +of blood was injected, the creature became drowsy, and shortly after died +of plethora. + +These experiments were reported by the transfusers with many absurd +details. In one case a simpleton had become witty by a supply of lamb's +blood; in another, an old mangy cur was cured by the vital fluid of a +young spaniel; a blind old dog, transfused by a Mr. Gayant, bounded and +frisked about like a young pup. Dr. Blundel seriously conceived that this +operation might be practised with great advantage in cases of haemorrhage, +more especially in women. + +Of late years these curious experiments have again been tried with +singular results. Prevost and Dumas have shown that the vivifying power of +the blood does not reside so much in the serum as in the red particles. An +animal bled to syncope, is not revived by the injection of water or pure +serum of a temperature of 68 deg. Fahrenheit into its vessels. But if blood +of one of the same species is used, the animal seems to acquire fresh life +at every stroke of the piston, and is at last restored. Diemenbach has +confirmed these experiments. It is also stated by these physiologists, +that revival takes place likewise when the blood injected had been +previously deprived of its fibrin. + +Another very singular fact has been elicited by these experiments; blood +of animals of a different genus, of which the corpuscules, though of the +same form, have a different size, effects an imperfect restoration, and +the animal generally dies in six days. + +The injection of blood with circular corpuscules into the vessels of a +bird (in which the corpuscules are elliptic and of a larger size) produces +violent symptoms similar to those of the strongest poisons, and generally +death, which ensues indeed instantaneously, even when a small quantity +only of the blood has been injected. Such, for example, was the effect of +the transfusion of some blood of the sheep into the veins of a duck; while +in many cases in which the blood of sheep and oxen were injected into the +vessels of cats and rabbits, these animals were revived for a few days. +The fact of the blood of mammalia being poisonous to birds is very +remarkable; it cannot be explained mechanically. The injection of fluids +containing globules of greater diameter than the capillary vessels of the +injected animal most probably produces death, by obstructing the pulmonary +vessels and producing suffocation; but the globules of the blood in +mammalia are even smaller than those of birds. In Dieffenbach's +experiments, pigeons were killed by a few drops only of the blood of +mammalia, and the blood of fishes, it is asserted, is as fatal to mammalia +as to birds. + +These interesting facts have been confirmed by Dr. Bischoff. In all his +experiments made with the fresh blood of mammalia, birds died within a few +seconds after the transfusion, with violent symptoms resembling those of +poisoning; but when, instead of the fresh unchanged blood, he injected +blood from which the fibrin had been removed by stirring, and which was +heated to a proper temperature, he was surprised to find that no such +symptoms were produced, the animal not appearing to suffer any +inconvenience. + +It seems indeed from these experiments, that the blood of an animal of a +different class, is not adapted for the operation. + +When transfusion was first proposed in France, it met with furious +opponents; and Lamartiniere declared that it was a barbarous operation +proceeding from Satan's workshop. The controversy between the transfusers +and their adversaries was at length carried on with such virulence, that +in 1668 the practice was forbidden by a decree of the Chatelet, unless the +operation had been sanctioned by the faculty of Paris. In Italy it +continued to be in vogue. Riva and Manfredi frequently performed it; and a +physician of the name of Simboldus submitted himself to the experiment. +According to the accounts given by the patients who had been thus +injected, they first experienced an increased heat with violent pulsation, +profuse perspiration with pains in the loins and stomach, and a sense of +suffocation. Violent vomiting frequently arose, and the patient gradually +sank into a torpid and heavy sleep. Whatever may be the theoretical +ingenuity in favour of this practice, it is not probable that it will ever +be adopted. + +While young blood was thus supposed to give fresh vigour to the aged, the +heat communicated by young persons to debilitated bedfellows was also +resorted to. This practice seems to have been founded on observation. It +is an acknowledged fact that an uncommon depression of vital power takes +place in the young when such experiments are tried. This abstraction of +vital power is frequently observed in young females married to very old +men. In illustration of this fact, Dr. Copeland relates the following +case: "I was a few years since consulted about a pale, sickly, and thin +boy of about five or six years of age. He appeared to have no specific +ailment; but there was a slow and remarkable decline of flesh and +strength, and of the energy of all the functions,--what his mother very +aptly termed 'a gradual blight.' After inquiring into the history of the +case, it came out that he had been a very robust and plethoric child up to +his third year, when his grandmother, a very aged person, took him to +sleep with her; that he soon afterwards lost his good looks, and that he +had continued to decline progressively ever since, notwithstanding +medical treatment. I directed him to sleep apart from his aged parent, and +prescribed gentle tonics, change of air, &c., and the recovery was very +rapid." + +This selfish indulgence of the aged in endeavouring to deprive their young +bedfellows of heat and strength has been often remarked; and young women +thus circumstanced have shrewdly suspected the cause of their debilitated +condition. It is extremely probable that in these cases electricity is +conducted from one body to another. This hypothesis is in some degree +confirmed by the experiments made upon Casper Hauser by Von Feuerbach. +This Casper Hauser had been kept from infancy until he was eighteen years +of age in a perfectly dark cage, without leaving it, and where he never +saw a living creature or heard the voice of man. He was restricted from +using his limbs, his voice, his hands, or senses; and his food consisted +of bread and water only, which he found placed by him when wakening from +his sleep. When exposed in Nuremberg, in 1828, he was consequently at +eighteen years as if just come into the world, and as incapable of +walking, discerning objects, or conveying his impressions, as a newly born +infant. These faculties, however, he soon acquired; and he was placed +under an able instructor, who has recorded his singular history. Darkness +had been to him twilight. The light of day was at first insupportable, +inflamed his eyes, and brought on spasms. Substances, the odour of which +could not be perceived by others, produced severe effects upon him. The +smell of a glass of wine, even at a distance, occasioned headache; of +fresh meat, sickness; and of flowers, a painful sensation. Passing by a +churchyard with Dr. Daumer, the smell of dead bodies, although altogether +imperceptible to the doctor, affected the young man so powerfully as to +occasion shudderings, followed by feverish heat, terminating in a violent +perspiration. He retained a great aversion, owing to their disagreeable +taste and smell, to all kinds of food excepting bread and water. + +When the north pole of a small magnet was held towards him, he described a +drawing sensation proceeding outwards from the epigastrium, and _as if a +current of air went from him_. The south pole affected him less, and he +said it blew upon him. Professor Daumer and Hermann made several +experiments of the kind, calculated to deceive him, and, even although the +magnet was held at a considerable distance from him, his feelings always +told him very correctly. These experiments always occasioned perspiration +and a feeling of indisposition. He could detect metals placed under +oil-cloths, paper, &c. by the sensation they occasioned. He described +these sensations as a drawing, accompanied with a chill, which ascended, +according to the metal, more or less up the arm, and attended with other +distinctive feelings, the veins of the hand exposed to the metal becoming +visibly swollen. + +The variety and multitude of objects which at once came rushing upon his +attention when he thus suddenly came into existence, the unaccustomed +impressions of light, free air, and sense, and his anxiety to comprehend +them, were too much for his weak frame and acute senses: he became +dejected and enfeebled, and his nervous system morbidly elevated. He was +subject to spasms and tremors, so that partial exclusion from external +excitements became for a time requisite. After he had learned regularly to +eat meat, his mental activity was diminished; his eyes lost their +brilliancy and expression; the intense application and activity of his +mind gave way to absence or indifference, and the quickness of +apprehension became diminished. It may be questioned whether this +alteration proceeded from the change of diet, or the painful excess of +excitement that had preceded it. + +Among the various doctrines regarding the creation of animals, that of +_Panspermia_ was most ingenious and attractive. According to this theory, +maintained by Anaxagoras and Heraclitus, all bodies contained the germ or +the organic molecules necessary for their generation. Hippocrates favoured +this idea, as plainly appears in his book _de Diaeta_; and in modern times +Perrault, Gesik, Wollaston, Sturm, and other physiologists, have +endeavoured to revive the doctrine, of which the organic molecules of +Buffon and the living molecules of Ray were merely modifications. The +expression in Genesis which sanctions the belief that the earth +spontaneously germinated its productions, cannot be referred to the animal +kingdom. Were this the case, similar animals would be found in every +quarter of the globe. Spontaneous generation was also attributed to +putrefaction; and Virgil describes the manner in which Aristaeus drew forth +a swarm of bees from the corrupted entrails of a heifer. Pliny admits the +spontaneous creation of rats, mice, frogs, and other small tribes of +animals. These errors, however, were soon dispelled by the light thrown on +the subject by the microscopic experiments of Valisneri, Swammerdam, +Reaumur, and many other naturalists, who discovered sexual organs in all +these supposed self-created individuals. + +This doctrine was the foundation of the classification of the generative +principle into _equivocal_ and _univocal generations_,--the former the +effect of putrefaction, but which in reality was _univocal_, since it was +soon ascertained that this production arose from the incubation of +numerous eggs deposited by various insects and animalculi in these +corrupted bodies. The following experiment afforded a convincing proof of +the fact: A piece of meat was placed in an open vessel, and another in a +vase hermetically closed; so soon as these animal substances entered into +decomposition, myriads of insects pullulated in the exposed meat, whereas +that which was protected from external agency remained free from this +invasion. + +It is a recognised fact that it is only through organized beings that +organization can be transmitted; for how can corrupt substances, dead and +deprived of vitality, give life to any organized matter? Generation is +life; putrescence is death. By a law of nature, generation may be said +ultimately to destroy the generative powers; a striking illustration of +mortality, since life is transmitted at the expense of our very existence, +and many individuals in the catenation of organized beings perish the very +moment that they have tended to perpetuate their race. Death advances with +rapid strides in the very ratio of the energies of life; and the surest +method to attain longevity is to be sparing in the exercise of our +exhausting faculties. + + Et quasi vitai lampada tradunt. + +_Latent_ or insensible life, such as that of the seeds of plants, or the +animal enveloped in its egg, may last for a number of years, so long as +they are able to germinate; here vitality is not worn out by relative +life. Various species of the snail, the wheel-polybe, the tile-eel, and +divers animalcules, have been kept apparently dead, and in the form of +dried preparations, withered and hardened, for months and even years, but +have afterwards been restored to life by the agency of warmth, moisture, +and other stimulants. Snails have been thus reanimated after a lapse of +fifteen years; and Bauer revived the _Vibrio tritici_, after an apparent +death of five years and eight months, by merely soaking it in water. +Adders have been found in hard winters not only completely frozen but +absolutely brittle, yet have been restored to life when thawed. A shower +of fragments of ice has fallen at Leicester, containing the horsehair eel, +with the nuclei of a greater number. Colonel Wilks found eggs in the solid +rocks of St. Helena susceptible of being hatched. The vitality in the +seeds of plants is truly amazing; barley taken out of the bodies of +mummies, Indian corn discovered in the tomb of a Peruvian Inca, and the +bulb of an onion found in the hand of a mummy 3000 years old have been +sown and have thriven luxuriantly. The most intense heat cannot destroy +the vital property. The seeds of roasted apples, the kernels of baked +prunes and boiled elder-berries have germinated. Sir John Herschel found +that the _Acacia Lophanta_ lived after having been steeped in boiling +water for twelve hours, and Ludwig informs us that the seeds of a species +of cedar only germinated after ebullition. Fresh-water shells have been +found in the thermal waters of Gastein at a temperature of 117 deg., and +Niebuhr found a conferva growing in water at 142 deg. Raspberry-seeds +taken from the corpse of an ancient Briton, contemporaneous with the +Druids, have produced fruit when recommitted to the earth. + +Some have endeavoured to explain the resurrection of the dead by these +natural phenomena; forgetting that in these instances no corruption or +actual disorganization had taken place. Stahl expresses himself in the +following words when defining life: "Life is formally nothing more than +the preservation of the body in mixture, corruptible indeed, but without +the occurrence of corruption;" and in Junker we find, "What we call life +is opposite to putridity." + +The next theory attributed the principle of life to a subtle _gas_ or +_aura_. This doctrine constituted one of the principles of the Epicurean +philosophy, and was illustrated by Lucretius in his poem on the Nature of +Things: + + Nam penitus prorsum latet haec natura, subestque; + Nec magis hac infra quidquam est in corpore nostro; + Atque anima est animae proporro totius ipsa. + +According to these notions, there existed a volatile principle that bore +no specific name, but was diffused through every part of living bodies, +more subtile than heat, air, or vapour. In later times this same gaseous +agent received various appellations. Van Helmont designated it as the +_aura vitalis_, while other philosophers called it the _aura seminalis_ +and the _aura sanguinis_. The _archeus faber_ of Van Helmont, the _astrum +internum_ of Crollius, the _principium energoumenon_ of Michael Alberti, +the _substantia energetica naturae_ of Glisson, may all be referred to this +unseen but powerful agency. Hippocrates called it [Greek: physis], or +nature, which he elsewhere denominates [Greek: enoronta]. It was also the +[Greek: dynamis xotike] of Galen. This soul, or breath, or spirit, +directed and preserved the whole economy; and Chrysippus asserts that it +acted like salt upon pork. + +Modern chemistry has sought this principle in specific agents. Caloric, or +the matter of heat; oxygen, or the vital part of atmospheric air, first +discovered by Priestley, and explained by Lavoisier; and finally, the +fluid collected by the Voltaic trough, were then considered as the +principle of life. The experiments of Professor Galvani of Bologna, in +which he produced the phenomena of life many hours after death, induced +many physiologists to maintain that the identity that existed in galvanic +electricity and the nervous influence, proved that this _aura_ was the +creative agent in our economy. + +The late experiments of Mr. Crosse seemed to show that insects were +produced in silicate of potash under a long-continued action of voltaic +electricity. Now whether this be really the case or not, it is grievous in +the present enlightened age, to see these experiments and the assertions +that resulted from them, denominated the work of atheism, and the labour +of another Frankenstein!--I do not suppose for one moment that Mr. Crosse +pretended to have discovered the power of imparting life, but merely of +having developed a vital principle in substances supposed to be inorganic. +Every experimentalist who thus develops the vital principle may be said to +bestow life, without being exposed to the absurd charge of impiety.--The +man who brings forth chickens from the incubation of eggs, instead of +eating them; the physiologist who rots a piece of meat to develop myriads +of living beings in the putrid nidus, might just as well be called an +atheist. + +While naturalists were thus groping in nature's dark labyrinth, +endeavouring to account for the wonders of the _natura naturans_, that +divinity of the Stoics that Lucan thus describes, + + Superos quid quaerimus ultra? + Jupiter est quodcumque vides, Jovis omnia plena,-- + +other wise men fancied that they had actually discovered the seat of +life, which, according to their fanciful speculations, they had lodged in +certain organs. The nervous system, the spinal marrow, the brain, the +heart, were all and each of them considered in turn as the head-quarters +of vitality; while the workshop of alimentation, or much-abused stomach, +did not pass unnoticed and unhonoured. The heart of a turtle, and of some +reptiles, has been seen contracting and dilating hours after its +extraction from the body; the stomach has been excited into an action +bearing some analogy to vomiting, when separated from the trunk; but all +these curious phenomena, explained and accounted for (in some measure, at +least) by physiology, do not tend to prove that any one organ, or any +chain of organs, is possessed of separate vitality independent of the +general principle of life. The brain, which has been regarded as the chief +seat of this principle, is not always essential to life; for although man +perishes, or at least his vital functions cease to act, when he is +decapitated,[30] yet various birds and reptiles continue to live for hours +and days after the head has been severed from the body, while we actually +behold a regeneration of the head in the earth-worm. Moreover, we have +upon record many cases of _acephalous_ children, or born without any head; +and _anencephalous_ children who lived (for a short time, it is true) +without any brains. Fontana removed the entire brain of a turtle, yet it +lived six months, and walked about as before. + +Sandiford had divided acephalous animals into three classes: the first, in +which the head was wanting; the second, where other organs were also +missing; and the third, where the foetus presented an unformed mass. In +the acephalous twin described by Beclard, no liver, spleen, stomach, or +oesophagus could be discovered, and the intestinal tube commenced at the +superior extremity of the body. The infant had ten ribs on each side, and +regular nerves arose from the spinal marrow. Although headless animals may +not be gifted with intellectual faculties evident to our senses, yet they +clearly live and feel. The zoophytes and polypes, without brains or heads, +possess irritability and sensibility; they can seek their food, seize it, +reject what is not edible, are susceptible of the powers of light and +heat, can contract their fibres when touched or injured, and, in short, +manifest various innate or instinctive powers. Gall has maintained that +the passions resided in the brain, and, therefore, that brainless animals +did not experience their influence. This is a bold assertion. Can he prove +that worms, insects, zoophytes, that possess only what is called a +ganglionic system, are strangers to instinctive fears and partialities? I +apprehend that it will be found that passions belong to instinct much more +than to our volition. + +It is nevertheless true that animals may be killed by wounding the spinal +marrow, by the process commonly called "_pitting_." This practice may be +traced to high antiquity; and Livy informs us that when the Carthaginian +troops were routed, Asdrubal ordered their unmanageable elephants to be +destroyed by driving the point of a knife between the junction of the head +and spine. + +From these observations it will appear quite clear that life has no +necessary connexion with sensation, although the latter cannot be +experienced without the former. Vegetables are endowed with vitality; but +we have no reason to suppose that they feel. It is also more than probable +that, as the degree of intelligence decreases, the intensity of the +corporeal feelings are also diminished. Did not this scale of sensibility +exist, insects could not live under the supposed agonies that the +entomologist daily inflicts. This supposition does not rest upon +indefinite reasoning, for in our own race we observe that those parts +which are gifted with a reproductive power are possessed of the smallest +degrees of sensation; and the cuticle, the hair, the beard, and the nails +will even grow after death. This fact may calm the apprehensions of those +very humane persons who look upon experimental physiologists as very +monsters of barbarity. Vaillant took out the intestines of a locust, and +stuffed it with cotton, then fixed it down in his box with a pin, yet, +five months after, the insect moved its feet and antennas. Spallanzani has +shown that the snail can renew its head. + +All this confusion in theories and wandering of the imagination have +arisen from our confounding the vital principle, of which we know nothing, +with the phenomena of sensation, for which patient and calm investigation +may account. That there does exist a principle of life that animates, +vivifies, and preserves all living bodies, until its powers cease, no one +can deny; although to find out its nature is a vain pursuit, as idle as +our endeavours to penetrate into the _causes of causation_. As Richerand +observes, "its _essence_ is not designed to preserve the aggregation of +our constituent molecules, but to collect other molecules, which, by +assimilating themselves to the organ that it _vivifies_, may replace those +which daily losses carry off, and which are employed in repairing and +augmenting them; the word _vital principle_ is therefore not designed to +express a distinct being, but denotes the _totality of powers alone_ which +animate living bodies, and distinguish them from inert matter, the +_totality of properties_ and _laws_ which govern the animal economy." + +Of all the doctrines upon this abstruse subject (of which I have noticed +the principal ones), that of the pre-existence of an organic germ appears +the most plausible, or at any rate the easiest to conceive. It was from +this conviction that the ancients held as an axiomatic principle _Omnia ex +ovo_. It is upon this theory that Buffon rested his organic molecules, and +Ray his vital globules. The primitive lineaments of organization may be +traced in the egg, even before it is fecundated. The embryo that we find +in its involucra is soft, flexible, ready to receive the plastic +impression of the vivifying secretion,--the fecundating agency that +imparts existence and all its wondrous attributes, to the pre-existing +_ova_, the _ova subventanea_. It does not appear that the first organ of +the embryo which exhibits the living principle is the heart, hence +denominated in the foetus the _punctum saliens_; the principle of life +has probably organized every molecule of the animal long before this +supposed fountain of vitality had been seen to flow. It is more likely +that the nervous system has received the first impressions imparted by the +fecundating secretion, which the ancients supposed to have been a direct +emanation from the brain, and bearing in its vivifying molecules the life +of every part of the being it was about to organize; thus Valescus: +"Sperma hominibus descendit ex omni corporis humore, qui fit ex subtiliori +natura. Habet autem hoc sperma nervos et venas proprias attrahentes se a +toto corpore ad testiculos--a membris disconditur principalibus--a corde, +epate, cerebro mittuntur spiritus, ex quibus resultat spiritus +informativus, et non aliter nisi cum spermate--ergo ab iis principaliter +sperma disconditur." + +Such were the doctrines on this curious subject until the days of +Fabricius d'Acquapendente and Harvey. Buffon, however, exerted all his +eloquence to revive the theory. The following are the notions of this +elegant writer, who unfortunately only studied natural history in books +and cabinets. He maintains that there exist two sorts of matter,--the one +living, the other dead: the first enjoying a permanent vitality; the +second universally spread, passing from vegetables to animals through the +channels of nutrition, and returning from animals to vegetables through +the medium of putrefaction,--thus in a constant state of circulation to +animate living beings. This vital matter exists in determined quantities +in nature, and is composed of an infinity of organic molecules, primitive, +living, active, incorruptible, and in relation, both as regards action and +numbers, with the molecules of light, and enjoying an immutable existence, +since the usual causes of destruction can only affect their adherence. It +is these molecules which, being cast in regular moulds, constitute all the +organized bodies that surround us. According to this doctrine, +_development_ and _growth_ are only a change of form operated by the +addition of organic molecules; _nutrition_, the preservation of this form +by the accession of fresh molecules that replace those that are destroyed; +_generation_, the combination of these particles; and _death_, their +separation from cohesion and association. + +This ingenious system is not dissimilar to that of Maupertuis, who thought +that the mysteries of generation could be explained by the usual laws of +elective attraction. Various were the physical, metaphysical, and moral +batteries raised against this visionary fabric. One single fact was +sufficient to overthrow it. We constantly see parents deficient in a limb, +or misshapen, producing perfect offspring; if each part of the economy was +to transmit to its progeniture molecules similar to itself, the child +would naturally be visited with the imperfection of the parent. + +Notwithstanding these fallacies, we cannot but admit that chemical and +molecular attraction constitute the principle that harmonizes all +organized bodies. Generation is simply a function of organization and +life. Organized bodies alone can generate. The living only can impart +life. Animals and plants transmit to their descendants their several +properties; and the inheritance of organization departs with the vital +spark. Life is the property of no one; it is a transmitted heir-loom that +never perishes; it resembles a torch that communicates an eternal flame +while consuming itself. Organized beings have justly been considered the +fuel of the universal vital fire, and we all are the _daily bread_ of that +monstrous animal called _the world_. All are ingulfed in that vortex which +Beccher has called the "_circulus aeterni motus_" Metempsychosis was +simply an illustration of this fact recognised in all ages in the East, +and taught in European schools by Pythagoras. Nothing perishes; and even +combustion produces fresh combinations. + +Poetical philosophy has considered _Love_ as the source and arbiter of +_life_, and the _Venus Generatrix_ the fount of our existence. Lucretius +recognises this power in the following lines: + + Per te quoniam genus omne animantum + Concipitur, visitque exortum lumina solis. + +Then again, + + Omnibus incutiens blandum per pectora amorem, + Efficis ut cupide generatim saecia propagent. + +Virey, a delightful French physiologist, seems to partake of this +mythological opinion in the following passage: "L'amour est l'arbitre du +monde organique; c'est lui qui debrouille le chaos de la matiere, et qui +l'impregne de vie. Il ouvre et ferme a son gre les portes de l'existence a +tous les etres que sa voix appelle du neant, et qu'il y replonge. +L'attraction dans les matieres brutes est une sorte d'amour ou d'amitie +analogue a celle qui reproduit des etres organises. Ainsi la faculte +generative est un phenomene general dans l'univers; elle est representee +par les attractions planetaires et chimiques dans les substances brutes, +et par l'amour ou la vie dans les corps organises." + +According to our amatory neighbours, the word _ame_, or soul, comes from +_amor_ and _amare_, and _amare_ is derived from _animare_; hence +_animation_ and _animal_ may be syllogistically referred to love. + +I know not how far this etymological disquisition may illustrate the +history of their _enfans trouves_, or our foundling hospitals, the inmates +of which are generally uncommonly ill favoured by beauty. The offspring of +the aforesaid Venus Generatrix must have been especially ungrateful; and +if it be true that Julius Caesar was her son, he certainly exerted his best +endeavours to depopulate his mother's territories. + + + + +OF THE HOMOEOPATHIC DOCTRINES. + + +It is a matter worthy of remark, that, while the doctrines of +homoeopathy have fixed the attention and become the study of many +learned and experienced medical men in various parts of Europe, England is +the only country where it has only been noticed to draw forth the most +opprobrious invectives. It is certainly true that no one but an ardent +proselyte of the visionary Hahnemann could for one moment become the +advocate of all his absurd ideas; yet, while we reject his errors, great +and important truths beam from the chaotic clouds that shroud his +wanderings; and, however wild his theories may be, incontrovertible facts +have been elicited from his apparently inefficacious practice. + +Before I enter into an examination of the practical views of the +homoeopathists, I shall give a brief sketch of their doctrines and of +their founder. + +Samuel Hahnemann was born in Meissen in Saxony, on the 10th of April, +1755. His father was an humble porcelain manufacturer. The first rudiments +of education that young Hahnemann received were gratuitous; and his +master, pleased with the progress of his ambitious but needy scholar, +strongly urged him to repair to Leipzig, where, at the age of twenty, he +arrived, with exactly the same number of crowns in his pocket as he +numbered years. At this university he zealously pursued his favourite +studies of the natural sciences, supporting himself by translating French +works, and giving lessons; and finally he graduated in the university of +Eslan--in 1779. + +It was during his arduous studies that Hahnemann was struck with the +conflicting systems and the deplorable controversies which for centuries +divided in turn the medical schools of Europe, and were triumphant or +overthrown by scholastic revolutions; each doctrine being doomed to +obscurity and oblivion in the ratio of its ephemeral splendour. The +result of his reflections and experiments was the system of homoeopathy. +Its novelty, its apparent absurdity, soon exposed him not only to +opposition, but to violent persecution. As is usual in all cases of +oppression, whether justly or unjustly resorted to, proselytes as furious +and as fanatical as his persecutors joined their chief. Despite the +sanatary regulations of Saxony, which prohibited physicians from +dispensing their medicines, Hahnemann prepared and supplied his +homoeopathic remedies; and, being expelled from Leipzig, sought a refuge +at Koethen, where, exasperated by the harsh treatment he had +experienced, he fulminated his anathema on all past and present systems of +medicine with no small degree of furious resentment, pronouncing his +doctrine to be stamped with the seal of infallibility, and denouncing all +others as the aberrations of ignorance and error, or the speculations of +imposture and fraud. + +As might have been expected, few of his opponents thought it worth their +while to study his system calmly and dispassionately; nor, indeed, was +such an application necessary, for his doctrines needed no deep +investigation on the part of his foes, so fraught were they with apparent +errors and false deductions, not only from his own pretended experience, +but the experience of ages. Finding that he could not enjoy a despotic +sway over the schools, he was resolved at any rate to seek the palm of +martyrdom, and had recourse to such violence in words and actions, that +many of his enemies maintained he was a more fitting subject for a lunatic +asylum than the _soi-disant_ founder of a rational doctrine; for he and +his fanatical disciples set all ratiocination at nought, considering his +_dixit_ as a fiat of condemnation passed on all who dared to doubt his +infallibility, although at different periods their oracle was obliged to +retract many erroneous assertions and contradict fallacious statements. + +In the short view of his doctrines which I am about to give, these +fallacies will become evident. + +Hahnemann had observed in his studies and hospital practice that the +prevalent systems of medicine were founded on the rational principle of +combating effects by striking at morbid causes. Physicians sometimes +endeavoured to attain this desirable end by producing in the system an +artificial action differing from the nature of the malady, and founded +their practice on the scholastic axiom of _contraria contrariis curantur_; +at other times they raised or depressed the vital energies according to +the prevalence of excitement or debility, or modified the character of the +disease by revulsion and derivation, a practice which received the name of +antagonistic, or _allopathic_,--a term used by Hahnemann in +contradistinction to homoeopathy, and derived from [Greek: allos], +_different_, and [Greek: pathos], _affection_. + +In his therapeutic pursuits Hahnemann had been forcibly struck with the +long-acknowledged fact that medicinal substances supposed to possess a +certain specific property in the treatment of diseases, were known in the +healthy subject to produce phenomena bearing a close analogy to the +symptoms of those identical diseases. Thus, mercurial preparations +occasioned symptoms of syphilis, sulphur produced cutaneous irritation, +and, in some instances, the exhibition of cinchona had been known to bring +on febrile intermissions. In various works he found these observations +established. For instance, amongst many others, he found in the +publications of Beddoes, Scott, Blair, and various writers, that nitric +acid, which was known to produce ptyalism, relieved salivation and +ulceration in the mouth. Arsenic, which, according to Henreich, Knape, and +Heinze, occasioned cancerous anomalies in healthy subjects, was stated by +Fallopius, Bernharde, Roennow, and many other surgeons, to be efficacious +in relieving, if not curing, similar disorders; preparations of copper +were asserted by Tondi, Ramsay, Lazermi, and numerous practitioners, to +have produced epileptic attacks; and Batty, Baumes, Cullen, Duncan, and +several experienced medical practitioners, recommended similar remedies in +epilepsy. In short, the illustrations of the power inherent in certain +substances to produce accidents analogous to the symptoms of the various +diseases in the treatment of which they had proved efficacious, induced +Hahnemann to consider whether a treatment founded on _similia similibus +curantur_ might not be found more effectual than the former practice based +upon the _contraria contrariis_. He was of opinion that no medicine was +possessed of any _curative property_, but solely acted by its _morbific +power_ of producing a disordered condition in the system; and on this and +other principles, which we shall shortly notice, he asserts that nature +does not possess any curative power, totally denying the _vis medicatrix_ +of the schools. He further maintained, that there does not exist any +specific malady; but that which we consider to be a disease is nothing but +a complexity of symptoms, and that a cure can only be effected when these +complex symptoms are made to disappear. + +Impressed with these ideas, he and his disciples proceeded to try various +medicinal substances upon themselves and others when in health, and, +carefully recording the symptoms which these medicines produced, they drew +up a statement of their various powers, that they might be afterwards +resorted to, to relieve the same symptoms in a morbid state. Grounding +this practice on the principle (in many instances correct) that two +similar diseases cannot coexist, they conceived that if, to counteract a +natural malady, one can produce by any medication an artificial +derangement of the same nature, the artificial disorder will overcome the +natural disease, and a radical cure be obtained. To explain more +distinctly this idea, I shall quote the author's words. + +"The curative power of medicines is thus founded on the property they +possess to give rise to symptoms similar to those of the disease, but of a +more intense power. Hence no disease can be overcome or cured in a +certain, radical, rapid, and lasting manner, but through the means of a +medicine capable of provoking a group of symptoms similar to those of the +disease, and at the same time possessed of a superior energetic +power."[31] And further, + +"If two dissimilar maladies happen to be coexisting, possessed of an +unequal force, or if the oldest disease is more energetic than the recent +one, the latter will be expelled by the former. Thus, an individual +labouring under a severe chronic disease will not be subject to the +invasion of an autumnal dysentery, or any other slight epidemic. Larrey +affirms that the districts of Egypt in which scurvy was prevalent were +exempt from the plague. Jenner asserts that rachitis prevents the effect +of vaccination; and Hildebrand assures us that phthysical patients never +experience epidemic fevers unless of the most severe character."[32] + +"If a recent affection, dissimilar to a more ancient one be more powerful +than the latter, then will the progress of the latter be suspended until +the malady is either cured or has been expended in its career, and then +the old one will reappear."[33] + +"But the result is totally different when two similar diseases meet in the +organism; that is to say, when a pre-existing affection is complicated +with one of the same nature, but possessed of more energy."[34] + +"Two maladies resembling each other in their manifestation and their +effects, that is to say, in the symptoms which they determine, mutually +destroy each other, the strongest conquering the weakest."[35] + +He further contends that the essential nature of every disease is unknown; +that their existence is revealed by alterations and changes in the system +perceptible to our senses, and constituting what are called _symptoms_, +and it is the series of these symptoms which characterize the disease in +its course and its development. According to his notions, the physician +has only to follow and study the succession and the grouping of these +symptoms; in short, the phases and the phenomena of diseases. Attack and +destroy these symptoms, and you will have destroyed the malady. + +All classification of diseases, and their various denominations, he +therefore deemed absurd, as, according to his doctrines, no one disease +resembles another; so various were their modifications, that, with few +exceptions, it was idle to give them a particular name, since disease was +simply a derangement in our organization manifested by peculiar symptoms. + +We are also, according to Hahnemann, ignorant of the essential properties +of medicines, and can only observe and record their effects by +experimental observation. Like diseases, they also produce a derangement +in our organism, manifested by peculiar symptoms, their sole action +consisting in developing specific diseases. + +In conformity with these notions, to cure disease we have only to produce +a similar affection; the primitive one would then give way to the +secondary affection artificially produced, and in time the artificial one +would cease to exist when the means that produced it were no longer +brought into action. + +Homoeopathic medicines, he maintained, have the property of acting in a +direct manner upon the affected part of the system; and this is proved +when the disease, and the medicine given to relieve it, produce similar +morbid manifestations: and he further contended that our vital organism +was less susceptible of the action of natural affections than of those +which are artificially produced. + +On this basis did the homoeopathic doctrinarians ground their practice; +but a still more singular theory was broached by their leader; he +maintained that medicinal substances, to prove efficacious, should be +administered in an attenuated and diluted state, carried to such an extent +as to become infinite in their division; he further asserts that this +infinite division, far from diminishing their medicinal power and +properties, imparts greater energy and certainty of action when these +particles encounter in our organization an affinity of disposition, or a +homogeny in action; that is to say, that these atomic attenuations act +with greater power in those affections which manifest symptoms similar to +those which these very medicines are known to produce when experimentally +tried upon a healthy subject. + +Upon this principle the homoeopathist condemns all combinations of +medicines as likely to neutralize each other's properties by their various +affinities; therefore generally speaking, no fresh medicine should be +given until the effects of the former have subsided; and to guide this +practice, while they endeavoured to ascertain the symptoms produced by +medicines, they also sought to ascribe certain limits to the duration of +their action: thus, the influence of aconite lasts forty-eight hours, and +that of crude antimony fifteen days. + +Dreading all substances that could tend to weaken or neutralize the effect +of medicine, the homoeopathists made it their particular study to +discover the peculiar action of all alimentary substances on the organism, +and characterized as antidotes all such articles of food as they +considered opposed to this supposed action: thus, wine and vegetable acids +were deemed antidotes to aconite; coffee, to Angustura bark; vinegar, to +asarum, &c. + +I have already stated that the homoeopathists conceive that the infinite +dilution of their atoms of medicinal substances increase their energy; and +this fact they so strenuously maintain, that they assert that accidents of +a serious nature may arise when this division is carried too far; and +these accidents are then to be met with the medicinal antidotes they +pretend to have discovered: thus, camphor is an antidote to cocculus; +opium, to the crocus sativus; camomile and camphor, to ignatia amara; and +so on. + +The minuteness with which the specific actions of various medicinal +substances on certain organs is detailed is scarcely credible; and the +following extract from the homoeopathic materia medica will give a +slight idea of their industrious labours. Taking as an example phosphorus, +which they affirm produces-- + +Vertigo, determination of blood to the head, headache in the morning, fall +of the hair, difficulty in opening the eyelids, burning sensation and +ulceration of the internal canthus of the eye, when exposed to the open +air, lachrymation and adhesion of the palpebrae; inflammation of the eyes, +with the sensation of particles of sand having been introduced; sparks and +spangles floating before the eyes, a dark tinge in objects that are looked +on, diurnal cecity, the appearance of a gray veil drawn before the eyes, +pulsation in the ears, epistaxis, mucous discharge from the nostrils, +foulness of breath, tumefaction of the throat, whiteness of the tongue, +ulceration of the mouth, expectoration of glairy mucus, dryness of the +mouth by night and by day, spasmodic eructation, nausea, sense of hunger +after eating, anxiety after meals; in short, twenty-four octavo pages are +devoted to the innumerable effects of this substance on the organism. + +Of _magnesia artificialis_ three hundred and twelve symptoms are noted; +six hundred and fifty of the _rhus radicans_; nine hundred and forty of +_pulsatilla_; five hundred of _ignatia amara_; four hundred and sixty of +_arsenic_: in short, volumes upon volumes are crowded with these +observations, not only recording physical effects, but singular results on +our moral faculties; such as serenity or moroseness, gaiety or sadness, a +disposition to commit suicide or a fond partiality to life, courage or +cowardice, a weak intellect or a vigorous conception. For +instance,--common sea-salt occasions irascibility, lowness of spirits, +taciturnity, melancholy, palpitation of heart, disposition to shed tears, +pusillanimity, and despair; while potash gives rise to ill-temper without +apparent cause at noon and in the evening, with violent paroxysms of rage +in the morning, impetuous desires, furious passion, with gnashing of +teeth, if all around does not yield to the patient's desires; while the +vision of a bird hovering about the window produces loud shrieks of alarm, +exaltation of the intellects, and a horror of the future. So innumerable, +indeed, are all these singular effects attributed to various medicines +thus experimented, that no memory, however retentive, could possibly bear +them in recollection. The following are the directions laid down for +conducting this curious inquiry: + +The person upon whom medicines are tried must be free from disease; but +weak substances should be given to subjects of a delicate and sensitive +constitution. The medicine is to be tried in its most pure and simple +state, possessing all its energies, taking special care that it is not +combined with any heterogeneous substances during the day it is exhibited, +and the time while its action is supposed to last. The diet must be +moderate; all spices and high-seasoned food to be avoided, as well as +green vegetables, roots, salads, &c. which are known to possess medicinal +properties. The dose of the medicine to be similar to that which is +usually prescribed by practitioners. If, at the expiration of about two +hours, no effect is observed, a stronger dose is to be given. Should the +first dose operate powerfully at the commencement, but gradually lose its +influence, the second will be given the following morning; and a still +stronger one, four times the strength of the first, be administered on the +third day. + +The result of these experiments being recorded, homoeopathic agents are +selected to oppose morbid symptoms; and when the choice of remedies has +been appropriate, an aggravation of the symptoms is observed. This +aggravation is usually considered as an increase of the disorder, whereas +it is solely the effect of the homoeopathic remedy. "For these +phenomena," say the homoeopathists, "were frequently observed by +physicians, who little thought at the time, that they were the result of +the medicines they had given." Thus, when the pustules of itch became more +rife after the exhibition of sulphur, it was thought that the increase of +the eruption was merely the affection _coming out_ more freely; whereas, +the aggravation was occasioned by sulphur. Leroy informs us that the +heart's-ease, _viola tricolor_, increased an eruption in the face. Lyrons +says that elm-bark aggravated cutaneous affections, which were cured by +this remedy; but neither of them were aware of the nature of this +homoeopathic development. For further information on this head, the +Organon of Hahnemann must be consulted. + +Such were his doctrines for a period of about twenty years,--doctrines +which he emphatically pronounced infallible, and founded on the immutable +laws of homoeopathy. In 1828, however, convinced by numerous failures in +the treatment of chronic diseases, that other causes than those which he +acknowledged,--such as the improper preparation of the medicine, or +dietetic neglect on the part of the patient,--contributed to these +disappointments, he announced that he had discovered the hidden source of +the obstacles he encountered; and that, after many years of experiments +and meditation, he had come to the conclusion that almost all chronic +diseases originated from constitutional miasmatic affections or +predispositions, which he divided into _sycosis_, _syphilis_, and _psora_, +or, in plain English, the itch. To this latter affection he attributes +innumerable disorders. In diseases of a syphilitic character, he had found +his mode of treatment infallible; and he therefore concluded that all +obstinate and rebellious affections were the result of some other +constitutional predisposing circumstances. He tells us that he laboured in +profound secrecy to discover this great, this sublime desideratum: his +very pupils knew it not; the world was to remain in ignorance of his +pursuits until he could proclaim the most inestimable gift that Divinity +bestowed upon mankind. This immortal discovery was neither more nor less +than the itch; to which malady, according to his views, since the days of +Moses, seven-eighths of the physical and moral miseries to which flesh is +heir, were to be referred. Whether rendered evident by eruptions, or +latent from our cradle, it was a curse transmitted to us, by the +modification and degeneration of leprosy, through myriads of +constitutions, and which only disappears from the surface to fester in +malignity until it bursts forth again in the multifarious forms of +innumerable diseases, amongst which we find scrofula, rachitis, phthisis, +hysteria, hypochondriasis, dropsy, hydrocephalus, haemorrhage, fistula, +diseases of the head and liver, ruptures, cataracts, tic-douloureux, +deafness, erysipelas, cancers, aneurisms, rheumatism, gout, apoplexy, +epilepsy, palsy, convulsions, stone, St. Vitus's dance, nervous affections +of every description, loss of sight, of smell, of taste, stupidity and +imbecility.[36] In support of this doctrine, Hahnemann adduces ninety-five +cases recorded by medical writers, in which the disappearance of the itch +was followed by various acute and chronic maladies. + +The next miasmatic generator is _sycosis_, or the disposition to warty +excrescences; but this source of disease Hahnemann does not consider so +prolific as syphilis, or his favourite psora. + +Such are the principal features of the homoeopathic system. I have +already stated that its followers consider the most minute particles of +medicine more powerful than larger doses; they therefore have recourse to +infinite trituration or dilution in three vehicles which they consider +free from any medicinal property,--distilled water, spirits of wine, and +sugar of milk; by these means they procure a decillionth or a +quintillionth fraction of a grain. One drop of their solution is +considered sufficient to saturate three hundred globules of sugar of milk; +and three or four of these globules are deemed a powerful medicine. To +give a better idea of Hahnemann's notions on this subject, I shall quote +his own words: + +"By shaking a drop of medicinal liquid with one hundred drops of alcohol +_once_, that is to say, by taking the phial in the hand which contains the +whole, and imparting to it a rapid motion by a single stroke of the arm +descending, I shall then obtain an exact mixture of them; but two or +three, or ten such movements, would develop the medicinal virtues still +further, making them more potent, and their action on the nerves much more +penetrating. In the extenuation of powders, when it is requisite to mix +one grain of a medicinal substance in one hundred grains of sugar of milk, +it ought to be rubbed down with force during one hour _only_, in order +that the power of the medicine may not be carried to too great an extent; +medicinal substances acquiring at each division or dilution a new degree +of power, as the rubbing or shaking they undergo develops that inherent +virtue in medicines which was unknown until my time, and which is so +energetic, that latterly I have been forced by experience to reduce the +number of shakes to two." + +As a further illustration of this theory, he affirms that gold is without +any action in our organism in its natural state; but that when one grain +of this metal is triturated according to the above process until each +grain of the last triturated preparation contains a quadrillionth part of +the original grain of the mineral, it will be so powerful that it will be +sufficient to place this single grain in a phial, to be inspired for a +moment, to produce the most amazing results, and none more so than the +faculty of restoring to a melancholy individual, disposed to commit +suicide, his pristine partiality to life. + +Unfortunately for Hahnemann, many of these assertions are unsupported by +facts or sound reasoning, and appear mere wanderings of an ardent +imagination; and thus soaring in regions of fancy, he himself has struck +many fatal blows to his own doctrines. For instance, what are the +arguments he adduces to prove that in two similar diseases the strongest +will overcome the weakest? + +"Why," he exclaims, "does the splendid Jupiter disappear during the +twilight of morn to the eyes of the contemplator? It is because a similar +power, but possessed of greater energies, the breaking day, acts upon our +organs." + +This is a defective analogy. Hahnemann tells us that a stronger power +banishes a weaker one in a permanent manner, whereas the bright planet he +here alludes to will return with the night. Then again:-- + +"With what do we endeavour to relieve the olfactory nerves when offended +by disagreeable odours? By snuff, which affects the nostrils in a similar +but in a more powerful manner." This is not correct: when the action of +snuff has ceased, the disagreeable effluvia become again offensive. In +some instances his poetical vagaries are preposterous. "By what means," he +adds, "do we endeavour to protect the ears of the compassionate from the +lamentations of the poor wretched soldier condemned to be scourged? Is it +not by the shrill notes of the fife united to the loud beat of the drum? +How do we endeavour to drown the roar of distant artillery that causes +terror in the heart of the soldier? By the roll of the double drum;--nor +would this feeling of compassion, this sense of terror, have been checked +by admonition or by splendid rewards. In the same manner our grief, our +regret, subside, upon receiving the intelligence, true or false, that a +more lively sorrow has affected another person." It would be idle to dwell +upon the absurdity of such visions and erroneous statements. + +To support his doctrines, Hahnemann should have proved, 1st, that +medicinal powers do produce an artificial malady similar to the natural +affection; 2nd, that the organism only remains under the influence of the +medicinal disease; 3rd, that this medicinal disease is of short duration; +and 4th, that all these effects can only be produced by a medicine +selected according to their similarity of symptoms. Our theorist has +utterly failed in his endeavours to establish these facts; therefore have +his doctrines been impugned by many of his most zealous disciples, amongst +whom may be mentioned Griesselich, Rau, Schroen. The aggravation which he +asserts takes place after the exhibition of a homoeopathic medicine is +not only unsupported by proof, but positively denied by many of their +practitioners; and Hartman plainly affirms that, after a homoeopathic +dose, the patient frequently experiences a state of calm, a disposition to +slumber, and often falls into a profound sleep more or less prolonged, in +waking from which he finds himself much relieved, if not perfectly cured. +Thus several physicians who have adopted his practical views reject many +of the doctrines on which they are founded; and a homoeopathist has +justly compared his works to a wild virgin forest, in which we meet with a +number of valuable trees and plants in the midst of arid brushwood and +parasitic weeds that would check the growth of the most useful +productions. + +Yet, notwithstanding the many gratuitous assertions, and consequent +erroneous inductions, we meet with in the _Organon_, it is probable that +this system is destined to operate a gradual but material revolution in +the _practice_ of medicine. As to theories, we must agree with Voltaire +when he said "En fait de systeme, il faut toujours se reserver le droit de +rire le lendemain de ses idees de la veille." + +Hippocrates laid down in his Aphorisms the incontrovertible fact, "Duobus +doloribus simul obortis, non tandem eadem in parte, vehementior alterum +obscurat. A. 46." To a certain degree, it was upon this assertion, which +the experience of ages has confirmed, that Hahnemann founded the principal +and most important point of his doctrine; but, going much farther than the +father of medicine, he affirms that similar diseases effectually remove +each other. For centuries practitioners have been acting +homoeopathically; the exhibition of specifics, in fact, being nothing +else. As we have already shown, specifics are known to produce symptoms +similar to the diseases they cure. Hitherto the number of such medicines +has been confined to a very few agents; and perhaps with the exception of +mercury, sulphur, and bark, with their several preparations, scarcely any +article in the materia medica could have claimed this peculiar property. +To extend these limits, which confined in so exiguous a compass our +therapeutic agents, has been the laborious and singular study of Hahnemann +and his disciples. Haller had first given the example, and they arduously +applied themselves to discover by experiments on the healthy subject, both +upon their own persons and others, what were the peculiar effects or +symptoms produced by various medicinal substances. These observations are +so numerous and confused, that, on reading them, we feel plunged in a +chaotic labyrinth of symptoms, without any clue to extricate ourselves +from its perplexing mazes. Still, from this multifarious catalogue much +important information can be collected; and it cannot be denied that the +homoeopathist has not only thrown a new light on the action of many +medicines which we daily prescribe, but brought into practical +consideration the necessity of attending to dietetic discipline, by an +investigation of the several properties of our usual _ingesta_. + +It is obvious that any enthusiast who would blindly embrace the foregoing +doctrines without serious and deep investigation, and boldly apply the +wild theory to practice, would at once throw open the flood-gates of +absurdity, and lend his aid in destroying, if possible, with one fell +swoop, the result of ages of mature study and experience. Hahnemann, to +fertilize the fields of science, had recourse to inundation instead of +wise and cautious irrigation; and the fury with which he and his rash +disciples maintained their opinions materially tended to retard their +progress. Truth needeth not violence; its own lustre will beam through +surrounding darkness, without being dragged into light. + +The objections to Hahnemann's doctrines are glaring. The art of healing, +from the dawn of science until the present day, has been more or less +founded on the faculties of reasoning. We are taught, in the first +instance, to observe carefully the phenomena of disease, and, by referring +effects to probable causes, endeavour, however difficult the task, to +trace their catenation. Many of these causes are perhaps sealed for ever +in the inscrutable book of our destinies; yet, if we cannot obtain a +knowledge of the origin of these disorders, still when we take into mature +consideration the complication of all accidental circumstances, and from +visible effects seek invisible relations, guided by our experience in +anatomy, physiology, and the revelations of pathology, we may find this +pursuit less difficult than it may be imagined. But the homoeopathist +despises and rejects as idle, all those collateral means of diving into +nature's arcana. He bids us dwell only upon evident symptoms, or, in other +words, look to the effects alone, and cast away all thoughts of +discovering their causes. Nothing can be more illogical than this +argument; for certainly we can scarcely hope to remove effects without +striking, as far as in our power lies, at their cause. To deny the +existence of any specific affection because we cannot account for its +origin, is absurd. As well might we reject the use of medicines known to +possess specific properties, from our utter ignorance of their _modus +operandi_. The exclusive consideration of symptoms would lead us into +lamentable error, since the same symptoms are observable in various +diseases. Similar pains, for instance, may be the symptoms of rheumatism, +nephritic affections, and calculus; headaches may arise from inflammation, +and from various and well-known sympathies with distant organs: yet, +without seeking to ascertain these relations, the mechanical and +empirical homoeopathist will prescribe such medicines as are known to +occasion pains in the loins, or headaches; only bearing in mind +perceptible derangements, heedless of the phenomena of organization, the +state of the secretions and excretions, the history, the rise and progress +of the disorder, or the idiosyncrasy of the patient. The liver is +diseased; the discovery is of no importance. We have only to attend to the +pain extending up the clavicle and shoulder, or the uneasiness experienced +in the right hypochondrium: the pulse, the respiration, the condition of +the excretions, the temperature of the skin, the appearance of the tongue, +are all regarded as minor considerations. It is not _hepatitis_ that we +are called upon to cure; it is to relieve a pain in the shoulder and in +the hypochondrium, or a difficulty of lying on the left side. + +No one will pretend to deny that our safest, perhaps our sole, guide in +the study of disease is the group of symptoms, that become more and more +perceptible during the course of our investigations. It was principally on +the study of symptoms that the most learned practitioners of every age and +country grounded their diagnosis and their prognosis; but they never +viewed them either singly, or in their complexity, as unconnected with the +particular diseases to which they were not only essentially united, but +from which they originated, and of the existence of which they were to be +considered the diagnostic signs. Therefore did the ancients classify them +as principal and accessory, univocal and equivocal, characteristic or +common, as they afforded more or less information in our pathological +deduction; and in that light they were weighed with greater or less +application, as our judgment could only be formed by the attentive +consideration of the phenomena of the organism in health and in disease. + +But while the homoeopathist's attention is chiefly directed to the +discovery of means that can enable him to produce symptoms analogous to +those of the disorder, he seems to disregard the laws of sympathy, by +which our organism appears to be ruled; a mysterious agency which can only +be ascertained by observation and experiment, when, to use the words of a +distinguished writer,[37] "by the former we may be said to listen to +nature, by the latter to interrogate her." Health depends upon the due +co-operation of all these associations; and one organ in the wonderful +machinery cannot be deranged in its functions without influencing others, +however distant and unconnected they may appear. In this co-ordination, +these vital relations have been very properly divided into mechanical, +functional, and sympathetic. Their study constitutes the groundwork of all +rational induction. It is not by individual or complex symptoms that we +can decide where the want of equilibrium is to be traced. Various have +been the theories on this most important subject, and great have been the +erroneous ideas dogmatically laid down. The illustrious Bichat himself +erred when he maintained that sympathies were aberrations--morbid +developments of our vital properties. Sympathies, on the contrary, may be +considered as constant phenomena, essential and inseparable from our +organism, whether in health or in sickness; and are, if I may be pardoned +the expression, co-ordinated to co-operate with each other in their +mechanical, their functional, and their sympathetic associations. + +An incarcerated hernia causes hiccup, nausea, vomiting. Will the +homoeopathist tell us that we must seek in his catalogue of innumerable +effects some substance which is known to produce similar symptoms? Surely +the rupture must first call our attention. This example is adduced as +referring to nearly every case in which it might be rashly attempted to +separate causes from effects. The mammary glands are variously affected in +uterine diseases; their impressions are reciprocal, yet the uterine +affection must be the chief object of our solicitude. A peculiar pruritus +is a symptom of calculus. Are we then to administer a homoeopathic dose +of _cannabis_, or any other medicine which may give rise to a similar +sensation? It may be objected to this observation that these are purely +surgical cases, in which we need not be guided by symptoms to discover +causes; but it has too frequently happened that nausea and vomiting have +been attended to, while the hernia was overlooked, until fatal accidents +were manifested. Moreover, a diseased liver, a diseased spleen or kidney, +would be just as perceptible as hernia or calculus, if these parts could +be brought into view or contact. + +It may be said that an erroneous notion of Hahnemann's doctrines on this +subject has been taken; it is therefore necessary to quote his own words: + +"It may be easily conceived that the existence of a malady presupposes +some alteration in the interior of the human organism; but our +understanding can only lead us to suspect this alteration in a vague and +deceitful manner, from the appearance of the morbid symptoms, the sole +guide we can depend on except in surgical cases. The essence of the +internal and invisible change is undiscoverable, nor have we any means of +guarding against deceptive illusions."[38] + +"The invisible substance that has undergone a morbid alteration in the +interior of the human body, and the perceptible changes, which are +externally developed,--in other words, symptoms,--form by their union what +is called disease; but the symptoms are the only points of the malady +which are accessible to the physician, the sole indication whence he can +derive any intuitive notion, and the principal objects with which he ought +to become acquainted to effect a cure. From this incontestable truth there +is nothing discoverable in disease beyond the totality of its symptoms to +guide us in the selection of our curative means."