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HYSTERIC AFFECTIONS.

The radical cure of this disorder will be best attempted at a timewhen the patient is most free from the fits. It will be greatly pro-moted by a proper attention to diet. A milk and vegetable diet,when duly persisted in, will often perform a cure. If, however,the patient has been accustomed to a more generous diet, it willnot be safe to leave it off all at once, but by degrees. The mostproper drink is water with a small quantity of spirits. A cool dryair is the best. Cold bathing, and every thing that braces thenerves, and invigorates the system, is beneficial ; but lying too longin bed, or whatever relaxes the body, is hurtful. It is of the great-est importance to have the mind kept constantly easy and cheerful,and, if possible, to have it always engaged in some agreeable andinteresting pursuit.

The proper medicines are those which strengthen the alimentarycanal and the whole nervous system, as the preparations of iron,the Peruvian bark and other bitters. Twenty drops of the elixirof vitriol, in a cup of the infusion of the bark, may be taken twiceor thrice a-day. The bark and iron may likewise be taken in sub-stance, provided the stomach can bear them ; bvit they are gener-ally given in too small doses to have any effect. The chalybeatewaters generally prove beneficial in this disorder.

If the stomach is loaded with phlegm, vomits will be of use ;but they should not be too strong, nor frequently repeated, as theytend to relax and weaken the stomach. If there is a tendency tocostiveness, it must be removed either by diet, or by taking an open-ing pill as often as it shall be found necessary.

To lessen the irritability of the system, antispasmodic medicineswill be of use. The best antispasmodic medicines are musk, opi-um, and castor. When opium disagrees with the stomach, it mayeither be applied externally, or given in clysters. It is often suc-cessful in removing those periodical head-achs to which hystericand hypochondriac patients are subject. Castor has in some casesbeen found to procure sleep where opiiwn failed ; for which reasonDr. Whyte advises, that they should be joined together. He like-wise recommends the anti-hysteric plaster to be applied to the ab-domen.*

Hysteric women are often afflicted with cramps in various partsof the body, which are most apt to seize them in bed, or whenasleep. The most efficacious medicines in this case are opium,blistering-plasters, and warm bathing or fomentations. When thecramp or spasm is very violent, opium is the remedy most to bedepended on. In milder cases, immersing the feet and legs inwarm water, or applying a blistering-plaster to the part affected,will often be sufficient to remove the complaitit. In patients whosenerves are uncommonly delicate and sensible, it will be better toomit the blistering-plaster, and to attempt the cure by opiates,musk, camphor, and the warm bath., Cramps are often prevented or cured by compression. Thus

\ would therefore advise, that young ladies who are subject to hysteric fits, should notbe sent to boarding-achools, as the disease may be caught by imitation. 1 have knownmadness itself brought on by sympathy.' * Though antispasmodics and anodynes are universally recommended in this dis-ease, yet all the extraordinary cures that I ever knew in hysteric cases, were performedby means of tonic and corroborating medicines.