[39] + +It is not to be supposed that an experienced physician, although a +homoeopathist, will rest satisfied with this study of symptomatic +medicine, without endeavouring to attach these effects to some cause, +however occult it may appear; but such a doctrine becomes pernicious, +since it bids us close the only book of truth that can reveal our +errors,--_post mortem_ investigations. Surely, if a group of certain +symptoms attend a disease which, when terminating fatally, shows +disorganization in certain viscera, we are not only justifiable in giving +to that disorganization a specific name in our scientific classification +and categories, but in considering the symptoms of no other importance +than as corroborative of those facts that morbid anatomy daily brings to +light. + +It is generally admitted that most nosologies are imperfect, and may +occasionally lead the young practitioner into error. This is easily +accounted for when we consider the Protean forms that the same disease +assumes in different individuals; yet, without this classification, the +science of medicine could not be studied. A certain arrangement is +necessary to simplify all our pursuits in natural science, and to seek a +variety we must know the order and the genus. + +Had Hahnemann given a better system of nosology than those we possess, and +with his truly praiseworthy zeal and industry enumerated the various +symptoms of disease as minutely and as accurately as he has recorded the +effects of medicinal substances, his labours might have proved a most +valuable addition to our store of knowledge. + +Let us now direct our attention to the absurdities to which these opinions +have led. Solely attentive to effects, and heedless of the +disorganization of various important parts of the human economy which +morbid anatomy detects, Hahnemann endeavours to discover the occult +causes--the original source--the germ--of the malady, which most likely +are beyond the reach of our researches; and he boldly affirms that all +chronic diseases spring from syphilis, a disposition to warts and the +itch. Now experience has proved that such an assumption is unfounded. The +most healthy subjects, those who attain the finest old age, are more +liable to this disgusting affection than the wealthy and cleanly part of +the community. The Irish and Scotch peasantry from their infancy, and +through life, are most subject to psora; and certainly our soldiers and +sailors, amongst whom the disease is common, are not more predisposed to +chronic diseases than any other classes of society, of course not taking +into consideration the effects of unhealthy climates. + +Syphilis, it will be readily granted, has a considerable share in +producing anomalous _sequelae_, more especially when in combination with +mercury. Warts, except of a syphilitic character, were never known to +germinate diseases; indeed, they affect the most healthy and robust +individuals. Yet to these three miasmatic causes does Hahnemann attribute +nearly every disease that was ever known to afflict mankind; while he +passes over in silence the predisposition to scrofula, gout, rheumatism, +to which we can unfortunately trace with too much certainty the source of +much human misery. + +That the itch is a disease of great antiquity is a matter of doubt. It has +been maintained that it is the same eruptive disorder described by Celsus +under the appellation of _scabies_; yet this writer does not allude to its +contagious nature, and moreover says, that in some cases it disappears +completely, whereas in others it is renewed at certain periods of the +year. + +Celsus, moreover, includes other forms of pustular eruptions among the +different species of scabies, not sufficiently distinguishing them from +each other. The character of his scabies is more analogous to the lichen +agrius of Willan. + +Nor did the ancients consider their _psora_ as our itch. It appears to +have been the scaly tetter, which they sometimes denominated _psoriasis_, +at others _lepra_, a synonymous affection; but neither pustular nor +vesicular. Leprosy, indeed, is a malady totally distinct from the itch in +all its characters. Hahnemann asserts that the species of leprosy that +afflicted the Jews, and which is described by their legislator in the 13th +chapter of Leviticus, was the itch; but any one who will peruse this +description will perceive that it does not bear the slightest resemblance +to that disorder. It appears, on the contrary, to have been that kind of +leprosy called _leuce_ by the ancients. Nor was leprosy constantly +attended with itching, one of the chief characteristics of the malady, and +from which sensation it derives its very name. Hippocrates mentions a +leprosy that usually occasioned a prurience before rain. There are no +diseases in the classification of which more obscurity exists than in +cutaneous affections; and Hahnemann's ideas would tend to increase this +confusion, since he tells us that he considers the _framboesia_ of +America, the _sibbens_ of Norway, the _pellagra_ of Lombardy, the _plica_ +of Poland, the _pseudo-syphilis_ of the English, and the _asthenia +Virginiensis_ of Virginia, complications of his three miasmatic +principles; and he further informs us, no doubt on the faith of some idle +tradition, that _psora_ lost its external deformity on the return of the +Crusaders, who brought from the Holy Land the use of linen shirts, a +cleanly and salutary precaution that eradicated the disease at a period +when France had no less than two thousand hospitals for the reception of +_itch_ patients,--a plain proof that he confounds leprosy with itch, since +the hospitals he alludes to were distinctly considered leper-houses. + +It is certainly true that there does exist in our system a constant +predisposition to eruptive affections of some kind or other. We are born +heirs to certain exanthematic affections, such as the measles and +smallpox; and it would be as difficult to find a being morally immaculate +as an individual free from speck or blemish. Many of these eruptions are +considered of a critical and salutary nature; and the ancients fancied +that nature relieved herself by throwing upon the surface some "peccant +humours." Hence their dread of the retrocession of any of these "breakings +out;" and there is no doubt but that accidents frequently followed their +sudden disappearance, in the same manner as drying up an issue or a +blister established for some time, and become habitual, may occasion +internal mischief; but to maintain that all chronic diseases arise from +three eruptive principles is a most gratuitous and untenable assertion. + +Enthusiastically anxious to support his doctrines, Hahnemann is frequently +led into erroneous assertions. Thus he tells us that life will suddenly +cease if a little water, or the mildest liquid, is injected into a vein; +whereas experience has proved, in the treatment of cholera, and various +other instances, that the most stimulating solutions may be thus +introduced, not only with impunity, but with salutary results. + +It is needless to enter more deeply into the ungracious business of +pointing out errors, many of which were evident to Hahnemann himself; +since, not only in the several editions of his Organon, but in various +paragraphs in the same volume, he contradicts himself. + +A much more gratifying and important task is now undertaken, to prove, by +the evidence of facts, supported by practical reasoning, that the art of +healing is more indebted to the homoeopathic doctrines than to any +system that has hitherto been delivered in our schools. + +That the all-bountiful Creator, in permitting, for purposes unknown to us, +mankind to be visited by so many scourges, has also scattered around us +means to counteract these evils, cannot be a matter of doubt. Instinct +leads animals to find out these salutary agents, and various specifics +have been discovered by man. The rudest savage is in possession of +curative substances unknown to civilized man, and performs cures where +learning and experience have proved of no avail. + +To extend the limits of specifics, must therefore be considered a most +desirable step towards adding to our means of relieving disease; and in +this pursuit it is impossible to bestow too much praise on the +homoeopathic observer. Enthusiasm--predilection to a favourite but +persecuted system--may induce an ardent proselyte not only to deceive +others, but unwittingly to deceive himself. It is therefore not only +possible, but probable, that in the experimental investigations of the +effects of medicine, Fancy, in her multifarious colours, may have +depicted, with apparent fidelity, a state of body and mind that only +existed in an excited imagination; but when we behold various individuals, +distant from each other, and totally unconnected, observing similar +results from the exhibition of various medicinal substances, we have no +right to call their assertions into doubt. These assertions, moreover, are +not laid down dogmatically, but are earnestly recommended to be submitted +to the test of experiment. For instance, the homoeopathist has found out +that certain substances, by diminishing the energy of the heart and +arteries, subdue inflammatory action as effectually as venesection. This +is a fact daily witnessed, and of which any practitioner may convince +himself. It is not asserted, that in cases of sudden determination of +blood, which require immediate revulsion and abstraction of the vital +fluid, homoeopathic remedies will be found possessed of sufficient +activity to afford prompt relief; but experience has fully proved that in +cases which can admit of a few hours' delay, these medicines very +frequently supersede the necessity of debilitating the patient by a +copious loss of blood. + +Dr. Paris, in his admirable work on Materia Medica, has justly observed, +"that observation or experiment upon the effects of medicine is liable to +a thousand fallacies, unless it be carefully repeated under the various +circumstances of _health_ and _disease_, in different climates, and on +different constitutions." This has been the main object of the +homoeopathist; and a further quotation from the above distinguished +writer will illustrate the importance of their labours. "It is impossible +to cast our eyes over such multiplied groups (of medicinal substances) +without being forcibly struck with the palpable absurdity of some, the +disgusting and loathsome nature of others, the total want of activity in +many, and the uncertain and precarious reputation of _all_, without +feeling an eager curiosity to inquire, from the combination of what causes +it can have happened that substances at one period in the highest esteem, +and of generally acknowledged utility, have fallen into total neglect and +disrepute. That such fluctuation in opinion and versatility in practice +should have produced, even in the most candid and learned observer, an +unfavourable impression with regard to the general efficacy of medicines +can hardly excite our astonishment, much less our indignation; nor can we +be surprised to find that another portion of mankind has at once arraigned +physic as a fallacious art, or derided it as a composition of error and +fraud. A late foreign writer, impressed with this sentiment, has given the +following _flattering_ definition of our profession: _Physic is the art +of amusing the patient, while Nature cures his disease_." + +With such a lamentable view of the practice of medicine, can we be too +thankful to those observers who strenuously endeavour to rescue it from +the dark trammels in which prejudice and interested motives have bound it? +In no country more than in Great Britain is such an investigation +desirable. We have become proverbial from our incessant abuse of a farrago +of medicinal substances; and what is usually termed an _elegant +prescription_ signifies an amalgam of various drugs and preparations, +which most probably, by their affinities, neutralize the expected effects +of each other; for, however great and flattering may have been the +discoveries of modern chemistry, many of these affinities are unknown to +us. Surely when our labours cannot detect any difference in the component +parts of the purest Alpine atmosphere and the deleterious air of a +loathsome dungeon, we cannot expect to form a correct idea of pharmaceutic +combinations. + +The mere hopes of being able to relieve society from the curse of constant +drugging, should lead us to hail with gratitude the homoeopathist's +investigations. That many physicians, but especially apothecaries, who +live by overwhelming their patients with useless and too frequently +pernicious medicines, will warmly, nay furiously inveigh against any +innovation of the kind, must be expected as the natural result of +interested apprehension; and any man who aims at simplicity in practice +will be denounced as guilty of medical heresy. Have we not seen +inoculation and vaccination branded with the most opprobrious epithets, +merely because their introduction tended to diminish professional lucre? + +In these remarks upon medicinal combinations, it is not meant to infer, +that, because they are chemically incompatible, they are +ineffectual,--experience has proved the contrary; but no one will contend +that, if we can attain the same beneficial results from a single +ingredient, administered in small quantities and at distant periods, as +from the exhibition of repeated and nauseous doses of pills, powders, +draughts, potions, &c. which hang over the bed of sickness, nay, of slight +derangements, like the sword of Damocles, we have not effected a most +salutary reform in the practice of physic. It is related of one of these +ingenious and industrious practitioners, that, having seen a prescription, +that only contained half a dozen medicines, he exclaimed, "What! nothing +more?" To which the prescriber replied, "If you choose, sir, we'll step +over to the apothecary, and see what else he has in his shop." + +Specifics may be divided into two classes; the one producing a peculiar +effect upon particular organs, the other producing general results. Thus, +the action of cantharides and digitalis on the urinary system, of emetics +on the stomach, of certain purgatives on the small intestines, and of +others on the large ones, are generally known; whereas the action of +mercury and opium is still a matter of controversy. A study of these +effects constitutes the chief object of the homoeopathist; and, having +determined their peculiar action, these medicinal agents are given +singly, and, as we have already observed, in the most minute doses. + +It is this division into infinite fractions that has drawn upon the +homoeopathic practice the denunciation of the allopathic physicians, as +it is considered utterly impossible that such imponderable particles can +produce any beneficial or prejudicial effect; and the Academy of Medicine +of Paris, when officially condemning the doctrine, asserts, in support of +this argument, that great danger arises from it "in frequent and serious +cases of disease, where the physician may do as much injury, and cause no +less mischief, by ineffectual means as by those which are prejudicial." + +This is perhaps one of the most important points of the homoeopathic +doctrine. If these fractional doses are inert, and yet the disease is +cured, then must the successful treatment be solely ascribed to the +dietetic regimen and the efforts of nature. However, experience has +afforded abundant proofs that these infinite atoms do produce positive and +evident effects. What appears to our feeble organs an atomic fraction may +produce phenomena on the organism which we cannot comprehend, but should +not therefore be denied. Let one grain of iodine be dissolved in one +thousand five hundred and sixty grains of water, the solution will be +limpid; let two grains of starch be dissolved in two ounces of water and +added to the first solution, and the liquor will forthwith assume a blue +tint. In this experiment the grain of iodine has been divided into +1/15360. Dissolve the four-hundredth part of one grain of arsenic in four +hundred thousand parts of water, and the hydric-sulphite will bring it +into evidence. Let a five-thousandth part of arseniate of ammonia be +dissolved in five hundred thousand parts of water, and the addition of the +smallest proportion of nitrate of silver will obtain a yellow precipitate. +Numerous experiments of a similar nature may be daily resorted to, to +prove that the most minute particles of two substances possessed of +chemical affinities may be brought into action, although diluted _ad +infinitum_. But the power that the smallest particle possesses in +producing natural phenomena cannot be more evidently proved than by +Spallanzani's experiments in fecundation. This physiologist having wrapped +up a male frog in oil-silk, fecundation could not take place; but having +collected on the point of a camel-hair pencil a particle of the +fecundising fluid, he succeeded in vivifying thousands of eggs. Surprised +at this result, he dissolved three grains of the secretion in a pound of +water, and one globule of the solution was endowed with the same faculty. +In this case the globule of water only contained 1/2994687500 part of one +grain. This curious experiment has been tried with a similar result by +Prevost and Dumas. How imponderable and impalpable must be the effluvium +which enables the dog to track his master for miles! the particle of atter +of roses that perfumes a whole chest of clothes! and what must the power +of the aroma be which is preserved for thousands of years in some Egyptian +mummies! Would the vulgar believe in the wonders of the solar and gaseous +microscopes unless they were exposed to view? In these we behold in +amazement myriads of individuals in one drop of fluid, each of them as +perfect in organization as the mighty mammoth of old or the sagacious +elephant of our days, endowed with distinct habits, destructive and +reproductive propensities and faculties. + +It has been advanced by the opponents of homoeopathy that the +insignificant dose of three or four medicinal globules cannot possess any +power, since one might swallow a thousand of them with impunity. To this +it is answered, that it is only under certain morbid conditions that these +medicines act by their homoeopathic affinities. Moreover, it is well +known that small doses of medicinal substances will frequently produce +more powerful effects than larger quantities. Tartar-emetic, sugar of +lead, calomel, afford daily instances of this fact; and it is also +admitted that many substances act differently upon the healthy or the +sick. An individual in health can take any food without apprehension; but +when his functions are deranged, the slightest imprudence in regimen may +lead to serious consequences. There are primordial and inscrutable +peculiarities in our constitution that cannot be accounted for; and the +medicine which relieves one patient will aggravate the sufferings of +others. The exhalations of the American _rhus_ are deadly to some persons, +but innocuous to others; and many poisons which cause instantaneous death +to some animals may be given with safety to others. Whence has arisen the +controversy regarding damp sheets, which many maintain are not dangerous, +simply from the fact that a healthy person with a vigorous circulation may +sleep in them with impunity, when a feeble and languid subject will be +exposed to some dangerous determination of blood? + +A learned writer already quoted thus expresses himself on this +matter:[40] "The virtues of medicines cannot be fairly nor beneficially +ascertained by trying their effects on sound subjects, because the +peculiar morbid condition which they are calculated to remove does not +exist." It may be said that this observation militates against the +homoeopathic experiments, and to a certain extent it evidently does; but +it cannot be inferred that because a medicinal substance will occasionally +act differently in health and in disease, that it may not frequently +operate in a similar manner when the morbid condition does prevail, since +it is generally admitted that medicines act in a relative manner according +to the state of the system. Hence classifications of medicines are too +frequently erroneous and imperfect. The doses of medicines determine their +effects. Linnaeus says, "Medicines differ from poisons, not in their +nature, but in their dose;" and Pliny tells its aphoristically, "_Ubi +virus, ibi virtus_." According to their doses, medicines will produce a +general or a local effect; and Dr. Paris, whom I feel much gratification +in quoting, lays down as a rule that "substances perfectly inert and +useless in one dose may prove in another active and valuable." It would be +foreign to my purpose to enter more fully into this most important +subject; but the cases which shall be adduced will be deemed sufficient to +convince the most incredulous, of the power of homoeopathic doses. + +Those who have denied this property have boldly attributed homoeopathic +cures to dietetic means. Admitting this statement by way of argument, +surely, if any observer, by ascertaining the peculiar action of our +ingesta, can so regulate the regimen as to produce salutary effects +without the aid of medicine, mankind would be most essentially benefited. +How many persons do we not daily meet with, who have never taken any +medicine since their childhood, when maternal care strove to destroy their +digestive organs with apothecary's _stuff_, and who regulate their +functions by mere attention to their mode of living. I know one gentleman, +a physician, who relieves constipation by green chilies; another, with +cold milk; a third, with warm milk: in some habits spinach and sorrel will +act as a powerful and safe aperient; in others, cheese, or a hard egg, +will operate in a contrary way. Fermented and spirituous liquors all +possess specific properties. Some gouty persons cannot drink Claret +without bringing on a paroxysm, and others dread a glass of Champagne or +Burgundy. Nay, different wines have been known to bring on arthritic +attacks in particular parts; and I have known Champagne to produce gout in +the wrist, and Burgundy in the knee, in subjects who under other +circumstances never experienced the disorder in those articulations. Our +peculiar aversion, nay, our dread, of various alimentary substances are +well known. The odour of cheese, of strawberries, have occasioned fainting +and convulsions; and in certain constitutions, several articles of diet +bring on indigestion. In short, the study of our ingesta is one of the +greatest importance; and here again the homoeopathist is entitled to our +best thanks. + +This investigation will moreover prompt physicians to be more attentive in +inquiring into the various effects of alimentary and medicinal substances +on their patients. Instead of hastily drawing out routine prescriptions +for such and such a disorder, they will accurately ascertain the physical +and moral condition of the subject, taking into due consideration previous +habits, predispositions, and pursuits in life. Indeed, it would be +desirable that practitioners followed the example of army medical men, who +keep an exact register of every individual they attend, and in which is +diligently recorded every circumstance connected with the disease and its +treatment. + +Moral influence has also been called into aid in opposition to this +practice, and cures have been attributed to the mere power of fancy and +credulity. We have certainly known superstition and mental imbecility to +be productive both of good and evil,--to have created some maladies, and +cured others; but homoeopathy has succeeded when the patient was unaware +of the treatment to which he was submitted. But, conceding the point, and +admitting that inert substances, such as starch, (and this experiment was +resorted to in Paris,) may have obtained singular beneficial results,--the +results of a weak imagination, this circumstance alone would be +illustrative of the power of moral agency; and who would not gladly wish +for a mental relief in lieu of a nauseating and injurious course of +medicine? + +Others will exclaim, although the homoeopathist disavows the _vis +medicatrix naturae_, that he solely succeeds by leaving the malady to the +salutary efforts of the constitution. Here again we must admit, that, were +we to leave many diseases to run their course, we might be more successful +in obtaining a cure than by a rash and detrimental interference, founded +on the principle that a physician "must order something." + +But the facts I am about to record,--facts which induced me, from having +been one of the warmest opponents of this system, to investigate carefully +and dispassionately its practical points,--will effectually contradict all +these assertions regarding the inefficacy of the homoeopathic doses, the +influence of diet, or the agency of the mind; for in the following cases +in no one instance could such influences be brought into action. They were +(with scarcely any exception) experiments made without the patient's +knowledge, and where no time was allowed for any particular regimen. They +may, moreover, be conscientiously relied upon, since they were made with a +view to prove the fallacy of the homoeopathic practice. Their result, as +may be perceived by the foregoing observations, by no means rendered me a +convert to the absurdities of the doctrine, but fully convinced me by the +most incontestable facts that the introduction of fractional doses will +soon banish the farrago of nostrums that are now exhibited to the manifest +prejudice both of the health and the purse of the sufferer. + + +CASE I. + +A servant-maid received a blow of a stone upon the head. Severe headache, +with dizziness and dimness of sight, followed. Various means were resorted +to; but general blood-letting could alone relieve the distressing +symptoms, local bleeding not having been found of any avail. The relief, +however, was not of long duration, and the distressing accidents recurred +periodically, when abstraction of blood became indispensable. Reduced by +these frequent evacuations, I was resolved to try the boasted "bleeding +globules" of the homoeopathist, when, to my great surprise, I obtained +the same mitigation of symptoms which the loss of from twelve to sixteen +ounces of blood had previously accomplished. Since the first experiment no +venesection became necessary, and the returns of the violent headache were +invariably relieved by the same means. + + +CASE II. + +An elderly woman was subject to excruciating headache, with an evident +determination of blood to the brain. Numerous leeches were constantly +applied. The usual remedies indicated in similar affections were resorted +to, but only afforded temporary relief. A homoeopathic dose of aconite +was given, and the relief that followed was beyond all possible +expectation. + + +CASE III. + +My much-esteemed friend Dr. Grateloup of Bordeaux was subject to frequent +sore-throats, which were only relieved by local blood-letting, cataplasms, +&c., but generally lasted several days, during which deglutition became +most difficult. I persuaded him to try a dose of the belladonna, neither +of us having the slightest confidence in its expected effects. He took the +globules at twelve o'clock, and at five P.M. the tumefaction of the +tonsils, with their redness and sensibility, had subsided to such an +extent that he was able to partake of some food at dinner. The following +morning all the symptoms, excepting a slight swelling, had subsided. + +Since this period Dr. G. has repeatedly tried the same preparation in +similar cases, and with equal success. In my own practice, I can record +seven cases of cynanche tonsillaris which were thus relieved in the course +of a few hours. + + +CASE IV. + +H--, a young woman on the establishment of the Countess of --, was +suffering under hemiplegia, and it was resolved by Dr. Brulatour and +myself to try the effects of nux vomica. At this period the wonders of the +homoeopathic practice had been extolled to the skies by its advocates, +and we were resolved to give one of their supposed powerful preparations a +fair trial. The girl was told that the powder she was about to take was +simply a dose of calomel; and on calling upon her the following morning we +did not expect that the slightest effect could have been obtained by this +atomic dose, when, to our utter surprise, the patient told us that she had +passed a miserable night, and described to us most minutely all the +symptoms that usually follow the exhibition of a large dose of strychnine. +It is but fair to mention that the homoeopathic treatment did not cure +the disease; but the manifest operation of this fractional dose, that +could not possibly be denied, is a fact of considerable importance. + + +CASE V. + +Mrs. ---- of Brompton, Bow, had laboured under hectic fever for several +months, and was so reduced by night perspirations, that she was on the +very brink of the grave. Called into consultation, I frankly told her +husband that every possible means known in the profession had been most +judiciously employed, and that I saw no prospect of obtaining relief. At +the same time I mentioned to him that the homoeopathic practitioners +pretended that they had found the means of relieving these distressing +symptoms, which he might submit to an experimental trial if he thought +proper. He immediately expressed his wish that it should be adopted. I +gave her a homoeopathic dose of phosphoric acid and stannum; and, to the +surprise of all around her, the night sweats did not break out at their +usual hour,--three o'clock in the morning. What renders this case still +more interesting is the fact of these perspirations recurring so soon as +the action of the medicine ceased; a circumstance so evidently +ascertained, that the patient knew the very day when another dose became +necessary. + + +CASE VI. + +A daughter of the same lady was subject to deafness, which I attributed to +a fulness of blood. This cause I clearly ascertained by the relief +afforded by the application of a few leeches behind the ear. I was +therefore induced, on a recurrence of the complaint, to endeavour to +diminish vascular action by a dose of aconite. The effects were evident in +the course of four hours, when the deafness and the other symptoms of +local congestion had entirely disappeared. + + * * * * * + +I could record numerous instances of similar results, but they would of +course be foreign to the nature of this work. I trust that the few cases I +have related will afford a convincing proof of the injustice, if not the +unjustifiable obstinacy, of those practitioners who, refusing to submit +the homoeopathic practice to a fair trial, condemn it without +investigation. That this practice will be adopted by quacks and needy +adventurers, there is no doubt; but homoeopathy is a science on which +numerous voluminous works have been written by enlightened practitioners, +whose situation in life placed them far above the necessities of +speculation. Their publications are not sealed volumes, and any medical +man can also obtain the preparations they recommend. It is possible, nay, +more than probable, that physicians cannot find time to commence a new +course of studies, for such this investigation must prove. If this is the +case, let them frankly avow their utter ignorance of the doctrine, and not +denounce a practice of which they do not possess the slightest knowledge. + +Despite the persecution that _Hahnemannism_ (as this doctrine is +ironically denominated) is at present enduring, every reflecting and +unprejudiced person must feel convinced that, although its wild and +untenable theories may not overthrow the established systems (if any one +system can be called established), yet its study and application bid fair +to operate an important revolution in medicine. The introduction of +infinite small doses, when compared, at least, with the quantities +formerly prescribed, is gradually creeping in. The history of medicine +affords abundant proofs of the acrimony, nay, the fury, with which every +new doctrine has been impugned and insulted. The same annals will also +show that this spirit of intolerance has always been in the _ratio_ of the +truths that these doctrines tended to bring into light. From the preceding +observations, no one can accuse me of having become a blind bigot of +homoeopathy; but I can only hope that its present vituperators will +follow my example, and examine the matter calmly and dispassionately +before they proceed to pass a judgment that their vanity may lead them to +consider a final sentence. + + + + +DOCTRINE OF SIGNATURES. + + +One of the most absurd medical doctrines that ever prevailed in the dark +aeras of science was the firm belief that all medicinal substances +displayed certain external characters that pointed out their specific +virtues. This curious theory may be traced to the Magi and Chaldaeans, who +pretended that every sublunary body was under a planetary influence. To +find the means of concentrating or fixing this stellary emanation became a +cabalistic study, called by Paracelsus the "_ars signata_;" and talismans +of various kinds were introduced by the professors of sideral science. The +word talisman appears to be derived from the Chaldaean and Arabic +_tilseman_ and _tilsem_, which mean characteristic figures or images. + +Paracelsus, Porta, Crollius, and many other philosophers and physicians, +cherished this vision, which had been transmitted to them through the +dense mists of superstition from more ancient authorities; amongst +others, Dioscorides, Aelius, and Pliny. + +The _lapis aetites_, or eagle-stone, which was supposed to be found in the +nests of this bird, but which, in fact, is nothing more than a variety of +iron-ore, was said to prevent abortion if tied to the arm, and to +accelerate parturition if affixed to the thigh. This conceit arose from +the noise that seemed to arise from the centre of the stone when it was +shaken: "Aetites lapis agitatus, sonitum edit, velut ex altero lapide +praegnans." From this absurd hypothesis sprung the doctrine; and the very +names of plants were supposed to indicate their specific qualities. For +instance, the _euphrasia_, or eye-bright, exhibiting a dark spot in its +corolla, resembling the pupil of the eye, was considered efficacious in +affections of that organ. The blood-stone, the _heliotropum_, from its +being marked with red specks, was employed to stop haemorrhage; and is to +this day resorted to in some countries, even in England, to stop a +bleeding from the nose.[41] Nettle-tea was prescribed for the eruption +called _nettle-rash_. The _semecarpus anacardium_, bearing the form of a +heart, was recommended in the diseases of this viscus. The _cassuvium +occidentale_, resembling the formation of a kidney, was prescribed in +renal complaints; and the pulmonary lichen of the oak, the _sticta +pulmonaria_, from its cellular structure, was esteemed a valuable +substance in morbid affections of the lungs. Deductions still more absurd, +if possible, are recorded: thus saxifrage, and other plants that grow in +rocky places, embodied as if it were in calcareous beds, were advised to +dissolve the stone; and the _echium_, bearing some faint resemblance to a +viper, was deemed infallible in the sting inflicted by this reptile. The +divers colours of substances supposed to be medicinal were also another +_signature_. Red flowers were given for derangement in the sanguiferous +system, and yellow ones for those of the bile. In Crollius's work, +entitled "_De Signaturis Plantarum_," many curious observations may be +found; and Sennert, Keuch, Dieterich, and other writers displayed great +industry in the division of these signatures, which, by the ancients, were +considered as something denoting no particular quality, and were then +called [Greek: asemoi charakteroi]; or [Greek: semantikoi], when their +virtues were evident. + +Amongst the various influences and indications that were attributed to +colours, black was especially considered as the mark of melancholy. +Baptista Porta affirms, that if a "black spot be over the spleen, or in +the nails, it signifies much care, grief, contention, and melancholy." +Cardan assures us that a little before his son's death he had a black +spot, which appeared in one of his nails, and dilated itself as he +approached his end. + +While nature was thus supposed to mark the virtues of her productions on +their external configuration, man assumed the same authoritative power, +and marked medicines with certain signs or seals. For this purpose, the +ancient physicians carried signets or rings, frequently worn upon the +thumb, and on which were engraved their own names, sometimes written +backwards, or the denominations of the nostrums they vended. On one of +these seals we find the word _aromaticu_, from _aromaticum_; on another, +_melinu_, abbreviation of _melinum_,--a collyrium prepared with the alum +of the island of Melos. A seal of this kind is described by Tochon +d'Annecy, bearing the words _psoricum crocodem_, an inscription that has +puzzled medical antiquaries. The word _psoricum_ was applied to an +eruptive affection of the eye; and Actuarius mentions a _collyrium +psoricum_ of Aelius; while Marcellus Empiricus records the virtues of the +_psoricum stratioticum_, which restored sight in twenty days to a patient +who had been blind for twelve years; but, when it was applied, it was +ineffectual, unless the words "_Te nunc resunco, bregan gresso_," were +religiously pronounced. _Crocodem_ was also supposed to apply to _crocus_ +or saffron, or to _crocodes_, a remedy for sore eyes, mentioned by Galen; +while some learned men refer the word to the dejections of the crocodile, +which were said to possess various virtues. The earth of Lemnos was sealed +with the figure of Diana, and to this day the bolar argils, brought from +Greece, bear various seals and characters; hence the _bolus Armeniae_, and +_bolus ruber_, are called _terra sigillata_. + +The influence of colours was supposed to have been so great, that in our +own annals we find John de Gaddesden, mentioned by Chaucer, ordering the +son of Edward I., when labouring under the small-pox, to be wrapped up in +scarlet; and to the present day, flannel, died nine times blue, is +supposed to be most efficacious in glandular swellings. Tourtelle, a +French army physician, has made the following singular observation on this +subject: "I observed that those soldiers of the Republic who were affected +with diseases connected with transpiration were more severely indisposed, +and not unfrequently exhibited symptoms of putrescency, when their wet +clothes had left a blue tinge on the skin, than when they had been merely +wetted by the rain." The explanation of this supposed phenomenon, is +simply that those men who had been coloured by their uniforms, had, no +doubt, been long wearing them, saturated by incessant rains, whereas the +others had merely been exposed to occasional showers. From this +observation, I do not pretend to affirm that any deleterious substances in +a dye might not occasion a dangerous absorption; but the accidents that +may result from such a circumstance could be easily explained without +having recourse to any particular influence of colour. The colour of +cloth, especially in army clothing, may also materially tend to influence +cutaneous transpiration, as some colours are more powerful conductors of +heat than others; and it is not impossible that the French soldiers, not +belonging to fresh levies, and who had always been clad in white, might +have experienced some difference of temperature when marching under +intense heat in dark blue and green uniforms. + +Some of the terms used by the signature doctrinarians may puzzle the most +learned. The Greeks called them [Greek: semantika]; and, in addition to +the all-powerful _abracadabra_,--an infallible cure of ague, when +suspended round the neck,--we find the magic terms of _sator_, _asebo_, +_tenet_, _obera_, _rotas_, _abrac_, _khiriori_, _gibel_, engraved upon +amulets. For the bite of a mad dog, _pax max_, and _adimax_, were +irresistible; and for a fractured arm or a luxation, _araries_, +_dandaries_, _denatas_, and _matas_, would have set at defiance the most +experienced chirurgeons. I must refer the curious reader on this important +subject to the work _De figuris Persarum Talismanicis_ of Guffarel, to the +_Oedipus_ of Kircher, the book of Crollius _De signaturis internis +rerum_, and _Isagoge physico-magico-medica_ of Elzer. + +The church vehemently denounced these abominations; and we find in the +council of Laodicea an injunction forbidding the priesthood the study and +practice of enchantment, mathematics, astrology, or the binding of soul by +amulets. These incantations were dreaded in every age. Thus Lucan: + + Mens, hausti nulla sanie polluta veneni, + Incantata perit. + +Philosophers have justly observed that most of the diseases treated and +supposed to have been cured by these mystic means, were of a nervous +description, and therefore depending, in a great measure, upon moral +influence. Here faith and hope assisted the physicians,--two great +auxiliaries in every worldly turmoil and trouble. Therefore do we find +most of these cures referred to epilepsy, paralysis, melancholy, +hypochondriasis, hysteria, as well as to many periodical affections, the +return of which is frequently arrested by mental impressions. A fright has +checked the paroxysm of an intermittent fever; and many natural functions +are impeded or brought on by a similar agency. The sight of a dentist has +been often known to calm an excruciating toothache; and there is no +complaint that has been cured by more singular means than this troublesome +affection. In 1794, a tract was published in Florence by Dr. Ranieri +Gerbi, a professor of mathematics in Pisa, entitled _Storia naturale di un +nuovo insetto_, which he called _curculio anti-odontalgicus_, and which, +being squeezed between the fingers, imparted to them, for the period of +one year, the wonderful power of relieving toothache with the mere touch; +and the author asserts that by this simple process he cured four hundred +and one cases out of six hundred and twenty-nine. This may be considered a +branch of magnetism, and has been treated by Schelhammar, in his book _De +Odontalgia tactu sedanda_. + +This wonderful insect belonged to the _coleoptera_, and was simply the +_curculio_ and the _coccinella septem-punctata_, well known to +entomologists, and which, according to Cipriani Zuccagni, and more +particularly Carradori, possessed these singular properties, which, +however, subsequent experiments have fully disproved. + +While we find some _charms_ having sufficient power over our weak +imagination to cure diseases, there were others considered sufficiently +energetic to occasion death. Sometimes a wax figure was made, supposed to +represent the devoted victim, and which was pierced with a pointed +instrument, each stab being accompanied by a magic imprecation: + + Devovet absentes, simulacraque cerea fingit. + +These means the ancients called _carmina, incantationes, devotiones +sortiariae_. It is somewhat strange that this same ceremony of the waxen +image to destroy the object of our hate was also employed to obtain love. +The figure was on these occasions called by the name of the person, and +afterwards placed near the fire, when, as the heat gradually melted it, +the obdurate heart of the lover was simultaneously softened. At other +times two images were thus exposed to heat, the one of clay, the other of +wax; and, while the one melted, the other became more hardened:--a +vindictive feeling, to render our own heart insensible, while we mollified +that of an ingrate; or perhaps with a view to render that heart inflexible +to others, while it propitiated the addresses of the supplicant. Thus +Virgil: + + Limus ut hic durescit, et haec ut cera liquescit, + Uno eodemque igni; sic nostro Daphnis amore. + Sparge molam, et fragiles incende bitumine lauros. + Daphnis me malus urit, ego hanc in Daphnide laurum. + +The wishes of the ancients for those they loved were sometimes curious, +and they often turned round a mystic wheel, praying that the object of +their affections might fall down at their door and roll himself in the +dirt. + +The ancients, who daily witnessed this influence of the imagination in +causing and in curing disease, have left us many valuable injunctions on +the subject; and Plato thus expresses himself: "The office of the +physician extends equally to the purification of mind and body; to neglect +the one is to expose the other to evident peril. It is not only the body +that by its sound constitution strengthens the soul, but the +well-regulated soul, by its authoritative power, maintains the body in +perfect health." + + + + +COFFEE. + + +It is doubtful to whom we owe the introduction of this article of luxury +into Europe. The plant is a native of that part of Arabia called _Yemen_, +but we find no mention made of it until the sixteenth century; and it is +believed that Leonhart Rauwolf, a German physician, was the first writer +who spoke of it, in a work published in 1573. The plant was also described +by Prosper Alpinus, in his treatise on Egyptian plants, published in 1591 +and 1592. Pietro della Valle wrote from Constantinople in 1615 that he +would teach Europe the manner in which the Turks made their _cahue_. This +spelling was no doubt incorrect; for, in a pamphlet printed at Oxford in +1659, in Arabic and English, it is written _kauhi_, or _coffee_. Purchas, +who was a contemporary of Della Valle, called it _coffa_; and Burton thus +speaks of its use: "The Turks have a drink called _coffa_, so named of a +berry as black as soot and as bitter, which they sip still of, and sup as +warm as they can suffer. They spend much time in their coffa-houses, which +are somewhat like our alehouses and taverns, and there they sit chatting +and drinking to drive away the time and to be merry together, because they +find by experience that kinde of drink so used helpeth digestion and +procureth alacrity." + +The first coffee-house opened in London was in 1652. A Turkey merchant, of +the name of Edwards, having brought with him from the Levant some coffee +and a Greek servant, he allowed him to prepare and sell this beverage; +when he established a house in St. Michael's Alley, Cornhill, on the spot +where the Virginia Coffee-house now stands. Garraway's was the first +coffee-house opened after the fire in 1666. It appears, however, that +coffee was used in France in 1640; and a sale of it was opened at +Marseilles in 1671. + +The introduction of this berry was furiously opposed; and it appears that +in its native land it was treated with no less severity, since, in an +Arabian MS. in the King of France's library, coffee-houses were suppressed +in the East. In 1663 appeared a pamphlet against it, entitled "A Cup of +Coffee, or Coffee in its Colours." In 1672 the following lines were to be +found in another publication, "A Broadside against Coffee, or the Marriage +of the Turk:" + + Confusion huddles all into one scene, + Like Noah's ark, the clean and the unclean. + For now, alas! the drench has credit got, + And he's no gentleman who drinks it not. + +Then came "The Woman's Petition against Coffee," which appeared in 1674, +in which we find the following complaint: "It made men as unfruitful as +the deserts whence that unhappy berry is said to be brought, so much so, +that the offspring of our mighty ancestors would dwindle into a succession +of apes and pigmies; and on a domestic message a husband would stop by the +way to drink a couple of cups of coffee." It was then sold in convenient +pennyworths;--hence coffee-houses where wits, _quidnuncs_, and idlers +resorted, were called "penny universities." + +While it had adversaries, coffee was not left without eloquent advocates. +Sir Henry Blount, in his _Organon Salutis_, 1659, thus speaks of it: "This +coffa-drink has caused a great sobriety among all nations. Formerly +apprentices, clerks, &c. used to take their morning-draughts in ale, +beer, or wine, which often made them unfit for business. Now they play the +good-fellows in this wakeful and civil drink. The worthy gentleman, Sir +James Muddiford, who introduced the practice hereof in London, deserves +much respect of the whole nation." + +It appears, however, that the jealousy with which the use of coffee was +viewed, even by the government, arose more from the nature of the +conversations that took place in coffee-houses during moments of public +excitement, than from the apprehension of any injury that its consumption +might have caused to the public health. In the reign of Charles II. +coffee-houses were shut up by a proclamation, issued in 1675, as the +retailing of coffee "nourished sedition, spread lies, _scandalized great +men_, and might therefore be considered a _common nuisance_." As a +_nuisance_, its abolition was considered as not being an infringement of +the constitution! Notwithstanding this Machiavellian torturing of the +letter to serve the spirit, this arbitrary act occasioned loud and violent +discontent; and permission was given to reopen coffee-houses, on condition +that the landlords should not allow any scandalous papers containing +scandalous reports against the government or _great men_ to be read on +their premises! + +The use, or rather the abuse, of coffee is said to produce feverish heat, +anxiety, palpitations, trembling, weakness of sight, and predisposition to +apoplexy. Its effects in checking somnolence have been long known. +However, the action of this berry differs according to its being roasted +or raw. An infusion of torrefied coffee assists digestion, and frequently +removes headaches resulting from derangement in the digestive functions. +It also neutralizes the effect of narcotics, especially opium, and this +power is increased by the addition of lemon juice. A similar mixture has +been known to cure obstinate agues. Musgrave and Percival recommended its +use in asthma: indeed, most persons who labour under this distressing +malady seem to derive relief from its use. + +Taking into consideration all that has been advanced in regard to the +inconveniences that may attend the use of coffee and tea, they must be +considered as overruled by the moral results that have arisen from the +introduction of these beverages; and a late writer has observed, that it +has "led to the most wonderful change that ever took place in the diet of +civilized nations,--a change highly important both in a moral and physical +point of view. These beverages have the admirable advantage of affording +stimulus without producing intoxication." Raynal observes, that the use of +tea has contributed more to the sobriety of the Chinese than the severest +laws, the most eloquent discourses, or the best treatises on morality. + +The quality and effects of coffee differ according to the manner in which +it is roasted. Bernier states that when he was at Cairo there were only +two persons in that great city who knew how to prepare it to perfection. +If it be underdone, its virtues will not be imparted, and its infusion +will load and oppress the stomach; if it be overdone, its properties will +be destroyed, and it will heat the body, and act as an astringent. + +The best coffee is the _Mocha_, or that which is commonly called Turkey +coffee. It should be chosen of a greenish, light, olive hue; the berries +of a middling size, clean, and plump. + +The bad effects of coffee may in all likelihood be attributed both to its +powerful and stimulating aroma and to its pungent acidity. According to +Cadet, this acid is the _gallic_; while Grindel considers it the _kinic_, +and Pfaff terms it the _caffeic_ acid. When strongly heated, it yields a +_pyro-caffeic_ acid, from which may be obtained a most pungent vinegar, +that has recently been thrown into trade, but, I believe, with little or +no success. + +The principle of coffee is the _caffein_, discovered by Robiquet, in 1821; +and it is to this active principle that its beneficial or baneful effects +can be attributed. Recent experiments tend to show that it is possessed of +powerful febrifuge virtues. To obtain this result, raw coffee has been +used. It gives to water a greenish hue, and, thus saturated, it has been +called the _citrine coffee_. Grindel has used this preparation in the +treatment of intermittent fevers in the Russian hospital of Dorpat; he +also administered the raw coffee in powder. In eighty cases of this fever +scarcely any resisted the power of this medicine, given either in +decoction, powder, or extract; but he seems to consider the latter form +the most effectual. From this physician's observations, coffee may become +a valuable addition to our _materia medica_; and the homoeopathic +practitioners maintain that they have employed it with great success in +various maladies. + + + + +AQUA TOPHANIA. + + +It was for a long time supposed that there actually did exist in Italy a +secret poison, the effects of which were slow, and even unheeded, until a +lingering malady had consumed the sufferer. No suspicions were excited; +or, had they led to any _post mortem_ examination, no trace of the +terrific preparation's effects could have been detected. + +It was towards the year 1659, during the pontificate of Alexander VII., +that the existence of this baneful preparation was suspected. Many young +women had been left widows; and many younger husbands, who might have +ceased to please their wives, had died away. A certain society of young +ladies had been observed to meet under the auspices of an elderly matron +of rather a questionable character, who had been known in her horoscopic +predictions to announce deaths that had but too truly taken place about +the period she prophesied. One of the society, it appears, _peached_ +against her companions, who were all apprehended and put to the torture; +and the lady patroness, whose name was Spara, was executed with four of +her pupils. This Spara was a Sicilian, who had obtained the fatal secret +from Tofania at Naples. Hence the composition was named _aqua Tofania_, +_aqua della Toffana_, and _acquetta di Napoli_. These deadly drops had +been charitably distributed by Tofania to various uncomfortable ladies who +wished to get rid of their lords, and were contained in small phials, +bearing the inscription of "_Manna de San Nicolas de Bari_." This hag had +lived to an old age, but was at length dragged from a monastery, in which +she had sought a sanctuary, tortured, and duly strangled, after a +confession of her crimes. + +Garelli, physician to Charles VI., thus wrote to Hoffmann on the subject: +"Your elegant dissertation on the popular errors respecting poisons +brought to my recollection a certain slow poison which that infamous +poisoner, still alive in prison at Naples, employed to the destruction of +upwards of six hundred persons. It was nothing else than crystallized +arsenic dissolved in a large quantity of water by decoction, with the +addition, but for what purpose I know not, of the herb _cymbalaria_ +(_antirrhinum_). This was communicated to me by his Imperial Majesty +himself, and confirmed by the confession of the criminal in the judicial +procedure." + +Abbe Gagliani, however, gives a different account of the secret Neapolitan +drug. "At Naples," he says, "the mixture of opium and cantharides is known +to be a slow poison; the surest of all, and the most infallible, as one +cannot mistrust it. At first, it is given in small doses, that its effects +may be insensible. In Italy it is called _aqua di Tufinia_: no one can +avoid its attacks, since the liquid is as limpid as water, and cannot be +suspected. Most of the ladies of Naples have some of it lying carelessly +on their toilet-tables with smelling-bottles; but they always can know the +fatal phial when they need its contents." A curious observer has remarked +on these two preparations, that the mixture of Garelli was, perhaps, +intended for husbands, while that of Gagliani was for the use of lovers. + +This remark appears judicious, since the potion described by the Abbe was +evidently intended as an amorous philter. Under that head I have related +many curious circumstances. There is no doubt but that these preparations +often contained deadly drugs, the perilous qualities of which were most +probably unknown to those who made them up without any sinister motives. +Plutarch and Cornelius Nepos inform us that Lucullus, the Roman General, +lost his reason, and subsequently his life, from having taken one of these +mixtures; and Caius Caligula was driven into a fit of insanity by a +philter given to him by his wife Caesonia, as described by Lucretius: + + Tamen hoc tolerabile, si non + Et furere incipias, ut avunculus ille Neronis + Cui totam tremuli frontem Caesonia pulli + Infudit. + +Virgil also alludes to the powerful and baneful nature of the plants +employed in magical incantations: + + Has herbas, atque haec Ponto mihi lecta venena + Ipse dedit Moeris; nascuntur plurima Ponto. + His ego saepe lupum fieri, et se condere silvis + Moerin, saepe animas imis excire sepulchris, + Atque satas alio vidi traducere messes. + +Female poisoners of a somewhat similar description were known amongst the +ancients. Nero, when he resolved to destroy Britannicus, sent for one of +those murderers, named Locusta, who, convicted of several assassinations, +was pardoned, but kept by the emperor to execute his secret purposes. He +wished that on this occasion the poison should produce immediate death. +Locusta prepared a drug that destroyed a goat in a few minutes. This was +not sufficiently active. The next preparation killed a hog in a few +seconds. It was approved of. The ill-fated youth was seated at the +imperial festive board--the potion poured into his goblet--and he died in +epileptic convulsions. Nero, undisturbed, requested his guests to remain +quiet--the youth he said was subject to similar attacks, which in general +were but of short duration; but soon the black, the livid hue of the face +betrayed the poison, which the imperial assassin sought to conceal, by +ordering this tell-tale sign to be concealed with paint. Sir Henry Halford +seems to think that Juvenal alludes to this circumstance in his first +Satire. + + Instituit rudes melior Locusta propinquas + Per famam et populum _nigros_ effere maritos. + +The poisons used by the ancients appear to have been of various kinds; +some more slow in their action than others, to suit, most probably, the +views of their employers. Socrates, it is supposed, drank the _cicuta_, +the action of which must have been very slow and weak, since his gaoler +informed him that if he could exert himself in a warm debate, the effects +might be arrested. The philosopher, however, remained tranquil. He shortly +after experienced a numbness in the legs, gradually became insensible, and +expired in convulsions. + +These secret poisons were conveyed in the most stealthy manner. Hence it +is related, that the poison prepared by Antipater, to destroy Alexander, +had been conveyed in a mule's hoof, being of so corroding a nature, that +no metallic vessel could contain it. This absurd story was credited by +Plutarch and Quintus Curtius, whereas it appears more probable that poison +was carried in an _onyx_, of which trinkets to contain precious ointments +were frequently made, or under a human nail, also called _Unguis_, or +[Greek: onux]. The latter case was the opinion of Dr. Heberden. + +Sir Henry Halford, in his learned and interesting essay on the deaths of +illustrious persons of antiquity, has clearly proved that Alexander was +not poisoned, but died of a lingering fever of a remittent type; a disease +that was most probably endemic in the marshes surrounding the city of +Babylon. + +Many absurd ideas regarding venenose substances prevailed in ancient days +as well as in modern times. Hannibal and Themistocles were said to have +been poisoned with bullocks' blood. + +Eastern nations fancy that a fascinating power is the gift of virtue. In +the _Hitapadesa_ of _Vishnusannan_ we find the following aphorism: "As a +charmer draweth a serpent from his hole, so a good wife, taking her +husband from a place of torture, enjoyeth happiness with him." Possibly +some receipt of this description may be found in the archives of Doctors' +Commons. + + + + +PLICA POLONICA AND HUMAN HAIR. + + +Hair may be considered a vegetation from the surface of the body. In a +state of health, hairs are insensible, and it is more than probable that +they possess no nerves, and that the circulation is carried on in the same +manner as in plants. In the bulb or root of the hair, however, the vessels +that promote this circulation are numerous, and there we may trace the +diseases that affect this beauteous ornament of mankind, more especially +in the Caucasian race. Long hair, of course, requires more nutriment than +scanty locks, and some physicians have been of opinion that their great +length debilitates. Dr. Parr affirms that he has observed symptoms of +plethoric congestion to arise after long hair had been suddenly cut off. + +Vauquelin has made curious experiments on this substance. A solution of +black hair has deposited a black matter containing bitumen, sulphur, and +iron; and alcohol extracted from the same coloured hair a whitish and a +grayish-green oil. Red hair yielded whitish matter and a blood-red oil. +White hair contained phosphate of magnesia, affording a proof of the +disposition towards the formation of calcareous matter in old age. When +hair becomes suddenly white under the shock of a severe moral impression, +Vauquelin is of opinion that this phenomenon is to be attributed to the +sudden extrication of some acid, as the oxymuriatic acid is found to +whiten black hair. Parr thinks that this accident may be owing to an +absorption of the oil of the hair by its sulphur, as in the operation of +whitening woollen cloths. + +The _plica_ is a curious and disgusting malady, that has been considered a +disease of the hair, which, according to vulgar report, secreted and shed +blood. This affection is common and endemic in Poland; hence the term +_Polonica_ that has been given to it. The invasion of this pestilence has +been traced to the irruption of the Moguls, from 1241 to 1287, chiefly +under the command of Cayuk, grandson of Yenghiz. The most absurd tales +were then related of the manner in which this dreaded infection was +propagated. Spondanus affirms that it arose from the waters having been +poisoned by venomous plants. Pistorius and Pauli relate that these waters +were corrupted by the great number of human hearts that the Moguls cast in +rivers and in wells. This supposition arose from the unheard-of acts of +barbarity perpetrated by the ferocious invaders on the wretched population +of Prussia, Poland, Hungary, and Transylvania. Their refined cruelty has +been depicted by Gebhardi, in his history of Hungary, in the most glowing +language. + +Other historians assert that the plica originated in the East; such is the +opinion of Stabel, Spreugel, and other writers. Rodrigo de Fonseca relates +that the Indians, after drinking certain waters, were attacked with a +disease in which the hair became agglomerated and matted in the most +disgusting manner. Erndtel attributes the malady in Poland to the +gluttonous consumption of horseflesh. However this may be, Poland has been +ever considered the country most exposed to this visitation. + +This disease affords a convincing proof of the vascularity of the hair, +since it tumefies, augments in capacity so as to allow an evident +circulation of blood, as the hairs will often bleed when divided with the +scissors. Dr. Kerckhoffs regards the malady as the mere result of the +custom among the filthy Poles of letting the hair grow to an immense +length, of never combing or cleaning it, and always keeping the head +covered with a woollen or leathern cap. Hence he observes that the rich +are generally exempt from the affection which particularly prevails +amongst the Jews. With this view of the disorder, he thinks that +cleanliness and the excision of the matted hair are sufficient to effect a +cure. + +It is, however, more than probable that other causes occasion this +horrible disease; and there is but little doubt that the system is +affected by a particular virus. In many instances affections of the head +complicate it; although it is likely that they may result from the +constant irritation of the scalp, that sympathizes so powerfully with the +membranes of the brain. + +The different names given to the _plica_ indicate more or less the ideas +that prevail regarding its nature. The Poles call it _gwozdiec_ or +_gwodziec_, which signifies a _nail_ that splits the wood into which it is +driven. In the district of the Roxolans it is termed _koltun_, _a stake_. +In Germany superstitious fancies have also given it various curious +denominations. It is called _alpzopf_ and _schraitelzopf_, as being the +result of the _malefices_ of vampires and incubi. By some it is asserted +that the Moravians, natural enemies of the Poles, not having been able to +conquer them by their arms, had recourse to magical art to inflict this +scourge: hence they term it _mahrenflechten_, _mahrenwichtung_. To this +day it is called _hexenzopf_ and _bichteln_, or unbaptized, alluding, no +doubt, to the Jews, who were accused of having introduced the disorder in +the deadly hate they bore the Christians; hence was it also known by the +name of _Judenzopf_ (_Coma Judaeorum_). + +Amongst the whimsical ideas to which the _plica_ has given rise, the most +extraordinary effort of the imagination was that of Hercules Saxoniae. He +maintained that the fabulous description of the heads of the Gorgons and +the Furies was derived from this affection: "_Caput Gorgoneum, caput +Furiarum, vera humana capita fuisse, et fictitiis poetarum occasionem +praebuisse_." + +There are instances on record of infants being born with this loathsome +malady. Davidson attributes this circumstance to the mental impressions of +the mother: "_Si ita matris ac nutricis superstitioni placere libuerit_." +The length of the matted hair in plica is frequently considerable: +Bachstrom relates the case of a Prussian woman whose hair extended beyond +the sides of her bed, and she was in the habit of turning it over to make +a quilt of it; Caligerus saw a man in Copenhagen whose clotted locks were +six feet three inches in length; and Rzaczyinski gives an account of a +woman whose hair measured six ells. In the museum of Dr. Meckel, at Halle, +is to be seen a specimen of the disease eight feet long. The beard and the +hair of other parts of the body are equally liable to these attacks; while +the affection has been observed in horses, dogs, and other animals. A +curious case is related on this subject by Dr. Schlegel: A drunken +coachman was carried away by a pair of spirited young horses, who +precipitated themselves, with the fragments of the broken carriage, into +the Moskwa. One of the animals was drowned; but the other contrived to +extricate itself, and swam ashore. It continued sick for a considerable +time, and, on its convalescence the plica broke out in its entire coat. + +The assertion that the hairs become endowed with sensibility in this +disorder is unfounded. The pain is experienced in the root or bulb; thus a +painful sensation is occasionally felt when a lock of hair has been turned +back under the nightcap. There is little doubt that the plica is to be +attributed to a specific virus, which pervades the whole system unless +successfully treated. The most serious accidents have arisen from +neglecting it; and Starnigelio gives the following horrible account of its +ravages. "Magno omnium malo magnoque cruciatu divagatur: infringit ossa, +laxat artus, vertebras eorum infestat. Membra conglobat et retorquet; +gibbos efficit, pediculos fundit, caputque aliis atque aliis succedentibus +ita opplet, ut nequaquam purgari possit. Si cirri raduntur, humor ille et +virus in corpus relabitur, et affectos, ut supra scriptum est, torquet; +caput, manus, pedes, omnes artus, omnes juncturas, omnes corporis partes +exagitat." + +Amongst the various specifics recommended for the cure of plica, is the +_lycopodium_, hence called _herba plicaria_; the _vinca_, or _perventia_. +The [Greek: daphnoeides] and [Greek: kamai daphne] of the Greeks was also +extolled, possibly from its supposed powers in cases of incantation, +whence Apuleius calls it "_victoria, quod vinceret pervinceretque injuriam +temporis_." This is the plant for which Rousseau felt such a predilection, +that in after life he never beheld it without experiencing a delightful +recollection of the pleasures of his boyhood. Its flowers are considered +the symbol of virginity, and in Flanders are still called _Maegden-palm_. +In Etruria maidens are crowned with a wreath of it on their funerals. + +The decay and fall of the hair is an accident of frequent occurrence. This +unpleasant drawback on vanity has been termed _alopecia_, from the Greek +word [Greek: alopex], _vulpes_, a _fox_; this animal and the wolf being +said to lose their hair and become bald sooner than any other quadruped. +The Arabian writers were impressed with the same belief, and named the +affection _daustaleb_, literally the _wolf disease_. Baldness is more +frequent in males than in females; and it has been observed, that +emasculated subjects are exempt from its visitation. + +Amongst the singular anomalies that characterize our ideas, the respect in +which hair (naturally unclean unless most carefully attended to) was held +at various periods is as singular as the fond devotion with which it is +treasured when having belonged to the objects of our affections. In +ancient Rome neglected hair was the badge of bondage, and slaves were +distinguished by the _capillum passum, fluxum, et intonsum_. Free men, on +the contrary, took great care of it; and the term _caesaries_ is said to be +derived from the frequency of its cutting, while _coma_ alluded to the +great attention paid to its ornamental appearance. The Gauls wore long +hair, and their country was thence called _Gallia Comata_. The German +chiefs, deprived of their rank and power, were shorn of their locks as a +mark of degradation and loss of strength. Shaving the heads of criminals +is to this day considered ignominious. + +Hair, most unquestionably, constitutes the proudest ornament of female +beauty; and clustering locks, compared both by the ancients and the +Oriental poets to the growth of grapes, has ever been considered a +_desideratum_ at the female toilet, artificial means to curl it having +been resorted to from time immemorial, even by men. We find Virgil +speaking contemptuously of Aeneas for the care he took of his locks: + + Vibratos calido ferro, myrrhaque madentes. + +The Romans called a man who thus frizzled himself, _homo calamistratus_. + +Crisp and curled ringlets were ever admired, and Petrarch thus describes +them: + + Aura che quelle chiome bionde e _crespe_ + Circondi, e movi, e se mossa de loro + Soave mente, e spargi quel dolce oro + E poi'l raccogli, e'n bei nodi _l'increspe_. + +Apuleius maintains, that if Venus were bald, though circled by the graces +and the loves, she would not please even swarthy Vulcan. Petronius, in his +description of Circe, describes her tresses naturally curling, and falling +negligently over her shoulders, which they entirely covered. Apuleius +praises her trailing locks, thick and long, and insensibly curling, +dispersed over her divine neck, softly undulating with carelessness. Ovid +notices those beauties who platted their braided hair like spiral shells. +Petronius, to give an idea of a perfect beauty, says, that her forehead +was small, and showed the roots of her hair raised upwards. This fashion, +adopted by the Chinese, was not long ago a modish _coeffure_ in France. +Lucian, however, makes Thais say of a rival courtezan, "Who can praise +her person, unless he is blind? Does she not draw up her scanty hair on +her large forehead?" + +The ancients also perfumed their hair, especially on festivals, with +various ointments, composed of the spikenard and different balsams. They +also occasionally painted it with a bright yellow. Unhappy must have been +the poor slaves who had to attend a Roman lady's toilet; if a single +ringlet was displaced, the scourge was applied, and the _cow-skin_ of our +West Indian planters, the _Taurea_ ("_scutica de pene taurino_") brought +into play; and not unfrequently the head of the offender was broken with +the steel mirror that betrayed their negligence to the impatient fair one. +As we are on the subject of female ingenuity in endeavouring to spread +their nets more cunningly, it may be some comfort to our modern coquettes +to know that antiquity seems to sanction the use of rouge, notwithstanding +the fate of Jezabel. Plautus tells us that the Roman dames daubed their +faces with the "_fucus_, compound of white lead and of vermilion:" hence +were they called _fucatae_, _cerusatae_, and _minionatae_. Various cosmetics +were also employed, and, when at home, their faces were preserved with a +coat of paste, the skin having been previously rubbed with a pumice-stone, +and then washed with asses' milk. Poppaea, the wife of Nero, had five +hundred asses milked every day for her baths; and when she was exiled, a +reduction of her establishment to fifty asses was considered a severe +chastisement. Patches were also worn, of various shapes and dimensions, +even by men; and Pliny tells us of one Regulus, a lawyer, who put a patch +upon his right or left eye as he was going to plead for plaintiff or +defendant. + +The ancients also wore a certain hair-powder, a custom that was only +revived in Europe in the seventeenth century, since it appears that this +filthy fashion was brought in vogue at the fair of St. Germain, in 1614, +by some beautiful ballad-singers. + +In ancient mythology, hair was the symbol of life. All dead persons were +supposed to be under the jurisdiction of the infernal deities, and no man +could resign his life until some of his hair was cut off. Euripides +introduces Death going to cut off some of the hair of Alcestis, when +doomed to die instead of her husband Admetus; and Virgil describes Dido +unable to resign her life, from her hair having been cut off by +Proserpine, until Iris was sent by Juno to perform the kind office: + + "Hunc ego Diti + Sacrum jussa fero, teque isto corpore solvo." + Sic ait, et dextra crinem secat; omnis et una + Dilapsus, calor, atque in ventos vita recessit. + +Locks of hair were suspended over the door of the deceased, to show that +the family were in mourning. On these occasions, the hair was torn, cut +off, or shaved. It was then sometimes strewed over the dead body, or cast +on the funeral pile. On the demise of great men, whole cities and +communities were shorn, while animals shared a similar fate. Admetus, on +the death of Alcestis, ordered this operation to be performed on his +chariot horses: and when Masistius was slain by the Athenians, the +Persians shaved themselves, their horses, and their mules. Alexander, not +satisfied with this testimony of grief, ordered the very battlements of a +city to be knocked down, that the town might look bald and shorn of its +beauty. + +While in some cases bald heads were expressive of affliction, in others +long hair denoted grief; Joseph allowed his hair to grow during his +captivity; and Mephibosheth did the same when David was banished from +Jerusalem. Juvenal informs us that mariners, on their escape from +shipwreck, shaved their heads; and Lycophron describes long and neglected +hair as a sign of general lamentation. + +To be shaved by barbers was a proof of cheerfulness; but to cut off one's +own hair denoted mourning. Hence Artemidorus informs us that for a man to +dream of shaving himself was a presage of some calamity. However, this +ceremony may, in its signification, be attributed to the customs of the +various nations. Where the hair was generally worn short, its length +indicated grief, and _vice versa_. The filth of long and neglected hair +might also have been considered a proper and respectful mark of +tribulation; for the ancients fancied that rolling themselves in the dirt +was a convincing proof of affection; and we see Oeneus besmearing +himself with nastiness on the death of his son Meleager: + + Pulvere canitiem genitor, vultusque seniles + Foedat humi fusos, spatiosumque increpat aevum. + +Shaving was also a nuptial ceremony, when virgins presented their hair to +Venus, Juno, Minerva, Diana, and other propitious divinities. At +Troezene virgins were obliged to sacrifice their hair to Hippolytus, the +son of Theseus, who died for his chastity. The Megarensian maidens +presented them to Sphinoe, daughter of Alcathous, who died a virgin. +Statius records this ceremony, when speaking of Minerva's temple: + + Hic more parentum + Insides, thalamis ubi casta adolescerat aetas, + Virgineas libare comas; primosque solebant + Excusare toros. + + + + +ANIMAL MAGNETISM. + + +Are we to give credit to the various observations that record the +wonderful effects of animal magnetism; or should we reject them as the +impostures of knaves, or the result of the credulity of fools? It is now +nearly half a century since this method of relieving diseases has been +introduced by modern practitioners. Thousands of disinterested and candid +witnesses have corroborated their assertions, and testified to their +veracity. How, then, are we authorized to treat this doctrine as visionary +or fraudulent? The most learned bodies have not thought it derogatory to +their dignity to investigate the matter; and, notwithstanding opposition, +ridicule, and contempt, the practice obtains to the present day. It has, +no doubt, been materially impeded in its progress by the invectives of +occasional scepticism; but such will ever be the case with science, and +those discoveries which accelerate its inevitable empire on the human +understanding. Persecution may be considered as the harbinger of truth, +or, at any rate, of that investigation which directs to it. Pythagoras was +banished from Athens; Anaxagoras was immured in a dungeon; Democritus was +considered a maniac, and Socrates condemned to death. An advanced and +honourable old age did not protect Galileo against his barbarous +persecutors. Varolius was decreed an infamous and execrable man for his +anatomical discoveries, and our immortal Harvey was looked upon as a +dangerous madman. Inoculation and vaccination were deemed impious attempts +to interfere with the decrees of Providence. + +Magnetism may be defined as a reciprocal influence which is supposed to +exist between individuals, arising from a state of relative harmony, and +brought into action by the will, the imagination, or physical sensibility. +This influence is said to exist in a peculiar fluid, transmissible from +one body to another under certain conditions of each individual, without +which the expected results are not manifest. Under these conditions, the +effects of animal magnetism are obtained by manual application, by +gestures, words, and even looks, more frequently, as may be easily +conceived, with nervous, weak, and impressionable individuals. By these +means magnetizers affirm that they can effect cures when all other +remedial endeavours have been of no avail, either when the patient is +awake or in a state of artificial somnambulism. + +The history of this doctrine is curious. The ancients fully admitted the +power of sympathy in the cure of diseases; but generally attributed its +action to the interference of Divinity, or the operation of sorcery and +enchantment. A remarkable affinity can be traced between modern magnetism +and its supposed phenomena, and the relations of the Pythian and Sibylline +oracles, the wonders of the caverns of Trophonius and Esculapius, and the +miraculous dreams and visions in the temples of the gods. Amongst the +Hebrews, the Egyptians, the Greeks, and Romans, we constantly discover +traces of this supposed power of manual apposition, friction, breathing, +and the use of the charms of music and mystic amulets. The Egyptian +priesthood were considered as possessing a divine attribute in healing +diseases. Prosper Alpinus, in his treatise on the medicine of the +Egyptians, informs us that mysterious frictions were one of their secret +remedies. The patients were oftentimes wrapped in the skins of animals, +and carried into the sanctuary of their temples to be assisted by visions, +that appeared either to them or to their physicians, who pretended that +Isis was the immortal source of these celestial inspirations. The same +divine assistance was firmly believed by the Hebrews. It was intimated to +Miriam and Aaron that the Lord would make himself known to them in a +vision, and speak to them in a dream; and we find in Deuteronomy that the +signs and the wonders of prophets and dreamers of dreams were to be +considered as the abominations of idolaters, who were to be put to death +without pity. This anathema on false prophets was not unfrequently +rigorously carried into execution, and we read in the Book of Kings the +destruction of all the worshippers of Baal. Ahab marched upon +Ramoth-Gilead by the advice of his prophets. + +The sympathetic power of corporeal apposition was illustrated when Elisha, +to revive the widow's child, stretched himself three times upon him and +prayed to the Lord. When Elisha restored the child of the Shunamite to +life he lay upon it, put his mouth upon his mouth, his eyes upon his eyes, +and his hands upon his hands, and he stretched himself upon the child, and +the child opened its eyes. Miracles were generally wrought by manual +application or elevation. Naaman expected that Elisha would have stricken +his hand over the place to cure his leprosy; and we find in the Scriptures +that our SAVIOUR healed the sick upon whom he laid his hands. Amongst the +Greeks we again see the same ceremonies performed on all wonderful +recoveries. Plutarch tells us that Pyrrhus cured persons with diseased +spleens by passing his hand over the seat of the malady. Aelianus informs +us that the Psylli performed their cures by stretching themselves upon the +patients, and making them swallow water with which they had rinsed their +mouths; and he also mentions that those who approached these mysterious +agents were seized with a sudden stupor, and deprived of their intellects +until they had left them. Apollonius brought a young girl to life by +touching her, and leaning over her as though he were whispering some magic +words in her ear; and Origenes affirms that there were sages who dispensed +health with their mere breath. Vespasian restored sight to the blind by +rubbing their eyes and cheeks with his saliva, and cured a paralytic by +merely touching him: the same emperor kept himself in perfect health by +frequently rubbing his throat and his body. From a passage of Plautus, it +appears that this manual application was resorted to in his days to +procure sleep. Mercury is made to say, "Quid si ego illum tractem, tangam +ut dormiat;" to which Sosia replies, "Servaveris, nam continuas has tres +noctes pervigilavi." + +Pliny maintains that there exist persons whose bodies are endowed with +medicinal properties; but he admits, at the same time, that imagination +may produce these salutary emanations. Celsus informs us that Asclepiades +by friction could calm a phrensy; and further states, that when these +frictions were carried to too great an extent, they brought on a lethargic +state. Caelius Aurelianus recommends manual frictions for the cure of +pleurisy, lethargy, and various other maladies, describing the manner in +which they are to be conducted: for instance, in epilepsy, the head and +forehead are to be chafed, then the hand is to be carried gently over the +neck and bosom; at other times, the extremities of the hands and feet are +to be grasped, that "we may cure by the very act of holding the limb." + +That remedies were indicated in a state of somnambulism is affirmed by +Tertullian, who thus speaks of one of the followers of Prisca and +Maximilla, two women who foretold future events when they fell into an +ecstatic swoon: "She conversed with angels, discovered the most hidden +mysteries, prophesied, read the secrets of the heart, and pointed out +remedies when she was consulted by the sick." He thus describes ecstasy in +his treatise _De Anima_: "It is not sleep, for during sleep all reposes; +whereas in ecstasy the body reposes, while the soul is actively employed. +It is therefore a mixed state of sleep and ecstasy which constitutes the +prophetic faculty, and it is then that we have revealed unto us, not only +all that appertaineth to honour, to riches, but the means of curing our +diseases." St. Stephen relates the case of a youth who was in such a +lethargic state, that he was insensible to all painful agents, and could +not be awakened; but when he recovered his senses, he declared that two +persons, the one aged, the other young, had appeared to him and +recommended sea-bathing. He complied with the instruction, and was cured. +But the miracles of paganism were soon discredited, when the relics and +tombs of saints were resorted to instead of the temples of the false gods; +and priests assumed the power once held by their Chaldean and Egyptian +predecessors, and the Druids of Gaul. The beatified were not only +physicians during their life, but medicinal after death. St. Gregory of +Tours tells us that St. Cosmus and St. Damian were not only able +physicians during their blessed existence, but assisted all those who +consulted them in their tombs, not unfrequently appearing to them in +visions, and prescribing the proper remedies. A saint's breathing upon a +veil, and then placing it on the head of a demoniac, infallibly cast out +the evil one; and St. Bernard never failed in his exorcisms, by making the +possessed swallow some water in which he had dipped his hands. St. Martin +stopped the most fearful hemorrhage by merely touching the patient with +his garment. The shrines of St. Litardus, St. Anthony, and various other +saints, lulled to sleep, and inspired with miraculous visions those who +sought their aid. + +However, as the progress of intellect dispelled the dark clouds that +shrouded the middle ages in superstitious and credulous prejudices, +philosophy endeavoured to investigate the nature of this mysterious +agency, which priests had for so many centuries usurped as their special +gift and property. Sceptic as to supernatural powers in the common +occurrences of life, philosophers attributed these phenomena to some +peculiar principle with which organized bodies were endowed, and hence +arose the dawn of the doctrine of animal magnetism. So early as 1462, +Pomponatius of Mantua maintained, in his work on incantation, that all the +pretended arts of sorcery and witchcraft were the mere results of natural +operations; he further gave it as his opinion, that it was not improbable +but that external means, called into action by the soul, might relieve our +sufferings; that there, moreover, did exist individuals endowed with +salutary properties, and it might therefore easily be conceived that +marvellous effects should be produced by the imagination, and by +confidence, more especially when they are reciprocal between the patient +and the person who assists his recovery; physicians and men of sense being +well convinced that if the bones of any animal were substituted for those +of a saint, the result would be the same. It need not be added that our +author was violently persecuted for this heretical doctrine. Two years +after, Agrippa, in Cologne, asserted that the soul, inflamed by a fervent +imagination, could dispense health and disease, not only in the individual +himself, but in other bodies. In 1493, Paracelsus expressed himself in the +following language: "All doubt destroys work, and leaves it imperfect in +the wise designs of nature. It is from faith that imagination draws its +strength. It is by faith that it becomes complete and realized. He who +believeth in nature, will obtain from nature to the extent of his faith. +Let the object of this faith be real or imaginary, you nevertheless reap +similar results; and hence the cause of superstition." + +Cardanus, Bacon, and Van Helmont pursued this study; and the latter +physician, having cured several cases by magnetism, was considered a +sorcerer, and was seized by the Inquisition. Magnetism, he observed, "is a +universal agent, and only novel in its appellation, and paradoxical to +those who ridicule every thing they do not comprehend, or attribute to +Satan what they cannot understand. The name of magnetism is given to that +occult influence which bodies possess on each other at various distances, +either by attraction or by impulsion. The means or the vehicle of this +influence is an ethereal spirit, pure, vital, (_magnale magnum_,) which +penetrates all matter, and agitates the mass of the universe. This spirit +is the moderator of the world, and establishes a correspondence between +its several parts and the powers with which it is endowed. We can attach +to a body the virtues that we possess, communicate to it certain +properties, and use it as the intermediate means to operate salutary +effects. I have hitherto withheld the revelation of this great mystery. +There exists in man a certain energy, which can act beyond his own person +according to his will or his imagination, and impart virtues and exercise +a durable influence even in distant objects. Will is the first of powers." +Van Helmont fully admitted the wonderful faculties that somnambulism +seemed to develop, and informs us that it was chiefly during his sleep +that he was inspired with his doctrines. One might have imagined that +these philosophic researches would have put an effectual stop to the +progress of superstition, or rather of persecution; yet their promulgation +could not save Urbain Grandier, and many supposed sorcerers, from a +barbarous death. + +It was in the beginning of the eighteenth century that various experiments +were made with the loadstone in researches regarding electricity. In 1754, +Lenoble had constructed magnets that could be used with facility in the +treatment of various diseases. In 1774, Father Hell, a Jesuit and +professor of astronomy at Vienna, having cured himself of a severe +rheumatism by magnetism, related the result of his experiments to Mesmer. +This physician was immediately struck with observations that illustrated +his own theories respecting planetary influence. He forthwith proceeded to +procure magnets of every form and description for the gratuitous treatment +of all those that consulted him; and, while he widely diffused his +doctrines, he sent his magnets in every direction to aid the experimental +pursuits of others, and thus expressed himself on the subject in a memoir +published in 1779: "I had maintained that the heavenly spheres possessed a +direct power on all the constituent principles of animated bodies, +particularly on the _nervous system_, by the agency of an all-penetrating +fluid. I determined this action by the INTENSION and the REMISSION of the +properties of matter and organized bodies, such as gravity, cohesion, +elasticity, irritability, and electricity. I supported this doctrine by +various examples of periodical revolutions; and I named that property of +the animal matter, which renders it susceptible to the action of celestial +and earthly bodies, ANIMAL MAGNETISM. A further consideration of the +subject led me to the conviction that there does exist in nature an +universal principle, which, independently of ourselves, performs all that +we vaguely attribute to nature or to art." + +Mesmer, as might have been foreseen, became the object of persecution and +of ridicule, and withdrew to Switzerland and Suabia. It was there that he +met with a certain Gassner of Braz, who, having fancied that an exorcism +had relieved him from a long and painful malady, took it into his head to +exorcise others. He considered the greater part of the disorders, to which +flesh is heir as the work of the devil, and he counteracted his baneful +influence in the name of our SAVIOUR. He divided these diabolical +visitations into _possessions_, _obsessions_, and _circumsessions_; the +latter being trifling invasions. For the purpose of ascertaining whether +his patients laboured under natural or infernal ailments, he conjured +Satan to declare the truth. If, after three solemn interpellations, and +signs of the cross, the devil did not answer, the disorder was considered +as coming within the province of medicine; but if, on the contrary, the +patient fell into convulsions, Gassner drew forth his stole and crucifix, +and, in the name of the Redeemer, commenced rubbing and pinching, +sometimes in the most indecorous manner, when females were submitted to +his manipulations. When his attempts failed, he accused the patient of +want of faith or of the commission of some deadly sin, which baffled his +endeavours. His fame became so universal, that the Bishop of Ratisbon sent +for him, and he exercised his art under his auspices. At one period, the +town was so crowded with his patients, that ten thousand of them were +obliged to encamp without the walls. It appears that this adventurer had +the power of acting upon the pulse, and could increase or retard it, +render it regular or intermittent, and was even reported to paralyze limbs +and produce tears or laughter at will. It is scarcely credible, yet the +celebrated De Haen, one of the most distinguished and learned +practitioners in Germany, not only believed in the power of this Gassner, +but actually attributed it to a paction with the devil. + +Mesmer was not so credulous, and explained the miraculous cures of Gassner +by the doctrines of the animal magnetism which he advocated. From Suabia +he returned to Vienna, whence he was expelled as a quack; and in 1778 +arrived at Paris, a capital that had patronised Cagliostro and St. +Germain, and was ever ready to be deceived by ingenious empiricism. In +1779 he published a paper on the subject, in which he maintained +twenty-seven propositions to establish his supposed influence between the +celestial bodies, the earth, and animated matter, produced by a fluid +universal, subtile, susceptible of receiving, transmitting, and +communicating its impressions, on mechanical principles, until then +unknown, and producing alternate effects of flux and reflux. This powerful +agent, he said, acted chiefly on the nervous system. The human body, +moreover, according to his notions, possessed properties analogous to the +loadstone, and presenting an opposed polarity, subject to various +modifications, which either strengthened or weakened it. The action of +animal magnetism, according to him, was not confined to animal matter, but +could be equally communicated to inanimate bodies at various distances. +Mirrors could reflect and increase its power like the rays of light, and +sound could propagate and increase it. This magnetic property, he further +stated, could be accumulated, concentrated, and transported at pleasure, +although there did exist animated bodies possessed of properties so +opposite as to render this powerful agent inefficient. He found that the +loadstone was susceptible of animal magnetism, and of its opposite +virtues, without any apparent influence on its power over iron and the +needle; whence he concluded that there existed a wide difference between +animal and mineral magnetism. + +Mesmer soon found a warm advocate of his doctrines in a Dr. D'Eslon, and +animal magnetism became in fashionable vogue. Not only were men and +animals subjected to their experiments, but this wondrous influence was +communicated to trees and plants, and the celebrated elm-tree of Beaugency +was magnetized by the Marquis de Puysegur and his brother; while the +enthusiastic D'Eslon absolutely went knocking from door to door to procure +patients. Breteuil, who was then one of the ministers, offered Mesmer a +yearly pension of thirty thousand francs, with a sum of three hundred +thousand francs in cash, with the decoration of St. Michael, if he would +consent to reveal the mysteries of his science to the medical faculty. +This tempting offer our magnetizer indignantly rejected, and a secret +society was instituted under the name of the Lodge and Order of Harmony. +The charms and the power of youth and music were not neglected as +auxiliaries to propagate the fashionable doctrine. Young men of elegant +manners and athletic form were initiated in the practice of magnetizing, +and the _salons_ of Paris consecrated to this worship (for such it might +have been termed) were crowded with the most fascinating women that the +gay metropolis of France could produce. Most of these females, impassioned +by nervous excitability, as loose in their morals as to outward appearance +they were fervent in their devotions, abandoned themselves without reserve +to the delightful sensations that magnetism and its surrounding machinery +were said to afford. In their ecstasies, their hysteric attacks, their +spasms, Mesmer, the high-priest, fancifully dressed, but in the height of +fashion, with his useful acolytes, endeavoured to soothe and calm the +agitation of their enchanting patients by all the means that Mesmerism +could devise. + +It soon became pretty evident that these phenomena were solely to be +attributed to the influence of imagination; and Doppet, one of the most +ardent disciples of the new creed, frankly avowed that "those who were +initiated in the secrets of Mesmer entertained more doubts on the subject +than those who were in thorough ignorance of them." Notwithstanding this +evidence brought forward against Mesmer's fascinating practice, he was +warmly eulogised even by high churchmen; and Hervier, a doctor of +Sorbonne, did not hesitate to assert that the Golden Age was on the +return; that man would be endowed with fresh vigour, live for the space of +five generations, and only succumb to the exhaustion of age; that all the +animal kingdom would enjoy a similar blessing; while magnetized trees +would yield more abundant and delicious fruits. This belief of the good +ecclesiastic arose, according to his own assertion, from his having been +cured of some cruel disorder by magnetism, while all his intimate +acquaintances insisted that he had never ceased to enjoy perfect health. + +Such were the circumstances that attended the introduction of animal +magnetism, which to this day is defended and maintained by ardent +proselytes. Sound philosophy can only attribute its wonderful phenomena, +many of which cannot be denied, to the influence of the imagination, and +the all-powerful deceptive agency of faith. It is an incontrovertible +fact, that the nervous system may be so worked upon, thrown by various +secret and physical means into such a morbid condition, that results +bordering upon the miraculous in the eyes of the credulous may be easily +obtained. Every circumstance that appears to differ from the usual course +of nature is deemed miraculous by the ignorant; and the Greek proverb +[Greek: thaumata morois], plainly maintains that miracles are only for the +simple. In fact, who are the persons who in our times cry out "miracle," +but weak and timid men, worn out by excesses or age, labouring under the +influence of terror; silly old women, who have not the power of reasoning; +or nervous and enthusiastic females, who seek for some saving clauses in a +pact between vice and virtue, depravity and religion. + +All the wonders of the creation are miraculous, if we are to consider +those phenomena that are, and most probably will ever remain, beyond our +humble and miserable comprehension to be such. The manifestations of the +Creator's will are daily exhibited in stupendous forms that strike the +ignorant with awe, while they lead the man of science to bow in grateful +veneration to that Almighty power that has harmonized the creation for our +wellbeing, if we would only obey the sublime dictates of his laws, without +attempting to scrutinize their spirit by quibbling with their letter. + +There can be but little doubt that the wonders of magnetism may be +referred to the imagination; yet some of the phenomena must excite our +surprise, and may occasion some degree of hesitation in invariably +attributing its results to fancy. The Academy of Medicine of Paris having +appointed a commission of twelve members to examine and report upon it, +their inferences were as follow: + +1. The effects of magnetism were not evident in healthy persons, and in +_some_ invalids. + +2. They were _scarcely_ apparent in others. + +3. They _often_ appeared to be the result of ennui, monotony, and the +influence of imagination. + +4. Lastly, _they are developed independently of these causes, very +probably by the effects of magnetism alone_. + +The points of this report that I have printed in italics prove most +clearly that the members of the commission, all of whom were decidedly +adverse to the doctrine, were convinced, at least to a certain extent, by +the experiments they had witnessed, of some singular powers residing in +this mysterious science. Such must have been the case, since we find three +members seceding from their associates, Laennec, Double, and Magendie, all +well known as distinguished physiologists, somewhat inclined to pure +materialism, and what may be termed _matter-of-fact_ men, who would +hesitate in yielding their belief to any assertion that the scalpel could +not demonstrate. Notwithstanding the protest of these gentlemen, the +following were the conclusions of the commission: + +1. Contact of the thumbs and magnetic movements are the means of relative +influence employed to transmit magnetic action. + +2. Magnetism acts on persons of different age and sex. + +3. Many effects appear to depend on magnetism alone, and are not +reproduced without it. + +4. These effects are various. Sometimes magnetism agitates, at other times +it calms. It generally causes acceleration of the pulse and respiration, +slight convulsive movements, somnolency, and, in a few cases, +somnambulism. + +5. The existence of peculiar characters of somnambulism has not yet been +proved. + +6. It may, however, be inferred that this state of somnambulism prevails +when we notice the development of new faculties, such as _clairvoyance_ +and intuitive foresight, or when it produces changes in the physiological +condition of the individual, such as insensibility, sudden increase of +strength, since these effects cannot be attributed to any other cause. + +7. When the effects of magnetism have been produced, there is no occasion +on subsequent trials to have recourse to _passes_.[42] The look of the +magnetizer and his will have the same influence. + +8. Various changes are effected in the perceptions and faculties of those +persons in whom somnambulism has been induced. + +9. Somnambulists have distinguished with closed eyes objects placed before +them. They have, then, read words, recognised colours, named cards, &c. + +10. In two somnambulists we witnessed the faculty of foreseeing acts of +the organism to take place at periods more or less distant. One announced +the day, the hour, and the minute of the invasion and recurrence of an +epileptic fit; the other foresaw the period of his recovery. Their +anticipations were realized. + +11. We have only seen one somnambulist who had described the symptoms of +the diseases in three individuals presented to her. + +12. In order to establish justly the relations of magnetism with +therapeutics, one must have observed the effects on a number of +individuals, and have made experiments on sick persons. Not having done +this, the commissioners can only say, they have seen too few cases to +enable them to form a decisive opinion. + +13. Considered as an agent of physiological phenomena, or of therapeutics, +magnetism should find a place in the range of medical science, and be +either practised, or its employment superintended by a physician. + +14. From the want of sufficient opportunities, the commission could not +verify the existence of any other faculties in somnambulists; but its +reports contain facts sufficiently important to conclude that the Academy +ought to encourage researches in animal magnetism, as a curious fact of +psychology and natural history. + +This report was impugned by Mr. Dubois, in what he calls his rational +conclusions, which of course maintain that those of the commission were +irrational. However, in this paper he merely affirms his own incredulity, +without supporting it upon any grounds of experiment or observation; and +therefore his observations must be considered an individual attempt to +refute the assertions of a body of scientific men, who, after diligently +and maturely weighing the arguments in favour of a doctrine that they were +previously disposed to condemn as unworthy of research, came to the +conclusions that we have seen. + +While the French Academy did not consider it beneath their dignity to +investigate this doctrine, in other parts of Europe it attracted the +attention both of the reigning monarchs and the most distinguished +physicians. In Prussia, Hufeland, who had been one of the warmest +opponents of magnetism, became a convert; and a clinical hospital was +established in Berlin, by order of the government, to observe and record +its phenomena. At Frankfort and Groningen, Drs. Passavant and Bosker +published works on the subject; the latter having translated the critical +history of Deleuze. At Petersburg, Dr. Stoffreghen, first physician of the +Emperor, pronounced himself with several colleagues in its favour; and +most of these distinguished men seemed to partake of the opinion of the +justly celebrated Orfila, who certainly may be considered as an authority, +and who thus expressed himself on the subject: + +"If there exists trickery and quackery in animal magnetism, its +adversaries are too hasty in refusing to admit all that has been asserted +in regard to its effects. The testimony of enlightened physicians should +be considered as proofs. If the magnetic phenomena appear extraordinary, +the phenomena of electricity appeared equally marvellous in its origin. +Was Franklin to be considered a quack when he announced that with a +pointed metal he could command thunder? Whether magnetism acts in good or +in evil, it is clearly a therapeutic agent, and it behoves both the honour +and the duty of the Academy to examine it." + +Such is the present state of this curious science. To what credit it may +be entitled, and how far it may become a useful medical agent, experience +alone can decide. At the same time, it would be unjust to assert, in our +present ignorance, that all the learned and independent men who support it +are either fools or knaves.[43] + + + + +POISONOUS FISHES. + + +The deleterious qualities of certain fishes have long been the subject of +medical conjectures. It is somewhat singular, and most difficult to +account for, that the same fish should be wholesome in some waters, and +deadly in others, although under the same latitude, and when, to all +appearance at least, no local cause can be discovered to which we might +reasonably attribute this fatal property. So powerful and prompt moreover, +it is in its action that rapid death will ensue whenever a small portion +of the fish has been eaten. Such, for instance, is generally the case with +the yellow-bill sprat, the _clypea thrissa_. + +Some naturalists attribute this poison to copper banks, on or near which +the fish may feed. The absurdity of this opinion has been fully +demonstrated; in the first instance, no such copper banks have been +discovered in the West Indies, and these fish abound on the coasts of +islands of coral formation. Moreover, it is not likely that this mineral +should saturate the animal; and, even if it could produce this effect, the +entire body would in all probability be affected, whereas the poison seems +to lie in particular parts, chiefly in the intestines, the liver, the fat, +&c. This is evident from the practice of fishermen, who can eat poisonous +fish with impunity if they have taken the precaution to draw them +carefully and salt them. In addition to these observations, the symptoms +of the disease thus produced, by no means resemble those of mineral +poisons. Dr. Chisholm, who pretends that copper banks do exist in the +Windward Islands, is of this opinion. Admitting the facts, it may be +asked, have the waters of these seas been impregnated by the copper? if +they are not, how can its influence extend to its inhabitants? and why are +particular fish only affected? Moreover, although it is well known that +certain substances are deleterious to some animals and harmless to others, +yet one might fancy that, if the coppery principal of an animal's flesh +could poison, it is not irrational to think that the same deadly substance +would also destroy the animal. The presence of this mineral has never been +detected by any chemical test; and, if the poison consisted in copper, how +could salting the fish destroy it? In opposition to these objections, it +has been maintained that fish may be rendered poisonous by feeding on the +marine plants that grow upon these deadly banks. Now, unless it could be +proved that copper is not injurious to fish, these same lithophyta and +zoophyta would no doubt poison them. + +However, it is more than probable that it is to a certain injurious food +that these dangerous qualities are to be referred. Various plants that +grow in these regions are of a poisonous nature to man, although, as I +have just observed, they may not be so destructive to fish. The +circumstance of the alimentary tube being more poisonous than any other +part seems to warrant the conclusion; and I have observed in the West +Indies, that the crabs that feed upon banks where the manchineel is to be +found, frequently occasion serious, and sometimes fatal accidents. On the +coast of Malabar, crabs are poisonous in the month of October, when the +_blue tithymale_ abounds. + +Whatever may be the causes of this deadly principle, the effects are most +rapid. When a large quantity has been taken, the patient soon dies in +strong convulsions; but frequently, when the quantity and the nature of +the poison have not been sufficient to occasion death, the body becomes +emaciated, the cuticle peels off, particularly on the palms of the hands +and the soles of the feet, the hair drops, acute pains shoot through every +joint, and the sufferer not unfrequently sinks under a lingering disease. +In these cases change of climate has been found the most effectual remedy, +and a return to Europe becomes indispensable. + +The usual symptoms that denote the presence of the poison, are languor, +heaviness, drowsiness, great restlessness, flushing of the face, nausea, +griping, a burning sensation, at first experienced in the face and eyes, +and then extending over the whole body; the pulse, at first hard and +frequent, soon sinks, and becomes slow and feeble. In some cases the +salivary glands become tumefied with a profuse salivation; and the body, +and its perspiration, are as yellow as in the jaundice. These peculiar +symptoms have frequently been known to arise after eating the _rock-fish_. + +The remedies that are usually resorted to are stimulants. Capsicum has +been considered a powerful antidote; and the use of ardent spirits or +cordials has also been strongly urged. It has been observed, that persons +who had drunk freely, or who had taken a dram after eating fish that had +disordered others, were, comparatively speaking, exempt from the severity +of the disease. A decoction of the root of the _sour-sop_, and an infusion +of the flowers of the _white cedar_ and the _sensitive plant_ have also +been advised by several West India practitioners. + +The practice of putting a silver spoon in the water in which fish is +boiled, to ascertain its salubrity, is a popular test that cannot be +depended on. Fishermen have observed that fish that have no scales are +more apt to prove injurious; and those of uncommon size are looked upon as +the most dangerous. + +To ascertain whether the nature of the fishes' food could thus render them +poisonous, Mr. Moreau de Jonnes had recourse to many curious experiments. +He took portions of polypes found in the waters reputed dangerous, more +particularly the _liriozoa Caribaea_, the _millepora polymorpha_, the +_gorgonia pinnata_, the _actinia anemone_, &c., and, having enveloped them +in paste, he fed fishes with them; but in no one instance was any +prejudicial result observed. He tried in the same manner the _physalis +pelagica_ of Lamark, which contains an acrid and caustic fluid; but the +fish invariably refused it, nor would they touch fragments of the +manchineel apple. + +Oysters have been known to produce various accidents; and, when they were +of a green colour, it has been supposed that this peculiarity was also due +to copper banks. This is an absurdity; the green tinge is as natural to +some varieties as to the _esox belone_, whose bones are invariably of the +same hue as verdigrise. Muscles frequently occasion feverish symptoms, +attended with a red, and sometimes a copper-coloured, efflorescence over +the whole body. These accidents appear to arise from some peculiar +circumstances. In Boulogne I attended a family in which all the children +who had eaten muscles were labouring under this affection, while not +another instance of it was observed in the place. In the Bahama Islands I +witnessed a fatal case in a young girl who had eaten crabs; she was the +only sufferer, although every individual in the family had shared in the +meal. The idea of the testaceous mollusca avoiding copper-bottomed +vessels, while they are found in abundance on those that are not sheathed, +is absurd; this circumstance can be easily explained by the greater +facility these creatures find in adhering to wood. There is every reason +to believe, that the supposed poisonous oysters found adhering to the +copper bottom of a ship in the Virgin Isles, and the occasional accidents +amongst the men that ate them, were only so in the observer's imagination, +and that part of the ship's company were affected by some other causes. +Another report, equally absurd, was that of the fish having gradually +quitted the Thames and Medway since coppering ships' bottoms has been +introduced! The following may be considered the fish that should be +avoided: + + The Spanish mackerel, _Scomber caeruleo-argenteus_. + The yellow-billed sprat, _Clupea thrissa_. + The baracuta, _Esox baracuta_. + Grey snapper, _Coracinus fuscus_. + The porgie, _Sparus chrysops_. + The king-fish, _Scomber maximus_. + The hyne, _Coracinus minor_. + Bottle-nosed cavallo, _Scomber_. + Old wife, _Balistes monoceros_. + Conger eel, _Muraena major_. + Sword-fish, _Xiphias gladius_. + Smooth bottle-fish, _Ostracion globellum_. + Rock-fish, _Perca manna_. + +I have known accidents arise from the use of the dolphin on the high seas; +and, while I was in the West Indies, a melancholy instance of the kind +occurred, when the captain, mate, and three seamen of a trading vessel +died from the poison; a passenger, his wife, and a boy, were the only +survivors, and were fortunately picked up in the unmanageable vessel. + +The above catalogue of poisonous fishes is extracted from Dr. Dancer's +"Jamaica Practice of Physic," and its correctness fell under my own +observation in the Wrest Indies. The different systems and classifications +of ichthyologists have produced much confusion, and may lead to fatal +errors; I think it therefore advisable to submit to travellers, who may +have to visit these unhealthy regions, the names of the _toxicophorous_ +fishes according to the French momenclature. + + Le poisson arme, _Diodon orbicularis_. + La lune, _Tetraodon mola_.--LINN. + Le tetraodon ocelle, _T. ocellatus_. + Le t. scelerat, _T. scelreatus_. + La vieille, _Balistes vetula_. + La petite vieille, { _B. monoceros_.--LINN. + { _Alutus monoceros_.--CUVIER. + Le coffre triangulaire, _Ostracion trigonus_.--BLOCH. + La grande orphie, _Esox Brasiliensis_.--LINN. + La petite orphie, _E. marginatus_.--LACEPEDE. + Le congre, _Muraena conger_.--MINN. + Le perroquet, _Sparus psittacus_.--LACEPEDE. + Le capitaine, _S. erythrinus_.--BLOCH. + La becune, _Sphyraena becuna_. + Le thon, _Scomber thynnus_.--LINN. + La carangue, _Caranx carangus_. + +A work, in which a _synonymous_ catalogue of all the fishes supposed to be +poisonous might be found, would be highly desirable, as they generally +bear different popular and scientific names, thus producing a dangerous +confusion even amongst naturalists; how much more dangerous amongst +seafaring people and voyagers! + +I cannot conclude this article without noticing the singular properties of +those electric fishes denominated the _torpedo-ray_ and the _gymnote_. +They had been long known to naturalists, and the ancients attributed their +destructive faculties to a magic power that Oppian had recorded in his +_Alieuticon_, where he describes a fisherman palsied through the hook, the +line, and the rod. This influence being voluntary on the part of the +animal, seemed to warrant the belief in its mischievous nature, since it +allows itself sometimes to be touched with impunity, while at others it +burrows itself under the sand of the beach, when the tide has receded, and +maliciously benumbs the astonished passenger who walks over it. This +singular fish, which is common in the Mediterranean Sea, has been +described both by the Greek and Roman writers; amongst others, by +Aristotle and Athenaeus: and Socrates, in his Dialogues, compares a +powerful objection, to the influence of the torpedo. + +This voluntary faculty has been observed by Lacepede and Cloquet in the +Mediterranean, and at La Rochelle. In torpedos kept in water for +experimental purposes, Reaumur found that he handled them without +experiencing any shock for some time, until they at last appeared to +become impatient: he then experienced a stunning sensation along the arm, +not easily to be described, but resembling that which is felt when a limb +has been struck with a sudden blow. One of the experiments of this +naturalist proved the extensive power of this faculty. He placed a torpedo +and a duck in a vessel containing sea-water, covered with linen to prevent +the duck from escaping, without impeding the bird's respiration. At the +expiration of a few minutes the animal was found dead, having been killed +by the electric shocks of its enemy. + +Redi was the first who demonstrated this faculty. Having laid hold of a +torpedo recently caught, he had scarcely touched it, when he felt a +creeping sensation shooting up to the shoulder, followed by an unpleasant +tremor, with a lancinating pain in the elbow. These sensations he +experienced as often as he touched the animal; but this faculty gradually +decreased in strength as the animal became exhausted and dying. These +experiments he related in a work entitled "_Esperienze intorno a diverse +cose naturali_." Florence, 1671. + +In 1774, Walsh made some very interesting experiments at the Isle of Re +and La Rochelle, and clearly demonstrated this electric faculty in a paper +_On the electric property of the torpedo_. In one of them he found that +this fish could produce from forty to fifty shocks in the course of ninety +minutes. The electrified individuals were isolated; and at each shock the +animal gave, it appeared to labour under a sense of contraction, when its +eyes sunk deep in their sockets. + +The _trichiurus electricus_ of Linnaeus, the _rhinobatus electricus_ of +Schneider, and the _gymnonotus electricus_ of _Surinam_, are the species +of this singular fish with which experiments have chiefly been made. The +_gymnonotus_ is a kind of eel, five or six feet in length, and its +electric properties are so powerful that it can throw down men and horses. +This animal is rendered more terrific from the velocity of his powers of +natation, thus being able to discharge its thunder far and near. When +touched with one hand the shock is slight; but when grasped with both, it +is so violent that, according to the accounts of Collins Flag, the +electric fluid can paralyze the arms of the imprudent experimentalist for +several years. This electric action is analogous to that which is obtained +by means of the fulminating plate, which is made of glass with metallic +plates. Twenty-seven persons holding each other by the hands, and forming +a chain, the extremities of which corresponded with the points of the +fish's body, experienced a smart shock. These shocks are produced in quick +succession, but become gradually weaker as the fluid appears to be +exhausted. Humboldt informs us, that, to catch this fish, wild horses are +driven into the water, and after having expended the fury and the vigour +of the gymnonotus, fishermen step in and catch them either with nets or +harpoons. Here we find that the irritable or sensorial power is exhausted +through the medium of electricity. These phenomena may be attributed to an +electric or Voltaic aura; and the organ of the animal that secretes the +fluid resembles in its wonderful structure the Voltaic apparatus. Both the +gymnote and the torpedo obey the laws of electricity, and their action is +limited to the same conducting and non-conducting mediums. The electric +sparks proceeding from the gymnote have been plainly seen in a dark +chamber by Walsh, Pringle, Williamson, and others. The fish has four +electric organs, two large and two small ones, extending on each side of +the body from the abdomen to the end of the tail. These organs are of +such a size that they constitute one third of the fish's bulk. Each of +them is composed of a series of aponeurotic membranes, longitudinal, +parallel, horizontal, and at about one line's distance from each other. +Hunter counted thirty-four of these fasciculi in one of the largest. Other +membranes or plates traverse these vertically, and nearly at a right +angle; thus forming a plexus or net-work of numerous rhomboidal cells. +Hunter found no less than two hundred and forty of these vertical plates +in the space of eleven inches. + +This apparatus, analogous to the Voltaic pile, is brought into action by a +system of nerves rising from the spinal marrow, each vertebra giving out a +branch; other branches, rising from a large nerve, running from the basis +of the cranium to the extremity of the tail. All these ramifications are +spread and developed in the cells of the electric organs, to transmit its +powerful fluid, and strike with stupor or with death every animal that +comes within its reach. Lacepede has justly compared this wonderful +mechanism to a battery formed of a multitude of folio-electric pieces. + +The electric organ of the _malapterus electricus_ is of a different +formation. This fish, found in the Nile and in other rivers of Africa, is +called by the Arabs _raash_ or thunder. In this animal the electric fluid +extends all round the body, immediately under the integuments, and +consists of a tissue of cellular fibres so dense, that it might be +compared to a layer of bacon; but, when carefully examined, it consists of +a series of fibres forming a complex net-work. These cells, like those in +the gymnote, are lubricated with a mucous secretion. The nervous system of +this intricate machinery is formed by the two long branches of the +pneumo-gastric nerves, which in fishes usually run under each lateral +line. Here, however, they approach each other on leaving the cranium, +traversing the first vertebra. + +Linnaeus had classed the torpedo in the genus _ray_, and hence called it +_raia torpedo_. Later naturalists have restored to it its ancient name, as +given by Pliny, and termed it _torpedo_, of which four species are +described: the _T. narke_, or with five spots; the _T. unimaculata_, +marked, as the name indicates, with one spot; the _T. marmorata_, and the +_T. Galvanni_. + +The ancients placed much faith in the medicinal properties of these +fishes. Hippocrates recommends its roasted flesh in dropsies that follow +liver affections. Dioscorides prescribed its application in cases of +obstinate headaches and rheumatisms. Galen and other physicians recommend +the application of the living animal; and Scribonius Largus states that +the freedman Anteroes was cured of the gout by this practice. To this day, +in Abyssinia, fever patients are tied down on a table, and a torpedo is +applied to various parts of the body. This operation, it is affirmed, +causes great pain, but is an infallible remedy. + + + + +MEMORY AND THE MENTAL FACULTIES. + + +This noble faculty, the proudest attribute of mankind, justly called the +mother of the Muses, is subject to be impaired by various physical and +moral causes, while a similar agency can sometimes restore it to its +pristine energy, or develope its powers when sluggish and defective. +Memory may be considered as the history of the past chronicled in our +minds, to be consulted and called upon whenever circumstances stances or +the strange complication of human interests demand its powerful aid. Its +powers and nature widely differ, and these varieties depend upon +education, natural capacities, mode of living, and pursuits. Thus memory +has been divided into that faculty that applies to facts, and to that more +superficial quality that embraces a recollection of things, to which must +be added the memory of localities and words: "Lucullus habuit divinam +quamdam memoriam rerum, verborum majorem Hortensius," said Cicero. + +It is on this division that Aristotle founded his belief that the brute +creation had not the faculty of reminiscence, although he allowed them to +possess memory. According to his doctrine, reminiscence is the power of +recollecting an object by means of a syllogistic chain of thought; an +intellectual link with which animals do not seem to be gifted. Their +memory appears solely to consist of the impressions received by the return +of circumstances of a similar kind. Thus, a horse that has started on a +certain part of a road will be apt to evince the same apprehension when +passing the same spot. This is an instinctive fear, but not the result of +calculation or the combination of former ideas. Reminiscence is the +revival of memory by reflection; in short, the recovery or recollection of +lost impressions. + +The recollection of things or facts can alone bring forth a sound +judgment. It implies a regular co-ordination of ideas, a catenation of +reflections, in which circumstances are linked with each other. The chain +broken, no conclusion can be drawn. Newton was wont to lose the thread of +an important conversation when his mind was in search of an idea. This is +the reason why the society of the learned is seldom entertaining to the +generality of men. They are considered absent, while their brain is busily +employed in pursuits perhaps of great importance; they must therefore be +anything but agreeable to those who generally think through the medium of +other persons' brains. + +The brain is considered to be the seat of memory. When it is injured, +remembrance is impaired; and, on the other hand, an accident has been +known to improve the recollective faculties. A man remarkable for his bad +memory fell from a considerable height upon his head; ever after he could +recollect the most trifling circumstance. The effects of different +maladies will also produce various results on this faculty. In some +instances names of persons and things are completely forgotten or +misapplied; at other times, words beginning with a vowel cannot be found. +Sudden fright and cold have produced the same effects. An elderly man fell +off his horse in crossing a ford in a winter's night; ever afterward he +could not bring to his recollection the names of his wife and children, +although he did not cease to recognise and love them as fondly as before +the accident. Cold has been at all times considered injurious to memory; +hence Paulus Aeginus called Oblivion the child of Cold. + +In fevers, and a state of great debility, in a disordered condition of the +digestive functions, and various affections of the head, we generally find +that the attention cannot long be applied to any one subject or a +continued train of thoughts; all past circumstances are readily forgotten, +while passing occurrences are most acutely observed and felt, excepting in +cases of delirium, when we have the perception of surrounding objects or +receive an erroneous impression of their nature and agency. In many cases +of this nature, we find that conversation produces great excitement and +increases the evil, for the subject of such intercourse is generally +misconceived and distorted through the medium of a morbid conception, +while the past, the present, and the future are grouped in a confused and +most heterogeneous and incoherent jumble. + +Philosophers have endeavoured to fix the seat of memory in various +portions of the brain. The ancients fancied that it was lodged in the +posterior part of the cranium; having observed that when persons +endeavoured to recollect any thing, they usually scratched the back part +of the head. The Arabian physicians entertained a similar belief. +Gratarola maintained that a great protuberance of the occiput indicated a +good memory. Gall places it above the orbitary cavity of the eye, and even +behind it. It has long been thought that persons with protuberant eyes had +quick recollections. The physical condition of the brain has also been +considered as materially affecting memory. What physiologists have called +a moist brain was looked upon as unfavourable to its development; and it +was therefore owing to the soft and pulpy condition of the cerebral organs +in young children that the difficulty of impressing anything upon their +minds arose; the same stupidity being observed in cases where water was +supposed to be lodged in the brain. While this humid state was considered +as injurious to memory, dryness of the organ was also esteemed an obstacle +of a similar nature; and in old age it is by this state of siccity that +failure in memory was attempted to be explained. This failure of memory as +age advances may, however, be explained in a much more rational manner. +Old people will bear in lively recollection the events that attended their +childhood, their youth, and manhood; it is only recent occurrences that +shed a transient impression on their minds. The cause of this may be +considered to arise from the extreme _impressionability_ that prevails in +early life, when every organ is prompt in responding to each call upon its +powers; when the charms of novelty tinge with a brighter, yet a more +lasting lustre, all our pleasurable sensations; when grief had not yet +wrung the young heart till its fibres became callous to future pangs, when +perfidy and ingratitude have shown us that all is vanity, and calm +philosophy has tutored our passions in the school of Adversity. Reason now +sits upon the judgment-seat, and all that we then can wonder at that is, +at any time we could have wondered at any thing. Why, then, are we to seek +for a material theory of the mind, when our daily experience shows us that +it is under the influence of so many moral agents? + +We have, moreover, convincing proof that the brain may be materially +affected, without any deterioration of the mental faculties. Dr. Ferriar +mentions a man in whom the whole of the right hemisphere, that is, one +half of the brain, was found destroyed, but who retained all his faculties +till the very moment of his death. Diemerbrook states another case where +half a pound of matter was found in the substance of the brain. O'Hallaran +relates the history of a man who had suffered such an injury of the head, +that a large portion of his brain was removed on the right side; and +extensive suppuration having taken place, an immense quantity of pus, +mixed with large masses of the substance of the brain, was discharged at +each dressing, through the opening. This went on for seventeen days, and +it appears that nearly one half of the brain was thrown out, mixed with +the matter, yet the man retained all his intellectual faculties to the +very last moment of his dissolution, and through the whole course of the +disease, his mind maintained uniform tranquillity. I attended a soldier at +Braburne Lees, who had received a wound in the head during ball practice. +The ball remained in the brain, and during three weeks large masses of +brainular substance were brought away with pus. To the last day of his +life he would relate, with every circumstantial particular, the neglect of +the comrade by whom he had been wounded, and who fired while he was +running to the target to mark the shots. It is somewhat singular, but +suppuration of the brain is more offensive than the foulest ulcer, and it +is with great difficulty that the pestilential effluvia can be tolerated. +These cases plainly show that cerebral diseases have but little influence +on the manifestations of the mind. + +Amongst the many curious doctrines that have been started, to account for +the operations of memory, some philosophers have compared it to the art of +engraving; pretending that on those subjects where it requires much time +and trouble to work an impression it was more durable, while it was only +traced in a superficial manner on those brains that were ever ready and +soft to receive this plastic influence. These several faculties they +therefore compared to bronze or marble, to butter and to wax. Descartes, +following up the phantasy, compared recollection to etching, and said that +the animal spirits, being passed over the lines previously traced, brought +them more powerfully to the mind; thus comparing the brain to the +varnished copper-plate over which the engraver passes his mordants. +Malebranche endeavoured to establish another doctrine, and compared our +cerebral organ to an instrument formed of a series of fibres, so arranged, +that when any recent emotion agitated one of these chords the others would +immediately be thrown into vibration, renewing a past chain of ideas. As +these chords became less flexible in old age, of course these vibrations +were more difficult to obtain. Recollection was also considered an +attribute of each molecule of the brain; and Bonnet endeavoured to count +how many hundred ideas each molecule was capable of holding during a long +life. + +The controversies of learned psychologists on the relation of memory and +judgment, indeed on the analogies that exist between our several mental +faculties, have been as various as they are likely to prove interminable. +Without offending these illustrious controversionalists, we may endeavour +to enumerate these faculties, which, despite the ingenuity of theorists, +appear in a practical point of view to exercise a wonderful influence upon +each other. The first may be considered the faculty of _perception_, +assisted by that of _attention_, to which we are indebted for our _ideas_. +These are preserved and called into action from the rich stores of the +mind by _memory_, justly called by Cicero the guardian of the other +faculties. _Imagination_ is the faculty of the mind that represents the +images of remembered objects as if they were actually present. +_Abstraction_ forms general deductions from the foregoing faculties; while +_judgment_ compares and examines the analogies and relations of the ideas +of sense and of abstract notions. Finally, _reason_ draws inferences from +the comparisons of judgment. + +It is from the combination and the workings of these wonderful powers that +_appetency_, _desires_, _aversions_, and _volition_ arise. _Appetency_ +occasions _desires_, and these, when disappointed or satiated, inevitably +usher in aversions and antipathies; although, as we shall see in another +article, our antipathies are frequently instinctive, and not arising from +any combination of the faculties I have enumerated. + +Dr. Gall has considered these mental faculties as fundamental; and in this +view he was certainly correct, since they may be considered the source +whence all other distinct capacities are probably formed by particular +habits of study and the nature of our pursuits, independently of those +specific capacities which appear to be innate, and, according to the +system of the phrenologists, organic. Every man possesses these +fundamental faculties in a greater or less degree, according to the +obtuseness or the energies of his mind; but it is absurd to conceive that +specific capacities can be brought into action without the agency of those +which are fundamental. Let us take the instinct to destroy life, the +sentiment of property, metaphysical sagacity, or poetic talent,--in short, +any one of Gall's various faculties; can we for one instant conceive that +they are not under the influence of _perception_, _memory_, _imagination_, +and _abstraction_, although they may not be properly ruled by _judgment_ +and by _reason_? Instincts are equally under a similar influence, and are, +according to circumstances, regulated by judgment in the various modes of +life of animals. Phrenologists deny that instinct is a general faculty, +and assert that it is an inherent disposition to activity possessed by +every faculty, and that there are as many instincts as fundamental +faculties. This is a postulation by no means clear. Instinct is an +inherent disposition possessed by every animal, but not by every faculty. +It is a disposition dependent upon the combination of all the mental +faculties, according to the degree in which the animal may possess them: +the reminiscences of animals prove it. We have instanced the horse, who +endowed with the memory of locality, starts when passing by the same spot +where he had started before. But here the memory of facts, _memoria +realis_, and probably of words, _memoria verbalis_, are superadded to the +_memoria localis_. The horse recollects the tree, the carrion, the object +that startled him, whatever it might have been; but to this reminiscence +are associated the chiding, the punishment he received from his rider. If +this horse had possessed the faculties of _abstraction_, _judgment_, and +_reason_, he would not have started, to avoid a reiteration of punishment; +but he started under the impression of _perception_, _attention_, and +_memory_. Wherever there does not exist a combination of the faculties, +the intellectual ones may be considered imperfect. We certainly may have a +greater perception and memory of one subject than of others. Thus, a man +with a musical organisation will recollect any tune he may have heard, +though it may not have attracted the _attention_ of one who "hath no music +in his soul." We daily perceive different talents in children educated +together. This is, no doubt, a strong corroboration of the doctrine of +organic dispositions, which in reality no philosophic observer can deny; +but to assert that these several dispositions are not regulated by what +have been called the fundamental faculties, is, I apprehend, a position +that cannot well be maintained; and we may be warranted in the conclusion +that a particular faculty may be the result of the combined action of +several faculties, if not of all; for, whether a man be a poet or a +painter, a miser or a spendthrift, an affectionate father or an assassin, +every one of the mental faculties that I have enumerated will to a +certain extent be brought into action, however morbid that action may be. + +All these disquisitions, however attractive they may be, when decked out +with the fascination of the fancy, are the mere wanderings of metaphysical +speculation, that never can be proved or refuted until we attain a +knowledge of the nature and quality of the perceptions which material +objects produce in the mind through the medium of the external senses. But +while some of these speculations are idle and harmless, others may be +fraught with danger, and occasion much misery to society. Let us for one +moment conceive the possibility of our resolves and actions being dictated +by a supposed phrenological knowledge,--a knowledge earnestly recommended +to statesmen, and indeed to mankind in general;--what would be the result? +A diplomatic bungler would be sent on an embassy, because a minister, or a +sovereign, with a phrenological map before him, may fancy that he displays +the faculty of circumspection, or the sense of things; and a chancellor of +the exchequer be found in some needy adventurer who possessed the organ of +relation of numbers! + +I do not at all presume to invalidate the statements of Dr. Gall. The +profession is highly indebted to him for his accurate description of the +brain; and physiology must ever consider him as one of the brightest +ornaments of science: but I do maintain, that to recommend his conclusions +as a guide to society would be the most rash of visionary speculations; +and, to my personal knowledge, no man was ever more mistaken in his +estimate of the persons whom he met in society than the learned doctor +himself. Of this I had frequent opportunities of convincing myself, when I +met him in Paris in the circle of a Russian family which he daily visited. +If I could admit, with a late ingenious writer, "that phrenology teaches +the true nature of man, and that its importance in medicine, education, +jurisprudence, and everything relating to society and conduct must be at +once apparent," I should certainly agree with him in recommending its +study to parents, judges, and juries; but for the present, I am inclined +to believe that, although it may prove a most interesting and valuable +pursuit to the physiologist, it is by no means calculated to be the _vade +mecum_ of any liberal man. + +The memory of various persons is amazing, and has been remarked in ancient +times with much surprise. Cyrus knew the name of every soldier in his +army. Mithridates, who had troops of twenty-two nations serving under his +banners, became a proficient in the language of each country. Cyneas, +sent on a mission to Rome by Pyrrhus, made himself acquainted in two days +with the names of all the senators and the principal citizens. Appius +Claudius and the Emperor Hadrian, according to Seneca, could recite two +thousand words in the order they had heard them, and afterwards repeat +them from the end to the beginning. Portius Latro could deliver all the +speeches he had hastily written without any study. + +Esdras is stated by historians to have restored the sacred Hebrew volumes +by memory when they had been destroyed by the Chaldeans; and, according to +Eusebius, it is to his sole recollection that we are indebted for that +part of Holy Writ. St. Anthony, the Egyptian hermit, although he could not +read, knew the whole Scripture by heart: and St. Jerome mentions one +Neopolien, an illiterate soldier, who, anxious to enter into monastic +orders, learned to recite the works of all the fathers, and obtained the +name of the Living Dictionary of Christianity; while St. Antonius, the +Florentine, at the age of sixteen, could repeat all the Papal Bulls, the +Decrees of Councils, and the Canons of the Church, without missing a word. +Pope Clement V. owed his prodigious memory to a fall on his head. This +accident at first had impaired this faculty; but by dint of application he +endeavoured to recover its powers, and he succeeded so completely, that +Petrarch informs us he never forgot anything that he had read. John Pico +de la Mirandola, justly considered a prodigy, could maintain a thesis on +any subject,--_de omni re scibili_,--when a mere child; and when verses +were read to him, he could repeat them backward. Joseph Scaliger learned +his Homer in twenty-one days, and all the Latin poets in four months. +Haller mentions a German scholar, of the name of Muller, who could speak +twenty languages correctly. Our own literary annals record many instances +of this wonderful faculty. + +To fortify this function when naturally weak, or to restore it to its +pristine energy when enfeebled by any peculiar circumstances, has been +long considered an essential study both by the philosopher and the +physician. Reduced to an art, this pursuit has received the name of +_Mnemonia_; and at various periods professors of it, more or less +distinguished by their success, have appeared in the several capitals of +Europe. + +It has been justly observed, that remembrance is to the past what our +sensations are to the present, and our busy conjectures to futurity. +Memory gives a lesson to mankind, by stripping past events of their +_prestige_; thus enabling us to view what passes around us with a more +calm and philosophic resignation, while at the same time it tends to +protect us, in the career lying before us, against the many contingencies +that are likely to impede our path. Although it might appear desirable +that we could obliterate from the mind the painful scenes of our past +life, yet the wisdom of the Creator has deemed this faculty as necessary +to our happiness as our utter ignorance of our future destiny. For let us +mistake not by a hasty glance on this most important subject; the +remembrance of past sufferings is not always painful. On the contrary, +there is that which is holy in our past sorrows, that tends to produce a +calm, nay a pleasurable sensation of gratitude. St. Theresa beautifully +expressed this hallowed feeling when she exclaimed, "Where are those +blissful days when I felt so unhappy!" _Et olim meminisse juvabit._ + +Memory depends in a great measure on the vivacity with which these past +scenes are retraced--I may say re-transmitted to the mind, in ideal forms +"as palpable" as those that may be present. Therefore reminiscence may be +said to result from a connexion between ideas and images recalled into +being by a regular succession of expressive signs that the brute creation +do not possess. Those characteristic signs and images that are generally +circumstantial are co-ordained and classified in the mind, and tend +materially in weak memories to produce an artificial mode of recollecting +the past. This faculty is therefore matured by habit. A literary man, +whose library is properly classed, will find the book he wants in the +dark. The classification of his books is ever present to his mind. These +circumstantial signs are always remembered by a sort of association in our +ideas. Thus Descartes, who fondly loved a girl who squinted, was always +affected with strabismus when speaking of her. When we first see a person +in any particular costume, the individual is clad in the same apparel +whenever brought to our minds, even after a lapse of many years, when +fashion has banished even from general recollection the costume that +memory thus retraces individually. From these observations it has been +concluded that the most probable method of improving memory would be to +regulate these associations by a proper classification. One link of this +ideal chain will naturally lead to another. Many military men, to +recollect any number, will associate it with that of a regiment, so far at +least as the number of regiments extend; and the recollection of this +particular regiment will not only bring to his mind the number of the +house he seeks, but various other circumstances connected both with the +regiment and the number. For instance, I wish to recollect No. 87 in a +certain street. I had, when the number was mentioned to me, attached it to +the 87th regiment; and instantly I not only recollect that the 87th +regiment are the Irish Fusiliers, but that they took an eagle at Barossa, +where they distinguished themselves, and that the figure of that eagle is +borne upon all the appointments of the corps. At the same moment, with the +rapidity of lightning I recollect all the circumstances of the battle of +Barossa; the different conversations I may have had at various times with +the officers of the 87th; the town, the camp, the bivouac where I last had +met them. Thus are innumerable circumstances instantaneously converging in +a mental focus while simply seeking for the lodgings of an individual. +This may be called the memory of locality, since it is locality that +revives the recollection of it. + +This train of thought has also been called the memory of association, and +associations have been referred to three classes:-- + +I. Natural or philosophical associations. + +II. Local or incidental associations. + +III. Arbitrary or fictitious associations. + +Dr. Abercrombie has admirably treated this subject, and I refer the reader +to his interesting work.[44] The poet Simonides is said to have been the +founder of the mnemonic art. Cicero informs us, that, supping one night +with a noble Thessalian, he was called out by two of his acquaintance, and +while in conversation with them the roof of the house fell in, and crushed +to death all the guests he had left at table. When the bodies were sought +for, they were so disfigured by the accident that they could not be +recognised even by their nearest friends; but Simonides identified them +all, by merely recollecting the seats they had held at the banquet. + +Cicero and Quintilian adopted his system, connecting the ideas of a +discourse with certain figures. The different parts of the hilt of a +sword, for instance, might regulate the details of a battle; the different +parts of a tree associate the relations of a journey. Other mnemonic +teachers recommended the division of ideas to correspond with the +distribution of a house; while some of them refreshed the memory by +associations connected with the fingers and other parts of the hand. +Cicero expresses himself plainly on this subject: "Qui multa voluerit +meminisse, multa sibi loca comparet: oportet multos comparare locos, ut in +multis locis multas imagines collocemus." + +The celebrated Feinagle who delivered lectures on memory had adopted the +system of aiding the memory by dates, changing the figures in the dates +into the letters of the alphabet corresponding to them in number. These +letters were then formed into a word to be in some way associated with the +date to be remembered--for instance--Henry IV., King of England, was born +in the year 1366. This date changed into letters makes _mff_ which was +very easily changed into the word _muff_--the method is not so obvious of +establishing with this a relation to Henry IV., but Hen_ry_ IV., says Mr. +Feinagle, means four hens, and we put them in a muff, one in each corner, +and no one after hearing this is in any danger of forgetting the date of +Henry IV.'s birth. + +Learning poetry by heart in infancy and youth is perhaps one of the best +methods of improving memory, since it lays the early foundation of a +classification of words and ideas. Virgil has justly said, "Numeros +memini, si verba tenerem." To abridge, resume, and analyze what we have +read or heard, is another practice highly beneficial; for, the more +clearly we comprehend a subject, the deeper will it remain engraved in our +memory. Reading what we wish to recollect before going to bed will +materially assist the memory. We sleep over the impressions we have +received, and dreams alone can weaken them. From this very reason we can +write with more facility upon subjects that require much mental exertion +in the morning, fasting, when the mind has not been disturbed by the +events of the day, and when the functions of digestion have not drawn upon +our faculties, too frequently with the lavishness of a spendthrift. It is +somewhat singular, but, despite the interruption of dreams, our ideas are +matured during our sleep. Quintilian expresses himself as follows on this +subject: "Mirum dictu est quantum nox interposita adferat firmitatis, sive +quiescit labor ille cujus sibi ipsa fatigatio obstabat, sive maturatur ac +coquatur, seu firmissima ejus pars est recordatio. Quae statim referri non +poterant, contexuntur postero die, confirmatque memoriam idem illud tempus +quod esse in causa solet oblivionis." + +Memory is subject to be variously disturbed in certain maladies. There is +an affection called _amnesia_, in which it utterly fails, and another +termed _dysmnesia_, when it is defective. Failure of memory is generally +more manifest on some subjects than on others. Salmuth relates the case of +a man who had forgotten to pronounce words, although he could write them. +Another person could only recollect the first syllables. An old man had +forgotten all the past events of his life, unless recalled to his +recollection by some occurrence; yet every night he regularly recollected +some one particular circumstance of his early days. A curious anecdote is +recorded of an elderly gentleman who had fallen into the meshes of an +artful courtesan, and who frequently took his own wife for this insidious +acquaintance, frequently saying to her, "Madam, I feel that I am doing +wrong by devoting to you so much of my time, for, when a man has a wife +and children, such conduct is unpardonable;" and, after this polite +observation, he took up his hat, and would have walked off, had not his +wife, wise enough not to manifest displeasure, contrived to undeceive him. + +Dietrich mentions a patient who remembered facts, but had totally +forgotten words; while another could write, although he had lost the +faculty of reading. Old men are frequently met with who confound +substantives, and will call their snuff-box a cane, and their watch a hat. +In other cases letters are transposed, and a musician has called his +_flute_ a _tufle_. Dr. Abercrombie relates the case of a gentleman who +uniformly called his snuff-box a hogshead. In Virginia he had been a +trader in tobacco, so that the transition from snuff to tobacco, and from +tobacco to a hogshead seemed to be natural. Another person, affected in a +similar manner, always called for paper when he wanted coals, and coals +when he needed paper. Others are known to invent names and unintelligible +words. Some curious anagrams have been made by these irregularities. John +Hunter was suddenly attacked with a loss of memory, which is thus related +by Sir Everard Home: "He was at the time on a visit at the house of a +friend. He did not know in what part of the house he was, not even the +name of the street when he was told, nor where his own house was. He had +not a conception of anything existing beyond the room in which he was, and +yet he was perfectly conscious of the loss of memory. He was sensible of +impressions of all kinds from the senses, and therefore looked out of the +window, although rather dark, to see if he could be made sensible of the +situation of the house. The loss of memory gradually went off, and in less +than half an hour his memory was perfectly recovered." Such momentary +accidents I have frequently observed in gouty patients; and for a second +or two I have myself experienced the sensation, which was for the moment +of a most alarming nature. Hunter was subject to arthritic attacks. + +Corvinus Messala lost his memory for two years, and in his old age could +not remember his own name. This is an occurrence by no means uncommon; and +I knew a person in perfect health who could only recollect his name by +writing it. We frequently see individuals who, although they are generally +correct orthographers, cannot sometimes spell a simple conjunction. An +anecdote is related in the Psychological Magazine of a German statesman, +who having called at a gentleman's house, the servants of which not +knowing him, was asked for his name, which he had, however, so totally +forgotten, that he was under the necessity of turning round to a friend +and saying with great earnestness, "Pray tell me who I am, for I cannot +recollect." + +Cases are recorded of the forgetfulness of a language constantly spoken, +while one nearly forgotten from want of practice was recovered. A patient +in St. Thomas's Hospital, who had been admitted with a brain-fever, on his +recovery spoke an unknown language to his attendants. A Welsh milkman +happened to be in the ward, and recognised his native dialect; although +the patient had left Wales in early youth, had resided thirty years in +England, and had nearly forgotten his native tongue. Boerhaave relates a +curious case of a Spanish poet, author of several excellent tragedies, who +had so completely lost his memory in consequence of an acute fever, that +he not only had forgotten the languages he had formerly cultivated, but +even the alphabet, and was obliged to begin again to learn to read. His +own former productions were shown to him, but he could not recognise them. +Afterwards, however, he began once more to compose verses, which bore so +striking a resemblance to his former writings, that he at length became +convinced of his having been the author of them. + +Dr. Abercrombie relates the case of an aged gentleman, who, in an attack +of the head, had almost forgotten the English language, and expressed +himself in a mixed dialect of French, Italian, Spanish, German, and +Turkish. Having been some time afterwards severely burnt about the head, +by setting fire to the curtains of his bed, he was observed to make use of +some English words; this being followed by a course of blistering, he +continued to speak more English, but only occasionally and in very short +sentences. These were sometimes correctly applied, but at other times most +erroneously; for instance, having been taken to see a small house, he +observed, "it is very neat, but it is a very little child." + +Dr. Beattie mentions the case of a clergyman who, on his recovery from an +apoplectic attack, had exactly forgotten a period of four years; and Dr. +Abercrombie records a lady who had thus forgotten ten or twelve years of +her life. Wepfer mentions a gentleman, who on recovery from an apoplectic +attack, was found to know nobody and remember nothing. After several weeks +he began to know his friends, to remember words, to repeat the Lord's +Prayer, and to read a few words of Latin, rather than German, his native +language. When urged to read more than a few words at a time, he said that +he formerly understood those things, but now did not. After some time he +began to pay more attention to what was passing around him, but while thus +making slight and gradual progress, he was, after a few months, suddenly +cut off by another attack of apoplexy. Dr. Beattie relates the case of a +gentleman who, after a blow on the head, lost his knowledge of Greek, and +did not appear to have lost any thing else. + +Loss of memory has been observed as a frequent occurrence after the +prevalence of pestilential diseases. Thucydides relates, that after the +plague of Athens several of the inhabitants forgot their own names and +those of their parents and friends. After the disastrous retreat of the +French army in Russia, and the disease which swept away so many of their +troops at Wilna, many of the survivors had no recollection of country or +of home. Injuries of the head appear to occasion different results. This +circumstance was observed by the ancients. Valerius Maximus relates the +case of an Athenian, who, being struck on the head with a stone, forgot +all literary attainments, although he preserved the recollection of other +matters. A man wounded with a sword in the eye completely forgot Greek and +Latin, in which he had formerly been a proficient. A young man, having +fallen off his horse and contused his head, lost his memory to such an +extent, that he would repeat a question a hundred times over, although the +very first interrogation had been answered. He had not the slightest +recollection of his accident. Epileptic and paralytic attacks frequently +usher in this melancholy result, which has also been often observed after +child-birth. + +Dr. Abercrombie knew a lady who was seized with an apoplectic fit while +engaged at cards; the attack took place on a Thursday evening--she lay in +a state of stupor on Friday and Saturday, and recovered her consciousness +rather suddenly on Sunday. The first words she then uttered were, "What is +trump?" + +Dr. Conolly mentions a young clergyman who, when on the point of being +married, suffered an injury of the head, by which his understanding became +impaired. He lived in this condition to the advanced age of eighty, and to +the last day of his existence, spoke of nothing but his approaching +wedding, expressing impatience for the arrival of the happy day. + +A singular instance of forgetfulness is related of a lady who had been +united to a man she loved, after much opposition on the part of her +family, and who lost her memory after the birth of a child. She could not +be made to recollect any circumstance that had occurred since her +marriage; nor could she recognise her husband or her infant, both of whom +she maintained were utter strangers to her. At first she repulsed them +with apparent horror, but was at last, by the entreaties of her family, +induced to believe that she was a wife and a mother; and although she +yielded to their solicitations, yet for years she could not persuade +herself that their assertions were correct, as she actually was convinced +"against her will." In this instance disease not only destroyed memory, +but affection. + +The case of Dr. Broussonnet was remarkable. An accident he had met with in +the Pyrenees brought on an apoplectic attack. When he recovered, he could +neither write nor pronounce correctly any substantives or personal names +either in French or Latin, while adjectives and epithets crowded in his +mind. Thus, when speaking of a person, he would describe his appearance, +his qualities, and, without pronouncing the word "coat," would name its +colour. In his botanical pursuits he could point out the form and colour +of plants, but had not the power of naming them. A Parisian merchant, +after severe losses, experienced such a failure in recollection, that he +was constantly guilty of the most absurd anachronisms;--would talk of the +battles of Louis the Fourteenth with Alexander the Great, and describe +Charles the Twelfth ascending triumphantly Mount Valerian; and one night, +after witnessing the performance of Talma, could not be persuaded that he +had not applauded Lekain. + +Sudden fright has also obliterated this faculty. Artemidorus lost his +memory from the terror inspired by treading on a crocodile. Bleeding has +produced the same effects; while, on the other hand, blood-letting has +restored an absent man to perfect recollection. Various venenose +substances have also been said to produce amnesia. History records several +instances of the kind. The soldiers of Anthony, on their return from the +Parthian war, were attacked with loss of memory after eating some +poisonous plants on their march. Bamba, king of the Goths, was suddenly +deprived of all recollection after taking a draught presented to him by +Eringius. Plater and Baldinger attributed a similar accident to the use of +hemlock and arsenic. Narcotics, no doubt, may produce similar effects, but +they will be of a transient nature; I do not know that this injurious +power has been detected in any other productions, as the cases related by +writers are not supported by sufficient authority to be entitled to +unqualified belief. + +The cause of these affections will most probably ever be unknown. Equally +futile have proved all the endeavours to ascertain in what part of the +brain memory is seated, since we have found some physiologists lodging +this wonderful faculty in the posterior, and others in the anterior +portion of the cranium. I apprehend that we might torture the brute +creation, from the elephant down to the lowest reptile, for centuries, +without being able to ascertain this point; and even could we attain this +information, _cui bono_? Would it protect this privileged quarter of the +cerebral organ from the action of external agency, or restore it to its +healthy functions when diseased? The mode in which our mental faculties +are developed is an impenetrable mystery; and, instead of vainly +endeavouring to raise the mystic veil to gratify our curiosity, or rather +our vanity, let us endeavour to apply these functions to the use for which +they were intended by the allwise Creator, and exert them for the purpose +of increasing the prosperity, or at any rate in endeavouring to diminish +the sum of sufferings of his creatures, whether they be our fellow-men or +the divers races that are submitted to our capricious power. + + + + +AFFECTIONS OF THE SIGHT. + + +The different terms applied to the various morbid affections of vision +have been frequently misconceived, and consequently have occasioned much +confusion in their application. Those vitiated conditions which are +usually noticed may be classed as follows: + + I. Night sight. + II. Day sight. + III. Long sight. + IV. Short sight. + V. Skew sight. + VI. False sight. + +_Night sight_, specifically called _Lucifuga_, was also termed +_Nyctalopia_, from [Greek: nyx], _night_, and [Greek: ops], _eye_; it was +also known as the _Noctem amans_. This affection was thus named in +consequence of the person labouring under it being only able to see at +night, or in a deep shade; hence the first name: while nyctalopia has been +used by most modern writers in the opposite sense of _night-sight ache_, +agreeably, according to Mason Good's observations, to the technical or +implied meaning of _opia_, in which case it always applies to a diseased +vision; whence nyctalopia has been made to import day sight, instead of +night sight. + +This disease appears to be dependent upon a peculiar irritability of the +retina, produced by two different causes,--a sudden exposure to a stronger +light than the eye has been accustomed to bear, or a deficiency of the +black pigment which lines the choroid tunic. If the iris be weak and +torpid, it is enlarged; if strong and contracted, diminished. Thus, those +who from peculiar circumstances reside in dark caverns and subterraneous +abodes, or who have long been confined in obscure dungeons, labour under +the first of these causes; instances of which were observed in two of the +captives liberated from the Bastille in 1789. + +Ramazzini informs us that this affection is commonly observed among the +Italian peasants, amongst whom he was not able to trace any other +peculiarity than an enlargement of the pupil. This state of the vision, +however, has been attributed to the peculiar brightness of the Italian +sky, its clear atmosphere, and the relaxing warmth of the temperature. +The Italian peasants are therefore constantly exposed to all those causes +that tend to debilitate the iris, while they irritate the retina. We thus +find these causes acting with renewed power at the season when the disease +usually makes its attack,--the vernal equinox, when an increased flood of +solar rays breaks on them. Such is the dimness that this brightness +produces, that the peasantry frequently lose their way in the fields in +the glare of day; but on the approach of night they can see distinctly. +Hence are they obliged to remain for some weeks in the shade to recover +their sight. + +A deficiency of the black pigment of the eye is occasionally found in +persons of a very fair complexion and light hair. This affection is +therefore common in the Albinoes. This circumstance arises from the +whiteness of the eyelashes and hair, whereby the retina is deprived of the +natural shade that softens the light in its descent. This debilitated race +generally inhabit warm and damp regions; they are seldom long-lived, and +frequently low-spirited and morose. The iris is of a pink colour, and this +circumstance, added to the constant winking that the weakness of the organ +occasions, gives them a distressing appearance. In horses, this want of +the dark pigment constitutes what is called the _wall eye_. + +Acuteness in night vision is natural to most, if not to all, animals that +prowl in the dark. In the feline genus we observe that the iris can be +contracted much closer than in mankind, when exposed to a vivid glare; but +they also expand to a much greater degree when obscurity sets in. Owls, +bats, and many insects, possess a similar faculty. + +_Day sight_, the nyctalopia of some authors, is said to be endemic in some +countries,--Poland, the West Indies, Brazil, and various intertropical +regions. This affection arises from causes totally different from the +former one. Here the eye is habitually exposed to too great a flood of +light, whence the retina becomes torpid. It has been said to be endemic in +some districts of France, particularly in the neighbourhood of Roche +Guyon, on the banks of the Seine; but here the soil is of a dazzling +white: and as it makes its attacks in the spring, and continues for three +months, it is supposed to arise from the keenness of the reflected light, +after the dreary winter months. + +This disease has also been commonly observed in Russia, especially in the +summer, when the eye is exposed, with scarcely any intermission, to the +constant action of light, as the sun dips but little below the horizon, +and there is scarcely any interval of darkness. Hens are subject to this +affection, and cannot see to pick up their food in the dusk of the +evening. The complaint is, from this circumstance, called _hen blindness_. + +Dr. Heberden has communicated the following curious case of this species +of affection: "A man about forty years old had in the spring a tertian +fever, for which he took too small a quantity of bark, so that the returns +of it were weakened without being removed. Three days after his last fit, +being then employed on board a ship in the river, he observed at +sun-setting that all objects began to look blue, which blueness gradually +thickened into a cloud; and not long after he became so blind as hardly to +perceive the light of a candle. The next morning about sunrising his sight +was restored as perfectly as ever. When the next night came on, he lost +his sight again in the same manner, and this continued for twelve days and +nights. He then came ashore, where the disorder of his eyes gradually +abated, and in three days was entirely gone. A month after he went on +board another ship, and after three days' stay in it the night blindness +returned as before, and lasted all the time of his remaining in the ship, +which was nine nights. He then left the ship, and his blindness did not +return while he was upon land. Some little time afterwards he went into +another ship, in which he continued for ten days, during which time the +blindness returned only two nights, and never afterwards." It appears, +however, that this individual had previously laboured under an affection +produced by the use of lead, which had left him in a state of much nervous +debility. Notwithstanding this circumstance, this case clearly proves that +the affection is liable to be increased and brought on by local influence. + +_Long sight._ In this species of vision the iris is habitually dilated, +and not easily stimulated into contraction. Several varieties of this +affection have been observed. Dr. Wells, in the Philosophical +Transactions, relates the case of a young person who, from a permanent +dilatation of the pupil, saw near objects with much difficulty and +confusion, but remote bodies with singular accuracy. The power of moving +the upper lid was completely lost. This dilatation of the pupil, which may +be artificially produced by the application of belladonna, can be remedied +by the use of convex glasses. + +_Short sight._ In this case the iris is contracted, and the cornea, which +in long sight is too much flattened, is too convex or polarised; therefore +spectacles of an opposite character, and with concave glasses, become +necessary. Mice are said to be short-sighted; hence the affection has been +termed myopia or myopiasis, literally "mouse-sight." + +_Skew sight_, or _sight askew_, is a condition of our vision only accurate +when the object is placed obliquely, in consequence of some partial +obfuscation of the cornea, frequently from slight scars, scarcely, if at +all, observable. In this lateral vision the axis of the eye affected +usually coincides with that of the sound eye. In squinting, on the +contrary, the two axes do not coincide. + +In _false sight_, imaginary objects float before the sight; or, at other +times, objects assume imaginary forms and qualities. The latter species +has been divided in cases where the objects that are supposed to be seen +have no real existence, and in cases where actual objects have assumed +qualities that do not appertain to them. The first are termed ocular +phantasms or spectres; the latter, ocular transmutations or illusions. +These spectres sometimes form dark spots, called by physicians _muscae +volitantes_. In another species, a net-work seems to be spread before the +eyes; hence called _visus reticularis_. In a third form sparks +scintillate, and this appearance is experienced when the eye has been +struck. The eye is also troubled with an imaginary sense of dazzling, +constituting the _myrmaryge_ of the Greek writers; at other times, an +iridescent appearance, exhibiting the colours of the rainbow, is +experienced, although sometimes this impression is confined to a single +colour. Dr. Heberden relates the case of a lady of advanced age, lodging +on the eastern coast of Kent, in a house that looked immediately upon the +sea, and exposed to the glare of the morning sun. The curtains of her room +were white, a circumstance which added to the intensity of the light. When +she had been there about ten days, she observed one evening, at the time +of sunset, that first the fringes of the clouds appeared red, and soon +after the same colour was diffused over all the objects around her, +especially if they were white. This lasted the whole night, but in the +morning her sight was again perfect. This alternation of morbid and sound +sight prevailed the whole time the lady resided on the coast, which was +three weeks; and for nearly as long after she left it, at which time it +ceased suddenly of its own accord. + +There exists another variety of false sight, that Plenk has denominated +_metamorphopsia_, and in which objects appear changed in their natural +qualities, producing error of form, error of motion, error of number, and +error of colour. I had a patient in Lisbon who fancied that all the horses +he saw carried horns or extensive antlers. A young lady whom I attended +beheld every one of a gigantic height. Dr. Priestley has given a curious +case of error of colour in five brothers and two sisters, all adults. One +of the brothers could form no idea whatever of colours, though he judged +very accurately of the form and other qualities of objects; hence he +thought stockings were sufficiently distinguished by the name of +stockings, and could not conceive the necessity of calling them white or +black. He could perceive cherries on a tree; but only distinguished them, +even when red-ripe, from the surrounding leaves by their size and shape. +One of the brothers appeared to have a faint sense of a few colours, but +still a very imperfect notion; and, upon the whole, they did not seem to +possess any other distinguishing power than that of light and shade, into +which they resolved all the colours presented to them,--so that dove or +straw colour were regarded as white; and green, crimson, and purple, as +black or dark. On looking at a rainbow, one of them could distinguish that +it consisted of stripes, but nothing more. Dr. Nicholl relates the case of +a boy who confounded green with red; and called light red and pink, blue. +His maternal grandfather and one uncle had the same imperfection. The +latter was in the navy, and having a blue coat and waistcoat, purchased a +pair of red breeches to match. The same physician knew a gentleman who +could not distinguish green from red; a cucumber and a boiled lobster did +not offer the least difference in colour. His brother and his niece +laboured under a similar affection. + +Some philosophers are of opinion, that in the power of conceiving colours +there is a striking difference in individuals, and are inclined to think +that in many instances the supposed defects of sight ought to be ascribed +to a defect in the power of conception, arising probably from some early +habit of inattention. This theory is scarcely tenable. The utmost +inattention and indifference regarding surrounding objects could never +lead to a delusive view of any colour; also, it is more than probable +that, in the case of a child in whom such a defective vision was observed, +his attention would be incessantly called on by those around him, to +correct, if possible, so strange a delusion. Moreover, this defect of +vision, as we have seen, appears in some instances to be hereditary; and +to prevail in families. + +Phrenologists of course are of opinion that the judgment of colours +resides in a particular organ, remarkably full and prominent in painters +distinguished by the perfection of their colouring. According to Gall, a +local deficiency of brain is observable where the power of distinguishing +colours is wanting. + +The sense of vision exhibits more variety in the different classes of +animals than any of the others. In man, and the greater number of +quadrupeds, this organ is guarded by an upper and a lower lid, both of +which in man are fringed with lashes. This is not the case in most +quadrupeds. In the elephant, opossum, seal, cats, other mammalia, birds, +and all fishes, we find a third eyelid, or nictitating membrane, as it is +called, arising from the internal angle of the eye, capable of covering +and protecting the eye from danger, either wholly or in part. In the dog +this membrane is narrow; in oxen and horses it extends half over the +eyeball. It is by means of this veil that eagles are capable of fixing +their eyes on the noon-day sun. The largest eyes in proportion to the size +of the animal are found in birds,--nearly the smallest in whales; but the +most diminutive are those of the shrew and mole, the latter's not +exceeding the size of a pin's head. + +The situation of the organs of vision differs materially. In man and +monkeys they are placed directly under the forehead; in some fishes, such +as the turbot and flounder tribes, both eyes are placed in the same side +of the head. In the snail they are situated on the horns; and in the +spider, distributed over various points of the body, and in different +arrangements. + +Eyes, however, are not indispensable to become sensible of the presence of +light. Several zoophytes, that do not possess the organs of vision, are +perfectly alive to its influence. A distinct organ is not always +indispensable for a distinct sense. It is probable that in those animals +that appear to be endowed with particular senses, without displaying +particular organs relating to them, the senses are diffused like that of +touch, over the whole surface. This subject has been admirably commented +on by Cuvier. + + + + +HELLEBORE. + + +From time immemorial this substance has been considered an efficacious +remedy in mania. The Greeks pretended that the daughters of Proetus, +smitten with insanity by Bacchus, were restored to reason by the shepherd +Melampus, who gave them some milk drawn from goats that had eaten +hellebore. It is supposed that the use of purgatives arose from this +fabulous tradition, whence this plant was called _melampodium_. + +The ancients described two varieties, the white and the black. The first, +according to Theophrastus, was found on a part of Mount Oeta called +Pyra, on which the body of Hercules was burnt. It is not certain whether +they confounded our hellebore with our veratrum. Pinel supposes that the +veratrum album was their hellebore, as it is not probable that the +veratrum nigrum should have been thus confounded. Tournefort, in his +travels in the Levant, fancied that he had discovered the root of the +ancients in one that the Turks called _zopteme_, which answered in its +character to the description recorded in older writers. + +Howbeit, it was considered a powerful purgative and emetic, especially +indicated in the treatment of mental affections. Celsus forbade its +exhibition in summer and during the winter, or whenever febrile symptoms +were prevalent. This precaution, however, applied to all purgative +medicines; and to this day, in several parts of the continent, similar +injunctions are usual; and even in France practitioners of the old school +prepare a patient several days before any opening medicine is given,--a +learned precaution, that has but too frequently rendered every medicine +useless. + +The exhibition of this drug was a matter of so much importance amongst the +ancients, that it was specifically termed _helleborism_; and it was +considered of so powerful a nature in mania, that the treatment of the +malady was called _navigare Anticyras_, since it was near the town of +Anticyras that the plant was generally gathered. If this process of +helleborism proved efficacious, it is more than probable that its +beneficial results proceeded from the violent evacuations that preceded +it. The following was the mode adopted with the helleborised: The patient +was first well fed for several days until the decline of the moon, when a +powerful emetic was given to him; five days after a similar dose was +prescribed, and then good living ordered for a month: at the expiration of +this invigorating respite, emetics began again to work him every three +days. After the last attack on his digestive head-quarters, he was bathed, +fed again, and hellebore was given after he had been submitted to several +hours' friction with olive oil. The emetics were invariably administered +on a full stomach, which was cleared either by medicine or the excitement +of the beard of a quill poked down the unfortunate patient's throat. At +other times, (by way, no doubt, of variety,) rejection was excited by +making the patient eat a pound or more of horseradish; after which he was +walked about for some time; and then, after a short repose, the fingers or +the quill were brought into action. After this operation he was lulled to +sleep by a regular shampooing. It appears that, despite of all these +practices, the stomachs of the ancients were sometimes so pertinaciously +retentive, that more powerful means to _relieve_ them were adopted; and +when the longest feather that could be plucked from a goose proved +unavailing, gloves dipped in the oil of cyprus were put on, and the +fingers thus inuncted replaced the feathers. When this failed, the +obstinate sufferer was made to swallow a quart or two of honey and hot +water, in which rue had been infused; and when this proved ineffectual, he +was slung in a hammock to produce the sensation of sea-sickness. In some +cases it appears that, despite this practice, the patient thought proper +to faint. On such occasions little wedges of wood were driven between his +obstinate and rebellious teeth clenched against medicine, so as to allow +the introduction of the goose-quill, while cephalic snuff of the precious +hellebore and euphorbia was blown up his nostrils to produce sneezing. The +last trial to relieve him was tossing the ill-fated wight in a blanket. +After this experiment the patient was left to nature or to his friends, if +he _would_ not recover. These friends immediately proceeded to give him +punches in the stomach, roll him about the floor, and endeavour to restore +him to his senses by driving him out of them by every possible noise that +could frighten him, if his _frightful_ condition was at all susceptible of +any thing left in the arsenal of medicinal ingenuity.[45] + +Small doses of hellebore seem to have been taken not only with impunity, +but were supposed to assist the mental faculties. According to Valerius +Maximus and Aulus Gellius, orators were in the practice of using this +stimulus before their disputations. Such, it is said, was the habit of +Carneades, whose doctrines might well have been applied to this very day +to many theories, since he denied that any thing in the world could be +perceived or understood. + +Hellebore is to this day an ingredient in many of the fashionable pills +vended by successful quacks. This introduction, at any rate, shows that +their compounders have candour enough to think (although they may not +acknowledge it) that the intellectual faculties of the purchasers of their +nostrums do stand in need of some medicinal aid. + + + + +SYMPATHIES AND ANTIPATHIES. + + +The constant effects produced by causes which do not appear connected with +them, are phenomena both of organic and inorganic nature which have long +fixed the attention of philosophers, and have not yet been satisfactorily +explained. This operation between distant bodies cannot be traced to any +medium of communication. It arises from an attractive and a repulsive +power that cannot be defined. Almost every substance evinces inclinations +or antipathies; is attracted with more or less strength by one body, +indifferent towards a second, and constantly avoiding a third; nay, bodies +appear to act where they are not present, and where no communication can +exist. We are as ignorant of the nature of these phenomena as of those of +gravitation, magnetism, and electricity. Still, although this medium of +communication is not evident, it must be admitted by inference that there +must exist a connecting channel, although its nature be unknown. + +The ancients called sympathy _consensus_, and the moderns have also +defined it a _consent of parts_; nor is this definition incorrect, since +sympathy arises from the relative ties that mysteriously unite our several +organs, however distant and unconnected they may appear; thus establishing +a beauteous harmony between all the functions of the animal economy. +Sympathies must therefore constitute the chief study of the physiologist: +on this alone can the physician ground his investigation of the various +disorders to which flesh is heir. Symptoms arise from sympathies: without +a knowledge of the one we can never attain a clear insight in the other. + +Sympathies are of a physical or a moral nature. The first consist, as I +have already stated, of a consent between the different parts of the +organism; the latter of certain impressions, unaccountable, unconquerable, +that harmonize in a multiplicity of phenomena various individuals, or that +induce them, without their being able to assign any reason or motive to +warrant the repugnance, to avoid each other, and not unfrequently to +entertain a feeling of disgust or horror. A secret voice has +spoken,--organism instinctively obeys. Moral sympathies have been defined +as faculties that enabled us to partake of the ideas, the affections, or +the dislike of others; although this sentiment is by no means reciprocal, +and we often dislike those who fondly love us. So far sympathy is +instinctive; yet, like many instincts, it is more or less under the +control of our reason. We often acquire an artificial partiality to +substances that we naturally disliked. Our senses may be considered the +instruments of our sympathies; yet senses are regulated by education and +habit. Oil, olives, tobacco, and various other substances, are naturally, +one might say instinctively, unpleasant to most individuals; yet by custom +they are not only relished, but ardently wished for when they cannot be +obtained. It is the same with our relative partiality or aversion towards +individuals; and indifference is often turned into affection, while the +most ardent love is not far remote from hate, when vanity more especially, +removes its boundaries. + +If we admit that our sympathies are lodged in certain specific organs, we +must consider that we are the slaves of organism; whereas it is pretty +positive that to a certain extent we are the slaves of habit. Even the +most ardent and prevailing passions, the indulgence in which has become an +absolute necessity, cease to be brought into action when they have long +remained dormant. To associate our moral sympathies with physical consents +of parts is to level man with the brute creation; although we hourly see +the most decided instinctive dislikes in animals overcome by education. A +mouse may be brought up with a cat, and a hawk with a sparrow; although a +chicken has been known to dart at a fly the moment its head was out of the +egg. + +Nor can we view in the same light the affinities of inorganic bodies. They +are subject to chemical laws; each is endowed with specific qualities +that seldom or never vary, and some other body must be interposed to check +their attraction; and that body, in the relation of inorganic matter, may +be compared to the influence of the mind in intellectual beings. In +animals, the very laws of nature are not unfrequently unheeded; and in +these instances natural instincts appear less powerful than the mechanical +discrimination that we witness in vegetable life, where germs, and +molecules, and fibrils not only select each other, according to nature's +harmonic institutions, but actually attract each other from distant +situations. This attractive power is beautifully illustrated in the +mysterious vegetation of the _vallisneria spiralis_, an aquatic plant, in +which the male and female are distinct individuals. The organization of +the male qualifies it to adapt itself to the surface of the water, from +the bottom of which the plant shoots forth, and to float in the middle of +the deep and rapid tide. The female, on the contrary, is only found in +shallow waters, or on shores where the tide exerts but little influence. +Thus differently formed and situated, how does their union take place? It +is a wonderful mystery. As soon as the male flower is perfect, the spinal +stem dries away, and the flower thus separated sails away towards the +shore in pursuit of the female, for the most part driven by a current of +wind or the stream; yet as soon as it arrives near its destination it +obeys a new influence, and is attracted towards the object of its pursuit, +despite the powers of that wind and tide which until then directed it. No +hypothesis, however ingenious, can explain this phenomenon. + +Notwithstanding the doctrines of various writers, I am of opinion that our +passions are clearly instinctive, but fortunately more or less under the +control of our mental faculties in well-regulated individuals, who do not +yield to these instinctive feelings an unbridled course; and I doubt much +if there does exist a single passion, however inordinate it may appear, +that cannot be mastered. Both good and evil qualities are frequently +artificial, and arise from peculiar moral and physical conditions. +Self-preservation is an instinctive feeling; yet man will wantonly risk +his existence from false views regarding his social position. Courage has +been considered as differing in its quality (if I may use the term), and +arises sometimes from a natural animal or brute propensity, at others from +calculation and reflection; and the latter most unquestionably may temper +the former. Duclos' distinction between what is called the courageous +heart and the courageous mind, is by no means as objectionable as some of +his opponents maintain. If courage is an instinctive faculty, residing in +a certain organ, how comes it that this organism varies at different +periods? How comes it, moreover, that this variety depends upon +circumstances? I have seen a desperate duellist disgrace himself by a +cowardly flight in the field of battle. I have known an arrant poltroon +defend himself desperately against robbers; and a man, considered of +undoubted courage, surrender his arms to a single footpad. In our +instincts, our sympathies, we are to a certain extent the children of +circumstances; and it would be as absurd to maintain that we cannot +control our moral sympathies, as to excuse the commission of murder or of +theft. + +Our physical sympathies are of a nature totally different. Here they are +brought into action according to certain laws of the organization, as +uncontrollable as chemical affinities; and I doubt much whether our +unaccountable antipathies may not be considered as appertaining to this +category: they seem to depend upon certain laws of attraction and +repulsion. The channel of this communication, as I have already observed, +will perhaps remain for ever in utter obscurity. To this day we know not +in what manner certain articles of food and medical substances find a path +to the kidneys with such a rapidity as to render it improbable that it was +through the medium of the circulation. The nature of other physiological +phenomena is equally unexplained. Through what channel of communication +does the cat-hater know that one of these animals is in the room, although +unseen by him? Yet these antipathies might be conquered. A man was wont to +fall into fits at the sight of a spider; a waxen one was made, which +equally terrified him. When he had recovered his faculties, his error was +pointed out, the wax figure was put into his hand without inspiring dread, +and shortly the living insect no longer disturbed him. + +Certain antipathies appear to depend upon a peculiarity of the senses. The +horror inspired by the odour of certain flowers may be referred to this +cause. Amatus Lusitanus relates the case of a monk who fainted when he +beheld a rose, and never quitted his cell when that flower was blooming. +Scaliger mentions one of his relations who experienced a similar horror +when seeing a lily. In these instances it is not the agreeableness or the +offensive nature of the aroma that inspires the repugnance; and Montaigne +remarked on this subject, that there were men who dreaded an apple more +than a musket-ball. Zimmerman tells us of a lady who could not endure the +feeling of silk and satin, and shuddered when touching the velvety skin of +a peach. Boyle records the case of a man who felt a natural abhorrence to +honey. Without his knowledge, some honey was introduced in a plaster +applied to his foot, and the accidents that resulted compelled his +attendants to withdraw it. A young man was known to faint whenever he +heard the servant sweeping. Hippocrates mentions one Nicanor who swooned +whenever he heard a flute: our Shakspeare has alluded to the effects of +the bagpipe. Julia, daughter of Frederick, king of Naples, could not taste +meat without serious accidents. Boyle fainted when he heard the splashing +of water; Scaliger turned pale at the sight of water-cresses; Erasmus +experienced febrile symptoms when smelling fish; the Duke d'Epernon +swooned on beholding a leveret, although a hare did not produce the same +effect. Tycho Brahe fainted at the sight of a fox, Henry the Third of +France at that of a cat, and Marshal d'Albert at a pig. The horror that +whole families entertain of cheese is generally known. Many individuals +cannot digest, or even retain certain substances, such as rice, wine, +various fruits, and vegetables. + +There are also antipathies that border upon mental aberration. Such was +the case with a clergyman who fainted whenever a certain verse in Jeremiah +was read. I lately dined in company with a gentleman who was seized with +symptoms of syncope whenever a surgical operation or an accident was +spoken of. St. John Long's name happened to be mentioned, and he was +carried out of the room. I have also known a person who experienced an +alarming vertigo and dizziness whenever a great height or a dizzy +precipice was described. A similar accident has been occasioned by Edgar's +description of Dover Cliff in King Lear. All these sympathies may be +looked upon as morbid affections, or rather peculiar idiosyncrasies, +beyond the control of our reason or our volition, although it is not +impossible that they might be gradually checked by habit. Our dislikes to +individuals are often as unaccountable, when we are obliged to confess +with the poet Martial: + + Non amo te, Sabidi, nec possum dicere quare; + Hoc tantum possum dicere, Non amo te. + +It is the same with our affections. The ancients, amongst others +Empedocles, fancied that attraction and repulsion constituted the +principal actions of life, and harmonized the universe. Hesiod dispels +Chaos through the agency of Love. Aversions were attributed to the +influence of an evil eye. To avoid its direful effects, strange practices +were adopted, according to Tibullus; and to check the malefices of wicked +crones, it was customary to spit three times in an infant's bosom, + + Despuit in molles et sibi quisque sinus; + +while the well-known amulet representing the god Fascinus, was suspended +round the child's neck. Maidens were veiled to guard them against this +noxious power, and secrecy and retirement were deemed the most effectual +means of security. + + Latendum est dum vivimus, ut feliciter vivamus. + +In a preceding article I have given a sketch of the custom of +administering love-philters. + +The singular sympathies that forewarn a future union between the sexes +have in some instances been most surprising. The following example, that +came within my knowledge, is perhaps one of the most singular: Mr. ----, a +brother officer of mine, was a man of taciturn and retired habits, seldom +frequenting public places of amusement, and, when there, felt any thing +but gratification. One evening after dinner he was, however, prevailed +upon to go to a ball. We had not been long in the room when, to my utter +surprise, he expressed great admiration of a young lady who was dancing, +and, what still more amazed us all, he engaged her to dance. Such an act +of apparent levity on his part struck us as a singularity which might have +been attributed to an unusual indulgence at table, had not the contrary +been the case, for he was remarkably abstemious. The dance was scarcely +over when he came to me, and told me with a look of deep despondency, that +his lovely partner was a married woman. The tone of sadness in which he +addressed me was truly ludicrous. A few minutes after he left the +ball-room. The strangeness of his conduct led me to fear that his mind was +not altogether in a sound state; but I was confirmed in my apprehension +when he told me the following morning that he was convinced he should be +married to the object of his admiration, whose husband was a young and +healthy clergyman in the neighbourhood. Here matters rested, and we both +went abroad. We did not meet until three years after, when, to my utter +surprise, I found that his prediction had been verified. The lady's +husband had died from a fall from his horse, and the parties were married. +But what rendered this circumstance still more strange is, that a similar +presentiment was experienced by the young lady herself who, on returning +from the ball, mentioned to her sister with much emotion, that she had +danced with a stranger, to whom she felt convinced that she was destined +to be married. This conviction embittered every moment of her life, as, +despite her most strenuous endeavours, she could not dismiss her partner +from her constant thoughts, reluctantly yielding to the hope of seeing him +again. + +The sympathetic power of fascination is another unaccountable phenomenon. +It is well known that in regions infested with venomous snakes, there are +persons endowed both by nature and by art with the power of disarming the +reptiles of their poisonous capacities. The ancient Cyrenaica was overrun +with poisonous serpents, and the Psylli were a tribe gifted with this +faculty. When Cato pursued Juba over the Cyrenaica desert, he took some of +these Psylli with him to cure the poisoned wounds that these reptiles +might have inflicted on his soldiers. Bruce informs us that all the blacks +in the kingdom of Sennaar are perfectly armed by nature against the bite +of either scorpion or viper. They take the cerastes, or horned serpent, +(one of the most venomous of all the viper tribe,) in their hands at all +times, put them in their bosoms, and throw them to one another, as +children do apples or balls; during which sport the serpents are seldom +irritated to bite, and, when they do bite, no mischief ensues from the +wound. It is said that this power is derived from the practice of chewing +certain plants in their infancy. This is most probably the fact; these +substances may impregnate the body with some quality obnoxious to the +reptile. The same traveller has given an account of several of these +roots. In South America a similar practice prevails, and a curious memoir +on the subject was drawn out by Don Pedro d'Orbies y Vargas, detailing +various experiments. He informs us that the plant thus employed is the +_vejuco de guaco_, hence denominated from its having been observed that +the bird of that name also called the serpent-hawk, usually sucked the +juice of this plant before his attacks upon poisonous serpents. Prepared +by drinking a small portion of this juice, inoculating themselves with it +by rubbing it upon punctures in the skin, Don Pedro himself, and all his +domestics, were accustomed to venture into the fields, and fearlessly +seize the most venomous of these serpents. Acrell, in the _Amoenitates +Academicae_, informs us that the _senega_ possesses a similar power. The +tantalus or ibis of Egypt, that derives its chief food from venomous +animals, depends in a like manner on the protection of antidotes. This +power of fascinating serpents is so great, that they remain totally torpid +and inactive under its influence, and are not even able to offer any +resistance when skinned from tail to head like an eel, and eaten alive. +According to Bruce, they sicken the moment they are laid hold of, and are +exhausted by this invincible power as though they had been struck by +lightning or an electric battery, shutting their eyes the moment they are +seized, and never attempting to turn their mouth towards the person that +holds them. It has been asserted that the Hindoo jugglers render serpents +innocuous by the extraction of their teeth, and although this may be the +practice in some parts of India, it is not generally resorted to in other +countries. + +Dr. Mead and Smith Barton of Philadelphia endeavour to explain this power +by the influence of terror. This supposition, however, is not correct, +since the serpent will injure one man and not another, if the latter is +gifted with this faculty and the former one is not. Major Gordon of South +Carolina attributes the fascinating power of reptiles to a vapour which +they exhale and shed around them; and he mentions a negro who, from a +peculiar acuteness of smell, could discover a rattlesnake at two hundred +feet distance. That certain odours are overpowering there is not the least +doubt; and trout and other fresh-water fishes are charmed and caught +without resistance when the hand is smeared with asafoetida, marjoram, +and other aromas. The fishes, delighted no doubt with this odour, or +intoxicated by its power, will actually flock towards the fingers, and +allow themselves to be laid hold of. + +Thieves and housebreakers have been known to possess the power of quieting +watch-dogs, and keeping them silent during their depredations. Lindecrantz +informs us that the Laplanders can instantly disarm the most furious dog, +and oblige it to fly from them with every expression of terror. The +strange faculty of taming the most unmanageable horses, possessed by an +Irishman, hence called the _Whisperer_, is well known. Several +horse-breakers have appeared at various periods possessing the same art, +and they would make the wildest horse follow them as tamely as a dog, and +lie down at their bidding. It has been affirmed that these whisperers +introduce a globule of quicksilver, or some other substance, into the +animal's ears. It is, however, more probable that these charmers derive +their power of fascination from some natural or artificial emanation. The +most singular power of fascination is perhaps that exhibited by the +jugglers of Egypt, who, by merely pressing the serpent called _haje_ on +the neck, stiffen the reptile to such a degree, that they can wave it like +a wand. + +To explain this sympathetic influence that living beings exercise on each +other, as I have already observed, has long been the study of +philosophers. Their chief theories may be divided into those of the +advocates of _pneumatism_ or _spiritualism_, who maintained that the +nerves transmitted a subtle fluid susceptible of external transmission. +Such were the disciples of Plato; and, amongst the moderns, the Arabian +writers, Paracelsus, Van Helmont, Willis, Digby, Wirdig, and even +Boerhave. The _mechanicians_ formed another class, refusing to admit the +doctrine of influences, and submitting all sympathetic phenomena to the +laws of mechanism and chemistry. Amongst these we find the Cartesians, +Boyle, Hoffmann, and Haller. Their doctrine had already been established +amongst the ancients by Asclepiades. The third system was that of the +_organicians_, who attributed these effects to our organization, governed +by a principle of free agency. In this school are recorded the names of +Hippocrates, Galen, Stahl, Bordeu, and many illustrious writers of various +ages. An investigation of these discrepancies would be foreign to these +sketches. I can only observe, that none of them are tenable, and have only +tended to display scholastic learning and ingenuity, without any practical +beneficial results. Indeed, the only advantages that might possibly accrue +from these pursuits would be the shedding of some faint light upon our +systems of early education, by finding out the most judicious method of +counteracting innate dispositions and peculiar idiosyncrasies. + +The life of man is a relative and external existence. He lives in +communion with all around him, and before his ultimate dissolution he is +doomed to die with every object of his affections that perishes before +him. To these objects he has been united by the secret powers of sympathy. +The organism of both appears to have been subject to mutual laws; and +grief and joy, our pains and pleasures, are transmitted with the rapidity +and power of the magnetic fluid. Nor time nor distance can affect these +sympathies, which have been known to remain latent in our breasts till +called into action by accidental circumstances. Thus, a man has never +known how fondly he loved until he was suddenly deprived of the object of +his sympathies, although until that moment this affection had been unknown +even to himself. This circumstance clearly proves that these sympathies +are not under the influence of our imagination. Although it is to this +creative faculty that these reminiscences are attributed by Madame De +Stael in the following exquisite words, "The creative talents of +imagination, for some moments at least, satisfies all our desires and +wishes,--it opens to us heavens of wealth; it offers to us crowns of +glory; it raises before our eyes the pure and bright image of an ideal +world: and so mighty sometimes is its power, that by it _we hear in our +hearts the very voice and accents of one whom we have loved_." + +Sympathies might be denominated a moral contagion in mankind: in the brute +creation they merely produce a physical impulse. Reid attributed to the +nervous system an atmosphere of sensibility, influencing all that came +within its range. Ernest Platner maintained that our soul could diffuse +itself in mutual transmission; and in another paper I have shown that life +may be prolonged by sacrificing the health of others, when the genial +warmth of youth is surreptitiously communicated to decrepitude. + +What is then this invisible vital fluid, this electric principle, that the +touch, the breath, the warmth, the very aroma of those we are fond of, +communicates, when trembling, fluttering, breathless, we approach them? +that enables us, even when surrounded with darkness, to recognise by the +feel the hand of her we love? Nay, whence arises the feeling of respect +and veneration that we experience in the presence of the great and the +pre-eminently good? It may be said this is the result of our education; we +have been taught to consider these individuals as belonging to a superior +class of mortals. To a certain extent this may be true; yet there does +exist an impressive contagion when we are brought into the presence, or +placed under the guidance, of such truly privileged persons. Their +courage, their eloquence, their energies, their fanaticism, thrill every +fibre, like the vibration of the chord under the skilful harpist's hand. +Actuated by this mystic influence the coward has boldly rushed into the +battle, the timid dared imminent perils, and the humane been driven to +deeds of blood. Fanatic contagion has produced both martyrs and heroes. +Example stimulates and emulates, despite our reasoning faculties. _Regis +ad exemplar totus componitur orbis._ Imitation is the principle of action, +the nursery of good and great deeds. We either feel degraded by the +ascendancy of others, when we fancy, however vainly, that we may attain +their level; or devote ourselves to their cause and their service, when we +tacitly recognize their mastery. It is more particularly in our devotion +and in our love,--two sentiments more analogous than is generally +believed,--that this _mutuality_ of sympathies prevails; and when Galigai +was asked by his judges by what means he had obtained his influence over +Mary of Medicis, his reply was similar to that of the Moor when describing +his course of love,--the witchcraft he had used to win his Desdemona, when +with a greedy ear devouring his discourse. + +There is no doubt that education, circumstances, our state of health, +predisposes us more or less to the action of these sympathetic powers, for +then our feelings are actually more or less morbid. Affliction, for +instance, predisposes to tender sentiments. There is perhaps much +psychological matter of fact in the old story of the Ephesian widow; and +our immortal Shakspeare felt the truth not only of the contagion of grief, +but of its consoling power when reciprocally felt, although no doubt the +reciprocity has often been assumed to woo and win. + + Grief best is pleased with grief's society. + True sorrow then is feelingly surprised, + When with like feeling it is sympathized. + +Fortunately for our frail race, sympathies are liable to be worn out by +their own exhausting powers. Attrition polishes but indurates at the same +time: thus does social intercourse harden our gentle predispositions. The +mathematical world dispels the illusions of our fervent youth, as chilling +truth banishes fancy's flattering dreams. Experience is to man what rust +is to iron; it corrodes, but at the same time protects the metal to a +certain degree, from the magnet's mighty power. + +Although the nature of sympathies most probably will never be ascertained, +their study is essential both to the moralist and the physician, and both +may be materially aided in their vocations by the temperament of the pupil +or the patient; for, as I shall endeavour to show in a subsequent sketch, +our temperaments generally indicate individual characteristics. It is in +vain that some philosophers may deny the power of innate faculties and +dispositions. The very expression '_human nature_' implies their +existence. To encourage their growth, or to check their developement, +becomes the duty of those who are entrusted with the education of youth, +when yielding to, or counteracting propensities, becomes as necessary as +the care the horticulturist devotes to his plants. By the inclination that +trees have taken, we can generally learn the prevalent winds of a +district. The plastic hand of our early teachers may, in most instances, +obtain a similar result; though in the vegetable kingdom, as well as in +the animal kingdom, there will be constantly found stubborn trunks that +will resist all influence. Were we to admit that our material organism +cannot be counteracted, we should inevitably fall into many lamentable +errors, and many a crime would be extenuated on the plea of fatalism. It +is to be feared that some of our ingenious theorists have too frequently +tortured organism on a Procrustean couch, to suit their favourite +phantasies. We might reply to the visions of these enthusiasts in the +words of Iago, "Our bodies are our gardens, to which our wills are +gardeners--either to have it sterile with idleness, or manured with +industry. The power and corrigible authority of this lies in our wills. If +the balance of our lives had not one scale of reason to poise another of +sensuality, the blood and baseness of our natures would conduct us to the +most preposterous conclusions." + + + + +THE ARCHEUS OF VAN HELMONT. + + +One of the most ingenious fictions of those speculators who have +endeavoured to explain the mysteries of our wonderful organization, was +perhaps the Archeus of Van Helmont, a term derived from [Greek: arche], +_origin_, _principle_, _authority_, _power_. According to the doctrines of +this physician, the archeus was an internal agent that commanded and +regulated all the vital functions. I cannot better describe it than by +partly borrowing the language of the founder of the doctrine. + +The archeus and matter are the natural causes of all. The molecules of +matter, essentially inert, receive from this principle their movements, +their order, their distribution, their conformation: the archeus is the +internal agent that penetrates them, the nucleus of their inspiration; it +is the mould in which they are elaborated, brought into form by this +plastic influence meeting in this material substance the requisite +docility to realize its ideas of perfection. Thus the archeus is an active +and an intelligent power, possessing the faculty of amalgamating and +identifying itself with matter; penetrating its inmost recesses, it +modifies and changes each particle of matter, producing that +incomprehensible series of oscillations of spontaneousness and +equilibrium, that catenation and marvellous automatism, that constitute +the consciousness of our existence, and whence springs the only notion we +can form of its causation. It is the archeus that presides over our sense +of smelling, of tasting, and consequently the selection of our food; it is +_he_ that dissolves it in our digestive organs, liquefies it, and prepares +it for due assimilation; it is he that imparts a conservative action to +the blood, and converts this vital fluid into bone and muscle. Should any +particle of our aliments have escaped from this transforming power, these +substances become foreign bodies, irritating by their presence this +sovereign power, calling forth his energies and his activity, and exciting +his indignation and wrath by their repeated provocations. His just fury +stimulates and accelerates the vital functions; but, instead of wreaking +its vengeance on external matter, it overwhelms all internal obstacles, +whether diffused in the system or concentrated on any given point. It is +this tumultuous confusion that constitutes maladies, which arise from two +evident causes,--an alteration in matter and a reaction of the archeus. + +Of these two morbid elements, the first is susceptible of a thousand +varieties both in nature and extent, and therefore produces as many +modifications in the corrective power. Then does the archeus, threatened +on different points in different manners, regulate his plans and +operations both of defence and of attack, selecting his weapons according +to the nature of his antagonists. In this mutual struggle our archeus +wisely checks the impetuosity of his onset, husbands his forces, and +merely detaches them from the main body according to the circumstances of +the conflict; thus ever keeping a powerful reserve. It is this wisdom of +conduct that ultimately restores tranquillity, and compels the rebellious +molecules to submit to the laws of organization. For what constitutes the +cure of a disease, whether obtained by nature or by art? Nothing more than +the dignified repose of the mighty archeus, when the fire of his wrath has +consumed his foes. Diseases, therefore, are simply the execution of vast +and complex projects that inspire the archeus, and which he carries into +execution as the statuary embodies on the marble the conceptions of his +genius. When the morbid idea is in conformity with his plans, a favourable +result will ensue; if, on the contrary, the archeus labours under a +misconception, if he is thrown by erroneous impressions into disordinate +steps, then may this power, excited without a just motive, or a +determinate and proper object, turn its arms against itself, and destroy +the ties that united it to matter. It is then that art, whose aim it is to +meet the foe with his own weapons, must have recourse to medicine for the +purpose of rousing the torpor of the archeus, reanimate his energies if he +droops, overthrow him if he becomes unruly, and finally compel him to +yield, by a salutary terror; forcibly bringing him back to that judicious +equilibrium in action, when all the functions contribute in harmony and +concert to the general welfare of the system. + +Such were the truly poetical ideas of Van Helmont, who might have written +an epic on the government, revolutions, and battles, in the archean state, +similar to the Holy War of our ingenious Bunyan; for, like the cobler +poet, our theorist divided and subdivided his legions and their officers. +The archeus is merely the sovereign commander, whose head-quarters and +throne were in the stomach; all the other viscera have distinct +commandants, receiving their orders from their chief, who employed the +nerves of his _aides-de-camp_. Nor was it an easy matter to keep all these +captains in a proper state of discipline. Their irregularities occasioned +constant tumults; for the court of the archeus, like all other courts, was +most depraved and capricious in its practices, and intriguing in all its +machinations, and the archeus had great trouble in keeping his +subordinates in a proper state. + +The most rebellious of his generals was the one who commanded the uterine +district. There it was in vain that the articles of war were constantly +read,--that solitary confinement and prison-diet were resorted to. Its +constant mutinies not only demanded the utmost vigilance, but it was no +easy matter to prevent its dangerous influence from contaminating the +other branches of the service; and treasonable correspondences were not +unfrequently discovered with the staff of the brain. This rebellious +province, indeed, excited incessant apprehension, constantly agitated the +entire commonwealth, and, on the plea of national welfare and liberty, it +hoisted at times a standard of defiance, and precipitated the country in +all the miseries of civil war; the more to be dreaded, as it always put +forth the most specious pleas, destroying with words of peace. + +This whimsical doctrine is not unlike the Platonic theories, and resembles +the _naturism_ or [Greek: enormon] of Hippocrates, and the autocracy of +the soul, of Stahl. Van Helmont not only established his archei in +animals, but in plants, and even in our food. The archeus of man he +sometimes called _ens seminale_, _ens spirituale_, _impetum faciens_, +_aura vitalis_. Well aware that the most powerful despot cannot reign +without rival powers, Van Helmont admitted certain _imperia in imperio_: +for instance, there was a troublesome minister in his own cabinet, whom +the archeus frequently could not control,--one _pylorus rector_, or master +of the ceremonies; then he had to apprehend the power of a secret faculty +possessed by the stomach and spleen, which he called a _duumvirate_,--_jus +duumvirat'_. The sensitive and immortal soul was another check on his +sway; while the spirit of life residing in the blood was not easily +managed. All these vexations occasioned frequent attacks of illness in the +monarch, and Van Helmont has described these several affections; for, +although he possessed the power of conceiving and executing plans of +disease, like many physicians, he did not know how to cure himself. + +When we consider that systems similar to this absurd doctrine, if not more +extravagant, have ruled the medical schools for centuries with a despotic +sway, can we marvel that medicine should have incurred the invectives of +scepticism, or the scurrility of wits? In the very ratio of their +absurdity have these flitting systems been maintained with scholastic +fury; their proselytes would have vied in excesses with monastic +persecutors, had they been able to assume a religious mask. It is painful +to observe that unbelief and impious ridicule in theologic matters may be +referred to the same causes as medical scepticism,--the vain and +presumptuous endeavour of man to explain that which the CREATOR has most +probably willed to remain inexplicable. Instead of wisely referring all +that is mysterious to the Almighty Power that knows no limit, man has +sought to explain and comment upon human principles, nay upon human +motives; and when they could no longer attribute evil to GOD, they crossed +the _pons asinorum_ to call in the Devil. In like manner, when they +proudly fancied that they had regulated all the functions of the animal +economy in that harmonious manner that they were modest enough to call +admirable and wondrous, they endeavoured to account for a derangement of +this equilibrious condition, either by the introduction of some evil +spirit, or the unmanageable rebellion of some organ, some principle, some +agency, and for this purpose they gave individuality and specific vitality +to those agents, each of the _dramatis personae_ having a particular part +to perform in bringing on a tragic catastrophe or a happy _denouement_ of +the drama of life. + +Let not the learned doctors of modern schools exclaim, that these were the +errors of former days and of dark ages. They themselves are grovelling and +groping in the dark whenever they pretend to fly from the trammels of +empiricism, and, like our forefathers, account for what is unaccountable. +But, above all, let them be meek and modest (if they can) in passing +judgment upon others, and inscribe upon the doors of their splendid +libraries the saying of the olden sage, "All that we know is our own +ignorance." + + + + +MONSTERS. + + +Philosophers have puzzled their brains to no purpose in endeavouring to +account for the unnatural formation of animals. The ancients, amongst whom +we may name Democritus and Epicurus, attributing all organization to an +atomic aggregation, fancied that matter was endowed with an elective +faculty and certain volition in attaining this organism; and considered +monstruosities as mere experiments on the part of these atoms to produce +some other species or races. This chimera was of a par with the archeus +and his satellites of the preceding article. There is no doubt, however, +that in the myriads of organized creatures various circumstances may tend +to affect most materially the regularity of these developments, in the +same manner as the properties and peculiar qualities of their organs may +depend in a great measure upon similar influences. Conservation and +reproduction are in the ratio of this perfection and imperfection. It is +true, generally speaking, that the healthy and the best organized are less +liable to engender an ill-conformed offspring; yet parents of this +description have been known to produce monsters. Still the _fortes +creantur fortibus_ of Horace has become a proverbial expression; and some +fanciful wanderers in the mazes of imagination framed rules for their +_megalanthropogenesy_, or the art of creating illustrious men and +distinguished women by uniting the learned and the witty. + +Generation is a wondrous mystery. Many casual circumstances may check the +mechanism of its action, (if I may be allowed the expression,) and affect +its results. Any sudden physical or moral impression acting violently +might produce this result; although, despite the theories and experiments +of philosophers, it has not been proved that conception depends in the +slightest degree upon the passions, being an act of nature totally +independent of the control of mental emotions or bodily sufferings. This +fact is clearly proved in cases of brutal violence. + +The ideas entertained by several naturalists, that organized beings were +cast in a certain mould, were not altogether visionary, or unfounded in +observation. The great resemblance between children, and their hereditary +mal-conformation and defectuosities in whole families, would seem to a +certain degree to warrant this conclusion; but it is more probable that +imagination may have some influence in this irregularity, although at the +time we may be unconscious of the relative action of moral agency on +physical functions. The supporters of the existence of this plastic mould +in which organized matter is cast, would then maintain that the mind +having once influenced the conformation of the matrix, it would ever after +preserve this deviation from nature's general laws. + +It is evident that different species of animals and vegetables have +disappeared on the face of the earth, some within the memory of man. We +neither know how these species have ceased to exist, nor whether all that +possibly can be created has hitherto been brought into being; neither can +we form any idea regarding the perpetuity of the races that surround us. +Perpetuity and eternity (as far as regards this world) are conventional +terms: races were supposed to be perpetuated by the successive evolutions +of germs, as I have observed in a former article. To a certain extent this +doctrine is correct, and is rendered evident in the evolutions of plants +arising from their seed. Preternatural conditions are merely +irregularities in this germination. The doctrine, that at each creation a +true generation and gradual formation of a new conception from the +formless genital matter takes place, does not appear to me reconcileable +with sound physiology, nor supported by observation; for, were this the +case, it is more than probable that preternatural formations would be more +frequent. It was upon this doctrine that the learned Blumenbach founded +his _nisus formativus_, an expression that he thus explains: "The word +_nisus_ I have adopted chiefly to express an energy truly vital, and +therefore to distinguish it as clearly as possible from powers merely +mechanical, by which some physiologists formerly endeavoured to explain +generation. The point upon which the whole of this doctrine respecting the +_nisus formativus_ turns, and which is alone sufficient to distinguish it +from the _vis plastica_ of the ancients, or the _vis essentialis_ of +Wolff, and similar hypotheses, is _the union and intimate co-exertion of +two distinct principles in the evolution of the nature of organized +bodies_,--_of the_ PHYSICO-MECHANICAL _with the purely_ +TELEOLOGICAL;--principles which have hitherto been adopted, but +separately, by physiologists in framing theories of generation." + +The ingenuity of this hypothesis must be admitted, but it does not +militate against the pre-existence of germs. Germs are visible in the ovum +before fecundation; in these germs the very primordia of future +organization can be distinguished. It is by no means necessary to allow +these germs an exciting power, or a formative power, as has been objected: +they are more or less profuse, and under the influence, as I have already +said, of accidental circumstances. It has been maintained that monsters +are more common in domesticated animals than in wild ones. This is by no +means evident, since we have little opportunity of ascertaining the case +in forests and in wildernesses; but, admitting the fact, it only tends to +corroborate my opinion regarding the influence of accidental causes in +physical development, since domestication must expose animals to many +emotions unknown in their natural condition. It has been said that +monsters are especially observed among sows. There perhaps is no animal +under the subjection of man, excepting, perhaps, the unfortunate donkey, +more exposed to physical injuries during gestation; and as the Portuguese +maintain that a _cajado_ (a stick) springs from the earth whenever an ass +is born, so our bumkins and malicious urchins fancy that every one owes a +kick to a gravid sow. Howbeit, I doubt much whether the swinish multitude +are more subject to bear monstruosities than other animals; and +preternatural conformations are, I believe, as frequent in lambs, and +calves, and chickens; and double-headed and double-legged specimens of +these animals are more frequently exhibited than monstrous pigs. + +Monstruosities are of two kinds, and exhibit either an excess of parts or +a defect. Thus, some children are born with more limbs than usual, whilst +others are deprived of their natural proportions. It is not unlikely that +in the former case twins were being developed; whereas, in the other, the +proper nourishment of the parts that are either wanting or stunted in +their growth had somehow or other been impeded in its assimilation. This +opinion seems to be warranted by the facts observed in the artificial +incubation of eggs, the different parts of the chick being more or less +perfect where the heat had been more or less steadily applied; the produce +of those eggs that had enjoyed more warmth being invariably the stronger. +The same remark applies to plants. Eggs and seeds are in most respects +ruled by similar laws in the phenomena of their germination: the arms and +legs grow from the animal foetus, as the branches originate from the +trunk of the tree. These ramifications are frequently as symmetrical as +human limbs. When there are preternatural excesses in formation, it is +probable that twins were intended: thus we see foetuses with double +heads, or with two bodies. The same irregularity is observed in double and +triple cherries, and other fruits. It is probable that this union took +place when these bodies were in a soft state, and the vessels inosculated +in their intricate ramifications with greater facility, until further +development had consolidated the junction. + +If a proof were wanting that monstruosities do not arise in the original +organization of the embryo, but from subsequent accidents during +gestation, it might be sought in those preternatural appearances that +arise from frights or longings, and constitute what are called _naevi +materni_. Thus are infants born bearing the marks of some fruit the mother +had desired, or some animal that had terrified her. This phenomenon +plainly shows that there does exist a wonderful sympathy between external +objects and the uterine system; yet this sympathy is not as surprising as +that which is subsequently observed between these marks and the fruit they +represent. It is a well-authenticated fact that they will assume a tinge +of maturity when the fruit is ripening, and become gradually more pale as +it is going out of season. The same observation has been made in regard to +animal marks; for instance, these marks have displayed a deeper colour +when the mouse or the rat that had occasioned them was mentioned. I know a +lady who, during her pregnancy, was struck with the unpleasant view of +leeches applied to a relative's foot. Her child was born with the mark of +a leech coiled up in the act of suction on the identical spot. Mr. Bennett +has published a remarkable instance of this uterine sympathy. A woman gave +birth to a child with a large cluster of globular tumours growing from the +tongue, and preventing the closure of the mouth, in colour, shape, and +size exactly resembling our common grapes, and with a red excrescence from +the chest, as exactly resembling in figure and appearance a turkey's +wattles. On being questioned before the child was shown her, she answered +that, while pregnant, she had seen some grapes, longed intensely for them, +and constantly thought of them; and that she was also once attacked and +much alarmed by a turkey-cock. + +Various writers have positively denied these facts. Gerard tells us that +he had known three pregnant women whose minds had been constantly occupied +with the unpleasant recollections of a cripple, of a dancing-dog +fantastically dressed, and a basket of beautiful peaches; yet their +offspring bore no marks of these objects. This is no argument. No rational +person could imagine for a single moment that every impression thus +received is to be transmitted. Buffon, who also doubts this influence, +thus expresses himself: "We must not expect that we shall be able to +convince women that the marks their children may bear have no analogy with +ungratified longings. I have frequently asked them, before the birth of +their infants, what had been their wishes, and consequently what would be +the marks that they might expect? By this question I frequently gave +unintentional offence." + +Now, with all due respect to this celebrated naturalist, this argument is +by no means conclusive. We perfectly well know that pregnant women are +frequently alarmed without such consequences, and the most fantastic +phantasies may cross their idle brains, without any such result. It has +been observed on this subject, "that when a circumstance may proceed from +many causes, we do not universally reject any one because it is frequently +alleged without reason." We have too many well-authenticated cases before +us to doubt this strange effect of maternal impressions, so clearly +observed and recorded in Holy Writ in the following passage of Genesis: +"And Jacob took him rods of Green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut +tree, and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which +was in the rods. And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks +in the gutters in the watering-troughs, when the flocks came to drink, +that they should conceive when they came to drink. And the flocks +conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ring-straked, +speckled, and spotted." + +The sympathy that evidently exists between bodies separated from each +other, but previously connected, has given rise to many absurd stories. It +is told of Taliocotius, that having made a nose for a patient, cut out of +a pig, the poor man's snout fell off the moment the hog was slaughtered. A +similar belief prevails among horticulturists, who assert that the graft +perishes when the parent tree decays. A very singular phenomenon is +observed in wine countries, where the wine in wood enters into a state of +slight effervescence, and even efflorescence, when the vines begin to +throw out their blossoms. + +It therefore appears to me more than probable that monstruosities are by +no means original mal-conformations, but arise, during gestation, from +physical or moral influences that affect the mother, however unconscious +she may be of their action. We have frequent instances of violence +occasioning preternatural developements. Mr. Giron Buzareingues mentions +that a violent blow was given to a gravid bitch, who produced eight pups, +all of which excepting one, had the hind-legs wanting, malconformed, or +weak. + +A further disquisition would lead me beyond the limits of a sketch. I +shall therefore relate some curious cases of monstruosities, that would +seem to set at nought our ideas regarding the _indispensability_ of +certain organs to the functions of life. + +Various instances are recorded of the union of two or more foetuses. We +have lately seen the Siamese twins, and such a preternatural formation is +by no means uncommon. In the Journal de Verdun, 1709, a case is related of +two twin female children who were united at the loins, with only one +intestinal canal. They were seven years old, could walk about, embrace +each other in the fondest manner, and both were proficient in several +languages. Buffon gives the history of two Hungarian girls, who were also +joined together in the lumbar region. Helena, who was the first-born, +became tall and straight; Judith, her sister, was of a diminutive size, +and slightly arched. At six years of age she was attacked with hemiplegia, +and never recovered perfect health. Helena was sprightly and intelligent. +With the exception of the smallpox and measles, under which they laboured +at the same time, their ailments were always distinct. They lived until +the age of twenty-two, when Judith was attacked with a fever, that shortly +terminated her existence. The horror expressed by Helena in beholding her +dead companion, with whom she had been identified in sisterly love for so +many years, cannot be described; but her agonies were of short duration, +for in three minutes she also had ceased to live. On their _post mortem_ +examination each was found to have possessed distinct viscera. The aorta +and vena cava were united above the origin of the iliac arteries, so that +no severing operation could have been performed without destroying them +both. + +Duverney relates the case of twins united at the lower part of the +abdomen. They only lived six days; the strongest of the two died first, +and was followed by his companion three hours after. Haller records +upwards of thirty cases of a similar nature; and various skeletons of +this description are to be seen in our museums. Munster saw two girls +united by the forehead. They had then attained their tenth year, when one +of them died. It therefore became indispensable to separate them, but the +unfortunate creature did not survive the operation. Daubenton describes +two children united at the back of the head. + +Such miserable junctions naturally suggested the idea of effecting a +separation by surgical means; but I believe this operation was only once +performed with a successful result. Two little girls were united from the +xiphoid cartilage to the umbilicus. The uniting substance was an inch in +thickness, six lines in breadth, and five inches in circumference. In the +centre of the junction was the umbilical ring common to both. The +umbilical vessels were separated and tied; the ligature fell at the +expiration of nine days; and then Zwingler, the operator, proceeded to +divide the remaining bonds. + +Various monsters have been seen with four arms and three legs, or four +legs and two or three arms. The history of the double-headed infant of +Oxford is curious. This creature had two heads diametrically opposite, +four arms, one body and two lower extremities. These heads were doubly +baptized; one by the name of Martha, and the other Mary. The features were +different; Mary's was smiling, Martha's dejected. The latter died two days +after her birth, and Mary expired a quarter of an hour after. + +A curious monster of a similar description is recorded to have lived at +the court of James IV. of Scotland. It had been taught several languages, +and music. One head was intelligent, the other remarkably stupid. This +creature lived twenty-eight years, when one of the individuals died. The +other survived several days, but gradually drooped as the body of his late +companion was decomposing. In olden writers we have many curious cases. +How far they may be entitled to credit I cannot say; although we have no +reason to deny the fact, when we daily witness the most singular +malconformations. Liceti relates the case of a child with two legs, but +seven heads and seven arms. Bartholinus mentions one with three heads, +each of which uttered the most horrible cries, and then expired. + +While these unfortunates were visited with several heads, instances have +been known of heads that had attained a most enormous volume. In Tunis, +there was a Moor of thirty years of age, whose head was so large, that +crowds followed him in the streets; and his mouth was of such a capacity, +that he could devour a large melon as easily as an apple. This man was an +idiot. At Lucca, Benvenuti saw a lad, otherwise well-proportioned, whose +head at the age of seven began to increase so rapidly, that when he was +twenty-seven it measured thirty-seven inches eight lines in circumference, +and his face was fifteen inches long. + +Singular monstruosities have been seen, where heads and bodies seemed +actually to be growing from or hanging to individuals. Winslow knew an +Italian child, of eight years of age, who carried a little head under the +third left rib, and peeping out as if the body of the one had been +concealed in that of the other. Both heads had been christened; the one +James, the other Matthew. When the ear of little Matthew was pinched, his +host James forthwith began to roar. The Bengal child, whose case is +related by Valentin and Horne, is equally singular. Here one head was +placed above the other, the superior one nearly as well conformed as the +lower; both adhered intimately. The upper face assumed somewhat of an +oblique direction. Each head had its distinct brain: sometimes one head +was fast asleep while his neighbour was wide awake, and one head would cry +most piteously if you pulled the hair of the other; but, what was still +more singular, when the one was fed, its companion expressed its +gratification, and water flowed from its mouth. This monster lived four +years, and probably would have lived much longer, but for the bite of a +venomous reptile. + +In a former article I alluded to encephalous and anencephalous cases, +where there were either no heads or heads without brains. Of the first +variety Beclard relates the following: A woman at Angers was delivered of +twins, one of which not only was without a head, but only showed the +inferior part of the body; without arms, a small stump-like excrescence +growing from the upper part of the chest; the feet were turned inwards, +and without toes. The creature was of the male sex. The body presented one +cavity without any diaphragm; nor could any trace of liver, spleen, +oesophagus, or stomach be detected: the intestinal tube commenced at the +upper part of the body, but was impervious; the pancreas and kidneys were +as usual; the umbilical vein arose from the cava, and the umbilical +arteries from the hypogastric. There were ten ribs on each side, and the +spinal marrow threw out its regular nerves. + +Brunel has recorded the case of a male infant born without brains. The +frontal bone was thrown back, and flattened on the sphenoid in such a +manner that the eyes appeared above his head. The parietal and the +squamous portion of the temporal were wanting, although the organ of +hearing was well conformed. Not a vestige of brain could be discovered; +yet the carotid and vertebral arteries crossed the basis of the cranium. +The spinal marrow arose from the fourth cervical vertebra. The organs of +sight were perfect. Saviard describes an infant in which all the bones of +the cranium were wanting, and, instead of a brain, the skin merely covered +a cyst, containing a red pulpy substance resembling brain, whence arose +several nerves. + +It is, no doubt, to these malconformations that we are to attribute the +various stories of children with heads of monkeys, goats, pigs, &c., or of +that child whose face represented the devil, and who was described as +"Cacodaemonis picturae quam humanae figurae similius," &c. The idle tales of +Cyclopes are also to be sought in such accidental preternatural +appearances, and several instances are recorded of children born with a +single eye in the forehead. It would be useless to dwell longer on this +painful subject. Those who wish for more information may gratify their +curiosity by consulting the works of Haller, Soemmering, and other +writers, who have treated this matter _ex professo_. + +In conclusion, it appears to me that monstruosities are purely accidental, +subject to no laws of nature, but deviations from them. We leave to +theologasters the question of their being visitations of divine wrath. The +only theories that can admit of discussion are the following: 1st, The +imagination of the mother; 2nd, Accidental causes; and 3rd, An original +monstrous germ. Maternal marks arising from longings and terror, as I have +already observed, seemed to warrant the first conclusion; yet it is not +tenable. What has imagination to do with the vegetable kingdom, which also +presents monstrous conformations? Are we to attribute the same power of +imagination to the brute creation? and, although we may fully admit the +sympathy that exists between the uterine system and external objects, yet +we cannot refer headless and double and triple embryos to this influence. +The last hypothesis is also fraught with objections. We have every reason +to believe that all germs or seed are perfect in themselves. Were there +monstrous germs, there would ensue monstrous races. That germs may be +accidentally vitiated and impaired there can be no doubt; but such an +adventitious occurrence does not constitute an original monstruosity. +Duverney and Winslow maintained that, in the case of a double monster, the +monstruosity arose in the primitive germ. Lemery and other physiologists, +on the contrary, insisted that double foetuses arise, as I have already +stated, from a junction or fusion between two separate bodies, or, in +short, the union of twins or triple conceptions, &c. Anatomical +investigations confirmed this opinion, since in double-headed foetuses +two distinct sets of organs are generally found. + +This subject has occupied the most ingenious philosophers for centuries; +and the result of their experiments and debates seems to warrant the +probability of these melancholy deviations from nature, foolishly +denominated _lusi naturae_, being purely accidental. The experiments of +Jacobi seem to confirm this opinion, since he was able to produce +preternatural fecundation in the eggs of fishes. + +This investigation may appear idle; yet, in a physiological point of view, +it is fraught with interest as regarding the generation of animals and +plants. Its study affords a lively illustration of those laws of +attraction and repulsion that regulate the universe, and which seem to +admit that every particle of matter should be endowed with a specific +vitality, a specific individuality. This attraction is daily seen in the +fecundation of the spawn of fish. Myriads of these eggs are accumulated in +ponds and rivers; yet in this mass the fecundating principle solely +selects and impregnates those that naturally claim its vivifying powers. +Wonderful harmony, that man alone endeavours to destroy!--harmony so +perfect, that Aristoxenus and Alcmaeon maintained that it was an emanation +of the diapason of celestial music between the planets, our globe, and our +five senses, forming a diatonic series of seven tones; while Hippocrates +justly denominated these organic laws the CONFLUXUS UNUS, CONSPIRATIO +UNICA, CONSENTIENTIA OMNIA. + + + + +LONGEVITY. + + +The greater the complexity of a piece of machinery, and the more labour it +is called upon to perform, the more rapid will be its wear and tear. This +applies to human life as well as to mechanism. The derangement of its +component parts--its springs and wheels, will also be in the ratio of +their complication. Thus do we find that the brute creation are less +subject to those affections that abridge their days than mankind. Their +life is natural, except when under the sway of domestication: ours is +artificial; and high civilization tends to render it still more unnatural +than it would most probably have been in a simple and patriarchal +existence. Endowed with more acuteness of sensibility than animals, we are +rendered more susceptible of the extremes of pleasure and of pain; and our +voluptuous enjoyments are perhaps more prejudicial than our sufferings. +Had not the Creator wisely granted us the faculty of reasoning, we should +have been the most wretched of all organized beings. + +The tenure of life depends upon the sum of vitality originally deposited, +and the extent of our drafts upon this capital, which we too frequently +exhaust by untimely expenses. Experience has proved that under ordinary +circumstances, man can live six or seven times longer than the years +required to attain puberty. This epoch is placed at our fourteenth year. +This calculation would therefore yield from 84 to 98 years of age. Our own +imprudences, and the disorders resulting from them, are more hostile in +abridging this period than nature, all-wise and all-bountiful. Indeed, +when we reflect on all the excesses to which we expose our frail and +complicated being, as if we were resolved to try by every possible +experiment how far it possesses the power of resisting destructive agents, +we can only marvel in beholding so many instances of longevity. In this +wasteful existence how many valuable hours do we not lose? how many real +enjoyments have we not deprived ourselves of? When compared to the +immensity of time, life is but an idle span. Let us deduct even from old +age the years of infancy, the years of caducity, and the years of +sleep,--alas! what remaineth of our many and our energetic days? +Maupertuis calculated that in an ordinary life man could scarcely enjoy +more than three years of happiness, mixed up with sixty or eighty years of +misery or insipidity; and yet how miserable are we at the thought of +quitting this short-leased tenement, though every wretchedness renders our +abode a constant scene of uneasiness. It has been computed that out of +about nine hundred millions of human beings that are scattered over the +globe, it is more than probable that we could not find nine thousand +individuals blessed with happiness, even taking happiness in its most +limited sense--content. Were it not for the terrors of futurity, it is +more than probable that our existence would lose much of its value. +Socrates termed philosophy "the preparation for death;" the same may be +said of our existence. + +Happily for man, life is a dream, all is illusion; sufferings alone are +positive; Pandora's box is its best illustration. Could we have slept away +our existence in constant visions, we should have lived as long as in a +waking state. When we contemplate the flocks of human beings scattered +like cattle on the face of the universe, with scarcely more intellect than +the beasts of the same field, we might ask for what were they created? +doomed to all the horrors of sickness or of war, victims of their own +follies or the ambitious projects of others! As far as regards this life, +it is worse than idle to seek a solution of the problem. In these +inquiries we too often seek to guess that which we can never know, and to +know that which we can never guess! We all complain and murmur like the +woodman in the fable, yet are loath to accept the relief we loudly call +for. + +The longevity of the first races, and the patriarchs, are records foreign +to the investigations of natural history; we must seek for more recent +examples. Haller had collected the cases of many centenaries, amounting to +sixty-two who had reached from 100 to 120; twenty-nine from 120 to 130; +and fifteen from 130 to 140. Few instances are authenticated beyond this +period: yet we find one Eccleston, who lived 143 years; John Effingham, +who attained his 144th; a Norwegian, who counted a century and a half; and +our Thomas Parr would most probably have passed his 152nd year but for an +excess. Henry Jenkins lived to 169; and we have on record the case of a +Negress, aged 175. The Hungarian family of John Rovin were remarkable for +their longevity: the father lived to 172, the wife to 164; they had been +married 142 years, and their youngest child was 115; and such was the +influence of habit and filial affection, that this _child_ was treated +with all the severity of paternal rigidity, and did not dare to act +without his _papa's_ and _mamma's_ permission. + +By the calculations of Sussmilch, out of one thousand individuals, only +one attained 97; and not more than one lived to the age of 100, out of one +hundred and fourteen thousand. In the census of Italy, taken under +Vespasian, there were found fifty-four of 100, fifty-seven of 110, two of +125, four of 130, and three of 140. In China, under Kien Long, in 1784, +there were only four individuals who had attained their 100th year. +According to Larrey, there were at Cairo thirty-five persons who had +exceeded their century. In Russia, in 1814, out of eight hundred and +ninety-one thousand six hundred and fifty deaths, were three thousand five +hundred and thirty-one from 100 to 132. In a register of deaths in Paris, +taken in 1817, there were found in twenty-one thousand three hundred and +ninety-two, nine from 95 to 100, and the general proportion of centenaries +in that city is one to three thousand. + +What are the circumstances most favourable to longevity? This question is +not easily answered; for we find in instances of advanced age that some +individuals have led a most regular and abstemious life, while others have +indulged in various excesses. These observations, however, are by no means +calculated to form a conclusive opinion, as the constitutional vigour and +peculiar idiosyncrasies of individuals differ widely. It is probable that +a regular mode of living is the most likely to prolong our years, whatever +may be that regularity in a comparative point of view. A sober man, who +commits occasional excesses, is more likely to suffer than another man who +gets drunk every night, provided that these excesses do not differ in +regard to the quantity or quality of stimulus. In these melancholy +instances the excitement is constant, and the indirect debility which it +may produce has scarcely time to break down the system ere it is again +wound up to its usual pitch, to use the vulgar expression, "by a hair of +the same hound." The principal attribute of life that renovates for a +while its moral and its physical exhaustion is _excitability_, and a +constant _excitement_ is therefore indispensable, to serve as fuel to the +consuming fire. This was to a certain degree the basis on which Brown +founded his doctrine. He traced a scale of life like that of a +thermometer,--health in the centre, death at each extremity: one scale +ascending from health was graduated according to stimulating agency, the +other to debilitating causes; and therefore the system was to be +stimulated or lowered according to this gradation. It would be foreign to +this work to point out the absurdity of this theory, although we must +admit its ingenuity, and to a certain extent its correctness. The chief +practical objection to it was the diversity of constitutions and +idiosyncrasies, and the different action of stimulating or depressing +agents in health and in disease; the effects of alimentary and medicinal +substances being totally different in these several conditions. + +According to habit, a certain sum of stimulus is requisite to keep up the +necessary excitement; and this sum cannot be immediately and suddenly +withdrawn in weak subjects without some risk; in health, perhaps, the +experiment may be safely made at all times, and under any circumstances, +although it might be wiser to operate the change by degrees; and it must +moreover be recollected, that an habitual drunkard is in a morbid +condition, and must be treated accordingly. + +Six causes chiefly exert their influence upon life: + +1. Climate and soil. + +2. Difference of races. + +3. Complexion and stature. + +4. Period of development during gestation, and of subsequent growth. + +5. Mode of living. + +6. Moral emotions, occupations. + +Climates that are moderately cold are more favourable to long life. This +observation equally applies to the vegetable kingdom; and trees that have +scarcely attained their full growth in northern regions are drooping in +the south. There also we find beasts and birds resisting the inclemency of +the weather by the thickness of their coats and plumage, or a layer of +grease; while many animals burrow in the earth to seek a state of torpor +and insensibility, until restored to active life by a more genial +temperature. Dryness of soil is another source of health and life; and the +hardy mountaineer's existence is seldom abridged by the diseases that +visit the inhabitants of damp and swampy regions. Steril plains are more +salubrious than regions covered with a rank and exuberant vegetation, or +highly cultivated grounds, from many obvious reasons. The humid earth is +not turned up, and decayed vegetable substances are not acted upon in a +deleterious manner by the solar heat. When we consider the various causes +of disease that must abound in crowded and corrupt cities, we might +imagine that mortality would be much greater than in the country; yet +observation has not proved this difference to be as material as one might +expect, at least as regards disease, the sad effects of poverty and +starvation not being taken into account. Various reasons may be assigned +for this apparent anomaly. In cities a more regular state of excitement +prevails, and man's constant occupations scarcely give him time to attend +to slight ailments, that, under other circumstances, might be aggravated. +Moreover, intermittent fevers and visceral affections are more frequent in +the country; and cottagers are exposed to more constant damp and severer +revolutions in the atmospheric constitution than citizens. The mortality +amongst men is greater in cities than in women; the latter do not enjoy so +long a life in the country. March and April have been found the most fatal +months. They are periods of atmospheric transition from cold to a higher +temperature, and must therefore prove trying to the weak and the aged. The +end of autumn is also deemed a sickly period; and the equinoxes have ever +been considered critical, the solstices much less injurious. In Great +Britain and the north-westerly regions of Europe, northerly and easterly +winds are more prevalent in March, April, and May, owing, it is supposed, +to the currents established to replace the warmer air, as it rises from +the surface of the Atlantic and more southerly countries. These winds are +generally dry and cold, followed by fogs, and give rise to catarrhs, +bronchial and pulmonary affections. It is calculated that in our climes +pulmonary affections carry off one-fifth of the population, or 191 in +1000. + +In regard to the variety of races, it has been observed that those people +who sooner attain pubescence are the shortest-lived. Precocious excitement +must bring on premature old age. Negroes seldom attain an advanced period +of life; and the progress of years is more rapidly descried in their +features and their form than in Europeans who have migrated to their +clime. The negroes of Congo, Mozambique, and Zanguebar, seldom reach their +fiftieth year. In northern latitudes longevity is more frequent: this is +observed in Sweden, Russia, Poland, Norway. Some writers have looked upon +the established religion of a country as influencing the duration of life; +and Toaldo asserted that Christians are shorter-lived than Jews. To this +observation it may be remarked, that Jews are in general a very sober, +industrious, and active race, circumstances that must materially tend to +prolong their days. Moreover, by their legislation they are very careful +in the choice of the meat they consume. In Catholic countries fasting may +be taken into calculation, not from the effects of abstemiousness, which +would be more favourable to health than injurious, but the sudden return +to feasting and gormandizing, by way of revenge, when the fast is over. +Shrove Tuesday and Easter Sunday are noted in red letters in the +gastronomic almanac; and the suppers that follow the midnight masses of +Christmas generally require the apothecary's aid on the following +morning.[46] + +In regard to conformation, very tall and spare subjects are seldom +long-lived; and the same observation applies to the stunted and +diminutive. A well-set body, with a broad and deep chest, a neck not +over-long, with well-formed and firm muscles, generally hold forth a fair +prospect of old age. + +Children born before the regular period of gestation, those who have been +weaned too early, or given to nurses whose milk was not of a proper +quality, are seldom strong. Too rapid a growth will also shorten the space +of existence. + +Our avocations and pursuits materially affect health and the consequent +duration of life; and the nature of the excitement man is submitted to +produces a remarkable effect. It has been calculated in France that one +hundred and fifty-two academicians, whose aggregate years were ten +thousand five hundred and eleven, averaged sixty-nine years and two +months. The following calculation of Madden will further illustrate this +curious subject. + + AGES OF GREAT MEN. + + _Natural Philosophers._ + + Bacon 78 + Buffon 81 + Copernicus 70 + Cuvier 64 + Davy 51 + Kepler 60 + Laplace 77 + Leibnitz 70 + Newton 84 + Whiston 95 + Euler 76 + Franklin 85 + Galileo 78 + Halley 86 + Herschel 84 + Lalande 75 + Lewenhoeck 91 + Linnaeus 72 + Tycho Brahe 75 + Wollaston 62 + + _Poets._ + + Ariosto 59 + Byron 37 + Collins 56 + Cowper 69 + Dryden 70 + Gray 57 + Milton 66 + Pope 56 + Spenser 46 + Thomson 48 + Burns 38 + Camoens 55 + Cowley 49 + Dante 56 + Goldsmith 44 + Metastasio 84 + Petrarch 68 + Shenstone 50 + Tasso 52 + Young 84 + + _Moral Philosophers._ + + Bacon 65 + Berkeley 79 + Condillac 65 + Diderot 71 + Fitche 52 + Helvetius 57 + Hume 65 + Kaimes 86 + Malebranche 77 + Stewart 75 + Bayle 59 + Condorcet 51 + Descartes 54 + Ferguson 92 + Hartley 52 + Hobbes 91 + Kant 80 + Locke 72 + Reid 86 + St. Lambert 88 + + _Dramatists._ + + Alfieri 55 + Goethe 82 + Marlow 32 + Racine 60 + Shakspeare 52 + Congreve 59 + Crebillon 89 + Farquhar 30 + B. Jonson 63 + Moliere 53 + Corneille 78 + Massinger 55 + Otway 34 + Schiller 46 + Voltaire 84 + Colman 61 + Cumberland 80 + Goldoni 85 + De Vega 73 + Murphy 78 + + _Authors on Law and Jurisprudence._ + + Bentham 85 + Butler 83 + Erskine 73 + Gifford 48 + Hale 68 + Littleton 75 + Montesquieu 66 + Romilly 61 + Tenterden 78 + Vatel 53 + Blackstone 57 + Coke 85 + Filangieri 36 + Grotius 63 + Holt 68 + Mansfield 88 + Redesdale 82 + Rolle 68 + Thurlow 74 + Wilmot 83 + + _Miscellaneous and Novel Writers._ + + Cervantes 70 + Scott 62 + Smollett 51 + Defoe 70 + Richardson 72 + Johnson 75 + Warton 78 + Tickell 54 + Bathurst 84 + Hawkesworth 59 + Le Sage 80 + Fielding 47 + Rabelais 70 + Ratcliffe 60 + Sterne 56 + Addison 48 + Steele 59 + Montaigne 60 + Thornton 44 + Hazlitt 58 + + _Authors on Revealed Religion._ + + Baxter 76 + J. Butler 60 + Calvin 56 + Doddridge 54 + J. Knox 67 + Luther 63 + Melancthon 64 + Porteus 77 + Sherlock 67 + Whitefield 56 + Bellarmine 84 + Bossuet 77 + Chillingworth 43 + G. Fox 67 + Lowth 77 + Massillon 79 + Paley 63 + Priestley 71 + Wesley 88 + Wycliffe 61 + + _Authors on Natural Religion._ + + Annet 55 + Cardan 75 + Sir W. Drummond 68 + N. Freret 61 + Lord Herbert 68 + St. Pierre 77 + Tindal 75 + Vannini 34 + Bolingbroke 79 + Chubb 65 + Dupuis 67 + Gibbon 58 + Spinosa 45 + Shaftesbury 42 + Toland 53 + Volney 66 + + _Medical Authors._ + + J. Brown 54 + Cullen 78 + Fordyce 67 + Gall 71 + Harvey 81 + J. Hoffman 83 + W. Hunter 66 + M. Good 64 + Pinel 84 + Tissot 70 + Corvisart 66 + Darwin 72 + Fothergill 69 + J. Gregory 48 + Heberden 92 + Hunter 65 + Jenner 75 + Paracelsus 43 + Sydenham 66 + T. Willis 54 + + _Philologists._ + + Bentley 81 + Casaubon 55 + Hartzheim 70 + Heyne 84 + Parr 80 + Pighius 84 + Raphelengius 59 + J. J. Scaliger 69 + H. Stephens 71 + Vossius 73 + Burton 64 + Cheke 44 + J. Harman 77 + Lipsius 60 + Pauw 61 + Porson 50 + Salmatius 66 + Sigonius 60 + Sylburgius 51 + Wolfius 64 + + _Artists._ + + Bandinelle 72 + Canova 65 + Flaxman 71 + Giotto 60 + San Sovino 91 + A. Caracci 49 + David 76 + Raphael 37 + Salvator Rosa 58 + P. Veronese 56 + Bernini 82 + Donatello 83 + Ghiberti 64 + M. Angelo 96 + Verocchico 56 + Claude 82 + Guido 67 + Reynolds 69 + Titian 96 + West 82 + + _Musical Composers._ + + Arne 68 + Beethoven 57 + Bull 41 + Corelli 60 + Greby 72 + Haydn 77 + Kerser 62 + Mosart 36 + Piccini 71 + Scarlatti 78 + Bach 66 + Burney 88 + Cimarosa 41 + Gluck 75 + Handel 75 + Kalkbrenner 51 + Martini 78 + Paesiello 75 + Porpore 78 + Weber 40 + +To this list we may add the following instances of longevity from the late +publication of Mr. Farren: + + Adling 93 + Alcock 91 + Bernabel 89 + Celdara 90 + Canpra 84 + Casipini 90 + Cervetti 101 + Child 90 + Creighton 97 + Eichole 80 + Genimani 96 + Gibbons 93 + Hasse 90 + Hempel 86 + Hesse 91 + Leveridge 90 + Lopez 103 + Pittoni 90 + Reike 100 + Sala 99 + Schell 87 + Schramm 82 + Telleman 86 + F. Turner 99 + W. Turner 88 + Wagennell 98 + +In regard to the mortality of musicians, we give with much pleasure the +following extract from the same work: + +"The ages of 468 persons at death, were all that could be obtained from a +biography of musicians; of these, 109 born since the year 1740 are +excluded, because some of their cotemporaries were yet living at the date +of such biography, also 41 more are excluded as having died under 50 years +of age. There remain then, the ages at death of 318 persons on which the +present observation is made. + +"From the ages of 50 years to the end of life, the _apparent_ rate of +mortality among musicians, appears very nearly with the lowest known rate, +or that which prevails in villages, and it is scarcely probable that such +rate should so agree without being the true one. For a musician to belong +to the last class of human life, is very credible, when it is considered +that eminence can only be attained by close mental devotion to an exalted +science, and unremitting application to its practical acquirement, which +abstraction would interrupt and intemperance destroy. + +"The mean age of musicians, born _since_ 1690, is 67-3/4 years, or two +years greater than those born before 1690, from which it might be +conveniently concluded, that the moderns were longer lived than the +ancients. The case is precisely the reverse, at least for ages above 50, +to which alone the materials are applicable. The expectation of life at +the age of 60 of the ancients were nearly 15 years, of the modern +musicians 13-1/2. The materials (limited as they are) from which these +conclusions are drawn, support the doctrine, that the mortality of the +moderns is less at middle, but greater at advanced age, than the mortality +of the ancients." + +Dr. Caspar, of Berlin, in his late very interesting work on the duration +of human life, has given the following conclusions: + + Medium longevity. + Clergymen 65 + Merchants 62 + Clerks 61 + Farmers 61 + Military men 59 + Lawyers 58 + Artists 57 + Medical men 56 + +The results of the other classes, with respect to their united ages, and +the average of each, are-- + + Average. + Moral philosophers united ages 1417 70 + Sculptors and painters 1412 70 + Authors on law and jurisprudence 1394 69 + Medical authors united ages 1368 68 + Authors on revealed religion 1350 67 + Philologists 1323 66 + Musical composers 1284 64 + Novelists and miscellaneous authors 1257 62-1/2 + Dramatists 1249 62 + Authors on natural religion 1245 62 + Poets 1144 57 + +This calculation was made most probably in Prussia. + +Dr. Caspar's view of longevity are not only highly interesting but, if +correct, may lead to many important conclusions. He maintains that-- + +1. The female sex enjoys, at every period or epoch of life, except at +puberty, at which epoch the mortality is greater among young females--a +greater longevity than the male sex. + +2. Pregnancy and labour occasion, indeed, a considerable loss of life, but +this loss disappears or is lost in the general mass. + +3. The so-called climacteric periods of life do not seem to have any +influence on the longevity of either sex. + +4. The medium duration of life at this present time (1835), is in Russia, +about 21 years; in Prussia, 29; in Switzerland, 34; in France, 35; in +Belgium, 36; and in England, 38 years. + +5. The medium duration of life has, in recent times, increased very +greatly in most cities of Europe. + +6. In reference to the influence of professional occupations in life, it +seems that clergymen are on the whole, the longest, and medical men are +the shortest livers. Military men are nearly between the two extremes, but +yet, proportionably they more frequently than others reach very advanced +years. + +7. The mortality is very generally greater in manufacturing than in +agricultural districts. + +8. Marriage is decidedly favourable to longevity. + +9. The mortality among the poor is always greater than among the wealthier +classes. + +10. The mortality in a population appears to be always proportionate to +its fecundity--as the number of births increases, so does the number of +deaths at the same time. + + * * * * * + +If this last assertion be correct, Malthus's doctrine must have been idle. + +It appears that in general more males are born than females--this +difference has been attributed to the age of the parents; when the mother +is older than the father the female offspring are more numerous--the same +is observed when both parents have attained an advanced age--but when the +father's age exceeds that of the mother's, sons are chiefly the result of +their union, it has been also observed that widowers are most frequently +blessed with daughters. + +Quetelet has very justly observed that the laws which preside over the +development of man, and modify all his actions, are in general the result +of his organization, of his years, his state of independence, the +surrounding institutions, local influence, and an infinity of other +causes, difficult to ascertain, and many of which, most probably, never +can be known. Still if we admit the fact, our wellbeing, in a great +measure, rests in our own hands, as the progress of our intellectual +attainments may gradually enable us to improve our condition, in most of +the points to which we have alluded; and Buffon has observed "that we know +not to what extent man may perfect his nature, both in a moral and a +physical point of view." + +Still the laws of our organization, and which regulate life, appear to be +beyond human speculation; and it has been observed that, under ordinary +circumstances, we are ruled by a harmonizing system tending to equalize +society despite its institutions. Thus, births, marriages, and deaths, +appear regulated on a certain scale in proportions singularly similar. +This circumstance is rendered obvious by the following tables of nativity +at Amsterdam. + + +-------+--------------------------------------------------+ + | | Still-born. || Born alive. | + | |-----------------------||-------------------------| + | Years.| Boys. | Girls. |Total.|| Boys. | Girls. | Total. | + |-------|-------|--------|------||-------|--------|--------| + | 1821 | 288 | 246 | 534 || 3742 | 3600 | 7342 | + | 1822 | 280 | 222 | 502 || 3887 | 3713 | 7600 | + | 1823 | 268 | 198 | 466 || 3734 | 3448 | 7182 | + | 1824 | 266 | 216 | 482 || 4011 | 3849 | 7860 | + | 1825 | 207 | 173 | 404 || 3802 | 3559 | 7352 | + | 1826 | 231 | 173 | 404 || 3803 | 3635 | 7438 | + | 1827 | | | || 3524 | 3366 | 6890 | + | 1828 | | | || 3699 | 3529 | 7208 | + | 1829 | | | || 3785 | 3618 | 7403 | + | 1830 | 241 | 169 | 410 || 3727 | 3579 | 7306 | + | 1831 | 208 | 168 | 376 || 3843 | 3499 | 7342 | + | 1832 | 210 | 151 | 361 || 3351 | 3101 | 6452 | + +----------------------------------------------------------+ + +A statistical result much similar, was made also in Paris in the Bureau +des Longitudes, as appears by the following return: + + +------------------------------------------------------------+ + | | Still-born. | Born alive. | + | |-------------------------|-------------------------| + | Years. | Boys. | Girls. | Total. | Boys. | Girls. | Total. | + |--------|-------|--------|--------|-------|--------|--------| + | 1823 | 847 | 662 | 1509 | 13752 | 13318 | 27070 | + | 1824 | 810 | 677 | 1487 | 14647 | 14647 | 28812 | + | 1825 | 846 | 675 | 1521 | 14989 | 14264 | 29253 | + | 1826 | 810 | 737 | 1547 | 15187 | 14783 | 29970 | + | 1827 | 904 | 727 | 1631 | 15074 | 14732 | 29860 | + | 1828 | 883 | 743 | 1626 | 15117 | 14484 | 29601 | + | 1829 | 925 | 788 | 1713 | 14760 | 13961 | 28721 | + | 1830 | 943 | 784 | 1727 | 14488 | 14099 | 28587 | + | 1831 | 954 | 755 | 1709 | 15116 | 14414 | 29530 | + | 1832 | 994 | 726 | 1720 | 13494 | 12789 | 26283 | + +------------------------------------------------------------+ + +In these statements, of which many to the same effect might be produced, +it is singular that the number of still-born infants bears such a regular +proportion with the nativity of living ones. + +The proportion of deaths to births is also strangely regular, despite the +difference of climate, and institutions, and the state of medical science +in various countries, as will appear manifest by the following scales: + + +----------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Cities. |Proportion of inhabitants|Proportion of inhabitants| + | | to one death. | to one birth. | + |------------|-------------------------|-------------------------| + | London | 46 0} | 40 8} | + | Glasgow | 46 8} 46 4 | 29 5} 35 2 | + | Madrid | 36 0} | 26 0} | + | Leghorn | 35 0} | 25 5} | + | Lyons | 32 2} | 28 5} | + | Moscow | 33 0} | 27 5} | + | Palermo | 32 0} 32 3 | 24 5} 27 0 | + | Paris | 31 4} | 27 0} | + | Lisbon | 31 1} | 28 3} | + | Copenhagen | 30 3} | 30 0} | + | Hamburg | 30 0} | 25 5} | + | Barcelona | 29 5} | 27 0} | + | Berlin | 29 0} | 21 0} | + | Bordeaux | 29 0} | 24 0} | + | Naples | 28 6} | 23 8} | + | Dresden | 27 7} 26 6 | 23 0} | + | Amsterdam | 27 5} | 26 0} | + | Brussels | 25 8} | 21 0} 24 2 | + | Stockholm | 24 6} | 27 0} | + | Prague | 24 5} | 23 3} | + | Rome | 24 4} | 30 6} | + | | | 20 0} | + | | | 26 5} | + | | | 20 0} | + | Vienna | 22 5 | 20 0 | + | Venice | 19 4} | 26 5} | + | Bergamo | 18 0} 18 7 | 20 0} 23 2 | + +----------------------------------------------------------------+ + +While such a regular proportion prevails in births and deaths, a still +more singular law seems to regulate the commission of crimes, of which the +following registers of the cases brought to trial in France is a proof. + + +------------------------------------------------------------------+ + | | 1826 | 1827 | 1828 | 1829 | 1830 | 1831 | + | |------|------|------|------|------|------+ + |Murder in general | 241 | 234 | 227 | 231 | 205 | 266 | + |With fire arms | 56 | 64 | 60 | 61 | 57 | 88 | + |Swords, daggers, &c. | 15 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 12 | 30 | + |Knives | 39 | 40 | 34 | 46 | 44 | 34 | + |Sticks, bludgeons, &c. | 23 | 28 | 31 | 24 | 12 | 21 | + |Stones, &c. | 20 | 20 | 21 | 21 | 11 | 9 | + |Cutting and contusing | | | | | | | + | instruments, tools, &c.| 35 | 40 | 42 | 45 | 46 | 49 | + |Strangulation | 2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | + |Drowning | 6 | 16 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 3 | + |Kicks, and blows with | | | | | | | + | the fist | 28 | 12 | 21 | 23 | 17 | 26 | + |Fire | ... | 1 | ... | 1 | ... | ... | + |Unknown means | 17 | 1 | 2 | ... | 2 | 2 | + +------------------------------------------------------------------+ + +The criminal statistics of France have produced the following calculation: +From 7000 to 7300 criminals are tried every year, out of which number 61 +out of 100 are found guilty; 170,000 offenders are charged with minor +offences and misdemeanors, of whom 85 in the 100 are condemned to various +punishments, and the greatest annual calculation which Quetelet remarks in +an annual budget, paid much more regularly than taxes, is as follows: + + Condemned to capital punishment 100 to 150 + To hard labour for life 280 + Hard labour for a period 1050 + Imprisonment 1220 + +The following curious table has been drawn of the causes that excited to +the commission of murder and the means resorted to: + + +------------------------------------------------------------------+ + |Apparent motives, | | |Assassi- | | | + |from 1826 to 1829.|Poison.|Murder.| nation.|Incendiary.| Total. | + | | | | | | | + |------------------|-------|-------|---------|-----------|---------| + |Cupidity | 20 | 39 | 237 | 66 | 362 | + |Adultery | 48 | 9 | 76 | ... | 133 | + |Domestic broils | 48 | 120 | 131 | 84 | 333 | + |Jealousy and | | | | | | + | debauchery | 10 | 58 | 115 | 37 | 220 | + |Revenge, hatred, | | | | | | + | and other motives| 23 | 903 | 460 | 229 | 1615 | + |------------------|-------|-------|---------|-----------|---------| + | Total | 149 | 1129 | 1019 | 366 | 2663[47]| + +------------------------------------------------------------------+ + +To what are we to attribute this apparent regularity in the scale of +births, deaths, and the commission of crimes? Are we ruled by _certain_ +laws that are only changed in the manifestations of Providence, by +peculiar visitations, such as war, famine, and pestilential maladies? What +a vast and curious field of research and reflection! what an argument for +the fatalist! Man no doubt possesses a moral power that to a certain +extent subjugates the creation to his influence and his will. Plants and +animals seem to obey certain natural laws, that are only disturbed by +perturbative agents; and it is difficult to point out what are the human +actions that arise from natural impulses, or from accidental +circumstances, although experience would tend to show that they bear a +singular proportion in the similarity of their results; and one must come +although reluctantly to the conclusion, that this perturbative power +exercises but a slender influence on the laws of nature, which seem to set +at defiance the destructive efforts of man. Thus have we seen of late +years, that the most fearful and long-protracted wars, which one might +have imagined would have devastated the fairest parts of Europe, have not +checked a surprising increase in its population, and the destructive +effects of the most fatal pestilence have vanished with a promptness that +seemed to keep pace with the preceding havoc. Bigotry and fanaticism are +the only scourges which appear to dare the benevolent views of Providence, +and when we traverse the desolate fields of most Roman Catholic countries, +one would imagine that Heaven has abandoned their inhabitants to their own +blind wills and evil ways. Spain at this period and at many epochs of her +bloody history, seems to corroborate the fable of the Titans who sought +refuge in that ill-fated land from the anger of the gods.[48] + +To return: we find in the preceding _resumes_ of longevity that poets are +the shortest-lived; next to them, authors on natural religion, dramatists, +and novelists. May not this circumstance be attributed to the fervour of +their imagination and to their unequal mode of living? A species of +madness is the attribute of genius. Many authors on natural religion may +come under the denomination of monomaniacs. The jealous irritability of +poets and dramatists,--and next to them in the scale of vanity we find +musicians,--may also contribute to wear them out, and bring on various +chronic diseases, by digestive derangements; more especially as their +habits of living are seldom regular, fits of sobriety alternating with +bouts of merry-making. Moral philosophers, painters, and sculptors, whose +average life appears the longest, follow more sedentary pursuits; and, +although artists in general cannot boast of remarkable discretion in their +mode of living, the nature of their profession requires much steadiness. +It is moreover to be observed that, in the preceding calculation, +historical painters have chiefly been noticed. Would the same calculation +apply to the lighter branches of the art? It has been remarked that actors +generally attain old age, notwithstanding the fatiguing and harassing +nature of their profession. This may be attributed to the constant +excitement of a similar nature to which they are subject, as well as to +their continued exposure to the sudden transitions from heat to cold, +which renders them less susceptible of the variations of temperature that +affect those who can avoid these vicissitudes. Any person who would expose +himself to the constant checked perspirations to which dancers are liable, +would infallibly pay dear for the experiment; and those who have had +occasion to witness the fatigues of their exercises, marvel at their not +being constantly attacked with pulmonary inflammation, and the many +maladies that result from similar exposures. On the very same principle, +troops when engaged upon active service do not suffer from the inclemency +of the weather, although saturated with wet by day, and sleeping under +torrents of rain by night. So long as they are marching with an object in +view, this excitement supports them, even against hunger; but the moment +this excitement ceases, let them halt, in tranquil cantonments, or +commence a retreat under unfavourable circumstances, that moment the +invasion of disease is observed. The chief source of health and long life +is an equilibrious state of the circulation. This condition a moderate +mental excitement tends to maintain. Depression, on the contrary, will +produce a languid flow of the vital stream, congestion, and chronic +diseases. + +On the same principle, good temper and hilarity are also necessary to +prolong life. Violent passions must tend to occasion dangerous +determinations, while the inward gnawings of offended vanity and pride +corrode every viscus, and lay the seeds of future mental and bodily +sufferings. Apathy and insensibility are, unfortunately, the best sources +of peace of mind, and as Fontenelle observed, a good stomach and a bad +heart are essential to happiness. Perhaps the best maxim to prolong our +days, and render them as tolerable as possible, is the "_Bene vivere et +laetari_." + +I have just observed that conformation materially affects our existence; +and this circumstance may in a great measure be referred to temper, and +the wear and tear that it occasions in ill-conditioned individuals. Little +people seldom attain the longevity of stronger individuals; and it is also +a well-known fact that diminutive persons are generally spiteful and +malicious. As Providence has bestowed destructive venoms on reptiles, so +has it gifted these insignificant members of society with obnoxious +qualities, to make amends for their want of physical power in the +strategies of attack and defence. The same observation holds good with the +deformed; but here we have a moral cause for this sourness of disposition. +They too frequently are objects of ridicule, contempt, or pity, sentiments +the most humiliating to mankind. In childhood they are not able to partake +of the boisterous and active sports of their companions; they have not the +power to resent an injury, and the more powerless we are, the greater is +our thirst of revenge. Hence does tyranny degrade, and renders its victims +cruel and vindictive. The deformed, moreover, find it necessary to improve +their intellectual faculties, which in aftertimes fill their quivers with +keen shafts of retaliation. In this study they also have more leisure, and +they apply to their books while their comrades are at play. This very +study adds to their sense of inferiority; they can never hope to share the +warrior's laurels, or, what is perhaps still more painful, the myrtle of +successful love. Their only chance of success in either of these careers +is by kindling wars by their intrigues, or winning a woman's heart by +intellectual superiority,--two very improbable events. Thus they gradually +envy men who are looked upon by the world as their superiors, and hate +women for the preference they show to those privileged individuals. In +general we find these ill-shaped beings bitterly sarcastic whenever +woman's name is mentioned. Pope, perhaps from these very reasons, was +inexhaustible in his abuse of the sex: and Boileau abhorred them, since he +had been emasculated by a turkey-cock. + +The intellectual superiority of hunchbacks has also been attributed to +their physical condition; and it is generally believed that with them the +circulation of blood in the brain is more rapid than in well-conformed +subjects, and this increased action is supposed to contribute materially +to the vivacity of the imagination, and the quickness of apprehension. +Another circumstance is said to increase their mental powers, and that is, +their continence, considered both by the ancients and the moderns as a +source of intellectual energies. Minerva and the Muses were virgins; and +in this and other fabulous traditions, we find the ancients illustrating +in their mythologic allegories many physical facts and observations. Our +Bacon had made the same remark; and Newton, and many other great men, +considered the passion of love beneath the dignity of science. Continence +and abstinence were deemed by Horace as indispensable privations in the +cultivation of genius. In the deformed both are to a certain degree +natural, or at least cannot be lost sight of without endangering life. The +digestive powers of the deformed are generally weak; and this debility has +ever been looked upon as a concomitant of superior intellects. Thus in +Celsus, "_Imbecilli stomacho pene omnes cupidi litterarum sunt_;" while on +the contrary, "_Obesus venter non parit subtilem intellectum_." + +The common expression of a child being too clever to live, is +unfortunately founded on observation. Scrofulous and sickly children are +in general remarkable for the quickness of their intellects; and Rousseau +maintained that a man who could meditate was a depraved animal. It is a +fact that the perfection of one faculty can seldom be attained but at the +expense of others. The more our faculties are generally called into +action, the less perfect will they be individually;--"_Pluribus intentus, +minor est ad singula_." Thus, the singing of birds is improved by +depriving them of sight. + +The influence of the mind upon our health is as evident as the influence +of our health in the duration of existence. This corollary explains the +shortness of life of the diminutive and the deformed, unconnected with +such physical defects of organization as might impede the due exercise of +their organs. + +The fable of Prometheus is a strong illustration of the pernicious effects +of intemperance; and by Darwin, and other physiologists, has been +considered as comparing the celestial fire that he purloined, to the +artificial inspirations of excitement that ultimately preys upon the liver +and the other viscera like a voracious vulture. A much deeper philosophy +is concealed in this theogenic allegory. Prometheus was the son of +Japetus; brother to Atlas, Menoetius, and Epimetheus, who all surpassed +mankind in fraud and in guilt. Prometheus himself scoffed the gods, and +violated their shrine. Heaven and Earth had formed his father, who had +united his destinies with Clymene, one of the Oceanides. Thus Prometheus +and Epimetheus arose from the very cradle of the universe; and their very +names, [Greek: Promandanein] and [Greek: Epimandanein], signify foresight +and improvidence,--_praediscere et postea discere_,--the prevalent +characteristics of all mortals, that either tend to promote or retard the +progress of human reason and human happiness. Prometheus strove impiously +to possess himself of Divine knowledge, and created man with a base +amalgam of earth and the bones of animals, vivified by the celestial fire +he had obtained. Jupiter, indignant at his audacity, commanded Vulcan to +create a beauteous tempter in the form of woman, on whom every attractive +gift might be conferred; and Pandora was sent upon earth with the fatal +present of the father of the gods, the box that contained all the evils +and distempers that were destined for mankind. The foresight of Prometheus +resisted her charms; his improvident brother opened the dreaded casket. +Have we not here an illustration of the vanity of science, that aims even +at Divine attributes, and whose votaries, like Prometheus, would +endeavour, if possible, to deprive wisdom of her power, and break down the +boundaries of human intellects? His punishment describes in energetic +language the endless and consuming studies of the learned, whose very +viscera are corroded in lucubrations too often fruitless, and not +unfrequently injurious to themselves and others. Hercules alone could +relieve him from his torments:--and does not Hercules in this allegory +typify the power of reason, that enables us to release the mind from the +trammels both of ignorance and vanity, separated from each other by a +gossamer partition? Prometheus, who could resist the most powerful of +temptations,--beauty and talent combined,--dared Olympus to seek for that +wisdom which would have doomed him to everlasting sufferings, had not +strength of mind and the powers of reflection destroyed his merciless +tormentor. Can we be surprised that the ancients consecrated games to this +beautiful allegory?--games that are still carried on in our days; but, +alas! where every vain competitor pretends that he has reached the goal +with an unextinguished torch! + + + + +CRETINISM. + + +This singular disorder was first discovered and noticed by Plater, about +the middle of the seventeenth century, among the poor inhabitants of +Carinthia and the Valais, where, as in the valleys of the Lower Alps and +the Pyrenees, it is also found to be an endemic affection. According to +Sir George Staunton, it is also observed in Chinese Tartary. It has been +erroneously confounded by some writers with bronchocele and rachitis, from +both of which it is totally distinct. + +Cretinism presents various modifications in kind, and every intermediate +grade between that extreme degree of physical and mental debasement which +is characterized by the utmost deformity, and entire absence of mental +manifestation, the organic and vegetative functions only being performed. +There are certain circumstances that distinguish cretins from idiots; and +their infirmities appear to depend upon endemic or local causes, regarding +which much diversity of opinion has prevailed both amongst medical men and +travellers. + +The cretins were also called _Cagots_ and _Capots_. In Navarre these +unfortunates go by the name of _Gaffos_ and _Ganets_; and in various +valleys of the Pyrenees they are called _Gezits_ or _Gezitains_. Near La +Rochelle, some of them are also found, and there they are known by the +appellation of _Coliberts_; and in Britanny _Cacons_ and _Cagneux_. The +derivation of these names shows the contempt and disgust that they +excited,--_Cagot_, according to Scaliger, being derived from _Canis +Gottus_, or _Dog of a Goth_; _Colibert_ is traced to _quasi libertus_, or +slave. The Spaniards call them _Gavachos_, a term of reproach, which they +also applied to the French during the Peninsular struggle. + +The body of these poor creatures is stunted, their height not exceeding +four feet. There is a total want of due proportion between it and the +other parts, the height of the head with reference to the body being from +one-fourth to one-fifth, instead of one-eighth, the natural proportion; +the neck is strong, and bent downwards; the upper limbs reach below the +knees, and the arm is shorter than the fore-arm; the chest narrow, the +abdomen hemispherical, and of a length not exceeding the height of the +head; the thighs, with the haunches, of greater width than the shoulders, +and shorter than the legs, the calves of which are wanting; the feet and +toes distorted. In the head, the masticating organs, the lower jaw, and +the nose, preponderate considerably over the organs of sense and +intelligence; the skull is depressed, and forms a lengthened and angular +ellipsis; the receding forehead presents internally large frontal sinuses, +to which the brain has yielded part of its place; the top of the head is +flattened, instead of being vaulted; the occiput projects but slightly, +and runs almost even with the nape of the neck, as in ruminating animals. +The face is neither oval nor round, but spread out in width; the eyes are +far apart, slightly diverging, small, and deep-seated in their orbits; the +pupil contracted, and not very sensitive to light; the eyelids, except +when morbidly swollen, are flaccid and pendent. Their look is an unmeaning +stare, and turns with indifference from every thing that is not eatable. +The elongated form of the lower jaw, the thick and puffed lips, give them +a greater resemblance to ruminating creatures than to man. The tongue is +rather cylindrical than flat, and the saliva is constantly running from +the angles of their mouth. Enlargement of the thyroid glands generally +prevails, sometimes to an enormous extent. Indeed, this appearance is +commonly considered as a distinguishing sign of cretinism. The other +glands of the throat are also obstructed. Many of these poor wretches are +both deaf and dumb; yet do they appear unconscious of their miserable +existence. Stretched out or gathered up under the solar rays, their head +drooping in idiotic apathy, they are only roused from their torpor when +food is presented to them. + +This endemic malady is supposed to arise from the use of snow-water, or of +water impregnated with calcareous earth. Both of these opinions are +without foundation. All the inhabitants of districts near the glaciers, +drink snow and ice waters without being subject to the disorder; and the +common waters of Switzerland, strongly impregnated with calcareous +substances, are most salubrious. At Berne, the waters are extremely pure, +yet Haller observed that swellings of the throat are not uncommon. De +Saussure has assigned another cause, and refers the disorder to the +physical features of the mountainous districts in which it prevails. The +valleys, he tells us, are surrounded with very high mountains, sheltered +from currents of fresh air, and exposed to the direct, and what is worse, +the reflected rays of the sun. They are marshy, and hence the atmosphere +is humid, close, and oppressive. When to these chorographical causes, he +further says, we add the domestic ones, which are also well known to +prevail among the poor of these regions,--such as innutritious food, +indolence, and uncleanliness, with a predisposition to the disease from an +hereditary taint of many generations,--we can sufficiently account for the +prevalence of cretinism in such places, and for the most humiliating +characters it is ever found to assume. + +This specious reasoning, however, is overthrown by observation. In the +first instance, this character of the country does not affect its other +inhabitants; and secondly, the _goitre_ is found in warm latitudes, and +Mungo Park observed it amongst the Africans of Bambara, on the banks of +the Niger. Marsden has also seen it at Sumatra. Moreover, this affection +is scarcely ever seen in the mountains, but principally prevails in the +valleys. + +It is more than probable that these ill-favoured creatures belong to a +particular race; for we must take care not to confound goitre with +cretinism, since goitre is common where cretinism is prevalent. It has +been remarked that the offspring of the natives of the Valais who +intermarry with persons from the Italian side of the Alps, are more +subject to goitres than those born of native parents; and that females who +have husbands from the higher Alps, seldom have children affected with +this infirmity. It is pretty clear that in these observations, goitre and +cretinism are confounded. + +That these miserable cagots belong to a particular race of men, most +probably accidentally degraded in their transmission from our primitive +stock, appears most likely. We have sought the derivation of the several +terms of contempt and disgust attached to them in different countries, to +which migration may have led their parents. Some writers have traced their +descent to the Goths and Vandals, thus chastised for their devastations. +Gebelin, Belleforet, and Ramont consider them as descendants of the +Visigoths; while Marca, bishop of Couserans, denounces them at once as +Jews and Saracens; and other clerical writers have maintained that they +are the miserable relicts of the heretic Albigenses who had escaped the +holy massacres of 1215; although there did exist cagots in the year 1000, +in the abbey of St. Luc, as they are described in a _for_ of Navarre, +bearing date 1074, and issued by Ramirez. + +These helpless beings have also been considered as the offspring of +Bohemians and gipsies. Bishop, or rather Senator Gregoire, maintained that +they sprung from the hordes of northern barbarians who overran the south +of Europe in the third and fourth centuries. Whatever might have been the +origin of these poor creatures, they seem to share that ignominious +destiny that has marked various races in different countries. The _Agotos_ +of Navarre, the _Maragotos_ of Leon, the _Batuecos_ of Castile, the +_Wendes_ of Silesia, are all held in as much contempt as the _Parias_ and +the _Vaddahs_ of India. Even in Otaheite a degraded caste was found, from +which victims were selected to appease Divine wrath, or propitiate their +gods. + +The traditional contempt in which certain races are held, a contempt that +seems to have affected their physical appearance, may perhaps be traced to +the degradation of slavery, that seems to deprive man of all his proud +attributes, both in a moral and physical point of view. The effects of +tyranny, and the distinctions that oppression has created in the several +castes and ranks of mankind, are every where evident. What a difference +exists in Scotland between the chieftains and the humbler individuals of +their clans!--between the naires of India and their vassals! In France, +said Buffon, you may distinguish by their aspect, not only the nobility +from the peasantry, but the superior order of nobility from the inferior, +these from the citizens, and citizens from the peasants. "The field-slaves +in America," observes the enlightened Dr. Smith, "are badly clothed, fed, +and lodged, live in small huts in the plantations, remote from the example +and society of their superiors. Living by themselves they retain many of +the customs and the manners of their ancestors. The domestic servants, on +the other hand, who are kept near the persons or employed in the families +of their masters, are treated with great lenity, their service is light, +they are well fed and clothed. The field-slaves, in consequence of their +condition, are slow in changing the aspect and figure of Africa; while the +domestic servants have advanced far before them in acquiring the agreeable +and regular features, and the expressive countenance, of civilized +society. The former are frequently ill-shaped; they preserve in a great +degree the African lips, and nose, and hair; their genius is dull, and +their countenances sleepy and stupid. The latter are straight and well +proportioned; their hair extends to three or four, sometimes even to six +or eight inches; the size of their mouth is handsome, their features +regular, their capacity good, and their looks animated." Dr. Prichard has +also stated that similar changes become visible in the third and fourth +generations in the West India islands; and I have seen several negresses +in those colonies perfectly beautiful. In the Bahama islands I knew a +female slave of the name of Leah, belonging to my late friend Mr. +Commissary Brookes, as black as jet, and descended in the third +generation from African parents, whose features would have vied in +symmetry with the fairest specimen of the Caucasian race. + +Let us not, therefore, seek in snow-water or calcareous impregnations for +the causes of deformity and degradation in any unfortunate castes of +mankind. Their misery may more probably be traced to the iron rod of +despotism, or the oppression of bigotry,--influences that mark out races +as abject slaves, or objects of Divine wrath, that ought to be scorned by +the wealthy and the powerful, and spurned and persecuted by the faithful +and the elect; although, when it has served its purposes, priestcraft has +held up the cagot, and the leper, and the idiot, as objects of veneration. +When the tourist, in his Alpine and Pyrenean excursions, meets a wretched +cagot, let him pause and contemplate the offspring of slavery, and reflect +on what man is, and on what man might be,--nay, on what man _will_ be. + + + + +TEMPERAMENTS. + + +The different prevalent propensities in various individuals, the +development of which appeared to be under the influence of a certain and +constitutional organization, have received the name of temperaments; or, +rather, this term applies to this peculiar organization of the +constitution or idiosyncrasy. The Greek physiologists were the first to +classify these peculiarities, or _temperamenta_,--the _naturae_ of +Hippocrates, the _mixturae_ of Galen. They considered organized bodies as +an assemblage of elements endowed with different properties, but combined +in such manner that their union should constitute a whole, in which none +of them should predominate in a healthy condition; but, on the contrary, +they were to modify and _temper_ each other, their simultaneous action +being directed and controlled by the spirit of life, _spiritus_. It was +the due combination of these elements that constituted a perfect +temperament; their aberrancy produced disease of body or of mind. + +The ancients divided these elements into cold and hot, dry and moist; from +the combination of these principles they classified the fluids of the +body. The blood was hot and moist, the bile hot and dry, the phlegm cold +and damp, and the melancholy cold and dry. This division led to a further +classification; and temperaments, according to the predominance of these +elements, were divided into the _sanguineous_, the _bilious_, the +_phlegmatic_, and the _melancholic_. + +These supposed radical fluids, influencing the whole animal frame, were +dependent upon certain organs for their specific production. The blood was +furnished by the heart, the phlegm by the head, the yellow bile by the +gall-duct, and the black bile or atrabile,--the principle of +melancholy,--by the spleen. Notwithstanding the many revolutions in the +doctrine of physiology that have shaken the schools since the days of +Hippocrates, this classification of his has remained to a certain degree +to the present day, and has laid the foundation of all the systems of +temperaments, constitutions, and natural characters, that have at various +periods been advanced by philosophers; the only novel introduction in this +ancient classification being the nervous temperament, which, after all, is +only a modification of the four other categories. + +To illustrate the operations of these temperaments, it became necessary to +adopt terms expressive of their combination, and _temper_ and _humour_ +were adopted. Both are Latin terms; the first, in its original sense, +imports mingling, modifying, tempering the four radical fluids, and +producing that equilibrious condition of the frame, termed _constitution_. +_Humour_ was derived from the Greek [Greek: chumos], _chumos_; and its +radical sense imported moisture, or fluid of any kind. Hence _humid_ and +_humidity_. This doctrine of fluidity is still applied to many functions +that we cannot otherwise describe, and we talk, although in a figurative +manner, of the nervous fluid, the vital fluid; and a good humour, a bad +humour, a vein of humour, or a humorous vein, are illustrations of +peculiar tempers and temperaments,--for temperaments are still +distinguished by the same terms applied to them by the ancients, and we +describe one man as _choleric_, or bilious, for _choler_ ([Greek: chole]) +means bile; another as being _melancholic_; a third of a _sanguine +disposition_; and a fourth of a _phlegmatic habit_. The _sanguine_, that +imports a predominance of the blood, indicated a warm and ardent +exuberance of spirits; whereas the _phlegmatic_, denoting a thin and cold +watery fluid, referred to a frigid and spiritless indolence. + +We thus see that modern physiology has scarcely advanced this branch of +science, for the _nervous temperament_ may be considered as merely a +modification of the other ones; and it is more than probable that the old +classification will long prevail, notwithstanding the ingenuity of modern +hypotheses. Husson divided the temperaments into those that referred to +the vascular system, to the nervous system, and to the muscular system, +with subdivisions applied to regions and to organs; all these temperaments +being either natural and primitive, or acquired. Dr. Thomas, of Paris, has +founded his arrangement according to the predominance of the head, chest, +or abdomen,--or the mental, circulatory, or digestive organs,--and +according to the relative bulk and predominance of these three regions +will be the relative energy of the mental, muscular, or abdominal +functions. Notwithstanding the ingenuity of these systems, the old +arrangement, as I have already observed, is likely to prevail; and as +Blumenbach observes, that although this division was founded on an +imaginary depravation of the elements of the blood, if made to stand alone +it will prove both natural and intelligible. + +This division I shall therefore endeavour to illustrate. In the +_sanguineous temperament_ the heart and arteries possess a predominant +energy; the pulse is strong, frequent and regular; the veins blue, full, +and large; the complexion florid, the countenance animated, the stature +erect, the muscular forms marked and firm; the hair of a yellow, auburn, +or chestnut colour; the nervous impressions acute, the perception quick, +the memory retentive, the imagination lively and luxuriant, the +disposition passionate but not vindictive, and passion is easily appeased; +amorous, and fond of conviviality and good cheer. + +In this temperament we find athletic strength and fortitude of mind in +resisting the power of external agency, with mental tranquillity in the +midst of danger; a calmness arising from a consciousness of power, and +from less acuteness of external impressions and mental perceptions. Such a +man, when roused to action, will endeavour to surmount every physical +difficulty; but he will rarely attain pre-eminence in sciences and the +fine arts, which require exquisite sensibility and mobility,--qualities +seldom met with in such forms as those described by the poets in Hercules +and Ajax. + +In the _choleric_ or _bilious_ temperament the liver and biliary organs +are as redundant in their power as the sanguineous vessels, and, for the +most part, at the expense of the excernent or cellulous and lymphatic +system. The pulse is strong and hard, but more frequent than in the +sanguineous; the veins superficial and projecting; the sensibility +extremely acute and easily excited, with a capacity of pondering for a +long time on the same object. The skin is sallow, with a tendency to a +yellow tinge; the hair black or dark brown; the body moderately fleshy, +the muscles firm and well marked, the figure expressive; the temper of the +mind abrupt, impetuous, and violent,--bold in the conception of a project, +inflexible in its pursuit, persevering and dauntless in its execution. +These are the temperaments that have urged men both to noble and to +execrable deeds. Such were Alexander, Brutus, Mahomet, Cromwell, Charles +the Twelfth, Robespierre, Napoleon. All these celebrated characters +evinced from their earliest youth the ambitious nature of their +dispositions; and though circumstances might have checked the development +of their predominant passions, it was also to adventitious circumstances +that they owed their elevation, and the opportunities of displaying their +good or evil qualities. Most of these men were irascible, vindictive, and +cruel, and equally susceptible of ardent love and mortal hate. In these +temperaments we find a mixed exuberance of blood and bile in a constant +struggle for predominance. + +The _melancholy_ or _atrabilious_ temperament is of a different character. +Here the biliary organs are brought into a constant and a morbid action, +while the sanguineous system is weak and irregular. In these gloomy +subjects the skin assumes a sallow, unearthly tinge, the pulse is hard and +contracted, the digestive functions torpid and irregular, the imagination +is gloomy and full of suspicion, and a dark gloom is shed on all around +the morbid sufferer, for such he may be called, since the condition under +which he labours may be considered one of disease. These subjects are +prone to various monomanias; uncertain, fickle, and oftentimes +capriciously cruel. Tiberius and Louis the Eleventh are quoted as examples +of this temperament. Many melancholic individuals have displayed great +genius, and at the same time great depth of thought. Richerand considers +Tasso, Pascal, Zimmermann, and Rousseau as illustrating this unhappy +disposition. + +The fourth temperament is the _phlegmatic_, _lymphatic_, _pituitous_, or +_watery_, for all these terms used by different physiologists are +synonymous. Here the proportion of fluids is too considerable for that of +the solids; hence the body attains a considerable, unwholesome bulk. The +muscles are soft and flaccid, the skin fair and transparent, the hair +flaxen or sandy, the pulse weak and slow, all the vital actions are +languid, the memory little tenacious, and the attention wavering; an +insurmountable indolence prevails; and, averse to mental and corporeal +exercise, the _far niente_ is their greatest enjoyment, and a nightcap is +preferable to a diadem. These subjects are generally good, easy persons; +susceptible of kindly feelings, but of a transient nature. Their mind is +generally depraved by effeminacy, and their love is purely animal. They +are not courageous; yet they show great tranquillity of mind in moments of +danger, and would rather quietly sink than struggle with the waves. If +their dwelling was on fire, they would calmly walk out of it, but not +exert themselves to put down the conflagration; and, when hereditary power +places them at the helm of a state, a wreck of the vessel may be speedily +expected, unless the sceptre is wrested from their feeble hands by the +choleric or the atrabilious enthusiast. + +The fifth, or _nervous_ temperament, as I have already stated, may be +considered of a complex nature, as it influences the sanguineous as well +as the choleric, the melancholy, and the phlegmatic. In this constitution +the sentient system predominates, and there exists a great susceptibility +to all external impressions. This temperament is generally acquired, and +proceeds from a sedentary life, too great an enjoyment of sensual +pleasures, and fanciful ideas brought on by romantic readings and romantic +thoughts indulged in hours of idleness. The determination of such +individuals is prompt, but uncertain; their affections warm for a while, +are selfish and fickle; their sensations are vivid, but leave no +impressions. Women, especially when educated in boarding-schools, +essentially belong to this class, and are subject to hysterical and +convulsive affections that render them a plague to others and a nuisance +to themselves. In man the muscles are small, flabby, and wasted. The +nervous may possess much vivacity of conception, but no depth of judgment; +and, in general, their productions are as morbid as their mind. This +condition frequently attends the melancholy temperament, "that wings the +soul, and points her to the skies." + +Nervous excitability seldom prevails in the sanguineous constitution, +where muscular masses are pronounced in athletic forms. Hence the +sanguineous are not easily brought into action; but, when once roused, +their energies are irresistible. This power is beautifully described by +Virgil in the conflict between Entellus and Dares; still are these +exertions governed by nervous influence, and the result of the +excitability and contractibility of the muscular fibre, termed by +Chaussier its _myotility_. + +Mason Good has very justly observed that these temperaments, or generic +constitutions, are perpetually running into each other, and consequently +that not one of them, perhaps, is to be found in a state of full +perfection in any individual; he further aids this remark by the +following illustration: "Strictly speaking, Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox belonged +equally, in the main, to the second temperament; there was the same +ardour, genius and comprehensive judgment in both, with a considerable +tendency to the sanguineous, and hence with more irritability, but more +self-confidence, audacity, and sanguine expectation: the latter, while +possessing the same general or bilious temperament, was at the same time +more strongly inclined to the lymphatic, and hence his increased corporeal +bulk, and with less bold and ardent expectation he possessed one of the +sweetest and most benevolent dispositions to be met with in the history of +the world. The first was formed to be revered, the second to be beloved; +both to be admired and immortalized." + +I apprehend that a profound study of human temperaments and propensities +may afford a more desirable guide in the education of youth, and the +selection of men in the different concerns of life, than that of either +physiognomy or phrenology; although the temperament must materially affect +the general character of the countenance. Yet, from the apparent +prevalence of any temperament we are not to form a rash and hasty judgment +in regard to the future capacities or propensities of youth. As one +temperament runs into another, and assumes a complex form, so can +education regulate the one that naturally predominates, and modify it by a +fusion with another. Thus, the restlessness of the bilious and choleric +may be attuned to a phlegmatic state by the power of reason, and the brute +courage and audacity of the sanguineous checked by inspiring sentiments of +true valour. That every temperament, excepting perhaps the phlegmatic, is +capable of displaying bravery, has been well described by Joanna Baillie +in the following lines: + + The brave man is not he who feels no fear, + For that were stupid and irrational; + But he whose noble soul its fear subdues, + And bravely dares the danger nature shrinks from. + As for your youth, whom blood and blows delight, + Away with them!--there is not in their crew + One valiant spirit. + + + + +SOLAR INFLUENCE. + + +While both ancient and modern physiologists were of opinion that the +various phenomena of organized bodies were influenced by lunar phases, the +power of the solar rays was not less active in regulating our functions +both in health and in disease. The name of Phoebus signified the torch +of life, and Apollo was the father of medicine and the fine arts. The sun +was considered as a deity in most countries, the Supreme Being,--the +father of light, Diespiter,--Jupiter, Jehovah, the creator of all living +matter,--the residence of the Most High--_In sole posuit tabernaculum +suum_, said the Psalmist;--and in Egypt three hundred and sixty-five +priests were ordained to watch its heavenly movements during the year, +while many philosophers attributed the propagation of the human race to +the union of man with the orb of day. The disciples of Plato and +Pythagoras considered it as possessing a soul; and Origenus, in his +Periarchon, maintained that it displayed both virtues and vices,--an +heretical doctrine very properly condemned by the second Synod of +Constantinople; and, although St. Augustin was of that opinion, it was +warmly combated by St. Basil and St. Ambrose, and many other beatified +divines. Anaxagoras, on the contrary, considered this luminary to be a +burning stone; Plato called it a compact fire; Aristotle maintained that +it was formed of one-fifth of the elements that constitute the planets; +Epicurus, a mass of lava, or ignited pumice-stone; Xenophon asserted that +it was fed by exhalations, and Zeno by watery vapours; Empedocles +considered it a translucent body; Philolaus, a concave mirror, +concentrating the rays of light from every part of the universe to reflect +it upon nature. Kepler was of a similar opinion, and further insisted that +the sun was composed of a limpid fluid upon which a luminous aether was +reflected, whence its centre was blue, while the limbs were yellow. A +modern philosopher, Woodward, attempts to show that the sun and fixed +stars are masses of electric fluid, requiring no alimentation, yielding no +smoke, and the light that emanates from them offers the bluish brilliancy +of the electric spark. It has been justly observed, that if, like Eudoxus, +we endeavoured to approach this luminary, the better to study and +describe its nature, we should still remain in impenetrable darkness,--in +which I must leave the matter, to confine myself to those influences which +experience seems to show that the sun actually exercises on the animal +economy. + +The genial and invigorating glow that moderate solar heat produces has +ever been considered as tending to prolong our life. Hippocrates observed, +that old men are double their age in winter, and younger in summer. To +enjoy this reviving influence, the ancients had terraces on their +house-tops called _solaria_, in which, to use their own expression, they +took a solar air-bath. Pliny the younger, in speaking of his uncle, tells +us, _Post cibum, aestate, si quid otii, jacebat in sole_. The ancients +fancied that when the sun rose diseases declined, and _Levato sole levatur +morbus_ became a medical axiom. Aristotle records the case of an innkeeper +of Tarentum, who, although able to attend to his business by day, became +insane so soon as the sun had set. The moderns relate many similar +instances of derangement brought on by the absence of solar influence. +Bouillon mentions a woman who lost her senses at sunset, but who recovered +them at break of day. Other cases are recorded of a different nature, when +maladies were aggravated by this influence. Sauvage tells us of a woman +who became maniacal whenever the sun was at its zenith; an influence that +could not be prevented even by various stratagems, such as keeping her in +a dark room, and deceiving her in regard to the hour. Humboldt knew a +Spanish lady in Madrid who lost her voice the moment the sun dipped in the +horizon, but the paralysis of the nerves of the tongue ceased the +following morning. A removal to Naples cured this singular affection. +Parham relates the cases of several individuals who were deprived of +vision when the sun had set. In a former paper I have alluded to the +effects of a vivid flood of light upon the Italian peasantry, as observed +by Ramazzini. Daily practice shows us that the paroxysms of fever and +various maladies are under a similar influence; and the evening gun in our +garrisons is often the signal of severe exacerbation in certain febrile +cases, while the _reveillee_ develops acute aggravation in others. +Sydenham and Floyer had observed that the gout and asthma were usually +ushered in after our first sleep; and I have noticed that, during the +prevalence of the cholera, the invasion of this fatal disorder generally +occurred towards daybreak. The ancients divided their elementary +predominance according to the diurnal cycle: thus, morning regulated the +blood, noon the bile, evening the atrabile, and night the cold phlegmatic +influence. Nor was this arrangement unnatural; we more or less observe it +in a state of health, when man awakes refreshed and active at morn; +towards noon his train of thoughts becomes more serious and busy; in the +evening his mind is more gloomy and susceptible of unpleasant impressions; +until night either sheds its poppies o'er his couch, or agitates his frame +with its fearful dreams. The repose of night is ever more refreshing than +that of day, however we may have changed the natural applications of our +hours, and find, as Seneca said of Roman civilization, that _antipodes +habemus in urbe_. The influence of night and day is equally observable in +animals. Towards evening myriads of insects, who had shunned the solar +heat, hum around us; while night calls forth its choristers; and as they +cease to sing other creatures proclaim the dawn. Some animals, such as the +_simia beelzebud_, and the _simia seniculus_, salute both the setting and +the rising sun with fearful howls; and it may be considered as a law of +nature, that we cannot turn night into day with impunity. + +Dr. Balfour's opinion on the influence of the heavenly bodies is of great +weight: he conceives that the influence of the sun and moon when in a +state of conjunction, which he names solar-lunar influence, produces +paroxysms or exacerbations in continued fever, in all cases at least where +paroxysms are observable. As this influence declines in consequence of the +gradual separation of these luminaries from each other, and their getting +into a state of opposition, a way is left open for a critical and +beneficial change; in other words, that paroxysms and exacerbations in +fever may be expected to take place at spring-tides, and crises at +neap-tides. + +It has been observed in intermitting fevers, that paroxysms of the +quotidian recur in the morning, the tertian at noon, and the quartan in +the afternoon; in no instance do they take place at night. + +There can be no doubt that lunation, more especially in tropical climes, +influences diseases; but the effects of insolation are every where +observable. One of the most serious accidents resulting from this exposure +is the _ictus solis_, the _coup de soleil_ of the French, and the [Greek: +siriasis] of the Greeks, from the star _Sirius_, to whose influence they +attributed the scorching heat of the dog-days. This attack is in general +sudden, and the patient falls down as if struck with a blow on the head. +Troops on a march, and labourers in the field, frequently are the victims +of this solar power, which usually kills them on the spot. It has been +known to destroy great numbers. In Pekin, from the 14th of July to the +25th, in the year 1743, it is related that eleven thousand persons were +struck dead. On a hot day's march in Portugal, I lost six men in a brigade +under my charge. They first reeled as if under the influence of liquor, +and then fell dead with a slight convulsive struggle. One of them, the +batman of the paymaster of the 3rd foot, or Buffs, was struck dead while +speaking to me. A great number of greyhounds perished on the same march; +but no other species of dog seemed to suffer, although we had many +pointers and spaniels with us. Horses, mules, and cattle were also exempt +from the attack, though it proved fatal to some weak donkeys who were +following the troops. The shakos worn by our army are well calculated to +preserve the soldier from these accidents, to which troops are constantly +exposed during summer operations. + + + + +SWEATING FEVER. + + +This disastrous pestilence, which proved, if possible, more fatal and +terrific than the cholera, made its first appearance in London, in 1480 or +1483, first showing itself in the army of Henry VII. on his landing at +Milford Haven. In London it only broke out a year or two after, and +visited that capital occasionally for upwards of forty years. It then +spread to Holland, Germany, Belgium, Flanders, France, Denmark, and +Norway, where it continued its ravages from 1525 to 1530; it then returned +to England, and was observed for the last time in 1551. + +Dr. Caius calls it a pestilential fever of one day; and it prevailed, he +says, with a mighty slaughter, and the description of it was as tremendous +as that of the plague of Athens. Dr. Willis states that its malignity was +so extreme, that as soon as it entered a city it made a daily attack on +five or six hundred persons, of whom scarcely one in a hundred recovered. +This malignant fever ran its course in a single paroxysm; and the cold fit +and hot fit were equally fatal. If the patient was fortunate enough to +reach the sweating stage, he was in general saved. It commenced its attack +with a pain in the muscles of the neck, shoulders, legs, and arms, through +which a warm aura seemed to creep; after these symptoms a profuse +perspiration broke forth. The internal organs grew gradually hot and +burning, the pungent heat extending to the extremities; with an +intolerable thirst, sickness soon followed by jactitation, coma, and +delirium. At Shrewsbury it raged for seven months, and carried off upwards +of one thousand patients. The invasion of this terrific disorder was +generally preceded by a thick noisome fog, especially in Shropshire. A +dark cloud usually took the lead, and the distemper followed its course. +It is somewhat singular, but most fatal contagions have been ushered in, +both in ancient and modern times, by noxious fogs or mists, with clouds of +various insects, either bending their course in innumerable bodies, +covering vegetation, or falling in dead heaps upon the ground. The disease +was generally supposed to arise from inclement seasons and injured grain; +particularly wheat infested with the mildew or smut, or rye attacked with +the spur. It was observed by Dr. Willan, that the contemporary inhabitants +of Scotland and Wales, who fed on barley and oats, were not affected. + +One of the most singular features of this malady was its only attacking +the English. Foreigners, and even the Scotch and Irish, in England, seemed +to be exempted from this scourge, which attacked the monarch himself, and +two Dukes of Suffolk, who sunk under its virulence. In Westminster the +number of daily deaths averaged one hundred and twenty. It may be easily +imagined that this special liability of Englishmen to contract the disease +was attributed to Divine wrath for their manifold offences; and we find +the following lines in Phemtophius: + + Coelestia numina nobis + Nil sunt quam nugae, fabula, verba, jocus: + Inde fames nobis, pestes, Mars; denique fontem + Hinc etiam inclemens [Greek: idoonretos] habet, + Saevum, horrendum, atrox genus immedicabile morbi, + Nostrae perfidiae debitum. + +Dr. Armstrong has also recorded this peculiar visitation in the following: + + Some, sad at home, and, in the desert, some, + Abjur'd the fatal commerce of mankind. + In vain: where'er they fled, the Fates pursued. + Others, with hopes more specious, cross'd the main, + To seek protection in far distant skies; + But none they found. It seemed, the general air + From pole to pole, from Atlas to the East, + Was then at enmity with English blood; + For, but the race of England, all were safe + In foreign climes; nor did this Fury taste + The foreign blood which England then contained. + +That the atmosphere was saturated by this disease was obvious from the +circumstance of vast numbers of birds falling dead, when, upon +examination, pestilential swellings were found under their wings. Schiller +attributed the disease to sideral influence. England, however, was not the +only country where the wrath of Heaven was considered as having fulminated +this scourge! and at Marburg it had such an effect, that it actually put +an end to the violent disputes between Luther and Zuingle concerning the +Eucharist, and which were on the eve of kindling a religious war. + +A disease somewhat similar manifested itself in Picardy in 1773, having +first appeared at Hardivilliers, five leagues from Beauvais; but, instead +of terminating in a single day, it ran on to the third, fifth, and +seventh: a fever of the same description was also observed in Gascony. + +But of all the maladies that affect cutaneous transpiration, _diapedesis_, +or sweating of blood, is the most singular; so much so, indeed, that its +existence has been doubted, although several well authenticated cases are +on record, both in the ancient and modern annals of medicine. It is +mentioned by Theophrastus and Aristotle, while Lucan thus describes it: + + Sic omnia membra + Emisere simul rutilum pro sanguine virus. + Sanguis erant lacrymae; quacumque foramina novit + Humor, ab his largus manat cruor: ora redundant, + Et patulae nares; sudor rubet; omnia plenis + Membra fluunt venis: totum est pro vulnere corpus. + +The detestable Charles IX. of France sunk under this disorder, thus +described by Mezeray: "La nature fit d'etranges efforts pendant les deux +dernieres semaines de la vie de ce Roi. Il s'agitait et se remuait sans +cesse; le sang lui rejalliait par les pores et par tous les conduits de +son corps. Apres avoir longtems souffert, il tomba dans une extreme +faiblesse et rendit l'ame." The same historian relates the case of a +governor of a town taken by storm, who was condemned to die, but was +seized with a profuse sweating of blood the moment he beheld the scaffold. +Lombard mentions a general who was affected in a similar manner on losing +a battle. The same writer tells us of a nun who was so terrified when +falling into the hands of a ruthless banditti, that blood oozed from every +pore. Henry ab Heer records the case of a man who not only laboured under +diapedesis, but small worms accompanied the bloody secretion. + +In the Memoirs of the Society of Arts of Haarlem, we read of the case of a +sailor, who, falling down during a storm, was raised from the deck +streaming with blood. At first it was supposed that he had been wounded, +but, on close examination, the blood was found to flow from the surface of +the body. Fabricius de Hilden mentions a case that came under the +observation of his friend Sporlinus, a physician of Bale; the patient was +a child of twelve years of age, who never drank any thing but water: +having gone out into the fields to bring home his father's flocks, he +stopped upon the road, and contrary to habit, drank freely of white wine. +He shortly after was seized with fever. His gums first began to bleed, and +soon after an haemorrhage broke out from every part of the integuments, and +from the nose. On the eighth day of the malady he was in a state of +extreme debility, and the body was covered with livid and purple spots, +while every part from whence the blood had exuded was stopped with clots. +A case is also related of a widow of forty-five years of age, who had lost +her only son. She one day fancied that she beheld his apparition +beseeching her to relieve him from purgatory by her prayers, and by +fasting every Friday. The following Friday, in the month of August, a +perspiration tinged with blood broke out. For five successive Fridays the +same phenomenon appeared, when a confirmed diapedesis appeared. The blood +escaped from the upper part of the body, the back of the head, the +temples, the eyes, nose, the breast, and the tips of the fingers. The +disorder disappeared spontaneously on Friday the 8th of March of the +following year. This affection was evidently occasioned by superstitious +fears; and this appears the more probable from the periodicity of the +attacks. The first invasion of the disease might have been purely +accidental; but the regularity of its subsequent appearance on the stated +day of the vision may be attributed to the influence of apprehension. +Bartholinus mentions cases of bloody sweat taking place during vehement +terror and the agonies of torture. + +The case of Catherine Merlin, of Chamberg, is well authenticated, and +worthy of being recorded. She was a woman of forty-six years of age, +strong and hale. She received a kick from a bullock in the epigastric +region, that was followed by vomiting of blood: this discharge having been +suddenly stopped by her medical attendants, the blood made its way through +the pores of various parts of her body, every limb being affected in turn. +The sanguineous discharge was invariably preceded by a prickly and itching +sensation; frequently this itching exudation proceeded from the scalp. +The discharge usually occurred twice in the twenty-four hours; and on +pressing the skin, the flow of blood could be accelerated and increased. + +Dr. Fournier relates the case of a magistrate who was attacked with +diapedesis after any excitement, whether of a pleasurable or a painful +nature. + +A singular idiosyncrasy was transmitted to her male children by an +American Female named Smith, occasioning a severe haemorrhage wherever the +skin was slightly pricked or scratched. This loss of blood would sometimes +continue for several days. Several of her sons sunk under the affection, +which was found at last to yield to the sulphate of soda. What is most +singular, all her daughters were exempted from this fearful +predisposition. + +It is probable that this strange disorder arises from a violent commotion +of the nervous system, turning the streams of blood out of their natural +course, and forcing the red particles into the cutaneous excretories. A +mere relaxation of the fibres could not produce so powerful a revulsion. +It may also arise in cases of extreme debility in connexion with a thinner +condition of the blood. + +Curious cases are recorded of a sandy sweat, in which the perspiration +becomes crystallized on the surface of the skin. Bartholinus, Schunig, and +Mollenbroek have related several cases of the kind. It is probable, as +Mason Good observes, that this morbid secretion may arise from an excess +of uric acid, translated from the kidneys to the skin; this sand is +generally of the same red colour as that of the renal secretions deposited +in a lateritious sediment. + +Scented perspiration is another singular peculiarity. This odour, +frequently unpleasant, has also been known to shed an agreeable aroma, +compared to the perfume of violets, roses, and musk. This quality is +common in various animals; in the _Simia jacchus_, hedgehogs, hares, +serpents, and crocodiles. The _Viverra zibetha_ and _V. civetta_ yield +this odour abundantly; and it has been observed in a faint degree in our +domestic cat. Many insects exhale an agreeable odour; especially the +_Cerambix moschatus_, the _Apis fragrans_, the _Tipula mochifera_. The +_Cerambix suaveolens_ emits a delicious smell of roses, and the Petiolated +sphex a highly fragrant balsamic ether. In the Memoirs of the Queen of +Navarre, we read that Catherine de Medicis was a perfect nosegay; and +Cujacius and Lord Herbert of Cherbury were equally distinguished by the +suavity of their transpiration. + +The general perspiration of every man seems to be of a peculiar nature. +Savages can distinguish their friends and foes by the scent. The boy born +deaf and dumb, whose history is related by Dugald Stewart, distinguished +persons by their odour; and the dealers in hair can ascertain by the smell +the nation to which the hair belongs. + +The quantity of perspiration secreted by a well-grown adult weighing about +one hundred and forty-six pounds, is at the rate of twenty-eight ounces in +the twenty-four hours, sixteen ounces during the period usually allotted +to waking, and twelve ounces during sleep.[49] It is not so much increased +by moderate elevation of temperature as might be imagined; it appears +increased after meals and during sleep. While the skin thus secretes so +considerable a quantity of watery fluid, its powers of absorption are +wonderful, and are frequently resorted to for medicinal purposes. This +absorption evidently tends to assist in repairing the strength. A boy at +Newcastle who had been greatly reduced for a race, gained thirty ounces in +weight in the course of an hour, during which time he had only taken a +glass of wine. Dr. Home, after going to bed much fatigued and supperless, +gained two ounces before the morning. Keill says that one night he gained +eighteen ounces in his sleep. Immersion in water and damp air materially +increases this power. Frogs, toads, even lizards, increase in weight +although only partially dipped in water; and remarkably so if previously +deprived of part of their moisture by exposure to air. The power of +absorbing medicinal substances when immersed in their solution has been +demonstrated by Dr. Massy, an American physician, who found that if the +body was immersed in a decoction of madder,[50] this substance immediately +tinged the renal secretion. Dr. Rousseau made a similar experiment with +rhubarb. It is now clearly demonstrated that friction is not necessary to +produce absorption. + +The keenness of the deaf and dumb boy in ascertaining the effluvium of +various individuals, to which I have alluded, induces me to give a short +sketch of this curious individual. His name was James Mitchell; and having +no other source by which he could discover or keep up a connexion with +surrounding objects than those of smell, taste, and touch, he depended +chiefly upon the first, like a domestic dog, in distinguishing persons +and things. By this sense he identified his friends and relations; and +conceived a sudden attachment or dislike to strangers. It was difficult, +however, to ascertain at what distance he could thus exercise this +faculty; but, from Mr. Wardrop's observations, it appears that he +possessed it at a considerable distance. This was particularly striking +when a person entered the room, as he seemed to be aware of this before he +could derive any information from any sense than that of smell. When a +stranger approached him, he eagerly began to touch some part of the body, +commonly taking hold of his arm, which he held near his nose; and, after +two or three strong inspirations through the nostrils, he appeared to form +a decided opinion concerning him. If it were favourable, he showed a +disposition to become more intimate, examined more minutely his dress, and +expressed in his countenance more or less satisfaction; but if it happened +to be unfavourable, he suddenly went off to a distance, with expressions +of carelessness or disgust. + + + + +SMALLPOX. + + +The first description we have of this dreadful disease is to be found in +the writings of Almansor of Rhazes, published about the end of the ninth +or the beginning of the tenth century. He, however, quotes an Alexandrian +physician of the name of Aaron, who had treated the same subject so early +as the year 622. There is no substantial ground to warrant a belief that +it was known to the Greeks or Romans. The opinion of Hahn, who considered +it to have been their anthrax, is absurd. Had this pestilence prevailed +amongst the ancients, and left the traces of its ravages,--which have +marked most fearfully so many individuals,--it is probable that these +impressions would have been attached to their names, as they were in the +habit of designating many of their illustrious personages by their +physical peculiarities, either natural or accidental. Hence we find +Ovidius _Naso_, Tullius _Cicero_, Horatius _Cocles_, Scipio _Nasica_, +Curius _Dentatus_. + +The term _variolae_, which this disease bears, was first applied to a +malady presenting the same symptoms, by Marius, bishop of Avanches, and +appears to be derived from _varius_, spotted. Howbeit, to whatever region +we may be indebted for this scourge, it appears that it existed in Asia, +and especially in China, long before its introduction into Europe. About +the middle of the sixth century, it was supposed to have been carried from +India to Arabia by trading vessels, where no doubt the Arabian and +Saracenic armies introduced it into the Levant, Spain, and Sicily. In 640, +under the caliphate of Omar, the Saracens spread the contagion over Syria, +Chaldaea, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Persia. Its appearance in Europe may be +referred to the eighth century. In the ninth century, as I have stated, we +find it described by the Arabian physicians. In the tenth century we find +it described by other Arabian writers, chiefly Avicenna and Hali Abbas. In +962, Count Baudouin of Flanders, died from its attack. It appears certain +that it prevailed in Gaul long before; we find in the works of Marius, +already mentioned, the following passage: "Hoc anno (570) morbus validus, +cum profluvio ventris et _variolis_, Italiam Galliamque valde afflixit." +About the same period we find Dagobert and Clodobert, sons of Chilperic, +falling victims to the disorder; and Austregilda, wife of Gontran King of +Burgundy, died of it in 580, at the age of thirty-two, so enraged with her +physicians, Nicholas and Donet, that she insisted that they should +accompany her to the other world, to reward them for causing her untimely +end. Her affectionate and disconsolate husband Gontran of course had both +their throats cut upon her tomb. + +In the eleventh and twelfth centuries we find the smallpox in all the +southern parts of Europe. The north was for a long time tolerably exempted +from the scourge, until the Holy War introduced it into those regions; and +it appears to have been the only trophy that the English and Germans +brought home to commemorate their exploits in the Crusades. + +In the thirteenth century the Muscovites, Laplanders, and Norwegians were +free from the disorder, the progress of which seemed to have been delayed +by the cold; although at the same time, according to the relation of +Gordon, it was most destructive all over France. Most physicians at this +period partook of the opinion of the Arabians, who considered the disease +as being in the blood, thrown by it into a state of ebullition, +particularly in childhood and youth. According to the Arabian Auaron, or +Ahron, it sometimes affected the same individual twice. This doctrine of +the boiling up and bubbling forth of the blood to throw out its peccant +qualities, tended not a little to increase the mortality and exasperate +the disease; as the physicians, to encourage this concoction, were in the +habit of wrapping up their patients in warm clothing, and keeping their +apartments as hot as possible;--a fatal practice that subsequent +experience has rejected as destructive. + +In 1517 the Spaniards carried it to St. Domingo, nearly depopulating the +country. South America soon received this additional visitation, said to +have been carried amongst them by a negro. So terrific were the ravages of +this pestilence, that the Americans considered its invasion as one of the +_data_ of their melancholy chronicles. The brother of the noble Montezuma +was one of its earliest victims; worthy attendant on the Spanish banners, +it accompanied their detested hordes in all their conquests. + +The northern districts of America were free from the contagion, when the +English carried it with their commercial productions amongst the natives +of Boston in 1649, and subsequently to Virginia and Carolina, and the +remaining provinces. The Spaniards infected Nootka Sound, and the Russians +desolated Kamtschatka about the same period. + +Inoculation appears nearly as ancient as the disease, if we can credit the +missionaries, who were sent into China by the Church of Rome, and who, +from their address and insinuation, gained access to the historical +records: they have transmitted detailed accounts of the history of the +Chinese, and of their knowledge in various branches of science. There is a +memoir written on the smallpox by the missionaries at Pekin, the substance +of which is extracted from Chinese medical books, and especially from a +work published by the Imperial College of Medicine, for the instruction of +the physicians of the empire. This book is entitled _Teou-tchin-fa_, or a +treatise from the heart to the smallpox; which states that the disease was +unknown in the very early ages, and did not appear until the dynasty of +Tcheou, which was about 1122 years before Christ. The Chinese name for the +malady is a singular one, _Tai-tou_, or venom from the mother's breast; +and a description is given of the fever, the eruption of the pustules, +their increase, flattening, and crusting. In the same Chinese book there +is also an account of a species of inoculation discovered seven centuries +previously; but, according to a tradition, it had been revealed in the +dynasty of Long, that is, about 590 years before Christ. Father +d'Entrecolles, the Jesuit, in his correspondence from China, gives some +information respecting the smallpox, which confirms the material part of +the above information; for he notices having read some Chinese work which +mentions the smallpox as a disease of the earliest ages. He also describes +a method of communicating the disease, which was called _sowing the +smallpox_; this was generally performed by planting some of the crusts +upon the nose,--an operation which was approved of by some but disapproved +by others. + +Although the tradition of the smallpox being a disease originally +transmitted to man by camels may be fanciful, yet the existence of the +vaccine in cows might give some probability to its having been the case. +Moore thus expresses himself on the subject: "This notion probably took +its rise from the circumstance that land commerce from Egypt to India was +only practicable by means of this animal. But such kind of traffic was +tedious and difficult, and it is conjectured that no person known to have +the smallpox would ever have been suffered to join himself to a caravan." +Now this observation would rather confirm the fact than invalidate it; +since, if no individual affected with the malady could have carried the +contagion, the disease might have been spread by their camels. + +In regard to the antiquity of the practice of inoculation amongst the +Chinese, I cannot do better than give Mr. Moore's own words on so very +interesting a subject. "No account is handed down of the origin of this +custom; but the reverence in which agriculture is held by the Chinese may +have suggested the name (sowing of the smallpox) and the usual manner of +performing the operation: for they took a few full dried smallpox crusts, +as if they were seeds, and planted them in the nose; a bit of musk was +added in order to correct the virulence of the poison, and the whole was +wrapped up in a bit of cotton to prevent it dropping from the nostrils. +The crusts employed were always taken from a healthy person who had had +the smallpox favourably; and, with the vain hope of mitigating their +acrimony, they were sometimes kept in close jars for years, and at other +times fumigated with salutary plants. Some physicians beat these crusts +into powder, and advised their patients to take a pinch of this snuff; and +when they could not prevail upon them, they mixed it with water into a +paste, and applied it in that form. In Hindostan, if tradition may be +relied upon, inoculation has been practised from remote antiquity. The +practice was in the hands of a particular tribe of Brahmins, who were +delegated from various religious colleges, and who travelled through the +provinces for this purpose. The natives were strictly enjoined to abstain +during a preparatory month from milk and butter; and, when the Arabians +and Portuguese appeared in that country, they were prohibited from taking +animal food also. These were commonly inoculated on the arm; but the +girls, not liking to have their arms disfigured, chose that it should be +done low on the shoulder: and whatever part was fixed upon was well rubbed +with a piece of cloth, which afterwards became a perquisite of the +Brahmin. He then made a few slight scratches on the skin with a sharp +instrument, and took a bit of cotton, which had been soaked the preceding +year in variolous matter, moistened it with a drop or two of the holy +water of the Ganges, and bound it upon the punctures. During the whole of +this ceremony, the Brahmin always preserved a solemn countenance, and +recited the prayers appointed in the _Attharna Veda_, to propitiate the +goddess who superintended the smallpox. The Brahmin then gave his +instructions, which were regularly observed. In six hours the bandage was +to be taken off, and the pledget allowed to drop spontaneously. Early next +morning, cold water was to be poured upon the patient's head and +shoulders, and this was to be repeated until the fever came on. The +ablution was then to be omitted; but, as soon as the eruption appeared, it +was to be resumed and persevered in every morning and evening till the +crusts should fall off. Confinement to the house was absolutely forbidden; +the inoculated were to be freely exposed to every air that blew; but when +the fever was upon them, they were sometimes permitted to lie on a mat at +the door. Their regimen was to consist of the most refrigerating +productions of the climate; as plantains, water-melons, thin gruel made of +rice or poppy-seeds, cold water, and rice." + +While sowing the disease was thus prevalent in some countries, selling and +buying it was adopted in others, when children bartered fruit in exchange +for the infection. It does not appear that the faculty took any notice of +inoculation until the year 1703, when Dr. Emmanuel Timoni Alpeck wrote an +account of his observations in Constantinople, in a letter to Woodward: a +Venetian physician, of the name of Pylamus, about the same time noticed +the success of the practice in Turkey. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu pursued +the inquiry in her voyage to that country, by causing her son Edward to be +inoculated by Maitland, surgeon to the embassy, and, on her return to +England in 1722, had the operation tried with successful results on her +daughter. Still, although two of the princesses of the royal family had +also been inoculated with equal benefit, inoculation was furiously opposed +by the profession, and even from the pulpit; and so successful was this +opposition, that it succeeded in bringing it into disuse both in England +and throughout Europe, many cases of smallpox of a confluent character +having made their appearance after inoculation, and in 1740 the practice +had nearly fallen into disuse. In this virulent controversy, a singular +circumstance was observed: while regular practitioners stated the practice +to be unsuccessful, whenever it was adopted by quacks, monks, and old +women, the result was invariably favourable; and the report that reached +Europe of a Carmelite friar having inoculated thousands of Indians, an old +woman being equally fortunate in Greece, while at the same time a planter +in St. Christopher's inoculated three hundred persons without the loss of +a single patient, the practice was again resumed, chiefly in our seaports, +and gradually extended over the country. Mead materially assisted its +progress by stating that the Circassian ladies chiefly owed their beauty +to this salutary preservative. In the year 1763, Daniel Sutton, son of a +surgeon in Suffolk, recommended the practice, modified, however, in the +treatment of the malady, and brought inoculation into general repute. + +It appears, however, that inoculation was by no means a novel introduction +even in England, as it had been long practised in Pembrokeshire and +several parts of Wales. On the Continent it had been tried at Cleves. +Bartholinus mentions it as adopted in Denmark; and traces of its adoption +were evident in Auvergne and Perigord. + +Various modes of performing this operation were adopted. The Arabians +inserted the virus with a pointed instrument between the thumb and the +index; the Georgians on the fore-arm; and the Armenians on the thigh. The +traveller Motraye mentions a Circassian old woman who used to inoculate +with three pins tied together. It appears that this practice was generally +prevalent in Turkey in 1673. Trinoni and Pilarini observed that the +natural smallpox was generally fatal in Constantinople, while the disease +produced artificially was most benign. Bruce relates that from time +immemorial inoculation was practised in Nubia by old Negresses or Arabs. + +Strange to say, it was only in 1727 that inoculation became general in +France; and its adoption was materially forwarded by Voltaire, who also +took special care to acquaint the fair sex that it was to this practice +that the Circassian and Georgian odalisks owed their beauty. + +The terrific mortality that attended this disease was much increased by +the injudicious treatment to which patients were submitted. Instead of +adopting the natural plan resorted to by eastern nations, and allowing +the patients a free current of air, with a refrigerant diet, cordials and +a hot regimen were enforced, under which the disorder soon assumed a +destructive malignity. Cold affusion, which has also been extolled by +modern physicians as a recent improvement in medical practice, we have +seen, was also employed centuries ago. Sutton, who is generally, but +erroneously, considered as being the introducer of inoculation, did +nothing more, as I have already observed, than modify the treatment of the +disorder. Thus do we daily see impudence and quackery receiving rewards +for supposed discoveries, and the keepers of the public purse on such +occasions seem much less careful of it than of their own. In our days, for +instance, chain-cables have been decreed a discovery, and their inventor +entitled to a national recompence, whereas we read the following passage +in Caesar's Commentaries, when speaking of the shipping of the +Gauls,--"Anchorae, pro funibus, ferreis catenis revinctae:" any schoolboy +could have given this information to our sapient legislators. + +The reappearance or supposed increased prevalence of the smallpox after +vaccination, for the last few years, may call for some observation. Ever +since the year 1804 a belief was entertained by many persons that the +cowpox only afforded a temporary security. This doubt, however, never did +rest upon any solid foundation. Dr. Jenner maintained in the most +strenuous manner, that to render the cowpox efficient, it was absolutely +necessary to attend most carefully to the character of the pustule, and +the time and quality of the lymph taken from it; on the very same +principle inoculation of the smallpox also failed. For it must be clearly +understood, that Jenner considered the smallpox and the cowpox as identic +maladies, and by no means dissimilar in their nature: on this important +subject I feel much gratification in quoting a passage from a late +valuable publication,[51] to which I refer the reader. "It was then +clearly ascertained, that there were deviations from the usual course of +smallpox, which were quite as common and infinitely more disastrous than +those which took place in vaccination. These deviations regarded two +apparently different states of the constitution. In the one the +susceptibility of smallpox, was not taken away by previous infection, +while, on the other hand some constitutions seem to be unsusceptible of +smallpox infection altogether. It was found, that similar occurrences +took place in the practice of vaccination, but as the security which the +latter afforded was never more likely to be interfered with by slight +causes than the former, it became absolutely necessary that great care +should be shown in watching the progress and character of the pustule. Dr. +Jenner had from the beginning felt the propriety of this watchfulness; and +had distinctly announced that it was possible to propagate an infection by +inoculation conveying different degrees of security, according as that +affection approached to or receded from the full and perfect standard. He +also clearly stated that the cause of the vaccine pustule might be so +modified as to deprive it of its efficacy. That inoculation from such a +source might communicate an inefficient protection, and that all those who +were thus vaccinated were more or less liable to the subsequent smallpox." + +Dr. Bacon is of opinion that the cowpox is now what it was at the +beginning. There are instances, in which it has passed from one human +subject to another for more than thirty years, consequently through +fifteen or sixteen hundred individuals, but yet in which no degeneration +has taken place. He nevertheless admits that recent lymph from the cow +should be preferred, when it can be procured; he is further of opinion +that the occurrence of smallpox after inoculation does not exceed in +number the cases of smallpox after smallpox. My own experience confirms +these views. I was in practice in Bordeaux during the prevalence of what +is called smallpox in vaccinated cases,--the cases were rare, doubtful, +and very seldom fatal. + +There is little doubt that the smallpox would sweep away thousands of our +dense population but for the protecting power of vaccination, the failure +of which, ought more frequently to be attributed to the vaccinator, or the +constitution of the patient, than to Jenner's immortal discovery. Dr. +Severn has just published an essay on this most important subject, and it +appears by his statistical tables, that such has been the decrease of +mortality since the introduction of vaccination, that the number of +patients admitted into the smallpox hospital from 1775 to 1800,--were +7017--the deaths 2277--whereas from the year 1800 to the year 1825, the +number admitted was 3943, and the deaths 1118--not half the number, +although the population of London had doubled during that period. Dr. +Severn further calculates that the proportion of failures is 6 in 3000. + +We read with feelings of deep regret in his late bibliography, that the +man at whose intercession the magic of his name obtained the liberation of +Napoleon's prisoners, could not obtain an appointment for the members of +his own family from the British Government; nay, the College of Physicians +despite the exertions of Dr. Baillie, refused to admit him to a fellowship +in their learned body. It was when reflecting on such national +ingratitude, that he wrote to a friend, "Never aim, my friend at being a +public character, if you love domestic peace." And not long before he +terminated his invaluable career he made this remarkable expression: "I am +not surprised that men are not thankful to me; but I wonder that they are +not grateful to God for the good which he has made me the instrument of +conveying to my fellow-creatures." + +It is in vain that France with her usual _jactance_ pretends that the +first idea of vaccination arose in that country, they have no more claim +to the discovery than their Marshals to Wellington's immortal glory. + + + + +GENERATIVE ANIMALCULES. + + +Microscopic experiments daily demonstrate the existence of myriads of +animalcules in every substance. They have recently been discovered in the +progress of certain crystallizations; and some philosophers maintain that +most inorganic bodies are formed of the remains of organic substances. The +existence of animalcules in the generative secretion was first noticed by +Lewis Hamme, a young German student, and shown by him to Leeuwenhoeck, who +published an account of them. Hartzoeken wrote upon the subject the +following year, and asserted that he had seen these animalcules three +years before they had been observed by Hamme. This curious subject soon +attracted the notice, not only of physiologists, but of priests, artists, +and even courtiers, for we find our Charles II. making curious inquiries +on this investigation. Although many opticians could not discover these +creatures, the eyes of courtiers were more keen than theirs, and to +gratify their royal master's depravity, described them most minutely. +Their length was 3/100000 of an inch, their bulk such as to admit the +existence of 216,000 in a sphere whose diameter was the breadth of a hair, +and their rate of travelling nine inches in the hour. They saw them in +the seminal secretion of every animal; and, what was still more +remarkable, they were of a similar size whatever might have been that of +the animal: they saw them in the sprat and in the whale; they could +distinguish the male from the female; and they all moved along in +gregarious harmony like a flock of sheep: nay, more; Dalenpatius actually +saw one of them, more impatient than his companions, burst from his +ignoble shackles, and actually assume the human form. At other times they +were discovered swimming in shoals to given points, turning back, +separating, meeting again, and frisking about like golden fish in a pond. +Kauw, Boerhaave, Maupertius, Lieuland, Ledermuller, Monro, Nicholas, +Haller, and indeed most of the philosophers of Europe, were convinced of +their existence. + +Buffon, however, and other naturalists, contended that these were not +animalcules, but organic particles; and Linnaeus imagined them to be inert +molecules, thrown into agitation by the warmth of the fluid. Finally, to +determine the question, Spallanzani began an assiduous course of +observations and experiments. He found these animalcules in the human +species to be of an oval form, with a tail tapering to a point. This +appendage, by moving from side to side, propelled them forward. They were +in constant motion in every direction. In about twenty-three minutes their +movements became more languid, and in two or three hours they generally +died. The duration of their life, however seemed to depend, in a great +measure, on the temperature of the medium: at 2 deg. (Reaumur) they died +in three quarters of an hour; while at 7 deg. they lived two hours, and at +12-1/2 deg. three hours and three quarters. If the cold was not too +intense, they recovered upon the temperature being raised; when only 3 deg. +or 4 deg., they recovered after a lethargy of fourteen hours; and according +to the less intensity of the cold, they might be made to pass from the +torpid to the active state more frequently. They were destroyed by river, +ice, snow, and rain water; by sulphur, tobacco, camphor, and electricity; +even the air was injurious to them: in close vessels their life was +prolonged to some days, and their movements were not constant and hurried. +They were of various sizes, and perfectly distinct from all species of +animalcules found in vegetable infusions, &c. In short, Spallanzani +completely confirmed the principal observations of Leeuwenhoeck, and +satisfactorily explained the sources of the inaccuracies of other +inquirers. Prevost and Dumas have recently confirmed the observations of +the Italian physiologist. + +This doctrine of life being perpetuated by the transmission of animated +particles, or animalcules, is by no means of modern date. We find this +theory advanced by Hippocrates, and Aristotle, and Plato. Democritus +described worms that assumed, in the progress of their development, the +human form; and Lactantius thus refuted his ideas: "Erravit ergo +Democritus, qui vermiculorum modo putavit homines effusos esse de terra, +nullo auctore, nullaque ratione." Hippocrates plainly says, that the +seminal secretion was full of animalcules, whose several parts were +developed, and grew afresh; that nothing did exist that had not +pre-existed; and that what we term birth was nothing more than that +transition of these hitherto imperceptible animalcules from darkness to +light. + +Gesner has endeavoured to prove that the word [Greek: psyche], so +frequently found in the writings of Hippocrates, and translated _anima_, +was synonymous with _insectum_, _animalculum_, _papilio_. Plato, when +expressing himself on this curious subject, compares the matrix to a +fertile field, in which animalcules are gradually developed, at first of +such a small size that they are imperceptible, but, by taking the food +prepared for them, grow in strength until they are brought to light in a +state of perfect generation; and St. Augustine thus follows: "Hunc +perfectionis modum sic habent omnes ut cum illo concipiantur atque +nascuntur; sed habent in ratione, non in mole, sicut ipsa jam membra omnia +sunt latenter in semine; cum etiam natis nonnulla desint, sicut dentes, ac +si quid ejusmodi." In the works of Seneca we also find the same notions: +"In semine omnis futuri hominis ratio comprehensa est, et legem barbae et +canorum nondum natus infans habet; totius enim corporis, et sequentis +aetatis, in parvo occultoque lineamenta sunt." + +It may be said that these opinions were similar to those of the +_Ovarians_, who, as we have observed already, believed that every thing +arose from the egg. Such were Aristotle, Empedocles, and other +philosophers: "For the egg is the conception," said the first of these +great men, "and after the same manner the animal is created;" but there +was a manifest difference in their systems. Harvey, Haller, De Graef, were +amongst the most warm advocates of this doctrine, which indeed prevails to +the present day, as it would be difficult to find organized beings that +did not spring from an original germ. + +It thus appears that, notwithstanding the absurd doctrines of generation +being founded upon the existence of these animalcules, they clearly do +exist. Modern microscopic experiments daily confirm the fact; not only in +the generative secretion, but in the other fluids of the body: creatures +of an inch to an inch and a quarter in length have been found to inhabit +the mesenteric arteries of asses and horses. Mr. Hodgson found them in +seven asses out of nine. They have also been found in the blood of female +frogs, salamanders, and tadpoles. What wonders are perhaps in store for +the microscopic observer and the physiologist! All living matter seems to +be animated by particles, by atoms, equally possessed of life. Does the +vitality of these constituent molecules hold any influence over our +existence? Is their life necessary to the preservation of ours? Is any +agency destructive to them injurious or destructive to us? In a former +paper I have recorded recent observations, where animalcules of a peculiar +description were found in the purulent secretion attending various +affections. A morbid condition seems thus to produce a new series of +animated beings, or this new series of living atoms perhaps have produced +a morbid state. Many eruptive maladies are either caused by the presence +of insects, or insects are subsequently developed in their pustules. +Wichmann, and many other physicians, have maintained that the itch was +produced by an insect of the genus _acarus_, or _tick_. + +Latreille has given a minute description of this creature in his _Genera +crustaceorum et insectorum_, and calls this offensive species the +_sarcoptes scabiei_. Linnaeus classed it among the _aptera_, and termed it +the _acarus scabiei_. This insect is nearly round, with eight legs; the +four fore-legs terminated with a small head, the hind ones with a silky +filament. The Arabian Avenzoar had long since observed them, and it was +from his writings that Mouffet was induced to pursue the inquiry. Redi, an +Italian physician, was the first propagator of this doctrine in modern +times, and published, in 1685, a paper of Cestoni of Leghorn, who had +frequently observed mendicants and galley-slaves extracting these insects +from the pustules of itch with the point of a pin, in the same manner as +_chigoes_ are extracted from their cyst in the West Indies. + +It was this communication of Cestoni that led to a further and more minute +investigation. Curiosity was every where excited, and the most learned +and intelligent naturalists and physicians, amongst whom we find the +illustrious names of Borelli, Etmuller, Mead, Pringle, Pallas, Bonani, +Linnaeus, Morgagni, strove with incessant diligence to ascertain this +important fact, which certainly was likely to shed a new light on our +pathological speculations. The existence of the acarus was established. + +The most conclusive experiments on the subject were those of Gales, in +1812. The following is the account of them: "I placed under a microscope a +watch-glass with a drop of distilled water, after having carefully +ascertained that it did not contain any visible animalcules. I then +extracted from an itch pustule a small portion of the virus, which I +diluted in the water with the point of a lancet. I watched most +attentively for upwards of ten minutes, without having been able to notice +any animation. Two similar experiments were equally ineffectual. +Disappointed in my expectations, I was about giving up the task, when an +idea struck me of submitting the liquid of the first experiment to another +trial. I had left it in the watch-glass, exposed to solar heat. I then was +not a little surprised when I discovered a perfect insect struggling with +its legs to extricate itself from the viscid fluid that confined it. +Having succeeded in reaching a more limpid part of the liquor, its form +was so distinct that Mr. Patrix, who was with me, was enabled to take an +exact drawing of its configuration." + +This curious result naturally induced Gales to pursue his inquiries, and +he discovered that this insect chiefly occupies the pustules that are +filled with a thin serum, and avoids those that contain a thicker +secretion. Hence the watery pimples in itch are invariably those that +produce the most intolerable prurience. + +The next important question was to decide whether this insect was the +cause of the disgusting disorder. For this purpose Gales placed several of +them on the back of his hand. He then covered the part with a small +watch-glass, kept in place with a bandage. Three hours after he awoke, +experiencing a sensation of itching on the part. The following morning +three itch pustules were evident, and convinced him that he had succeeded +in inoculating himself with the loathsome complaint. This fact he +communicated to Olivier, Dumeril, Latreille, and Richerand. Experiments in +the hospital were immediately directed to be made, and all produced a +similar result; affording a convincing proof that these insects could +produce the affection, which they had merely been thought to have +complicated. + +Many writers, who, like Mason Good, had decided that "whenever these +insects appear, they are not a cause but a consequence of the disease," +opposed and contradicted the statement of Gales, and the numerous +practitioners who had procured and witnessed facts, which are never +"stubborn things" to speculative minds. These writers maintained that +whenever any organ was weakened, or in a morbid condition, it was apt to +become a nidus for some insects or worms to burrow in. Hence the numerous +varieties of invermination in debility of the digestive organs. But it is +needless to observe that their objections cannot stand against the +imbodied evidence brought forward in proof of their error. Bosc, Huzard, +Latreille, Dumeril, and many other naturalists, subsequently found these +acari in the eruptive diseases of many animals. + +I repeat it, this subject is replete with interest; and microscopic +experiments may some time or other throw a material light on the practice +of medicine. Those substances that are known to destroy the insect that +produces the itch, cure the malady. May not this analogy lead to singular +results? + + + + +CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD. + + +The circulation of the blood was first taught by the unfortunate Servetus +in 1553, who was burnt to death as a heretic; and, a century afterwards, +demonstrated by our Harvey, who is justly considered as having discovered +the wonderful mechanism of the motion of the vital fluid. + +There is no doubt, however, that the ancients had formed, if not a +correct, at least an ingenious, idea of it. Hippocrates tells us "that all +the veins communicate with each other, and flow from one vessel into +others; and that all the veins that are spread over the body carry a flux +and movement originating in a single vessel." He avows that he is ignorant +of the principle whence it arises, or of its termination, it appearing +to be a circle without beginning or end. He further states, that the heart +is the source of the arteries, through which blood is carried over the +body, communicating life and heat; and he adds, that they are so many +rivulets that irrigate the system, and carry vitality into every part: the +heart and veins are in constant motion; and he compares the circulation of +blood to the course of rivers, that return to their source by +extraordinary deviations. He therefore directs blood-letting to restore a +free current of the blood and other spirits in apoplexies and other +diseases of a similar nature, which he attributed to obstruction in the +vessels intercepting the flow of their contents. He also observes, that +when bile enters the blood, it deranges its consistence, and disturbs its +ordinary course towards another point: and he compares the circulation to +balls of thread, the threads of which return to each other in a circuitous +manner, terminating at the point whence their motion arose. + +Plato thought that the heart was the source of the veins, and of the +blood, that was rapidly borne to every part of the body. Aristotle tells +us that the heart is the principle and source of the veins and of the +blood. He considered that there were two veins proceeding from this organ, +one from the left side, the other from the right; the first he termed +_aorta_: and he further maintained that the arteries communicated with the +veins, with which they were intimately connected. + +Julius Pollux taught, in his _Gnomasticon_, that the arteries are the +channels through which the spirits circulate as the veins propel the +blood; and he describes the heart as having two cavities, one +communicating with the arteries, and the other with the veins. Apuleius +tells his disciples that the heart propels the blood through the lungs, to +be afterwards distributed over the system. + +In the writings of Nemesius, bishop of Emissa, we read that the movement +observed in the pulse originates in the heart, chiefly from the artery of +the left ventricle of the viscus. This artery is dilated, and then +contracted, by a constant and powerful harmonious action. When dilated the +vessel draws towards it the most subtile portions of the neighbouring +blood, and the vapour or exhalation of this fluid, that feeds the animal +spirits; but when it contracts, it exhales, through various channels of +the body, all the vapours that it contains. + +Strange as it may appear, doubts were once entertained as to the actual +situation of the heart, whether it was lodged in the right or the left +side of the body. The question was finally settled by a professor of +Heidelberg, who for the purpose killed a pig in the presence of the +Margrave of Baden, Durlach, who then laboured under a supposed disease of +that organ, which it was then clearly shown occupied the left side. The +result of this experiment, however proved somewhat detrimental to his +Highness's physician, who was dismissed, although he maintained with all +becoming courtesy and respect, that the heart of his princely master could +not _possibly be_ in the same position as that of a hog. + +Michael Servetus, in his work, _De Christianismi restitutione_, also in +the 7th book, _De Trinitate Divina_, for which he was sentenced to the +stake a very short time after its publication, gives us the following +description of this important function: The blood, which is a vital +spirit, is diffused all over the body by _anastomoses_, or inosculation of +two vessels through their extremities. The air in the lungs contributes to +the elaboration of the blood, which it draws for that purpose from the +right ventricle of the heart through the pulmonary artery. This blood is +prepared in the lungs by a movement of the air that agitates it, +subtilizes it, and, finally, mingles it with that vital spirit which is +afterwards retransmitted to the heart by the movement of the diastole, as +a vital fluid proper to maintain life. This communication and preparation +of the blood, he further states, is rendered evident by the union of the +arteries and veins in this organ; and he concludes by affirming that the +heart, having thus received the blood prepared by the lungs, transmits it +through the artery of the left ventricle, or the aorta, to every part of +the body. + +Great care was of course taken to destroy this abominable heretical +publication, which was burnt by the common hangman in Geneva, Frankfort, +and several provinces of France. The work thence became so scarce, that it +is said only three or four copies of it are in existence. One of them was +in the library of the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel. + +John Leonicenus relates that the celebrated Paul Sarpi otherwise named Fra +Paolo, had also discovered this circulation, and demonstrated the valves +of the veins, which open to afford a free passage to the blood, and close +to prevent its return. This discovery, it is pretended, was made known to +Fabricius ab Aquapendente, professor of medicine in Padua in the sixteenth +century, and successor of Fallopius, and who communicated the fact to +Harvey, then a student in that university. + +Some time before Harvey's discovery, Cesalpinus had described with great +precision the pulmonary circulation; and, on finding that veins swelled +under a ligature, he attributed this enlargement to the warmth of the +blood. This warmth, he says, proceeds from a spirit residing in the blood. +The left ventricle is filled with blood of a spirituous nature; and one +can trace the movement of the blood towards the superior parts, and its +return (_retrocessus_) to the internal ones,--that is to say, a return by +which it comes back from the extremities to the heart, when awake or +sleeping, from every part of the body; for if you tie the vessels, or if +they are obstructed, the current of the blood is stopped, and then their +smaller ramifications tumefy towards their origin. The following are his +words: "Sic non obscurus est ejusmodi motus in quacumque corporis parte, +si vinculum adhibeatur, aut alia ratione occludantur venae: cum enim +tollitur permeatio, intumescunt rivuli qua parte fluere solent." From +these expressions it is clear that Cesalpinus suspected the great +circulation, and had a fair idea of its nature; yet there is no doubt but +that it was to our Harvey that the first demonstration of this wondrous +function was reserved. + + + + +DRUNKENNESS. + + +At all periods this degrading vice appears to have been more or less +prevalent. We find it frequently mentioned in the early history of the +Jews. Tacitus informs us that it was common amongst the ancient Germans; +and in Greece and Rome it was not only common, but frequently extolled as +beneficial--as medicinal: + + Si nocturna tibi noceat potatio vini, + Hora matutina rebibas, et erit medicina. + +Socrates considered the indulgence in wine pardonable. Thus, C. Gallus: + + Hoc quoque virtutem quondam certamine, magnum + Socratem palmam promeruisse ferunt. + +According to Horace, Cato the Censor had often recourse to its +exhilarating virtues: + + Narratur et prisci Catonis + Saepe mero incaluisse virtus. + +Seneca informs us that even the Roman ladies frequently indulged in these +potations. The drunkenness of the ancients bore all the disgusting +character of the present day, and was thus admirably described by +Lucretius: + + Cum vini penetravit-- + Consequitur gravitas membrorum, praepediuntur + Crura vacillanti, tardescit lingua, madet mens, + Nant oculi; clamor, singultus, jurgia gliscunt. + +However, from the language of the ancients, we cannot come to the +conclusion that Socrates, and other great men who were accused of +inebriety, were habitual drunkards, or even that, under the influence of +their potations, they were occasionally deprived of their reason. On the +contrary, there is every reason to believe that the ancients both ate and +drank a great deal during their repasts; and thus mingling their wine and +their food, like most of the continental nations, they were less subject +to the inconveniences that arose from their indulgence in liquor. Indeed, +the term sobriety applies to a proper regulation of our ingesta, according +to our constitution and our state of health. Extreme abstinence on some +occasions may prove as prejudicial as intemperance; and there are peculiar +idiosyncrasies where a certain quantity of stimulus is absolutely +requisite to keep up the animal spirits, and at the same time assist +assimilations which become languid under mental depression. No doubt, this +necessity has arisen from habit,--most probably a very bad habit; still, +when it does exist, physicians should be cautious in suddenly forbidding +customary indulgences: we must also consider on such occasions the +pursuits of different individuals. The laborious classes, who require more +frequent refection, from the constant exhaustion to which their avocations +expose them, can bear with impunity a moderate use of strong liquors. Such +a practice would destroy the sedentary and the studious. Temperance is +essentially requisite to perfect not only our intellectual faculties, but +many of our physical functions. The senses both of man and the brute +creation are rendered much more keen by abstinence. The scent of the dog, +the vision of the hawk, are less acute after feeding; and this is one of +the chief causes of the greater perspicuity in our ideas when fasting in +the morning. The ancients had an axiom founded upon observation, "_if you +wish to become robust, eat and labour; if you wish to become wise, fast +and meditate_." The Greeks called sobriety, [Greek: sophrosune]; or, +according to Aristotle, as though they said, [Greek: sozousan ten +phronesin], it assisted our intellectuals. Plato tells us that Socrates +termed this quality [Greek: soterian tes psroneseos], or the health of the +mind. Xenophon maintained that it prevented men from spitting or blowing +their noses, as we were not in need of superfluities when we decreased the +consumption of what was necessary. The ancients looked upon sobriety as a +bent bow, that required occasional relaxation. + +It is said, but I know not on what authority, that Hippocrates recommended +an indulgence in potations once a month. Celsus recommends persons in +perfect health not to be too rigorous in their diet; sometimes to fast, +and at others to live more freely. In more modern times this supposed +precept of Hippocrates has been advocated, and we find two theses on the +subject, entitled "_Non ergo singulis mensibus repetita ebrietas +salubris_," and "_Non ergo unquam ebrietas salubris_," by Hammet and +Langlois. Zacchias, in his medical questions, asks if a physician can +recommend such a departure from the laws of temperance without committing +a sin. This query has been also debated by divines. Frederick Hoffmann +maintained that poets required this indulgence, and attributes in a great +measure the falling off of genius amongst the modern Greeks to the +destruction of their vineyards by the Turks. In ancient Iconography we +oftentimes find Bacchus placed near Minerva. The allusions of Heathen +mythology to drunkenness, its effects, and the means of tempering its +influence, are curious. Silenus, the preceptor of Bacchus, although +represented as always intoxicated, was a philosopher, who accompanied his +pupil in his Indian expedition, and aided him by the soundness of his +judgment. Virgil makes him deliver the principles of the epicurean +doctrines on the formation of the world, and the nature of things. Aelian +gives us his conversation with Midas regarding the unknown world of Plato +and other philosophers. He was also considered an able warrior and a wit. +Aelian derives his name from _Sillainein_. The nymphs who follow his train +were considered as typical of the water necessary to dilute his potations, +and the influence of love in checking intemperance. + +Montaigne informs us that the celebrated Sylvius recommended an occasional +debauch; and the late Dr. Gregory was of opinion than an occasional excess +is, upon the whole, less injurious to the constitution than the practice +of daily taking a moderate quantity of any fermented liquor or spirit. +Experience, however, does not uphold the doctor's opinion; and, as I have +observed in a preceding article, occasional excesses are far more +injurious than habitual indulgences, under which, in the most +unfavourable climates, men attain advanced years. An occasional excess +actually brings on a state of sickness, which, in persons habitually +sober, may not only last for several days, incapacitating them from any +pursuit, but be frequently followed by serious accidents. Of course I am +not alluding to a constant state of intoxication, which will often bring +on delirium, tremor, apoplexy, and other destructive accidents. + +The appearances after death in drunkards exhibit great derangement in +organic structure. The brain is generally firmer than usual. Serum is not +unfrequently found effused in its cavities; and, what is singular, this +watery fluid is often impregnated with the odour of the deceased's +potations, such as rum, gin, or brandy. Schrader relates several instances +of the kind. Aether has also been detected after the medicine had been +freely exhibited. Dr. Ogston states that above four ounces of fluid were +found in the ventricles of a drunkard's brain, that had all the physical +qualities of alcohol. He thinks that this effusion takes place previously +to the coma of intoxication, as he found it in considerable quantities in +two cases of drowning in the stage of violent excitement from spirituous +liquors. The mucous coats of the stomachs of drunkards, instead of being +"worn out," according to the vulgar expression, are thickened, and +sometimes softened; but in most cases they are found hardened. This +condition is not likely to accelerate death; on the contrary, the stomach +is less susceptible of the action of stimulating articles of diet, or +excess in eating or drinking, than when in a healthy state of +excitability. When drunkenness proves fatal, it appears that a portion of +the spirituous part of the liquor is actually absorbed and carried into +the circulation and the brain. Dr. Copeland has given the following very +luminous and correct view of the pathology of drunkenness. "During the +general nervous and vascular excitement consequent on the stimulus, +increased determination to the head takes place, attended by excited +vascular action, which soon terminates in congestion as the excitement +becomes exhausted, and gives rise to drowsiness, sopor, and coma. With +this state of the disorder effusion of serum takes place in the ventricles +and between the membranes, heightening the sopor and coma. When the +congestion or effusion amounts so high as to impede the functions of the +organs at the basis of the encephalon and of the respiratory nerves, +respiration becomes unfrequent and laborious, and consequently the changes +produced by it on the blood insufficiently performed. In proportion as the +blood is less perfectly changed in the lungs, the circulation through them +is retarded, and the phenomena of asphyxy,--congestion of the lungs, +right side of the head, brain, and liver; the circulation of +unarterialized blood; the imperfect evolution of animal heat, and sedative +effects upon the brain and nervous system generally,--follow in a more or +less marked degree, according to the quantity of the intoxicating fluid +that has been taken, and either gradually disappear after some time, or +increase until life is extinguished. These phenomena are heightened by +cold, which depresses the vital action in the extremities and surface to +which it is applied, and increases the congestion in the above organs. The +fatal consequences of intoxication are often averted by the occurrence of +vomiting, the stomach thereby being relieved from a great part of the +poison." + +Besides wine and spirituous liquors various other substances have been +employed to bring on this supposed pleasurable state. The Syrian rue +(_Peganum Harmala_), was constantly used by Sultan Solyman. The _Hibiscus +Saldarissa_ of the Indians, which furnishes their _bangne_, is supposed to +be the _Nepenthes_ of the ancients. The _Penang_ or Indian beetle, the +_Hyosciamus Niger_. The _Belladonna_, the _Cocculus Indicus_, are drugs +that have been resorted to by various nations. The last ingredient has +made the fortune of many of our wealthy brewers, at the expense of public +sobriety and health. + +In the accidents that follow intoxication, bleeding has frequently been +resorted to. Nothing can be more hazardous than this practice, justly +condemned by Darwin, Trotter, and most physicians, who have had frequent +opportunities of witnessing the distressing train of symptoms that +inebriety brings on. Coffee and green tea will be found the most +efficacious antidotes, when no sickness prevails. Nausea is counteracted +by effervescent and aromatic draughts, such as soda-water, (so highly +appreciated by Byron, when accompanied by a sermon, after a night's +conviviality,) spruce-beer, Seidlitz powders, &c. The ancients had +recourse to various means to counteract the effects of wine, and amongst +others we find olives and olive oil, wormwood, and saffron. The Greeks +used a solution of salt, a common remedy among seafaring men to the +present day; and the Romans surrounded their heads with wreaths of various +refreshing plants. When Aristotle tells us that Dionysius of Syracuse +remained in a state of intoxication for eighty days, we must suppose that +he got drunk every morning. + +That the ancients were in the habit of diluting their wine with water, +there cannot be a doubt. The Lacedaemonians accused those who drank it pure +of acting like Scythians,--an expression introduced ever since Cleomenes +the Spartan had learned to drink freely amongst them. The Thracians were +also accused of this practice, which clearly proves that it was not +general. Philochorus reports that Amphictyon, king of Athens, learned to +mix wine and water from Bacchus himself, on which account he dedicated an +altar to the god. According to Athenaeus, this dilution was of various +strength; sometimes in the proportion of one to two, at others of one to +five. The Lacedaemonians used to boil their wine till the fifth part was +consumed, under the impression that they thus deprived it of its +spirituous qualities. Sometimes this boiled wine was laid by for four +years. + +To add to the intoxicating power of wine various means were resorted to, +and a mixture of myrrha was supposed to produce this effect. Such was the +_murrhina_ of the Romans, mentioned in St. Mark's gospel, and which was +given to malefactors before their execution. + +Notwithstanding the sobriety of the ancients, my fair readers may perhaps +be glad to know that the ladies were allowed to indulge in an occasional +stoup; and the Greek matrons and virgins were by no means restricted in a +moderate use of the grape's delicious juice, as illustrated by Homer in +Nausica and her companions. In the ancient entertainments the first +libation was offered up to Vesta, as being, according to Cicero, _rerum +custos intimarum_, or keeper of things most concealed; or, according to +Aristocritus, for the services rendered by this goddess to Jupiter in his +war against the Giants. However, without any erudite comments, it is very +probable that even the poor Vestals were sometimes delighted when they +could take a drop of wine to beguile their solitude. + +The phenomena of drunkenness have been so ably described by Macnish, that +I most gladly transcribe the following passage from that author's +excellent work, called the "Anatomy of Drunkenness." + +"First an unusual serenity prevails over the mind, and the soul of the +votary is filled with a placid satisfaction. By degrees he is sensible of +a soft and not unmusical humming in the ears, at every pause of the +conversation. He seems, to himself, to wear his head lighter than usual +upon his shoulders. Then a species of obscurity, thinner than the finest +mist, passes before his eyes, and makes him see objects rather +indistinctly. The lights begin to dance and appear double, a gaiety and +warmth are felt at the same time about the heart. The imagination is +expanded, and filled with a thousand delightful images. He becomes +loquacious, and pours forth, in enthusiastic language, the thoughts, which +are born, as it were, within him. + +"Now comes a spirit of universal contentment with himself and all the +world. He thinks no more of misery: it is dissolved in the bliss of the +moment. This is the acme of the fit--the ecstasy is now perfect. As yet +the sensorium is in tolerable order, it is only shaken, but the capability +of thinking with accuracy still remains. About this time the drunkard +pours out all the secrets of his soul. His qualities, good or bad, come +forth without reserve; and now, if at any time, the human heart may be +seen into. In a short period, he is seized with a most inordinate +propensity to talk nonsense, though he is perfectly conscious of doing so. +He also commits many foolish things, knowing them to be foolish. The power +of volition, that faculty which keeps the will subordinate to the +judgment, seems totally weakened. The most delightful time seems to be +that immediately before becoming very talkative. When this takes place a +man turns ridiculous, and his mirth, though more boisterous, is not so +exquisite. At first the intoxication partakes of sentiment, but, latterly, +it becomes merely animal. + +"After this the scene thickens. The drunkard's imagination gets disordered +with the most grotesque conceptions. Instead of moderating his drink, he +pours it down more rapidly than ever, glass follows glass with reckless +energy. His head becomes perfectly giddy. The candles burn blue, or green, +or yellow, and when there are perhaps only three on the table, he sees a +dozen. According to his temperament, he is amorous, or musical, or +quarrelsome. Many possess a most extraordinary wit, and a great flow of +spirits is generally attendant. In the latter stages, the speech is thick +and the use of the tongue in a great measure lost. His mouth is half open, +and idiotic in the expression; while his eyes are glazed, wavering and +watery. He is apt to fancy that he has offended some one of the company, +and is ridiculously profuse in his apologies. Frequently he mistakes one +person for another, and imagines that some of those before him are +individuals who are in reality absent or even dead. The muscular powers +are all along much affected; this indeed happens before any great change +takes place in the mind and goes on progressively increasing. He can no +longer walk with steadiness, but totters from side to side. His limbs +become powerless and inadequate to sustain his weight. He is, however, not +always sensible of any deficiency in this respect, and while exciting +mirth by his eccentric motions, imagines that he walks with the most +perfect steadiness. In attempting to run, he conceives that he passes the +ground with astonishing rapidity. In his distorted eyes all men and even +inanimate nature itself, seem to be drunken, while he alone is sober. +Houses reel from side to side, as if they had lost their balance; trees +and steeples nod like tipsy bacchanals; and the very earth seems to slip +under his feet and leave him walking and floundering in the air. + +"The last stage of drunkenness is total insensibility. The man tumbles, +perhaps, beneath the table, and is carried off in a state of stupor to his +couch _dead drunk_. + +"No sooner is his head laid upon the pillow, than it is seized with the +strongest throbbing. His heart beats quick and hard against his ribs. A +noise like the distant fall of a cascade, or rushing of a river is heard +in his ears--rough--rough--rough--goes the sound. His senses now become +more drowned and stupified. A dim recollection of his carousals, like a +shadowy and indistinct dream, passes before the mind. He still hears, as +in echo, the cries and laughter of his companions. Wild fantastic fancies +accumulate thickly around the brain. His giddiness is greater than ever; +and he feels as if in a ship tossed upon a heaving sea. At last he drops +insensibly into a profound slumber. + +"In the morning he awakes in a high fever. The whole body is parched; the +palms of the hands, in particular, are like leather. His head is often +violently painful. He feels excessive thirst; while his tongue is white, +dry, and stiff. The whole inside of the mouth is likewise hot and +constricted, and the throat often sore. Then look at his eyes--how sickly, +dull and languid! The fire which first lighted them up the evening before +is all gone. A stupor like that of the last stage of drunkenness still +clings about them, and they are disagreeably affected by the light. The +complexion sustains as great a change: it is no longer flushed with gaiety +and excitation, but pale and wayworn, indicating a profound mental and +bodily exhaustion. There is probably sickness, and the appetite is totally +gone. + +"Even yet the delirium of intoxication has not left him, for his head +still rings, his heart still throbs violently, and if he attempt to get +up, he stumbles with giddiness. The mind also is sadly depressed, and the +proceedings of the previous night are painfully remembered. He is sorry +for his conduct, promises solemnly never again so to commit himself, and +calls impatiently for something to quench his thirst. + +"Persons of tender and compassionate minds are particularly subject, +during intoxication, to be affected to tears at the sight of any +distressing object, or even on hearing an affecting tale. Drunkenness, in +most characters, may be said to melt the heart and open the fountain of +sorrow. Their sympathy is often ridiculous, and aroused by the most +trifling causes. Those who have a lively imagination, combined with this +tenderness of heart, sometimes conceive fictitious cases of distress, and +weep bitterly at the woes of their own creating. + +"There are also some persons on whom drunkenness calls forth a spirit of +piety, or rather of religious hypocrisy, which is both ludicrous and +disgusting. They become sentimental over their cups, and while in a state +of debasement most offensive to God and man, they will weep at the +wickedness of the human heart, entreat you to eschew swearing and profane +company, and have a greater regard for the welfare of your immortal soul. +These sanctimonious drunkards seem to consider ebriety as the most venial +of offences!" + +Inebriety has sometimes a curious effect upon the memory. Actions +committed during intoxication may be forgotten on a recovery from that +state. + +Drunkenness differs materially according to the nature of the intoxicating +potation. Wine in general may be considered as less injurious, and its +effects more transient than spirituous liquors, that produce great +excitement, followed by indirect debility and visceral obstruction. The +inebriety produced by alcoholic preparations, moreover, is attended with a +delirious state, furious and uncontrollable, or followed by congestion and +torpor. Malt liquors render their victims heavy, stupid, and more +obstinate than violent, and a long continuance in their use produces a +state of imbecility, observed so early as Aristotle. + +Similar differences are observable in the effects of different liquors on +the imagination. Wine most undoubtedly produces a greater vivacity of +ideas and a more brilliant scintillation of wit and fancy. Hoffmann, +indeed, considered the juice of the grape as indispensable to poetic +inspiration, and it is very doubtful whether Pegasus was ever benefited by +a draught of beer. But, alas! of what avail are the considerations +regarding the effects of the pernicious habit of drinking? When once +accustomed to the cheering stimulus of liquor, it matters not what the +drunkard takes, and if Champagne or Burgundy are not at hand, gin or rum +will prove a substitute, perhaps less grateful, but still not unwelcome. +Drinking becomes the only refuge from those cares which owe their very +origin to excesses, and they must be drowned in any bowl that can be +filled to drive away the blue devils. + + Vina parant animos, faciuntque caloribus aptos, + Cura fugit, multo diluiturque mero: + Tunc veniunt risus, tunc pauper cornua sumit; + Tunc dolor et curae, rugaque frontis abit, + Tunc aperit mentis aevo, rarissima nostro + Simplicitas, artes excutiente Deo. + + + + +DECAPITATION. + + +As I have observed in a preceding article, much doubt exists whether +decapitation puts an end to our sufferings, as it has not and most +probably will never be ascertained, whether the body or the head are first +deprived of sensation or vitality. Galvanic experiments had been resorted +to, but were warmly opposed by Professor Ferry on the plea of humanity, as +he maintained that unless we were certain that sensation had ceased, we +had no right to submit the unfortunate culprits who had been decapitated +to this trial. Guillotin (whose name was given to the terrific machine so +closely connected in our recollection with the horrors of the French +Revolution, which he introduced from the East and Germany) maintained that +the moment the head was severed from the body all sensation ceased. +Cabanis and Petit were of a similar opinion. Sue, Aldini, Mojon, Weicard, +Liveling, Castel, and other physiologists, founded their belief in a +contrary doctrine, upon numerous experiments on various animals. Sue +grounded his arguments upon two chief points: first, the sudden effect +produced by decapitation upon the two most powerful regulators of the +functions of life, the brain and the heart; and secondly, on the +consideration that the section of the neck was often uneven and jagged, +splinters of bones irritating the bruised nerves, vessels, and spinal +marrow. + +According to this view of the matter, existence was not immediately +destroyed by decollation. Castel thought that this principle was +extinguished in the head sooner than the body. Sue and Julia de Fontenelle +were of a different opinion. Dubois of Amiens endeavoured to prove the +non-existence of pain after decapitation, by showing that convulsive +movements, epileptic and hysteric attacks, were not accompanied by any +painful sensations. In decapitation, he thinks that the suddenness and +violence of the blow must produce insensibility, for we cannot imagine +that the section of the spinal marrow thus violently performed can +occasion pain; and if any sensations were experienced in that awful +moment, it is more than probable that the violent perturbation would +render them obtuse. As to any feelings of the separated head, he does not +think that any muscular convulsions observed in it can indicate the +existence of pain. + +To these arguments of the Amiens physiologist, Julia de Fontenelle replied +that it was never maintained that convulsive movements were expressive of +pain, although it was not impossible that epileptic and hysterical +patients may have experienced painful sensations during their attacks that +might be forgotten upon their recovery, as somnambulists bear no +recollection of what passed during their disturbed slumbers. The +convulsive affections alluded to by Dubois were frequently expressive both +of pleasure and of pain, or marked with a character of stupor or of +indifference, whereas the convulsive movement observed in the features of +the decapitated invariably expressed anguish; in support of his firm +belief in the existence of the power of sensation after execution, he +refers to the observations of Soemmering, Mojou, and Sue, who had +remarked that when the head was turned towards the solar rays, the eyes +instantly closed,--a phenomenon that could not take place if the eyes were +dead. Dr. Montault jocosely observes that it is to be regretted that, to +decide this controversy, recourse cannot be had to the experiments, +recorded by Bacon, of an inquisitive person who hanged himself for the +purpose of ascertaining if strangulation was a painful operation. One of +his friends very fortunately cut him down ere it was too late, when the +curious experimentalist was quite satisfied that hanging was by no means +painful or unpleasant, and that the moment strangulation took place, he +had been struck with a flickering light, that was instantly followed by +utter darkness. + +Various cases are recorded of individuals thus cut down, when hanged by +accident, or executed. In most instances they stated that they had +experienced a pleasurable sensation as strangulation took place. I have +already alluded to the curious fate of the well-known composer of the +"Battle of the Prague." + + + + +MUMMIES. + + +Much doubt exists regarding the derivation of the word _mummy_. Bochard, +Menage, Vossius, attributed it to the Arabic noun _mum_, meaning _wax_. +Salmasius derives it from _mumia_, a body embalmed and aromatized. The +Persian word _mumiya_, means bitumen or mineral pitch. Abd-Allatif, an +Arabian physician, describes mummy as a substance flowing from the tops of +the mountains, and which mixing with the water that streamed down, +coagulates like mineral pitch. + +Many are the opinions relating to the custom of embalming men and various +animals in ancient Egypt. By some it has been considered a superstitious +practice, by others the result of affection. To keep the remains of those +we loved upon earth free from the destructive power of death, and +preserving in some degree those forms that once flitted before us and +around us in all the enjoyments of life, is a natural, one might almost +say an instinctive, sentiment;--preserving those fond remains upon earth, +exempted from the painful sight of beholding them committed to the +earth--earth to earth--for ever! How different must have been the feelings +of the relatives of the departed, when leaving the body reposing in the +tomb, still preserving the form of its mortal coil--still in the +world--where all we loved might be visited and spoken to in the language +of affection and regret--how different must have been these feelings when +compared to those that compress the respiration and check our utterance, +after seeing that body separated from us, and leaving a chasm around us +deeper still than the grave. We are, however, to seek in this practice +other motives. The wisdom of the theocratic government of ancient Egypt +was most admirable, and not founded upon mortal affections and dislikes. +The sovereign priesthood had to attend to concerns of greater magnitude. +The first inhabitants of Egypt, migrating most probably from the upper +regions of Ethiopia, had to colonize an unhealthy region, to struggle with +swamps and marshes, and destroy myriads of animals, whose decomposition +added to the dangers they had to encounter when settling in such an +unhealthy land. Pestilence, no doubt, as in after times, frequently +desolated the infant kingdom. Their priests, in whose temples were +recorded in mystic legends all the science of the age, must have applied +their experience and their judgment to meet the evil, and surmount it, +were it possible. The ideas of corruption are closely connected with those +of putrescency; and putrescency has ever been considered the chief source +and focus of pestilential maladies. To avoid corruption and putrescence, +then, became one of the most important Hygienic studies; and, like Moses, +who had received his early education in Egypt, its priesthood enforced +salutary laws as the injunction of the Creator; nor was the task as +difficult as it might have proved in a more extensive and more diversified +region. The population resided in a land of no very great extent; their +climate did not vary according to prominent topographical circumstances; +and the produce of the soil, as regarded alimentary substances, admitted +of little variety. Thus it became easy to establish salutary institutions +to regulate the mode of living of the obedient people, who looked upon the +commands of their sainted legislators as dictates from the eternal throne. + +Impressed with the conviction of the immortality of the soul, the Egyptian +priesthood imagined, or, at any rate, endeavoured to persuade the +multitude that the immortal part of our being was retained within its +earthly house so long as the corporal form could be preserved entire, and +if (which is most probable) they believed in the resurrection of the soul +either in its human form or that of some other animal, this doctrine may +be easily accounted for as founded upon reason, and grateful to the +sensitive feelings. A belief in the transmigration of souls naturally led +to the desire of retaining them as long as it was possible in their former +abodes; and the lines of Virgil-- + + Animamque sepulchro, + Condimus, + +would seem to warrant this belief amongst the ancients. St. Augustine +clearly tells us that the Egyptians did believe in a resurrection. + +Amongst other prophylactic means to resist epidemic diseases the embalming +of the dead must naturally have occurred to the sacred college as one of +the most effectual means of checking or preventing contagion. Not only was +man submitted to this process, but every animal, domestic or obnoxious, +was equally preserved. It may be said, if destruction was rendered a +prudent step, why were not these bodies consumed by fire? The reason +appears to me obvious. It was necessary to check the consumption of animal +food; therefore were various animals considered sacred, and not allowed to +be immolated for the use of the multitude; other animals were considered +noxious, and as such their use was forbidden. Religion thus stamped them +with the irrevocable dye of holiness or corruption. Mystic characters were +traced upon their remains. The sanctity of these animals sometimes varied +in different districts, and the ibis was venerated where the serpent was +disregarded. When we contemplate the thousands of crocodiles in the +caverns of Samoun, the myriads of the ibis in the desert of Hermopolis, +Antinoe, Memphis,--when we behold even the eggs that were destined to +perpetuate their race thus preserved,--had not these animals been thus +respected, they would have become the food of the inhabitants, and, both +from their abundance and their unwholesome qualities, have added to the +frequent scourges that desolated the land. + +Here again we find that this anomaly was unavoidable: those myriads of +animals, from the nature of the climate and the soil would have increased +to such numbers as to overrun the land. What was to be done? Had they been +considered edible, most unquestionably they would have been devoured as +food; it therefore became necessary to destroy and embalm them: this +destruction was no doubt inculcated as a religious duty; otherwise, how +should we find even to the present day, such numbers of these creatures, +preserved through the lapse of ages, with their very eggs,--another proof +that even their incubation was checked. Placed between the desolate desert +and the sea, numerous must have been the races of animals who sought +refuge in this wondrous region; and, as Lagasquie observes, in the +Necropolis of Alexandria and Memphis, at Arsinoe, Charaounah, Achmin, +Beni-Hacan, Samoun, Hermopolis, Thebes, and in innumerable hypogean +monuments, we find the remains of thousands--nay of millions--of ibises, +crocodiles, cats, rats, dogs, jackals, wolves, monkeys, serpents, nay, +fishes of various kinds. Passalacqua found at Thebes numbers of birds, +rats, mice, toads, adders, beetles and flies, all embalmed together. Nay, +Herodotus informs us that the animals considered sacred in one city, were +held in abhorrence in others, a difference of opinion that not +unfrequently occasioned bitter hostilities. Thus the Ombites fought with +the Tentyrites on account of the sparrowhawks, and the Cynopolitans waged +war with the Oxyrhynchites from disputes about dogs and pikes. These +schisms no doubt arose from priestly ambition, each temple claiming its +especial shrine of adoration, for whatever might have been the original +motive that led to those theological practices, there is no doubt but all +these animals were to a certain degree typical of the good and evil +propensities of the various deities, as manifested in their several +habits, whence they were selected in the symbols and attributes of the +sovereign powers. Abbe Banier endeavours to prove that the bull was the +symbol of Osiris and Isis, and that these divinities were themselves +symbolic of the sun and moon. Thus the worship of the bull, Mnevis and +Apis. The inhabitants of Mendes adored the god Pan, and worshipped him +under the figure of a goat, and Mercury is represented with the head of a +dog, the most intelligent of animals. Thus in time people lost sight of +the origin of the worship, and transferred their adoration to the symbols, +as many Roman Catholics transfer their worship of the saints to their +wooden images. + +The priesthood of Egypt sought not their power in terror, but in affection +and gratitude. They strove to convince the people that they were their +true friends and real benefactors; their sole study was their welfare, +their greatest pride the nation's prosperity. Gratitude appears to be the +sentiment they most sought to inculcate. The serpent was held in +veneration, because it destroyed noxious vermin; the ibis was respected +from the same motive; the crocodile for the protection it afforded their +navigable waters; yet, by one of those strange anomalies that we find in +most mythological _reveries_, animals were held sacred, although they +constantly destroyed other sacred creatures; and while the crocodile was +worshipped, the ichneumons that destroyed its eggs were also entitled to +respect. Such was the value of the remains of departed relatives and +friends, that their embalmed bodies were often pledged for large sums. The +more readily advanced, since their redemption was considered a sacred +duty. Thus do we find worldly regulations, bearing the sanctity of a +theologic seal. Then again how mighty must have been the hierarchy from +whose doctrines emanated the Pharaonic splendour of their stupendous +monuments--works of art, that attracted the notice and the admiration of +all the civilized part of the globe, whose travellers while they flocked +to view their magnificence, were taught to cultivate the sciences and +arts, which the priesthood professed, smatterings of which those visiters +proudly carried back as a precious gift to their country. Moreover what +occupation must have been afforded to the people and to their numerous +captives, whom they continually dreaded, from the apprehension that in +their constant wars, their prisoners might join their enemies--a +circumstance fully proved in Holy Writ, where we find, in Exodus i. 10, +that the Hebrews were oppressed, "lest when there falleth out any war, +they join also unto our enemies and fight against us." + +This overwhelming power, most fortunately wise and humane, was maintained +by every artifice that ingenuity could devise. Egypt has justly been +denominated the _Alma Mater_ of superstition, since we have every reason +to suppose, that with much less wisdom and learning, every successive +hierarchy has sought by similar means to retain an equal sway. In Egypt +this influence must have been amazing, they held the first rank after the +sovereign, whom they assisted in the performance of all his public duties, +were present in all his councils, and directed his judgment from the +lessons which were laid down for his conduct in the sacred records. All +the judges and principal officers of state were also selected in the +priesthood; their number must also have been very considerable, since we +find them classed as chief priests or pontiffs, and inferior priests of +various grades belonging to the sacred deities, prophets, judges, +hierophants, magistrates, hierogrammats, or sacred scribes; Basilico +grammats, or royal scribes; Sphragistae, whose office it was to examine the +victims, and to put a seal of approbation on them before the sacrifice. +Hierostoli, who had access to the Adytum, to clothe the statues of the +gods; doctors, embalmers; hierophori, or the bearers of sacred emblems; +pterophori, or bearers of the fans carried before the gods; praecones, or +pastophori, bearers of the holy images, and keepers of the sacred animals; +hierolaotomi, or masons of the priestly order, besides innumerable +painters, sculptors, sprinklers of holy water, and flappers to drive away +the flies. + +Kings were chiefly selected from the priestly order, and when they had +been members of the military class, they were obliged to enter a +sacerdotal college before they could ascend the throne; even then, they +were only allowed to be attended by the children of families belonging to +the priesthood. + +If such was the influence of priests, that of the priestesses were not the +less powerful. The Pellices, or Pallacides of Amun, filled offices of the +highest importance, and not unfrequently queens and princesses prided +themselves in performing their duties. The subdivision of the female +attendants of the temples was also sanctified, and they were chiefly +selected in the families of priests. If we are to believe the Grecian +accounts, these holy women were not remarkable for their chastity; their +indiscretions, however, were confined to their own circle. These +assertions, have been by no means general, nor is it probable that a class +of men who affected so much purity, and observed such a rigid abstinence +to obtain the character of sanctity to which their power was due, would +have exposed themselves to the results of such an improvident mode of +living. + +My view of the origin of embalming both men and animals is borne out by +another striking circumstance. The moment the practice of embalming the +bodies of men and animals ceased in Egypt, pestilence appeared. At the +period when Christianity was introduced into Egypt, the new religion had +to encounter many obstacles in overcoming the obstinate prejudices of the +ancient creed. During the four first centuries of its propagation, the +ancient customs were persevered in; at last the cross triumphed and was +enthroned, and the practice of embalming was abolished. In 356, St. +Anthony, upon his death-bed, anathematised it as sacrilegious; his last +injunction according to St. Athanasius, his historian, had such an effect, +that an injudicious zeal prevailed in Rome, in Constantinople, and other +large cities, and led to the practice of inhuming bodies in churches and +cemeteries, notwithstanding the prohibition of the magistracy. While the +dead were interred in towns, or their vicinity, in dwelling houses and +gardens, the remains of animals were scattered abroad to become part of +the soil, and thus this most dangerous innovation hurried on the +development of the most dangerous of diseases. In 1542, under Justinian, +Egypt was avoided as the focus of pestilence. It would be difficult to +point out the exact period when the custom of embalming fell into disuse; +but it had ceased to be practised at the time when pestilence burst forth +over the land in all its irresistible horrors. The coincidence was too +remarkable not to have been noticed. + +It is certainly true that the plague had visited Egypt at former periods, +recorded in holy writ, when we know not to what extent the preparation of +mummies might have been carried, although we find that Jacob was embalmed +by physicians; but when we consider the topography of Egypt presenting a +vast plain exposed to a yearly inundation, its soil preserved for +centuries from the admixture of animal substances, but of a sudden changed +into a mass of corrupted bodies of men and animals, acted upon by heat and +moisture,--when the inhumation of man was neglected, and the offals of +beasts and reptiles accumulated in pestilential heaps,--we may easily +imagine what a luxuriant field was submitted to the scythe of death. + +The Egyptians had, no doubt, introduced the practice of embalming the dead +from Ethiopia, a country abounding in various gums, which served them to +preserve the remains of their relatives. The transparency of these +substances had induced some travellers to assert that the bodies were +imbedded in glass, like insects found in amber. De Pau, and many other +writers, have exposed the absurdity of such a report, since it is more +than probable that glass was scarcely, if at all, known amongst them. The +Persians enveloped their dead in wax; and the Scythians sewed them up in +skins. + +While the foresight and wisdom of the Egyptian sacerdocy was thus +distinguished by Hygienic institutions, their interests were not +neglected; and the art of embalming, which they monopolized with every +other branch of learning, tended not a little to add to their emoluments. +Every dead body was their property. Herodotus tells us, that if the corpse +of an Egyptian, or a stranger, was found in the Nile, or cast upon its +banks, the priests alone had the power to touch it, and afford it a +sepulture. This interesting, although not very veracious author, gives the +following account of the process. There are in Egypt a particular class of +people whose sole business consists in embalming bodies. When a corpse is +shown them, they exhibit models of mummies depicted upon wood. These +models are of three kinds, and vary in prices. The bargain being +concluded, the embalmers commence their labours. The brains are first +extracted through the nose with a crooked iron instrument; an incision is +then made in the side of the body with a sharpened Ethiopian stone, +through which the viscera are drawn. These are cleansed out, washed in +palm wine, and then strewed with pulverized aromatic substances. The +abdomen is stuffed with powdered myrrha, cinnamon, and other perfumes, but +without incense. After these manipulations, the body is sewn up, and +salted with natrum for seventy days. This period elapsed, the corpse is +again washed, and swaddled up with rollers of linen, covered with gum, +which the Egyptians commonly use instead of glue. The relations, after +this operation, carry home the body, and place it in a wooden case +resembling the human form; afterwards locking it up in chambers destined +for the purpose, and placing it upright against the wall. This is the most +expensive process. The next is more economical. Syringes are filled with +an unctuous fluid, extracted from the cedar; this liquor is thrown into +the body through an incision performed in the side, and is of such a +nature that it gradually corrodes and destroys the viscera: after the body +has been duly salted, nothing then remains but the bones and skin, which +this substance does not affect. + +Diodorus Siculus gives an account somewhat similar, but adds some curious +particulars. The first class of funerals cost a silver talent; the second +twenty minae; and the third scarcely any thing. The embalmers divide their +labours into various offices. The first, or the scrivener, points out the +part of the body on the left side where the incision is to be made. The +next operator is the incisor, who uses for the purpose a sharp Ethiopian +pebble; the viscera are then drawn out, with the exception of the heart +and kidneys; and the body is then washed with palm wine and aromatics. The +corpse is afterwards inuncted with the gum of cedar, and strewed with +myrrha, cinnamon, and various spices. It is ultimately returned to the +family of the deceased, in such preservation that the eyebrows and eyelids +are uninjured, and the countenance preserves the character that +distinguished it during life. + +Porphyrius informs us that the embalmers, after having extracted the +intestines, exposed them to the sun, putting up a prayer to that luminary, +and declaring that if the deceased had ever been guilty of any act of +gluttony, the intestines alone were guilty, and they were therefore cast +into the Nile. Plutarch alludes to a similar ceremony. The _incisor_ +appears to have been considered a degraded being, for Diodorus tells us, +that, after the operation, he was pursued by the relations of the defunct, +and pelted with stones, as having polluted the remains of the dead. + +These accounts of the ancients have been warmly impugned by modern +antiquaries, who maintained that the various substances stated to have +been made use of in the process of embalming, did not possess the +qualities attributed to them,--especially the liquor called _cedria_, +drawn from the cedar-tree. Rouyer, a member of the Egyptian commission of +sciences and arts, corroborates in a great measure the accounts of ancient +historians; and, in a very interesting paper on the subject, we find that +the bones of the nose are destroyed in some mummies, but left intact in +others,--a circumstance that would lead us to think that on such occasions +the brain was left in the cranium. The opening in the side did not appear +to have been sewn up, but the lips of the incision merely brought into +apposition. He divides mummies into those in which tanno-balsamic +substances had been introduced, and those that had merely been salted. The +first species were found stuffed either with aromatic resinous substances, +or asphaltum and pure bitumen. These resinous substances emitted no odour, +but, when cast into the fire, a thick smoke arose, and a strong aroma +became evident. The mummies thus preserved were light, dry, and fragile; +preserved their teeth, their hair, and eyebrows. Some of them had been +gilded all over; in others, the gold had only been applied to the face, +the hands, and the feet, and other parts. This practice of gilding was so +general, that it does not warrant the belief that it was only the remains +of the illustrious and wealthy that were thus ornamented. These mummies, +so long as they were kept in a dry place, were unaltered; but were soon +decomposed, and emitted an unpleasant effluvium, when exposed to +atmospheric moisture. The mummies thus prepared were of an olive colour, +while those preserved with bituminous substances were of a reddish tinge; +the integuments hard and shining, as if varnished. The features were not +altered, and the cavities were filled with a black, hard, and inodorous +resinous substance. The ingredients thus employed were similar to the +bitumen of Judea; most of them were gilded. + +Other mummies were found without any lateral incision, when, most +probably, the intestines were drawn out through the rectum. These cavities +were filled with the substance termed by historians _Pissasphaltos_. In +the mummies merely cured with salt, when this ingredient is abundant, the +features are obliterated, the surface of the body having been smeared with +bitumen. These mummies which of course are the remains of the poorer +classes, are the most common. They are heavy, hard, and black, and shed an +unpleasant odour. They boast of no gilding; only the palms of the hands, +the soles of the feet, and the nails, had frequently been decorated with a +red tinge; most probably by the application of the _henne_. These were the +mummies which were sold by the Arabs in former times for medicinal +purposes. For a further description of the mode of enveloping the bodies +and the history of embalming, I must refer to the valuable labours of Mr. +Pettigrew.[52] The process of embalming appears to have consisted simply +in extracting the viscera, or destroying them by some corrosive injection; +dissolving the mucous and fatty matter by the long application of natrum; +and, finally, in desiccating the corpse by exposure to air or stoving. + +Mummies have been also found in the Canary islands, where they were named +by the Guanchi _xaxos_. They were light, dry, of a yellow colour, shedding +a slight aroma, and carefully enclosed in goat-skins. The operation was +also performed with a sharpened Ethiopian stone, called _tabona_. Humboldt +found numerous mummies in Mexico, where desiccated bodies have not +unfrequently been seen in the open air. + +Certain soils appear to possess a preservative quality, without any +apparent preparation having been made use of. In the catacombs of Bordeaux +and Toulouse, these dried bodies may be seen, the hair and eyebrows still +intact; but they are dark and shrivelled, and it does not appear that the +contents of the cavities had been extracted or heeded, the process of +desiccation being general. The miraculous conservation of bodies recorded +by Calmet in his History of Vampires was nothing more than instances of a +similar preservation. + +Various experiments have proved that the progress of chemistry has been so +great, that we might equal the Egyptians in the preparation of mummies, if +ever such an absurd practice were introduced. + +In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries mummies formed one of the +ordinary drugs found in Apothecaries shops, and as considerable sums were +expended in its purchase as had been laid out upon the _besoards_ of +various rare animals. It became a lucrative branch of trade to the Jews. +The demand not being easily supplied from the vigilance of the Egyptian +Government, various frauds were introduced. So powerful were the supposed +qualities of mummies, that Francis I. always carried a small parcel of it +about him mixed with rhubarb. Lord Bacon tells us that mummy has great +force in stanching of blood. Boyle assures us that it is one of the useful +medicines commended and given for falls and bruises. The Arabs to this day +make use of mummy powder mixed up with bitters. This preparation is called +_mantey_, and is esteemed a sovereign remedy for bruises. + + + + +HYDROPHOBIA. + + +This term has been erroneously applied to the disease arising from the +bite of a rabid animal, since many instances are recorded of mad dogs not +only drinking freely of water and other fluids, but actually swimming +across rivers; while, on the other hand, the horror of water has attended +maladies totally unconnected with rabid injuries: Sauvages plainly +expresses himself on this subject. "Apud Gallo-provincales, experientia, +canes lubosque rabidos bibisse, munducasse, flumen transnasse, ut olim +Maralogis et bis Forolivii observatum, adeoque nec potum aversari." Dr. +James relates the case of a mad dog that drank both milk and water, and +swam through a pond. Similar cases are recorded of mankind. + +This disease was known to the ancients, and the Greek term for rabies was +_lyssa_, referred to several times by Homer, when Hector is compared to a +mad dog by Teucer and Ulysses. It was also known by the name of +_cynolisson_, _phobodipson_, and _hygrophobia_. According to Plutarch, the +disease was first observed in the time of Asclepiades. Coelius +Aurelianus is the most correct of the ancient writers on the subject. This +disease, although it may appear in every climate, is far less common in +hot regions than in those of a moderate temperature. In the West Indies it +is unknown; nor has it been observed in South America. In Egypt and Syria +it has never been seen. Mr. Barrow informs us that at the Cape of Good +Hope, and amongst the Caffres, their dogs are exempt from the malady, +although constantly fed upon putrid meat. + +Water-dread has been observed in various rheumatic and inflammatory +affections, and frequently arises in a spontaneous manner; while many +cases are recorded of the alarming symptoms being witnessed when no rabid +bite has been inflicted. Violent passions, both in men and animals, seem +to impart a peculiar acrimony to the saliva. Meekren, Wolff, Zacutus +Lusitanus, mention fatal cases after the bite of a man in a passionate +fit. Le Cat gives a case of death produced by the bite of an enraged duck. +Thiermayer gives us two fatal cases of the bite of a hen and a goose, and +Camararius has an instance of epilepsy produced by the bite of a horse. + +Of the cause of this disease we are utterly ignorant: thirst, without the +means of quenching it,--the use of putrid food,--sultry weather, have been +considered as producing the fearful disorder; but no one instance is +recorded that can justify the opinion. The streets of Lisbon are crowded +with dogs, feeding upon disgusting offal, under a burning sky, yet rabies +is scarcely ever observed among them. It is more probable that certain +mental emotions, such as anger and fear, have a peculiar influence on the +animal. All the aggregate symptoms of the disease show that the nervous +system is disturbed; and the singular effect of confidence in the +treatment of persons bitten by a rabid animal, confirms the fact. This is +further proved by many cases of hydrophobia unconnected with rabid bites. +Marcel Donat relates the case of a woman who complained of pains in the +neck and right arm, with constant trembling. In three days the pain +ceased, but the tremor continued; a sense of suffocation followed, which +was attended with a horror of water and every liquid, although the throat +was burning. In five days she died in excruciating agonies, but preserving +her senses until the last. Koehler saw a young soldier, who, having +fallen asleep against a stove, was suddenly awakened with a sensation of +intense thirst, which he quenched with a draught of cold water. +Hydrophobia immediately ensued, and the next day terminated his existence. +Selig relates the case of a man at Neukirchen, who was attacked with all +the alarming symptoms of this malady after having laboured in the fields +on a very hot day, and bathed in the river. The following day he was +affected with violent rheumatic pains, which shortly ushered in an +intolerance of fluids, and inability of swallowing. In the course of +twenty-four hours he expired. It appeared upon inquiry that a year before +he had purchased from the hangman of the town some dog's grease, to rub +himself to relieve some troublesome affection; and it was stated that the +dog had been killed by a gamekeeper, who suspected him of being mad. + +Cases of plague have been attended with water-dread. Lalius Diversus saw a +woman labouring under the epidemic, who was thrown into agonies when she +even saw other persons drinking. Sarcotius, in his history of the epidemic +diseases of Naples, informs us that the fever was invariably attended with +hydrophobic symptoms. The fever that prevailed at Breslau in 1719, +presented the same peculiarity. + +Various venene substances have also been known to give rise to this +disease. Professor Brera, of Pavia, witnessed it after the use of +stramonium. Rancid oils have caused similar accidents. In regard to the +causes that produced madness in dogs, numerous experiments have been made, +particularly in the Veterinary School of Alfort: one dog was fed with +salted meat, and totally restrained from drinking; another was allowed +nothing but water; and the third was not allowed food or drink of any +kind. The first died on the forty-first day; the second on the +thirty-third; and the third on the twenty-fifth; not one of them evincing +any symptoms of rabies. + +It appears that a peculiar predisposition renders some individuals more +subject to the accidents that follow the bite of rabid animals than +others. Mr. Hunter gives an instance in which, out of twenty persons who +were bitten by the same dog, only one received the disease. It appears, +however, that this virus is less volatile than most others, and is capable +of remaining in a dormant state for a very long period; and if we are to +give credence to many reports on the subject, it may linger in the system +for several years. At other times, its destructive nature has proved +immediately injurious. Heisler has given a case where a man was affected +by merely putting into his mouth the cord by which the mad dog had been +confined. Palmarius relates the case of a peasant, who, in the last stage +of the disease, communicated it to his children by kissing them. It has, +however, been clearly demonstrated, that inoculation of rabid saliva does +not propagate the distemper. Experiments were made both by Magendie and +Breschet in 1813. In 1800, when a dresser in the Hotel Dieu of Paris, I +witnessed several experiments of the kind, and with similar results. At +the same period, I had occasion to observe the effect of imagination in +many cases. Several persons had been bitten by a rabid dog in the Faubourg +St. Antoine, and three of them had died in our wards; a report, however, +was prevalent that we kept a mixture that would effectually prevent these +accidents; no less than six applicants were served with a draught of +coloured water, and in no one instance did any accident ensue. + +The period of the development of the accidents after the bite in animals +is various. According to Meynall, the disease appears amongst dogs from +ten days to eight months after the injury. In the hounds of Earl +Fitzwilliam, who were bitten in June 1791, the intervals varied from six +weeks to six months. Dr. James made a similar observation in Mr. Floyer's +pack. + +No malady has been submitted to more curious and fearful modes of +treatment than hydrophobia; and in many cases such has been the dread of +the disease, that patients have been smothered or drowned. Dioscorides +seared the wound with irons heated to whiteness; other practitioners first +excised the wounded part, and then applied fire or caustic. While fire was +resorted to by some practitioners, water was recommended by others, and +submersion in a river or a pond has frequently been urged as an effectual +remedy. In the time of Celsus, the miserable sufferer was thrown without +any warning into a fishpond, alternately plunging his head under water and +raising it: when the poor wretch could swim, he was forcibly kept immersed +until filled with water. After this experiment, which Celsus terms the +_unicum remedium_, for fear that the patient might be attacked with +convulsions, he was taken out of the pond, and soused in warm oil. Van +Helmont recommended that the poor devil should be kept under water while +the psalm _Miserere_ was sung, and most probably the terrified choristers +were not expeditious in their performance. Morin relates the case of a +young woman, twenty years old, who was plunged in a tub of water, with a +bushel of salt dissolved in it, and dipped repeatedly, until she became +insensible; however, much to the surprise of the bystanders, who thought +her dead, she recovered, and could not only look upon water, but was able +to drink it. Bleeding nearly to death, mercury, cantharides, and various +medicines, have been also called into aid; but none have appeared to prove +effectual in curing this dreadful disorder. One of the most singular modes +of treatment was the introduction of rabid blood into the system of the +patient,--in fact, a homoeopathic plan of Dr. Rithmeister of Powlowsk, +in Finland, who has recorded several cases to prove that the blood of a +rabid animal, when drunk, is a specific against canine hydrophobia. The +doctor communicates a letter from Dr. Stockmann, a Russian physician, +stating this practice to be both common and effectual in White Russia. + +With a view of producing a fresh poisonous action that might neutralize +the former one, it has also been proposed that a venomous serpent should +be made to inflict a wound under the bite of the mad dog. I do not believe +that this experiment has ever been tried; and, as Good observes, the claim +of ingenuity is, most probably, the only one it will ever have to receive. +This fatal disease is enveloped in so much darkness, both as regards its +causes and its treatment, that it may well be considered one of the +opprobriums of the profession. The experiments of my late friend Sir David +Barry are, however, of great importance; and in many cases of poisonous +wounds, the application of cupping-glasses has been followed by evident +favourable results. + +To ascertain the existence of rabies in animals, more especially in dogs, +is a matter of great importance, as being frequently the source of moral +depression or of sanguine hope, that may tend to increase or diminish the +severity of the accidents. One may apprehend madness in a dog when we see +the animal dull, and seeking solitude and darkness, his sleep disturbed, +and when awakened refusing food or drink. Its head droops, the tail hangs +between the legs. The animal soon quits the abode of his master, the mouth +secreting a viscid foam, the tongue pendulous and dry, the eyes bright and +sparkling. His gait soon becomes uncertain; now precipitate, then slow and +undecided. Impatient, and parched with a burning thirst, he cannot rest; +and the sight of any fluid occasions an instinctive shudder. The rabid +symptoms now become more violent; the animal will attack and bite other +dogs, although much superior in strength. It is asserted that dogs avoid +him with terror. On these occasions the fury of the animal is not to be +controlled; all ties of attachment are dissolved; and his master is but +too frequently the first victim of his indiscriminate rage. Hence the +absurd popular notion that mad dogs inflict their first bite on those to +whom they are attached,--a circumstance that simply can be attributed to +the natural endeavours of a master to check the violence of a domestic +creature whom he generally can control. Mad dogs seldom bark, but express +their angry uneasiness with a growl, which gradually becomes weaker, until +the animal staggers, droops, and dies. Yet as there may exist many +maladies amongst animals in which these symptoms are observed, to destroy +them, as is usually the case, is a most absurd practice, since the +individuals whom they may have bitten will sink into a fatal despondency; +whereas, by allowing them to live, if they recover, it is evident that the +patient will be easily persuaded that the dog was not in a rabid state. + +The following cases, recorded by Dr. Perceval, are curious instances of +the dormant state of this fearful virus, the effects of which are +accidentally developed. + +A wine-porter was labouring under a low fever; after a time appeared some +symptoms of hydrophobia, and much inquiry elicited the recollection of his +having been slightly bitten by a dog six weeks before. In the interval he +was convicted of some fraudulent practice in the cellar of his master, to +whom he owed great obligation, and was dismissed with disgrace. Anxiety on +this event seemed to produce the fever, which terminated in rabies. + +Lately an officer was bitten by a dog, whose madness being recognised, the +bitten part was excised immediately: after an undisturbed interval of two +months, he was advised to go to England to dissipate the recollection of +the accident. There he exercised himself violently in hewing wood, felt +pain in the hand which had been bitten, embarked for Ireland, had symptoms +of hydrophobia on board the packet, and died soon after his arrival. From +the varying period of attack, we might infer that the influence of +occasional causes is very considerable. In the last patient, hydrophobia +supervened exactly five weeks from the time of the bite: he lost one +hundred and twenty ounces of blood in twelve hours, which sunk him much; +violent perspiration, and at length delirium, attended the water-dread; +during the last twenty-four hours he swallowed, and recovered his senses; +and died slightly convulsed, whilst cutting an egg. These cases seem to +point out agitation of mind and feverish excitation as powerful occasional +causes. + +Herman Strahl has recently related the following case of rabies in which +the dog that had bitten the patient was not mad. In the month of January, +1833, an innkeeper was taken ill. The doctor found him dressed, and +stretched upon his bed. He did not complain of any particular ailment, but +loathed all food. He at last admitted that he experienced some difficulty +in swallowing; and his mother having offered him a cup of tea, he refused +it with a sense of horror, and his countenance immediately assumed a +character of ferocity that terrified the bystanders. An apple having been +given to him, he ate it without repugnance. It was now discovered that, +five weeks before, he had been bitten by a dog he was training; and the +wound was slow in healing. The dog was sought, and did not show the +slightest sign of disease,--barking, playing, and drinking freely. In the +evening the patient's case was aggravated; and it was with the utmost +difficulty that he was made to swallow a spoonful of ptisan. The next day +he was seized with a violent attack of rabies: seeing one of his sisters +drinking, he fell into a furious rage, dashed a looking-glass to pieces, +and entreated his relatives to withdraw, as he otherwise would inevitably +bite them. This outrageous paroxysm lasted half an hour; at its expiration +he fell into a tranquil sleep. But at night he was seized with another +attack; and he began to howl and imitate the barking of a dog, and +commenced breaking every thing in the room of a shining appearance. His +sisters fled in dismay; but he seized his mother, a woman of sixty-five +years of age, cast her on the ground, and bit her in the cheek. After this +desperate act, he seemed to be struck with a conviction of what he had +done, and became more tranquil; but, half an hour after, on entering his +chamber, he was found dead, his head under the bedclothes. His mother did +not experience any accidents from the injury. + +It is singular that, in this miserable condition, the patients will +frequently show singular partialities; and, although repulsing any fluid +offered to them by some individuals, will take it from others, and +attempt, however vainly, to drink. In the Hotel Dieu of Paris, a young +girl, affected with hydrophobia, would only take a cup of ptisan from me; +but with looks of inexpressible anxiety returned it to me, after having +struggled to moisten her burning lips. At Boulogne, a postilion, bitten by +a mad dog, was violent with every one but one of my nephews: from him he +also accepted drink, although unable to swallow it; before dying in +excruciating agonies, he repeatedly asked for him, and begged that he +might be sent for. He would not allow, even in his last moments, any other +person to come near him;--another striking instance of that unknown power +of sympathy to which I have frequently alluded in the preceding pages. + + + + +ON THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE SCIENCE OF MEDICINE. + + +In a former paper I have given a sketch of the progress of the Chirurgical +profession, relating the many difficulties its members had to encounter in +their endeavours to attain that degree of perfection to which surgery has +risen; a perfection which we have every reason to believe will still +continue to be improved by the daily discoveries of the Physiologist, +whose labours may be considered the theoretical guide of the practitioner. +The history of medicine is equally fraught with much interest, since its +being a science more or less conjectural, it has opened a vast career to +the speculative mind, and a wide field for the ambitious. Having been long +considered a divine inspiration, priesthood in every age considered this +science an attribute of their vocation, adding to their spiritual and +temporal power. + +In a rude state of society it is more than probable that the art of curing +diseases, as well as that of healing injuries, did not constitute a +special profession, but was practised indiscriminately by all persons +whose experience and position in the midst of their uncivilized kinsfolks, +gave some weight and importance to their advice. Warriors attended their +wounded companions in arms. Parents sought to relieve their offspring, and +children endeavoured to alleviate the sufferings of their aged and infirm +sires. Thus, I may say, was the art of healing instinctively taught, and +not unfrequently the brute creation guided the efforts of humanity; when +man contemplated the means animals resorted to when labouring under +disease. Plutarch affirms that it is to these instinctive efforts of +animals that we are indebted for the knowledge of the various properties +of plants. The wild goats of Crete pointed out the use of the _Dictamus_ +and vulnerary herbs--dogs when indisposed sought the _Triticum repens_, +and the same animal taught to the Egyptians the use of purgatives +constituting the treatment called _Syrmaism_. The hippopotamus introduced +the practice of bleeding, and it is affirmed that the employment of +enemata was shown by the ibis. Sheep with worms in their liver were seen +seeking saline substances, and cattle affected with dropsy anxiously +looked for chalybeate waters. This study might therefore have been called +an instinctive school. + +Herodotus tells us that the Babylonians and Chaldeans had no physicians, +and in cases of sickness the patient was carried out and exposed on the +highway, that any persons passing by who had been affected in a similar +manner, might give some information regarding the means that had afforded +them relief. Shortly, these observations of cures were suspended in the +temples of the gods, and we find that in Egypt the walls of their +sanctuaries were covered with records of this description. The priests of +these shrines soon considered these treasures as their property, and +turned their possession to a good account. Amongst the Hebrews we find +that the Levites were considered as the only persons who could cure +leprosy, and the practice of medicine became their province. + +The priests of Greece adopted the same practice, and some of the tablets +suspended in their temples are of a curious character which will +illustrate the custom. The following votive memorials are given by Gurter: +"Some days back, a certain Caius, who was blind, learned from an oracle, +that he should repair to the temple, put up his fervent prayers, cross the +sanctuary from right to left, place five fingers on the altar, then raise +his hand and cover his eyes. He obeyed, and instantly his sight was +restored amidst the loud acclamations of the multitude. These signs of the +omnipotence of the gods were shown in the reign of Antoninus." + +"A blind soldier named Valerius Apes, having consulted the oracle, was +informed that he should mix the blood of a white cock with honey, to make +up an ointment to be applied to his eyes, for three consecutive days: he +received his sight and returned public thanks to the gods." + +"Julian appeared lost beyond all hope, from a spitting of blood. The god +ordered him to take from the altar some seeds of the pine, and to mix them +with honey, of which mixture he was to eat for three days. He was saved, +and came to thank the gods in presence of the people." + +The _Ex volos_ of modern times suspended at the altars of saints in +Catholic churches, are similar testimonials of superstitious credulity, +and priestly fraud, and constitute a lucrative branch of business, more +particularly to waxchandlers, who fabricate simulacra of every organ or +member of the body that may be diseased. + +Such was the study and practice of medicine, until the days of +Hippocrates, justly named the father of medicine. But even this great man +in his study of the problematic science, attributed to divine influence +all that could not be comprehended and explained, giving the appellation +of sacred, to that which appeared prodigious and inexplicable. This divine +influence which was considered as invincible, setting at nought all human +speculation and mortal efforts, he denominated the [Greek: to theion] the +_Divinum quid_, he also fancied that the principle of fire was the source +of all animation; for the which opinion, more modern writers pronounced +him an atheist, amongst other bigots, who thus accused him, we find +Gundling and Drelincourt, and even Mosheim; while on the other hand, Will +Schmidt, Fabricius, and Bellunensi have sought to reconcile his doctrine +with the scriptures; and so far from this accusation being founded, it is +well known that Hippocrates had such an implicit belief in the power of +the gods, that he got himself initiated in the Eleusinian mysteries at +Athens. We find in his Praenotum the following singular passage: +"Nevertheless, there does exist in all diseases something of a divine +nature, and the physician who is able to foresee their results, must be +admired for his judgment." + +This divine _something_, has been the subject of much research and angry +disputation. Galen considered it to reside in the atmosphere. Fernel +considered it the principle of putrefaction and disorganization. +Mercuriali placed it in sideral influence, while Professor Martianus +maintained that Hippocrates had a firm belief in demons and malevolent +spirits. It would be endless to recount all the idle disquisitions on this +matter, which have too frequently converted universities into +Pandemoniums. + +The earliest teachers of medicine were the philosophers, amongst whom we +must remark Pythagoras, who founded the school of Crotona, where assuming +the sanctity of the priesthood he obtained such an authority over his +disciples, that it gave rise to the common expression of _jurare in verba +magistri_. This truly wonderful man had learnt in Egypt the secret +symbolic mode of writing of the priests, and he certainly did apply his +extensive acquirements to the welfare of his country and the benefit of +mankind; according at least to his views of the subject, which we have +every reason to believe were conscientious. From his youth, when he bore +away the prize in the Olympic games, his lofty ambition, which scarcely +knew any bounds, constantly urged him on in a career of perfection in +every branch of learning, which ultimately placed him on the highest +ground that ever philosopher attained. + +After Pythagoras, we find medicine taught by Anaxagoras, Democritus, +Heraclitus; but Hippocrates was justly considered the father of medicine, +and deserved the name of _great_--every line of his immortal works +breathes a deep knowledge of the phenomena of nature, and an ardent desire +to release the most important of all human sciences from the degrading +trammels of ignorance and imposture. Nothing can afford a more convincing +proof of the purity of his motives, and the integrity of his principles +than the formula of the oath which he exacted from his disciples, and +which runs as follows: + +"I swear by Apollo, by Esculapius, by Hygeia, and all the gods, to fulfil +religiously the solemn promise which I now do make. + +"I will honour as my father, the master who shall teach me the art of +healing, and convince him of my gratitude, by endeavouring to minister to +all his necessities. I will consider his children as my own, and will +gratuitously teach them my profession should they express a desire to +follow it. + +"I shall act in a similar manner to all my brethren who are bound by a +similar engagement, but shall not admit any other to my lessons, my +discourses, or the exercises of my profession. + +"I shall prescribe to my patients, such a course of regimen as I may +consider best suited to their condition, according to the best of my +judgment and capacity, seeking to preserve them from any thing that might +prove injurious. + +"No inducement shall ever lead me to administer poison, nor shall I ever +give a criminal advice, or contribute to an abortion. + +"My sole end shall be to relieve and cure my patients, to render myself +worthy of their confidence, and not to expose myself, even to the +suspicion of having abused this influence, more especially when a woman is +in the case. + +"I shall seek to maintain religiously both the integrity of my conduct, +and the honour of my art. + +"I will not operate for the stone, but leave that operation to those who +cultivate it. + +"To whatever dwelling I may be called, I shall cross its threshold with +the sole view of succouring the sick, abstaining from all injurious views +and corruption, especially from any immodest action. + +"If during my attendance, or even after a recovery, I happen to become +acquainted with any circumstances of the patient's life which should not +be revealed, I shall consider this knowledge a profound secret, and +observe on the subject a religious silence. + +"May I as a rigid observer of this my oath, reap the fruit of my labours, +enjoy a happy life, and obtain general esteem--should I become a perjurer, +may the reverse be my lot." + +At this period the physician who founded a school taught every branch of +the science, and after examining his disciples, gave them a permission to +practise the profession when properly qualified. Hippocrates was succeeded +by his sons Thessalus and Draco. + +The school of Hippocrates was followed by that of Plato who founded the +dogmatic sect, but his speculative views were succeeded by the more sound +doctrines of Aristotle, who was one of the first philosophers who applied +himself to practical anatomy in the frequent dissections of various +animals, and he struck out the important path which his successor +Herophilus was fortunate enough to follow for the welfare of mankind, by +submitting human bodies to the scrutinizing scalpel under the protection +of Ptolemy Lagus, a protection which became the more necessary as he had +been actually accused of having dissected living subjects. Tertullian +affirms that he had thus sacrificed six hundred victims; but what faith +can we place in such an absurd charge, which very probably arose from envy +or prejudice; although his successor Erasistratus, was accused of a +similar offence, and in more modern times Mondini, who was the first to +reintroduce human dissections was exposed to a like charge. It was +Herophilus who founded the celebrated school of Alexandria, where under +the auspices of Ptolemy Philadelphus, Erasistratus succeeded him, followed +by Strabo of Berytus, Strabo of Lampsacus, Lycon of Troas, Apollonius of +Memphis, and many other distinguished philosophers. + +It was at this period that physicians began to practise surgery, which was +first taught with great repute in the Alexandrian school, and where +Ammonicus and Sostrates, surnamed the lythotomists, first distinguished +themselves by this important operation. + +While the science of medicine thus flourished in Greece and Egypt it was +scarcely known in Rome, where the first physician who ventured to practise +was Archagathus from Peloponnesus. At first the bold adventurer was +favourably received, but his operations having shocked a people who +constantly glutted their eyes in scenes of horror, and who beheld the +blood of gladiators flowing in their arena or streaming under the lictors +axe! the imprudent practitioner was stoned to death by the populace, and a +hundred and fifty years elapsed ere another physician could be induced to +visit the ungrateful country, nor was it until the time of Pompey and of +Caesar that any medical men dared to visit the "eternal city." + +The first of these was Asclepiades, who commenced by giving lessons of +rhetoric, which were succeeded by lectures on physic, in the first school +of medicine which he founded in Rome. It was on these benches that +Aufidius and Nico, Artonius and Niceratus were initiated in the art of +healing, while Asclepiades formed his celebrated disciple Themison founder +of the sect of the Methodists or Solidists. To this school are we also +indebted for the learned Celsus justly called the _Cicero of medicine_. +Under Trajan and Adrian the medical profession had attained great +celebrity and splendour, and under M. Antoninus, and Marcus Aurelius the +world became indebted to the glorious labours of Galen--but the bright +days of the healing art were sinking with the star of Rome in the dark +horizon of barbarism, and the works of these illustrious masters were +sacrificed at the shrine of astrology, magic, and Eastern theosophy. + +From this period we find Eastern superstitions mingled with the early +practices and creed of Christianity, when, to use the words of Sprengel, +"An allegorical explanation of words and even of the scriptures, was +carried so far by the Jews that it was considered the utmost perfection of +human learning. The essence of every science, and the only method of +obtaining, without laborious studies, and in a state of idle +contemplation, a degree of wisdom beyond the reach of all other mortals. +It is thus that during the first century of our era the science of Cabala +arose, a tissue of all the chimeras of Zoroaster, Pythagoras, and the +Jews, and which in time, to the shame of human intellect, invaded the +domain of learning, and became closely connected with medicine." + +In the commencement of the second century of the church, Acibba published +a work called _Jezirach_, and Cimeon-Ben-Ischai wrote his book entitled +_Sohan_, in which their cabalistic labours sought to prove, that there +existed a supreme being from whom emanated ten angels, who formed the +first world, in which resided three personified abstractions--knowledge, +intelligence, and wisdom.--Besides this first or primitive world, there +existed three others moving in concentric circles--the world created, the +world formed, and the world constructed! So united, so constructed, that +whatever might happen in the last of these worlds had already existed in +imagination in the first. From this theory it was maintained that the +practice of physic was to call into action all the powers of the superior +worlds; a problem that could only be solved by a cabalistic physician, who +by his piety and contemplation had succeeded in rendering himself worthy +of a communication with celestial agency. + +Facts and observations recorded by long experience were now considered +useless and contemptible _data_, and all terrestrial knowledge despised. +Anatomy was deemed worse than useless, and the established doctrines of +various schools a dead letter. Chaldean, Phoenician, Hebrew words with +mystic significations were introduced as symbolic illustrations of +science: no language that could be understood, was deemed intelligible, +and any system that could bear the test of reason was denounced as +impious. + +Thus was the career opened to the craft of priests boundless. It had been +believed that the apostles were gifted with the power of healing by the +mere apposition of their hands, and their self-named descendants pretended +to possess the same divine attributes--and not only beatified monks cured +with various oils and ointments; but their very mortal remains, became +precious in the hands of their monastic successors. When their mouldering +bones had been sold wholesale and retail as precious relics, their very +sepulchres and their shadows brought hosts of pilgrims to herd round their +shrines. + +The study of medicine destroyed with the glories of Rome, was revived in +Egypt, where Zeno of Cyprus delivered courses of lectures at Alexandria, a +school which soon after dwindled into decay, sinking into obscurity with +the once famed academies of Greece. + +The Roman empire dismembered, Persia became an asylum for fugitive +philosophy, and the Nestorians founded a medical school at Edessa in +Mesopotamia, while other sectarians equally oppressed by ostensible +orthodoxy, sought a refuge in the city of Dschondi-Sabour, where numbers +of Persian and Arabian students flocked to learn their doctrines, and thus +we have the origin of the celebrated school of Bagdad under the protection +of their caliphs. + +This regeneration of science was soon communicated to the shores of +Europe, and the Caliph Alhakam founded a school at Cordova possessing +upwards of 300,000 volumes, and Seville, Toledo, Saragossa, and Coimbra +followed the bright example. Thus was a science, banished from Europe by +bigoted and misguided Christians, restored to its former seat by +Mohammedans. + +The progress of the science of medicine under the Moorish government was +so rapid in Spain, that we find one hundred and fifty medical writers in +the schools of Cordova, and sixty-two in Murcia. While the Moors thus +encouraged these important studies, the priests in the western states kept +the nations under their control in a state of dense ignorance, and the +practice of medicine such as it was, was confined within the cloisters of +monasteries and nunneries. There does still exist a treatise of medicine +written by Hildegarde, Abbess of a convent at Rupertsberg. Monks opened +medical schools in several cathedrals, and we find Gregory I. sending one +of these medical propagators to Canterbury, where Theodore, one of its +archbishops, practised the healing art. + +While the study of medicine had become a privilege of ignorant friars, it +was destined to assume a semblance of learning in Italy, where some +intelligent Benedictines founded a school at Salerno. Here the works of +the Greeks, and Romans, and Arabian physicians were once more brought to +light, and in the eighth century we find Salerno crowded with students, +pilgrims, and invalids. In the eleventh century, this school had obtained +a pre-eminence over every other medical institution, and at the period of +the crusades its fame was universal--not that the ignorant and barbarous +crusaders were capable of shedding any light on the improvement of their +several countries from what they might have learned in Holy Land, but many +of them who had happily returned to Europe, and been landed in the kingdom +of Naples, were cured of their wounds and infirmities by these Benedictine +doctors, who themselves owed much of their erudition to an African of the +name of Constantine, who had studied at the school of Bagdad, and +translated for the monks, who had offered him an asylum, Greek, Latin, and +Arabian works, which to them were sealed volumes. Amongst the celebrated +adventurers of rank who had escaped from the holy wars, was Robert, son of +William the Conqueror, who was cured at Salerno of a supposed incurable +wound in the arm. In this manner was the fame of the Salernian school +spread far and nigh, and soon Ferdinand II. founded universities at Naples +and Messina. + +The course of studies in the school of Salerno was three years of logic, +and five years of medicine and surgery. At the expiration of these +sessions, the student was admitted to examination, and after having +passed, was still obliged to practise for another year under the +immediate eye of an experienced physician. It was only upon his +certificate as to his professional capacities, that a licence to practise +was granted, upon his engaging himself by oaths, to observe the laws of +the college, to attend the poor gratuitously, and to report to the +magistracy all apothecaries that adulterated their drugs or neglected the +proper preparation of medicines prescribed. + +The custom of granting academic dignities may be traced to the Nestorians +and the Jewish professors in the East, where it was carried into the +Moorish possessions in Spain. The school of Salerno was the first +collegiate body that adopted it in the western Christian institutions. The +degree they conferred was that of _Magister_. Previous to the granting of +this distinction seven years study were required, and the candidate was to +be upwards of one-and-twenty years of age. He had to explain in a public +meeting the _Articella_ of Galen--a passage of the _Aphorisms_ of +Hippocrates, and of the first book of Avicenna, after which he was +examined in the works of Aristotle, he then received the degree of +_Magister Artium et Physices_. It was only the professors who bore the +title of Doctors. + +In this manner did the science of medicine struggle for several centuries +with obstacles that appeared insurmountable--in turn practised and +persecuted--anathematized by the clergy, and soon after becoming a +lucrative privilege of the church--prejudice, superstition, and ignorance +had closed anatomical theatres, and from the days when flourished the +school of Herophilus until the fourteenth century, the dissection of +animals was alone permitted, and it was only by stealth that the student +sought some knowledge of the human structure, from mouldering bones +purloined from the cemetery. A brighter era arose in the year 1315, when +Mondini de Luzzi, Professor of Anatomy at Bologna, ventured to dissect +human bodies--a bold attempt, as seventeen centuries had elapsed since +this investigation of the book of nature, the only record where errors can +be detected and truth sought for, had been prohibited. The example of +Mondini, who had written a practical anatomical manual was followed in +various other schools, but a barber was the person charged with the +opening of the subjects, and with no other instrument then his razor he +endeavoured to demonstrate the parts which Mondini's work described. + +From this period we may date the revival of medicine, although in the +following century it made but little progress, still clogged by +astrological absurdities and Arabic errors--and a Florentine physician, +Marcillo Ficin, obtained a high repute by promulgating the doctrine that +the vital spirits of man were similar to the ether which filled space and +directed the planets; concluding that if man could obtain this ethereal +principle he might prolong his days beyond human conception, he +recommended the use of preparations of gold to obtain longevity and even +advised the aged to drink youthful blood to prolong their precarious life. +These absurdities were refuted by Chancellor Gerson, and the faculty of +Paris condemned the Florentine's visions as diabolical and perilous--but +what could have been the facilities offered at that time for the study of +anatomy when we find Professor Montagnana, of Padua, boasting of having +examined _fourteen_ subjects. + +However the fifteenth century was destined to witness a remarkable event +in the annals of medical learning, Emmanuel Chrysolore, embassador of +Emmanuel Paleologus, arrived in Italy, to solicit means from the Christian +powers against the inroads of the Turks. Chrysolore, during a protracted +residence at Venice, employed the leisure which his diplomatic occupations +left him to deliver lectures on various branches of science, and not only +did he encourage the study of the Greek language, but corrected the many +errors that teamed in the Arabic translation of classic works. It was to +this learned man that the succeeding century were indebted for their +knowledge of the works of Hippocrates, and we find that his doctrine +formed the groundwork of medical studies over Europe. + +But the study of the phenomena of nature founded on experience and +observation was not sufficiently visionary and mystic, and soon we see +cabalistic calculation and judicial astrology again subverting all +doctrines that might lead to sound conclusions. Cornelius Agrippa of +Cologne traversed the fairest cities of Europe, to expound the philosophy +of Zamolxis and Abaris; maintaining that every Hebrew character had a +natural signification, the Hebrew being, according to his ideas, not only +the most ancient but a sacred language. He asserted that the language of +demons was the Hebraic, and that all Hebrew letters being either +favourable or hostile to these evil spirits, they might be conjured by a +proper knowledge of their powers. + +This visionary not only fancied that letters possessed this influence, but +that it was shared by numbers. Thus to cure a tertian fever he directs the +use of Verbena, to be cut at the third articulation of the plant; but in +the treatment of a quartern, the disease would only yield to the fourth +joints. He added that every man was under the influence of three +demons--a sacred demon (a divine gift)--an innate demon--and a +professional demon, sent us by the constellations and the celestial +intelligences. + +These reveries, however, were interrupted by the still greater absurdities +of Paracelsus, a man whose ignorance could only be equalled by his vanity, +since he maintained that as the genius of Greece had produced Hippocrates, +the genius of Germany had created him for the salvation of mankind. He +further assured his disciples that all the universities in the world had +less knowledge than his beard, and that every hair of his head was more +learned than all their writers. + +Paracelsus was perhaps one of the most singular enthusiasts that ever +swayed the schools of medicine, or assumed a despotic stand in science. To +superstition, credulity, and disreputable living, he certainly did add a +certain degree of genius, but more particularly a _tact_ which established +such a reputation, that, without much presumption, he might have claimed +the title which he assumed, of "_Prince of Medicine_," to which he added +the pompous appellation of _Aureolus, Philippus, Paracelsus Theophrastus +Bombastus ab Hoppenheim_. + +This strange personage was born in 1493, at Einsidlen, a village near +Zurich; he studied under Fugger Schwartz, a celebrated professor of what +was then called the _Spagyristic_ school, or _Hermetic Medicine_, founded +on a visionary doctrine that I shall shortly notice. He subsequently +travelled over the greater part of Europe, chiefly courting a motley +society of physicians, philosophers, old women, and barbers, culling all +that he could from pretended science or unblushing ignorance. After having +visited the German mines, where he became tainted with the superstition of +the credulous workmen, he repaired to Russia, when he was made prisoner by +a party of Tartars, who conducted him to their Cham. Taken into favour by +their chief, he accompanied his son to Constantinople, where he pretended +to have discovered the philosopher's stone. On his return to his native +country, the magistrates of Bale appointed him to the chair of medicine; +and in 1527 we find him delivering a course of lectures in the German +tongue, being but an indifferent scholar. This sedentary life did not suit +his roving habits; and being, moreover, likely to bring his ignorance into +its proper light, he set out for Alsace with another enthusiast of the +name of Oporinus, with whom however he shortly quarrelled. He continued to +wander from town to town, scarcely ever sleeping, or changing his linen, +clad in the most slovenly manner, and generally in a state of +intoxication, until at Saltzburg in 1541 he was taken ill at a miserable +inn and died in the 48th year of his busy life. + +He no doubt had obtained during his adventurous career much experience, +having for a long time followed armies and attended at sieges, and during +epidemic maladies; but he sought to disguise his want of a proper +education by the assumption of a supernatural influence. One of his +wildest flights of fancy was, perhaps, his receipt to make a man without +conjunction. + +His doctrines were founded upon Judicial Astrology, Alchymy, Cabal, and +Chemistry. Grossly ignorant in the last science, he pretended that all our +diseases depended upon its combinations,--the combustion of sulphur, the +effervescence of saline particles, and the coagulation and stagnation of +mercury in our humours: all under the influence of the _Ens Astrorum_, the +_Ens Deale_, the _Ens Spirituale_, the _Ens Veneni_, and the _Ens +Naturale_. _Mercury_ was evacuated through the pores of the skin; +_sulphur_ emanated from the nostrils; _deliquescent sulphur_ was +discharged by the intestines; a _watery solution of sulphur_ arose from +the eyes, while _arsenic_ oozed out of the ears. When these evacuations +did not take place, the humour became putrid, and putrescency was +_Localiter_ or _Emunctor labiter_--as the humours were either retained or +excreted. + +This humoral doctrine of Paracelsus, strange to say, obtained for upwards +of a century, and many were the learned men who distracted their brains +and that of their disciples to multiply his errors, since we find +Sanctorius calculates 90,000 morbid alterations in these peccant humours. + +In another part of this work, I have related the absurdities of Van +Helmont, another visionary of the seventeenth century. Endless would be +the task of recording the many systems and doctrines that have in turn +ruled the schools of medicine, and been supported both by professors and +disciples with a degree of virulent hostility as implacable as religious +controversies; and still, while we read with contempt the absurd doctrines +of our forefathers, and smile at the folly of their visions, we ourselves +are advocating systems which, after a lapse of some few years, will appear +just as ridiculous and preposterous to our successors in the doubtful +career. + +One question naturally arises from all this controversial discrepance--has +society benefited by the successive revolutions which have overthrown +schools and doctrines, chairs and professors? have the advocates of +Sangradian phlebotomy, and those who considered that the lancet has +committed greater havoc than the sword--have the employers of antimony, +and those who would have sent to the scaffold opponents who gave an +antimonial preparation--have either of these enthusiasts diminished, in +any sensible manner, the scale of mortality, or have they influenced the +prevalence of disease? This is a most important question, and, however +ungracious may be the task, I shall endeavour to consider it. + +It is but too true, that, with the exception of the introduction of +inoculation and the cowpox, the bills of mortality do not appear, at any +period, to have been influenced by the prevalence of any one medical +system. This circumstance, however, cannot be admitted as invalidating the +claims of medical men to a due consideration of their respective merits. I +have endeavoured to show, in a preceding article, that the laws of nature +appear to have regulated the equilibrium of life and death and the +progress of disease with such harmony, indeed, that we might say that our +existence was regulated with arithmetical accuracy. If this is admitted, +it might be alleged, that if such be our fated tenure of life, recourse to +medical aid becomes useless, and the efforts of physicians must prove +effete. Such a deduction would be fatalism in its most absurd form; for, +admitting that our days are thus numbered, the human frame may be assailed +by many ailments, that may not prove fatal, but admit of relief, if they +cannot be cured. It is, therefore, obvious, that the services of a +physician are of great value, if he merely can alleviate our sufferings, +and render a painful existence tolerable. Daily facts corroborate this +assertion, and the most cruel pangs are constantly relieved by +professional aid, although it is not equally evident that the same skill +can prolong the patient's life, if "his hour is come;" but, as we know not +when that fatal moment may strike, we must clearly seek to wind up the +marvellous machinery, and keep it "going" as long as we can. We constantly +behold individuals whose existence is most precarious, and yet who linger +on for years, frequently to the disappointment of expectant heirs; for +there is much truth in the old saying concerning those invalids who are +considered to "have one foot in the grave," they find _that foot_ so very +uncomfortable, that they hesitate for a long time ere they thrust in its +fellow. + +There is little doubt but that much mischief has been done by ignorant +men, yet, perhaps, if the truth were known, more vital injury has been +inflicted on mankind by enthusiastic science--ignorance gropes its way, so +long, at least, as modesty allows to doubt; but, so soon as presumption +leads the way, then ignorance assumes dogmatic assurance, and places the +hardy practitioner on the same line as presumptive science--or, at least, +what is considered such. It is then that enthusiasm, combined with +interested motives, seeks to maintain an acquired influence by +experimental proofs of supremacy; and, as it has been truly said, "There +is no writ of error in the grave," mother earth shrouds the fallacies, and +every disease that the eminent practitioner cannot cure is deemed +incurable. + +On the other hand, the Creator has gifted mankind with an innate and +latent power of resisting noxious influence--a power called by the schools +the _vis medicatrix naturae_, and which is generally sufficient to throw +off morbid attacks, when this principle is not exhausted, and the +functions not impeded by organic derangement which involves the healthy +equilibrium of life; then it is, that the prudent and experienced +physician will carefully watch this precious faculty, and instead of +counteracting the efforts of nature, assist her bounteous labours. This +watchful practice, which may, however, be sometimes too inert, has been +called _expectant medicine_--a slow and tardy process for the energetic +practitioner, who, assuming the reins of life in his bold hands endeavours +to goad and drive on nature in spite of herself; this practice has +obtained the name of _active medicine_, of which our British practitioners +are accused, by the _expectant_ continental physicians, who, to use a +French expression, "_voient venir_," and the French themselves are so well +aware of the imprudence of this hesitation in assisting nature, that they +say "_Your physicians kill their patients, whereas ours let them die_." +There is more truth in this remark than we perhaps are willing to believe. + +The power of nature in the cure of diseases has been acknowledged by the +most experienced and wise physicians. Stahl, in his dissertation, "_De +Medicina sine Medico_," perhaps exaggerated the influence of this faculty. +Bordeu maintains that out of ten patients, two-thirds are cured without +assistance, and come within the circle of all those minor ailments to +which flesh is the constant heir. The illustrious Boerhaave doubted +whether the successful practice of the small number of able physicians was +a compensation for the evils that arose from the errors of the ignorant; +and, in this sad calculation, he seems disposed to think that it would +have been better for mankind that the science of medicine had never +existed. + +All these deductions are both unjust and unwise; for, as I have already +said, if physicians only possessed the means of affording relief, their +mission upon earth is of the utmost importance. At the same time, while +we watch the efforts of nature, it is our duty to rouse her energies when +they become torpid, or to check inordinate action which would soon exhaust +her power. Asclepiades very truly called the expectant practice of +medicine "_a contemplation of death_." The powers of nature may be, and +not inaptly, compared to those of the swimmer; however skilled in the art +of natation, and able under ordinary circumstances to baffle an adverse +tide, are we not to hasten to his succour, when we find that he is borne +away by an inevitable current, or deprived by a cramp, of the power of +stemming the stream? + +We are also willing to forget, that the turbulence of passions, the "wear +and tear" of life, by excesses or irregularities, gradually tend to render +the "medicinal power" of nature of little or no avail; and it has been +truly said, that had we no cooks, we perhaps might not have needed +physicians. Man in fact, in a high state of civilization, seems determined +to counteract all the efforts both of nature and of art to relieve him +from the manifold curses of intemperance; and it is fortunate that his own +feelings of gradual decay prompt him more energetically to a reform in his +habits, than the most persuasive language his physician could employ. + +In this illiberal view of the profession, how often do we lose sight of +hereditary transmissions--heir-looms of disease--ingrafting misery on the +variegated woof of our destinies--germs of fatal maladies which we +bring into the world--a scourge on our posterity!--and yet, strange to +say, our vain self-estimation blinds us in the contemplation of this +doom--for the gratification of our desires, we bring forth a fearful +generation--scrofulous, insane! Nay, we glory in the smiling offspring +blooming around us--heedless, that the very roses we admire on their +transparent cheeks, the coral hue that tinges their lips, are typical of +flowers scattered on a grave, and the joyful beams of their bright yet +languid looks are but the harbingers of the smile of death--the last kind +look on earthly things.--And the physician is expected to arrest the hand +of Providence--to eradicate germs struck before birth! + +It must also be observed, that many of our maladies are, in fact, +reactions of nature, endeavouring to overcome other affections--a struggle +for harmonious unity--for healthy equilibrium. Thus do we see a burning +fever, tending to cast upon the surface exanthematic eruptions--a febrile +reaction which we call critical, and which too often, like a political +crisis, destroys in fruitless endeavours to save. "_Si natura non moveat, +move, tu, motu ejus_" was an ancient axiom; but how often, in seeking to +trim the expiring lamp of life, do we not extinguish the last vital spark! + +In regard to the influence of medicine on population, can it be expected, +that when the most fatal pestilences do not thin it, the most erroneous +medical practice can be more destructive? And, if nine-tenths of cholera, +or pestiferated patients perish, on the other hand, nine-tenths of other +cases of a less serious character are cured without medical intervention; +and possibly, the chief study of a physician should be not to produce a +more obstinate disease by the means he employs to cure an affection less +formidable. Late years have proved that the effects of mercury were far +more dreadful than the disease it was supposed to eradicate. + +In the animadversions that are accumulated upon the physician, an +insidious comparison to his disadvantage, has been made with the utility +of the surgeon--a utility which man is compelled, however reluctantly, to +acknowledge, since it is evident to his most gross senses--an amputated +limb--a reduced luxation--are before his eyes, while the favourable +changes operated on a morbid condition of the body are not self-evident, +and can only be recognised by sound and unbiassed judgment. In this +illiberal view, it is forgotten that the mere operative surgeon is nothing +more than a mechanical agent--a butcher could perform the same operation +with his rude knives and saws as the chirurgeon with his refined and +improved instruments; it is the judgment that we look to, and the skill in +attending to the general health of the patient, to bring him to a perfect +cure; in these functions, of much more importance than the dexterity of +the hand, the surgeon clearly assumes the duties of the physician; and it +is not possible for a man to excel in one part of the profession without +being conversant with the other; a surgeon must be a sound anatomist, and +an observant physiologist--without the knowledge of these fundamental +sciences, a surgeon and a physician might be compared to the bungler who +attempted to repair a watch, without a previous acquaintance with its +intricate machinery. + +Let us hope that the mischievous distinction between surgery and medicine +may soon become an obsolete prejudice, that was never founded upon reason, +but simply based upon ambitious lucre. Let us hope that the graduate of an +university will not conceive it beneath his dignity to save a +fellow-creature's life by breathing a vein, and not esteem a vain and +pompous piece of parchment an immunity from humane feelings and +philanthropic duties. + +As good often results from apparent evil, the converse must also be +frequently admitted. That much evil has occurred from errors in medical +doctrine is unfortunately but too true, yet this evil has never attained +the extent which is generally supposed. I have already alluded to the +curative powers of nature, ever tending, while still enjoying a portion +even of their energies, to repel obnoxious agents--this power has saved +the lives of many; and indeed, when we daily witness the excesses +committed by the sensualist and the drunkard with apparent impunity, +although exposed to destructive agencies more powerful than the generality +of medicinal substances, we must come to the conclusion that the kitchen +and the cellar are, at least, as formidable as the officinal preparations +of the pharmacopolist. + +That the physician, guided by experience and sound observation, is able, +in very many cases to afford relief, must even be admitted by the most +hostile depreciator of his science, who refuses to admit that he possesses +the power of curing. This simple admission of daily facts, must entitle +him to some degree of weight in our confidence, whatever may be our +sceptical view of his doctrines. + +While the real merits of a physician are so frequently overlooked, we +constantly see a blind confidence reposed in a quack. The cause is +obvious. A man of real merit seldom extols his own good qualities, nor +does he seek the fulsome adulation and praise of others. He rests upon his +own deserts; but how seldom are they rewarded: when modesty places her +light "under a bushel" who will bring it into view? + +Duclos has explained in some measure this apparent anomaly.--"The desire," +he says "to obtain a high stand in the estimation of society, has given +rise to reputation, celebrity, and renown,--the mainsprings of worldly +action--arising from a similar principle, but showing different means and +results. Both reputation and renown may be enjoyed at the same time and +yet be widely different. The public is not unfrequently surprised at the +reputations that it had itself created. It seeks to inquire into their +origin, but not being able to discover a merit which never did exist, it +gradually admires and respects a phantom of its own evocation. As society +thus bestows a reputation in a capricious manner, quacks will usurp one by +their intrigues or by a barefaced impudence, which cannot claim the +comparatively honourable denomination of proper pride and dignity. They +themselves proclaim their merit to the world--at first their impertinence +becomes a subject of derision, but they repeat the assertion of their +superior skill so frequently and confidently, that they end by imposing +themselves upon society. People forget where, whence, and from whom they +heard these flattering eulogies, to which at last they yield their +credence, and an adventurer who thus resolves to establish a reputation, +with perseverance and impudence seldom fails." + +It must also be remembered, that most medical men owe their success to +woman's all-powerful aid. They are in general as blind and as pertinacious +in their partialities as in their dislikes; seldom bestowing much judgment +in either, but acting according to the impulses of their warm passions and +flexibility. Females, from their situation in the world, stand in constant +need of a friendly adviser, although they are rarely disposed to follow +any advice, if their pleasures are marred by the suggestion, but when art +and opportunity enable a man to turn their flexibility, their +_impressionability_ to a good account, with the combined aid of vanity and +weak nerves, he will in all probability succeed in obtaining a high +estimation in the mind of a loquacious dame, who will blazon his fame far +and near like the trumpeter of a mountebank. If this lady moves in an +elevated and influencial sphere of life, to question her recommendation is +to question her sense and power, both of which would be bold attempts; and +thus have we seen an intriguing noble dame forcing a physician even upon +royalty. Moreover, when we recollect that the wealthy send for a physician +for every trifling real or supposed indisposition, which fashion or +expediency may aggravate at will, to excite interest or carry a desirable +point, it is manifest that the _cures_ of such a practitioner must be most +numerous, since the attainment of any desire constitutes a _panacea_; and +frequently we have seen a box at the opera, a check on a banker, a new +carriage, or a diamond necklace, more efficacious than the most renowned +nostrum, while the expulsion of an unpleasant plain-spoken acquaintance, +or the kind reception of a dangerous and treacherous inmate, may produce +more sudden recoveries than the most approved specific. The great science +of such practitioners is to practise with equal success upon every branch +of the family, to whom in return for their confidence, they can ensure +peace and pleasure if they cannot bestow health. I cannot better conclude +this article than by quoting the following passage of the sceptic +Voltaire: + +It is true that regimen is preferable to physic. It is also true that for +a long period of time, out of one hundred physicians were twenty-eight +quacks, and it is also true, that Moliere had very good reason to turn +them into ridicule. It is also certain that nothing can be more absurd +than to behold a crowd of silly women, and men, not less feminine in their +habits, whenever they are satiated with eating, drinking, gambling, and +late hours, calling in a physician for every trifling headache; consulting +him as though he were a divinity, and praying for the miraculous gift of +combined health and intemperance. It is nevertheless true, that a good +physician in a hundred cases may preserve life and limb. A man falls down +in an apoplectic fit, it will neither be a captain of infantry or a privy +councillor that will relieve him. A cataract obscures my vision; my +neighbouring gossips will not restore my sight; for here I make no +distinction between the physician and the surgeon. For a long time the two +professions have been inseparable. Men who would make it their study to +restore health to their fellow-creatures on the sole grounds of humanity +and benevolence, should be considered greater than the greatest man upon +earth, and bordering upon divine attributes, for preservation and +restoration stand next in rank to creation. The Romans were for upwards of +five hundred years without physicians. Their people, continually employed +in killing, thought but little of the preservation of life; what did they +do when they were attacked with a putrid fever, a fistula, a hernia, or a +pleurisy?--_They died._ + + + + +MEDICINE OF THE CHINESE. + + +This singular people possess works on medical science which they trace as +far back as three thousand years, and chiefly written by two of their +emperors, _Chin-nong_ and _Hoang-ti_. It has been asserted that they +received the early elements of the science from the Egyptians, but it is +more probable that they derived their information from their constant +intercourse with the Bactrians, whose arts and sciences were flourishing +at the period of Alexander's conquests, and the Chinese historians in +support of this probability, state that several learned physicians came +from Samarcand to establish themselves amongst them. Moreover, the +doctrines of Erasistratus bear much resemblance to those of the Chinese. + +The superstitious regard shown to the bodies of the departed, must +naturally have materially retarded the progress of anatomical pursuits, +although this people assure us that 2706 years before our era they +possessed a work on this subject, entitled _Nim Kin_. Howbeit it seems +probable, from their extreme ignorance of the structure of the human body, +that this important branch of the science of medicine has remained +stationary ever since the publication of the aforesaid treatise. + +The Chinese physicians divide the body into a right and left portion, and +three regions. The upper one, comprising the head and the chest, a middle +one, extending from the lower part of the thorax to the umbilicus, and an +inferior region, comprising the hypogaster and lower extremities. They +admit twelve viscera as the sources of life, but they do not appear to +have any distinct notion of the division, uses and conformation of the +muscles, nerves, vessels, and the various tissues of the human economy. +Their ignorance equally extends to the construction of animals. + +They consider that man is influenced by two principles, heat and humidity, +the harmony of which constitutes life, which ceases when their +equilibrious state is destroyed. Vital moisture resides in the heart, +lungs, liver, spleen, and kidneys, while vital heat pervades the +intestines, the stomach, the pericardium, the gall-bladder and the +ureters. These two principles are transmitted through the medium of the +vital spirits and the blood by twelve canals, one of which carries a +fecundating moisture from the head to the hands; another from the liver to +the feet; a third from the kidneys to the left side of the body; and a +fourth from the lungs to the right division. + +In addition to these channels of vital transmission, they imagine that the +state of our internal organs can be ascertained by the appearance of +various parts of the head, which they consider as indicative sympathies of +the action of the internal viscera. For instance, the head corresponds +with the tongue, the lungs with the nostrils, the spleen with the mouth, +the kidneys influence the ear, the liver acts upon the eyes, and thus they +consider that they can form a correct idea of the nature of internal +maladies by the complexion, the state of the eyes, the sound of the voice, +the taste, and the smell of the patient. + +The Chinese physiologists also consider the human body as a harmonic +instrument, of which the muscles, tendons, nerves, arteries, &c. are +vibrating chords, producing various sounds and modulations, and the pulse +their chief guide in ascertaining the nature of disease, is but the result +of a modification of these sounds as the chords are more or less extended +or relaxed. + +In addition to these singular views of the human economy, they imagine +that the body is influenced by five elementary agents, earth, minerals, +water, air, and fire. + +Fire prevails in the heart and the thoracic viscera, which bear an +astronomic relation with the south. + +The liver and the gall-bladder are under the influence of air, which is in +relation with the east, whence the winds arise, and it is towards spring +that these organs are generally affected. + +The kidneys and ureters are ruled by water, astronomically associated with +the north--hence winter is the usual season of the maladies in these +parts. + +The stomach and spleen are regulated by earth, and are placed in connexion +with the centre of the firmament, between the five cardinal points, and +affections of these parts are observed in the third month of each quarter. + +Diseases are distinguished by their vicinity to or their distance from the +central part of the body, the heart and lungs, and are usually occasioned +by vicissitudes in the atmospheric constitution--varying with cold, heat, +and moisture. + +The minuteness of their division of maladies is as great as the mechanical +precision which all their labours exhibit: for instance, they admit no +less than forty-two varieties of the smallpox; according to the shape, +colour, situation of the pustules, which they compare to the cocoons of +the silkworm--to strings of beads--chaplets of pearls--and lay equal +stress on their being flat or round--black, red, or violet. This disease +has, indeed, been described by them with much accuracy and judgment, as +regards its benign or its confluent character; and there is no doubt that +inoculation was practised among them from time immemorial, as I have +already shown in the article on that head. Equally accurate have they been +in detailing the various symptoms of gout, scurvy, elephantiasis, and +syphilis, which also scourges the "Celestial empire." + +The chief guide, however, in their diagnosis and prognosis, is the state +of the pulse, and a very curious work, called "The Secrets of the Pulse," +and said to have been written two centuries before our era, by +_Ouang-chou-ho_ or _Vam-xo-ho_. The pulse is divided into the external, +the middle, and the deep--producing _nine_ different pulsations called +_Heon_, and the arterial beats were formerly sought for in the joint of +the big toe; this custom is now abandoned, but they still follow the +strange practice of taking up the right wrist in women and the left in +men. + +The external pulse, called _Piao_, is subdivided into several varieties. + +1. The superficial P. in _Feou_, which yields to the slightest pressure. + +2. The hollow P. _Kong_, which announces that the artery is empty when +pressed upon. + +3. The slippery P. _Hang_, which slides under the fingers, like the beads +of a necklace. + +4. The full P. _Che_, striking against the fingers with a full caliber of +blood. + +5. The tremulous P. _Hien_, vibrating like the chord of a musical +instrument. + +6. The intermittent P. _Kin_, vibrating by starts, like the instrument +called _Kin_. + +7. The regurgitating P. _Hong_, the strong pulsation of a full and +distended vessel. + +These seven characters are considered much more favourable than the eight +which follow, and which, arising from a deeper action, require a more +forcible pressure. + +1. The deep P. _Tehin_, only discovered by a firm pressure. + +2. The filiform P. _Ouei_, a threadlike pulsation. + +3. The moderate P. _Ouan_, slow and languid. + +4. The sharp P. _Soe_, producing the sensation of a cutting or sawing +instrument. + +5. The slow P. _Tehis_, when the pulsations follow each other with languid +intervals. + +6. The sinking P. _Fou_, when the pulse, although pressed hard, sinks +under the finger. + +7. The soft P. _Sin_, which feels like a drop of water one might press +upon. + +8. The weak P. _Yo_, which yields the sensation of feeling like a worn-out +texture, and ceases to be observed when pressed upon for any time. + +To these are added nine other varieties, called _Tao_. + +1. The long P. _Tehang_, full, smooth--feeling like a full tube. + +2. The short P. _Toan_, presenting a pointed surface, that seems +indivisible. + +3. The empty P. _Hin_, insensible under moderate pressure. + +4. The tight P. _Tsou_, which the finger feels with difficulty. + +5. The embarrassed P. _Kie_, languid and occasionally stopping. + +6. The intermittent P. _Tai_, when several pulsations appear to be +missing. + +7. The slender P. _Sie_, so slow and weak, that it feels like a hair. + +8. The moving P. _Tong_, that one might compare to stones under water. + +9. The tense P. _Ke_, feeling like a distended drum-head. + +But as many Chinese doctors were not satisfied with this confusion in the +classification of pulses, and, like practitioners in other countries, +sought to render darkness still more visible--they sought to strike out a +new career by increasing the multiplication, and introduced the following +_addenda_: + +1. The strong pulse, _Ta_, filling the vessel, yet yielding to pressure. + +2. The precipitate P. _Son_, in which the pulsation was rapid in +succession. + +3. The scattered P. _San_, soft, slow, and non-resisting. + +4. The stray P. _Li-king_, strong--not pulsating three times in each +inspiration. + +5. The firm P. _Tun_, consistent and resisting. + +6. The lively P. _Ki_, pulsation rapid in succession. + +7. The skipping P. _Teng_, pulsation unequal, sudden, and frequent. + +In this minute attention to the many variations of the pulses, the Chinese +aided their study, by attending to age, sex, stature, constitution, the +seasons, the passions, and the comparative state of health and disease. + +In a person of high stature, the pulse was full--concentrated in +diminished individuals--deep and embarrassed in fat subjects--long and +superficial in the meager--soft in the phlegmatic temperament--tremulous +in the lively and the active--slower in man than in woman, excepting when +threatened with disease--full and firm in the adult--slow and feeble in +old age--soft and vivacious in infancy. + +The rhythm of the pulse was affected by the passions, though chiefly in a +transient manner:--moderately slow, in joy--short, in grief--deep, under +the impression of fear--precipitate and regurgitating, in anger. In the +spring, they maintained that the pulsation was tremulous--replete, in +summer--spare and superficial, in autumn--dry and deep, in winter. Much +mysterious ceremony was observed by the Chinese physicians in this +investigation; they felt the pulse with four fingers, which they +alternately raised or dropped on the vessel, as if playing on a musical +instrument. + +In this profound study, they attributed to every disease a peculiar state +of the pulse by which it could be recognised and ascertained, and at the +same time it enabled them to form a favourable or unfavourable +prognostic. Some of these rules are curious. If the pulses stop before +fifty pulsations have been counted, disease is at hand; when an +interruption in the course of the circulation takes place after forty +pulsations, the patient has not more than four years to live; when an +interruption takes place after the third pulsation, three or four days are +the probable term of existence; but the patient may linger on for six or +seven days more, when the interruption only succeeds the fourth pulsation. + +Idle as these speculations may appear, it is to be feared that while the +Chinese paid such minute attention to the state of the circulation, more +distinguished and learned schools do not consider this powerful indication +of the strength or weakness of the vital functions with sufficient care +and discrimination, and perhaps a translation of the works of +_Ouang-chou-ho_, might not be altogether useless in the present +enlightened age. I have no hesitation in saying that this important +investigation is sadly neglected in medical education--so much so indeed, +that the different appellations given to the varied state of the pulse, +are neither well defined nor generally understood. The French physician +Bordeu has given much valuable information on this subject, which occupied +the ancients as much as it seems to have fixed the attention of the +Chinese. We find that the Indians, in the time of Alexander, accurately +studied this important point. + +Notwithstanding the assertion of Sprengel, Hippocrates was a most +attentive observer of the state of the pulse. Thus we find him giving the +name of [Greek: sphygmos] to that violent and spasmodic beating of the +artery, which was not only sensible to the touch, but evident to the +bystander's eye--in more than forty passages of his immortal works do we +find important references to the pulse, which he also declared could +enable us to detect the secret workings of the passions. Many were the +ancient physicians who have minutely entered into these investigations, +amongst them we may name Herophilus, Erasistratus, Zeno, Alexander +Philalethes, Heraclides of Erythrae, Heraclides of Tarentum, Aristoxenes. +Several of the doctrines founded on these observations were most absurd, +attributing the various conditions of the circulation to the _Pneuma_ of +the heart and arteries; such were the doctrines of Asclepiades, Agathinus, +Galen, and many others; and amongst the Arabians we find _Thabeth Ebn +Ibrahim_ asserting that by the state of the pulse he could ascertain what +articles of food had been taken--in more modern times Baillou, Wierns, +Boerhaave, Hoffmann, have sedulously applied themselves to this most +essential study, and Schelhammenn asserts that the pulse never once +deceived him. + +The effect of our passions on the circulation is much more powerful than +is generally believed, and they are a more fertile source of our maladies +than is commonly apprehended. We can readily conceive why the Spartan +Chilo died through excess of joy whilst embracing his victorious son.[53] + +In the treatment of disease, the Chinese, so fond of classification, +divide the medicinal substances they employ into heating, cooling, +refreshing, and temperate; their _materia medica_ is contained in the work +called the _Pen-tsaocang-mou_ in fifty-two large volumes, with an atlas of +plates; most of our medicines are known to them and prescribed; the +mineral waters, with which their country abounds, are also much resorted +to; and their emperor, _Kang-Hi_, has given an accurate account of several +thermal springs. Fire is a great agent, and the _moxa_ recommended in +almost every ailment, while acupuncture is in general use both in China +and Japan; bathing and _champooing_ are also frequently recommended, but +blood-letting is seldom resorted to. + +China has also her animal magnetizers, practising the _Coug fou_, a +mysterious manipulation taught by the bonzes, in which the adepts produce +violent convulsions. + +The Chinese divide their prescriptions into seven categories. + +1. The great prescription. + +2. The little prescription. + +3. The slow prescription. + +4. The prompt prescription. + +5. The odd prescription. + +6. The even prescription. + +7. The double prescription. + +Each of these receipts being applied to particular cases, and the +ingredients that compose them being weighed with the most scrupulous +accuracy. + +Medicine was taught in the imperial colleges of Pekin; but in every +district, a physician, who had studied six years, is appointed to instruct +the candidate for the profession, who was afterwards allowed to practise, +without any further studies or examination; and it is said, that, in +general, the physician only receives his fee when the patient is cured. +This assertion, however, is very doubtful, as the country abounds in +quacks, who, under such restrictions as to remuneration, would scarcely +earn a livelihood. Another singular, but economical practice prevails +amongst them--a physician never pays a second visit to a patient unless he +is sent for. Whatever may be the merits of Chinese practitioners both in +medicine and surgery, or their mode of receiving remuneration, it appears +that they are as much subject to animadversion as in other countries:--a +missionary having observed to a Chinese, that their medical men had +constantly recourse to fire in the shape of moxa, redhot iron, and burning +needles; he replied, "Alas! you Europeans are carved with steel, while we +are martyrized with hot iron; and I fear that in neither country will the +fashion subside, since the operators do not feel the anguish they inflict, +and are equally paid to torment us or to cure us!" + + + + +EXPERIMENTS ON LIVING ANIMALS. + + +However ungrateful the discussion of this subject may be, since, in truth +and justice, it must be considered with an unbiassed and unprejudiced +mind, and elicit observations which may prove offensive to many, and +absurd to some, it is one of such moment on the score of humanity, that I +undertake the task without hesitation or reluctance. + +In support of the practice it has been urged, that mankind owes the most +valuable discoveries in the science of medicine and its collateral +branches to the vivisection of animals; that since the brute creation was +intended for the use of our species, we could not apply them to a more +important and justifiable purpose, than that of endeavouring to initiate +ourselves in those wonderful functions of nature, a knowledge of which +would give us a clearer insight of the mysterious machinery, and thereby +the better enable us to remedy their derangement when in a morbid state. +It has further been maintained, that when man to indulge his capricious +appetites and his various amusements, tortures every creature that can +minister to his depraved fancies or his unruly pleasures--he would be +more excusable, if not fully justifiable even in the eyes of the most +sentient philanthropist, in submitting these creatures to smaller or +greater sufferings, if mankind could be ultimately benefited by this +sacrifice of feeling. What, indeed, could be our commiseration when +beholding the agonies of a mangled dog or a cat, if the throes of his +sufferings, and the incalculable pangs he endured, could restore a beloved +child to his disconsolate parents, or a sinking father to his helpless +family. Moreover, is not man, from the very nature of his social position, +created to suffer more than animals, not only from the many natural +diseases to which flesh is heir, but to the torturing wounds received on +the field of battle--the burning fevers of distant climes--the chances of +war, pestilence, and famine--all of which are aggravated by that power of +judgment, that reflection and consciousness derivating from the possession +of an immortal soul, which makes the future more horrible than the +present, however great its miseries may be. It has also been urged, that +animals in their savage state, undomesticated by the _humane_ interference +of man, inflict upon each other injuries under which they linger and die +in excruciating pain; and, therefore, when we submit them to similar +agonies, we only fill up the intended measure of their destined +sufferings. + +It is painful to assert it, but all these allegations, I consider as not +only unsupported by facts and experience, but grounded on speculative +sophistry; for, in regard to the injuries which animals in their wild +condition may inflict upon each other, they may be the result of the wise +provisions of the CREATOR, with which man, however presumptuous he be, has +nothing to do, and even were it in his power to check their furious and +destructive propensities, it is more than likely, from what we daily +witness, that he would turn them to a profitable or a pleasurable account, +as most probably, the sight of a combat between a wild elephant and a +rhinoceros (provided the spectators were perfectly secure), would attract +a greater multitude, and _draw_ more money, than a dog-fight or a +bull-bait--a tiger-hunt, were it not attended with some personal danger +which requires courage, would prove more delectable than the pursuit of a +timid hare. + +But I now come to a much more important consideration--the benefit to +mankind that has occurred or that may be derived from such experiments. +And here I must give as my most decided opinion, that if any such +beneficial results did arise from the inquiries, they were not +commensurate with the barbarity of the experiments; nay, I shall +endeavour to show, that they are frequently more likely to deceive us, by +propping up fallacious and tottering theories, than to shed any valuable +light on the subject of investigation. + +I readily admit that there does exist much analogy in the structure of man +and certain animals in the higher grades of the creation; that the +functions of respiration, digestion, absorption, locomotion, are to a +certain extent similar, and that experiments made to ascertain the +mechanism of these functions (if I may so express myself), may tend, in +some measure, to teach us that which the inanimate corpse of man cannot +exhibit; but, admitting to the full extent of argumentation, the analogy +of these functions, I do maintain that the phenomena of life differ widely +between man and animals, and the very nervous influences which we seek to +discover are, in life, of a nature totally different. Were it not so, +would the senses of different animals, rendered more or less acute or +obtuse according to their natural pursuits and protective habits, be so +materially unequal? Indeed, the laws of nature that submit every creature +to the immutable will of Providence are totally unlike; and each apparatus +of life in divers beings seems to be especially calculated for the +identical race: what is poison to the one is an aliment to another; and +the vivid light which the eyes of one creature can bear, would produce +blindness in another; the same effluvia which one animal would not notice, +would guide another over trackless wastes in search of friend or foe. I +therefore maintain, that the mere material examination of the living +organs of animals can no more tend to illustrate their vital principle, +than the keenest anatomical labours can enable us to attain a knowledge of +the nature of our immortal and imperishable parts. + +I shall enter still more minutely into this subject. In the barbarous +experiments to which I allude, animals bearing the strongest resemblance +to man (at least in their conformation, for Heaven, in its mercy, did not +gift them with what we call _mind_) are usually selected amongst such as +possess a heart with four cavities, and double lungs. The dog--the natural +companion of man, his most faithful friend in weal and woe, the guardian +of his couch and property, the protector of his infants, the only mourner +o'er the pauper's grave!--dogs, are in general selected for the scientific +shambles; and this for obvious reasons,--they are more easily procured, +and at a _cheaper rate_; moreover, they are more manageable and +unresisting under the mangling scalpel. Well, thousands of these creatures +have been starved to death with butter, sugar, and oil, to prove that they +must die in all the aggravated pangs of hunger,--pangs producing ulcerated +eyes, blindness, staggers, parched up organs, unless their food contains +azote. Will any one maintain, that a similar nourishment would produce +similar effects on man? Certainly not. The one was created by nature to +consume animal substances highly azotized; the other, from the transition +of life to which he is born to be exposed, is essentially polyphagous. + +Then, again, millions of animals have had their bones broken, scraped, +bruised in every possible manner, to discover the process of the formation +of bone, called _Osteogeny_: has a single fracture of a human limb been +more rapidly consolidated by these experiments, which fill hundreds of +pages in the works of Duhamel, Haller, Scarpa, and other physiologists? +Animals will digest substances that would kill a human being--have the +experiments in which their palpitating stomach and intestines have been +torn from them, lacerated, pricked, cut, separated from their surrounding +vessels and nerves, increased our means of relieving the dyspepsia of the +sensualist, the surfeit of the glutton, or the nausea of the dissolute? On +the other hand, the gin, the ardent spirits in which the drunkard wallows, +would soon destroy what we think proper to call a _brute_! + +In many animals, moreover, there is a tenacity of life--highly convenient +to the physiologist, since it enables him to prolong his experimental +cruelties--which man does not possess; and we find the electric fluid +acting much longer upon their muscles even after death, than on a human +body or its severed limbs. + +Another point to be considered is the assertion of the advantages to be +derived from contemplating the living viscera in a healthy state. Good +God! a healthy state!--what a mockery, what a perversion of language! +Behold the dog, stolen from his master--(for theft is encouraged to supply +the man of science--and theft of the worst character, since it is of the +most cruel nature;--our goods, our money, may be restored, replaced by +industry, but what hand can restore the faithful companion of our +solitude, whose looks seem to study our thoughts! left us perhaps by the +lost one of our heart, symbol of that fidelity which death alone +abridged!) the poor animal hungry, chained up for days and nights pining +for his lost master, is led to the butchery. Still he looks up for +compassion to man, his natural protector, licks the very hand that grasps +him until his feeble limbs are lashed to the table! In vain he +struggles--in vain he expresses his sufferings and his fears in piteous +howls: a muzzle is buckled on to stifle his troublesome cries, and his +concentrated groans heave his agonized breast in convulsive throes, until +the scalpel is plunged in his helpless extended body! His blood flows in +torrents, his very heart is exposed to the torturer's searching hand, and +nerves which experience anguish from a mere breath of air, are lacerated +with merciless ingenuity,--and this is a healthy state! The viscera +exposed to atmospheric influence are already parched, and have lost their +natural colour, and not a single function is performed in normal +regularity. One only effort is natural until vital power is exhausted--a +vain instinctive resistance against his butchers!--The heart sickens at +such scenes, when cruelty that would bid defiance to the savage's +vindictive barbarity, sacrifices thousands of harmless beings at the +shrine of vanity. For let the matter not be mistaken--these experiments +are mostly made to give an appearance of verisimilitude to the most absurd +and visionary doctrines; and if a proof were required of this assertion, +it can be easily obtained by reading the works of various physiologists at +different periods, who all draw _different_ deductions from _similar_ +facts. For when the mind labours under a certain impression, or a +reputation is founded upon the support of a doctrine, these facts are +distorted with Procrustean skill to suit the views of the experimentalist. + +Let us, for instance, consider the subject of digestion, to ascertain the +nature of which, thousands--millions of animals have been ripped up alive. +This practice has been attributed to _coction_, to _elixation_, to +_fermentation_, to _putrefaction_, to _trituration_, to _maceration_, to +_dissolution_, and to many other shades and shadows of similar theories; +and were additional millions of living victims sacrificed in further +scientific hecatombs, posterity may deem our present vain glorious +physiologists as ignorant of the matter as they might consider their +numerous predecessors in the same career of groping curiosity. Has the +cruel extraction of the spleen from a thousand dogs to show that they +could live without that viscous, explained the nature of its functions, or +enabled us more successfully to control its obstinate diseases? + +We know nothing of the phenomena of life; all our functions are regulated +by an allwise Power that sets at naught human presumption--and +Hippocrates justly called this harmonic organization a _concensus_, or a +circle, in which we could not discover the commencement or the end. + +There does however exist one course of experiments which probably might +prove beneficial to mankind. The search of antidotes to various poisons +that are too frequently administered by criminal hands; but here again +experiments fall short of our expectations, for these substances act +differently upon different animals, and even to some the prussic acid in +large doses may be given with impunity. But I affirm, and can prove it, +that in ninety-nine cases out of one hundred, in which such substances are +given to animals, it is not with a view to discover antidotes, but to +ascertain, according to the unfortunate creature's species, size, and +condition, how long he can linger under the pangs of the poison, or what +is the dose sufficient to occasion death. Of what benefit can it be to +humanity to know that thirty drops of hydro-cyanic acid destroys dogs and +cats in the space of six, twelve, or fifteen minutes; that twenty-six +drops kill a rabbit in three minutes; that one drop introduced into the +bill of a sparrow deprives it of life in eleven minutes; that a duck takes +fifteen drops to put an end to its convulsive struggles; and that the +exposing animals to the influence of hydro-cyanic acid gas destroys them +in two, four, six, eight, and ten seconds? What benefit does society reap +from the knowledge that, after the most excruciating suffering, a dog died +in five hours after having taken half an ounce of tobacco, and that +another ill-fated canine victim in whose limbs tobacco had been +introduced, died of paralysis and in horrible convulsions in about an +hour? Were antidotes sought in the thousands of similar cases that I could +adduce? Certainly not--the experiments merely went to ascertain the power +of the drug, and the only possible good that could have resulted from the +barbarous trial, was the appearance of the viscera after death; a fact +that one experiment could demonstrate as well as one thousand--but which +could be more effectually exhibited in human creatures who died from the +effects of deleterious substances. In short, these experiments are nothing +more than cold calculations on the tenacity of life in various +individuals. Every one knows that arsenic and prussic acid destroy life, +and surely such an assertion on the part of a lecturer to his pupils +should satisfy them on this head without having recourse to illustrations +of the fact. In the case of supposed poison introduced into alimentary +substances, and which are given to dogs to prove the criminal act, surely +chemistry is not so little advanced in its boasted progress, not to be +able to afford us a test of the presence of poison, without having +recourse to so savage an expedient. + +Another most absurd argument has been upheld in favour of these +experiments in the presence of pupils, that of hardening their feelings in +the contemplation of acute sufferings. This assertion is worse than idle +and absurd; many of our most able surgeons and anatomists have never +practised these cruelties, and yet their nerves have not been unstrung +during the most fearful operations. With hands imbrued in blood I have +performed the arduous duties of my profession in fourteen battles, yet I +never could _witness_ these heartless exhibitions without disgust, and I +am sorry to say contempt. I am aware that these sentiments have been +called _puling_ professions of humanity; nay, that there are men and women +who would weep bitterly over the sufferings of a sick pet, while they +would view accumulated human misery unmoved. These are painful anomalies +arising too frequently in disappointed minds, when the cup of life has +been imbittered by ingratitude, and the "milk of human kindness" curdled +by deceit. These are not reasons to prevent us from censuring acts of +cruelty, when they may be considered _useless_ in a scientific point of +view, and _degrading_ to mankind in regard to private feelings. I can +readily believe that the best and the most humane of men, may be induced +by an ardent desire to elucidate obscure parts of physiologic inquiry, to +try such experiments; but most undoubtedly--unless the object to be so +attained was commensurate with the sacrifice and abnegation of humane +sentiments, I should deeply lament their obduracy, and be inclined to +doubt their benevolence towards their fellow-creatures. + + I would not enter on my list of friends + (Though graced with polish'd manners, and fine sense, + Yet wanting sensibility), the man + Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm. + An inadvertent step may crush the snail + That crawls at evening in the public path; + But he that hath humanity forewarned + Will tread aside, and let the reptile live. + +In fine, whenever it is not evident that such practices can benefit +mankind and increase our means of reducing the sum of human misery--it is +a barbarous and criminal abuse of that power which the Creator has given +us over the inferior grades of animated beings; and it is deeply to be +lamented that no legislative measures can be adopted to restrain it, if it +cannot be altogether prohibited. At any rate, professors alone should be +allowed the "_indulgence_," but in no instance should such +pseudo-scientific practices become a public exhibition or a student's +pastime. Brought up in early life, amidst all the complicated horrors of a +revolution, I have been sadly convinced that the contagion of CRUELTY is +much more doubtless and active than that of PESTILENCE! + + +THE END. + + +WHITING, BEAUFORT HOUSE STRAND. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] During these ten years the following works appeared: + + Montesquieu--Esprit des Lois, 1748. + ---- Defense de l'Esprit des Lois, 1750. + Rousseau--Discours sur l'Influence des Sciences et des Lettres, 1750. + ---- Discours sur l'Inegalite des Conditions, 1754. + Voltaire--Essai sur les Moeurs et l'Esprit des nations, 1757. + Condillac--Essai sur l'Origine des Connaissances Humaines, 1746. + ---- Traite des Sensations, 1754. + Helvetius--De l'Esprit, 1758. + +[2] The _Homo diluvii testis_, the skeleton of which was described by +Scheuchzer, was considered by Cuvier to have belonged to a species of +Salamander. + +[3] For the further illustration of this curious subject, Dr. Eliotson's +valuable notes on Blumenbach may be consulted to advantage. + +[4] The dream of Ertucules seems to have been connected with similar +phantasies. "I dreamed, venerable sir," said he to Edebales, "that the +brightness of the moon did proceed from your bosom, and thence afterwards +did pass into mine: when it was thither come, there sprung up a tree from +my umbilic, which overshadowed at once many nations, mountains, and +valleys. From the root of this tree there issued waters sufficient to +irrigate vines and gardens; and then both my dream and my sleep forsook +me." Edebales after some pause thus answered: "There will be born unto +you, my good friend, a son whose name shall be Osman; he shall wage many +wars, and shall acquire victory and glory; and my daughter must be married +to your son Osman, and she is the brightness which you saw come from my +bosom into yours, and from both sprung up the tree."--_Lips. Marsil._ + +[5] Vide the article "Enthusiasm." + +[6] The choenix contained a pint. + +[7] These lines afford a convincing proof of the minute attention the +ancients paid to the phenomena of nature. Our poet had no doubt observed +the frequent effect of the application of cold to the surface of the body +producing a reaction in the circulation tending to overcome the noxious +agent by a glow of heat, which in many instances of predisposition may +assume a febrile character. + +[8] A Treatise on Insanity. + +[9] _Pallido il Sol_ and _Per quanto dolce amplasso_ of Hasse. + +[10] Much curious matter will be found in Mr. Nathan's valuable work upon +music, entitled, "_Musurgia vocalis_." + +[11] That animals are more frequently guided by the sense of smelling than +by sight, is evident in those plants that shed a cadaverous effluvia, +especially the _arum dracunculus_ and the _stapelia variegata_ of the +Cape, which attract various insects that usually deposit their eggs in a +stercoraceous or corrupt nidus. Here these insects have been deceived by +vision, and imagined in their illusion that they had safely lodged their +progeny in carrion. + +[12] According to Aelian, the presence of this fish indicated the +approaching overflow of the Nile. + +[13] The Irish, in their metaphorical language, give a corporeal form to +foul effluvia, and one of them assured me that he had a terrier who would +always cock up his tail and bark whenever he _saw_ a stink. + +[14] Diodorus, Strabo, and other ancient writers, state that the beer of +the Egyptians called _Zythus_ was scarcely inferior to wine. This beer was +made with barley, to which was added the lupin, the skirret, and the root +of an Assyrian plant. We find the following in Columella: + + "Jam siser, Assyriaque venit quae semine radix + Sectaque praebetur madido satiata lupino, + Ut Pelusiaci proviset pocula zythi." + +The vicinity of Pelusium was famed for this beverage and its lentils. + +[15] Diemerbrook states that, in the Plague of Nimeguen all those who were +taken ill about new and full moon rarely escaped. + +[16] Dr. Desgenettes, physician to the French army, in order to inspire +confidence among the troops, inoculated himself twice without experiencing +any other consequence than a slight inflammation of the inoculated parts. +Sonnini mentions a Russian surgeon, who was a prisoner in Constantinople +with a number of his countrymen, and who took it into his head to +inoculate his comrades, with a view of protecting them from the contagion; +but, unfortunately, two hundred of them died, and, fortunately perhaps for +the survivors, the operator himself died of his own treatment. + +[17] On this subject see what has been already said in the preceding +article of _Food, its use and abuse_, in Dr. Beaumont's experiments. + +[18] Otway. + +[19] Shaftesbury. + +[20] Oil is, however, a useful application to wounds in warm climates. +During the retreat of our troops after the battle of Talavera, I found the +wounds of many of our men, that had not been dressed for three or four +days, pullulating with maggots. This was not the case with the Spanish +soldiers, who, to prevent this annoyance (which was more terrific than +dangerous), had poured olive oil upon their dressings. I invariably +resorted to the same practice when I subsequently had to remove the +wounded in hot weather. + +[21] A Hebrew proverb originating from a tradition that Abraham wore a +precious stone round his neck, which preserved him from disease, and which +cured sickness when looked upon. When Abraham died, God placed this stone +in the sun. + +[22] The ancients considered the spleen the seat of mirth, and the liver +the organ of love; hence their old proverb. + +[23] _Cordia Sebestena_; according to some, the _C. Myxa L._, a species of +Egyptian date. It was formerly employed as a demulcent. A viscid black +glue was also prepared from it, and exported in considerable quantities +from Alexandria. + +[24] Quod Caeretani totum orbem vano quodam ac turpi superstitionum genere +ludificantes continuo peregrinantur, familia domi relicta. + +[25] Patin called it _l'impertinente nouveaute du siecle_. + +[26] The priesthood in thus stigmatizing the medical profession so soon as +its practice ceased to be their exclusive privilege, displayed the same +spirit of intolerance and thirst for omnipotent sway that characterized +their anathemas on the drama when they no longer were the authors, actors, +and managers of their own sacrilegious plays, which they called mysteries +and moralities. Previously to the drama becoming the pursuit of laymen, +the monkish exhibitions had been so holy, that one of the popes granted a +pardon of one thousand days to every person who went to the plays +performed in the Whitsun week, beginning with a piece called "The +Creation," and ending the season with the performance of "The General +Judgment." In these representations the performers belonged to various +corporations, and acted under the direction of the clergy. "The Creation" +was performed by the _Drapers_,--"The Deluge" by the _Dyers_,--"Abraham, +Melchizedek, and Lot," by our friends the _Barbers_,--"The Purification" +by the _Blacksmiths_,--"The Last Supper" by the _Bakers_,--"The +Resurrection" by the _Skinners_,--and "The Ascension" by the _Tailors_. + +The following curious anecdotes are recorded in the description of a +mystery performed at Veximel, near Metz, by the order of Conrad Bayer, +bishop of the diocese. This play was called _The Passion_; and it appears +that by some mismanagement a priest by the name of Jean de Nicey, curate +of Metrange, who played Judas, was nigh meeting with an untimely end; for +his neck had slipped and tightened the noose by which he was suspended to +the tree, and, had he not been cut down, he would have performed the part +most effectually. + +A play was acted in one of the principal cities in England by these +clerical performers, representing the terrestrial Paradise, when Adam and +Eve made their appearance entirely naked. + +[27] Mr. J. A. St. John. + +[28] As this worthy never took off his cuirass, it may be shrewdly +suspected that his lashes were such as our old friend Sancho Panca +inflicted on the tree. + +[29] The diseases to which the blood is subject was another ground upon +which the vitality of this fluid was founded. The most remarkable kind of +diseased blood is that which occurs in cholera, where it is dark, nearly +black, even in the arteries. The cause of this phenomenon is by no means +decided. Dr. Thomson attributes it to a diseased condition of the blood, +which unfits it for being duly arterialised. Dr. O'Shaughnessy denies the +assertion, and proves that choleric blood can be rendered florid by the +absorption of oxygen. Dr. Stevens, in his treatise on the blood, +attributes this dark appearance to the contagion of the malady, which +throws the fluids into a morbid state, the effect of which is the +diminution of the saline matter which the healthy blood contains. He +observed that in cholera-hospitals the blood of all the persons residing +in them was also dark. It is, however, more than probable that this morbid +condition of the blood arises from the deranged state of the circulation, +and may be attributed to a disease of the solids, which must invariably +affect the fluids that they propel with more or less energy, flowing in a +rapid current, or in a sluggish stream. + +I have fully illustrated this want of oxygen in the blood of cholera +patients in a work I published in Bordeaux, in 1831, entitled +_Observations sur la nature et le traitement du Cholera Morbus d'Europe et +d'Asie_; and, from several experiments subsequently made on cholera +patients, I feel convinced that the inspiration of oxygen gas will be +ultimately found the most energetic and effective practice in combating +this fearful disease. + +By the experiments lately made by Dr. Donne of Paris, it has been found +that the globules of blood, when submitted to microscopic examination, +varied in magnitude according to the description of animals from which it +was drawn. In certain diseases, globules of pus have also been detected in +the sanguiferous stream. They were larger than those of the blood, and, +instead of being defined by a marginal line, were fringed on their +circumference, and their centre was striated with interwoven lines. + +The same physiologist discovered animalcules in the pus of certain ulcers +not dissimilar in appearance to the _vibrio lineola_ of Mueller. Other +animalcules, which he has named the _tricomonas vaginalis_, were also +found in great number when the mucous membranes of the organ (whence the +latter part of their denomination was derived) were in a state of +inflammation. These animalculi could not be detected in healthy mucus. The +knowledge of this influence of inflammation may lead to many important +practical results. + +[30] During the horrors of the French Revolution, various experiments were +made by Sue and other physiologists to ascertain if the bodies of the +guillotined victims possessed sensibility. No conclusion, however, could +be elicited from these inquiries, which gave rise to many absurd tales, +such as that the face of Charlotte Corday blushed when the executioner +slapped it, as he held it out to the enraptured Parisians. + +[31] Organon, xxxii. + +[32] Op. cit. xxxi. + +[33] Ibid. xxxiii. + +[34] Op. cit. xxxviii. + +[35] Organon, xl. This will be found to be the case in all diseases that +are dissimilar; the stronger suspends the weaker, except in case of +complication, which is a rare occurrence in acute diseases, but they never +cure each other reciprocally. + +[36] On Chronic Diseases. Translation of Begel, p. 107. + +[37] Sir Gilbert Blane's Medical Logic. + +[38] Organon, v. + +[39] Ibid. vi. + +[40] Sir G. Blane. + +[41] The celebrated Boyle used to apply to his wrists for the same +purpose, the moss that grew from a human skull. + +[42] The term that designated magnetic manipulation. + +[43] Since the first edition of this work was published, animal magnetism +has become the subject of much controversy and animadversion in London and +various parts of the empire. The utmost virulence has as usual been +resorted to, not only to impugn the doctrine, but to stigmatize its +supporters; while, on the other hand, the greatest ingenuity has been +displayed to convince unbelievers, and to give to the many experiments +practised for this purpose the semblance of undeniable facts. Baron +Dupotet's labours and publications have been submitted to the test of a +public investigation; while Dr. Elliotson and several other practitioners +have aided the practice apparently with success. It would be foreign to +the nature of this work to consider this matter more elaborately; it is +now before the tribunal of public opinion, whose decision we must await. + +[44] Inquiries concerning the Intellectual Powers, &c. + +[45] That serious accidents might have resulted from the use of hellebore +is most likely, since various plants resembling it have been mistaken for +it; chiefly the _adonis vernalis_, _trollius Europaeus_, _actaea spicata_, +_astrantia major_, _veratrum album_, and the _aconitum neomontanum_, the +last of which is a most virulent poison. + +[46] The advocates of fasting have calculated that in one hundred and +fifty-two hermits who had lived eleven thousand five hundred and +eighty-nine years, the average age was seventy three years and three +months. + +[47] On this very curious subject the reader may consult the various +statistical works of Quetelet. + +[48] It is somewhat strange, but in the mountains of the South of Spain, +there does still exist a dance called _los Titanos_, in which the +performers raise their hands in threatening attitude against the heavens! + +[49] The matter of insensible perspiration is calculated at being daily +equal weight to one half of the food. + +[50] Madder, when given to animals tinges the surface of their bones with +a red hue. + +[51] The life of J. E. Jenner, M.D. &c., by John Bacon, M.D. &c. + +[52] History of Egyptian Mummies, &c. &c., 1834. + +[53] In a work on the "Anatomy of the Passions," which I am about +publishing, I have entered most minutely into this important sympathy. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CURIOSITIES OF MEDICAL EXPERIENCE*** + + +******* This file should be named 39074.txt or 39074.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/9/0/7/39074 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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