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MELANCHOLY.

Causes. — It may proceed from a hereditary disposition ;intense thinking, especially where the mind is long occupiedabout one object; violent passions or affections of the mind,as love, fear, joy, grief, overweening pride, and such like. Itmay also be occasioned by excessive venery, narcotic or stu-pefactive poisons, a sedentary life, solitude, the suppressionof customary evacuations, acute fevers, or other diseases.Violent anger will change melancholy into madness ; andexcessive cold, especially of the lower extremities, will forcethe blood into the brain, and produce all the symptoms ofmadness. It may likewise proceed from the use of alimentthat is hard of digestion, or which cannot be easily assimi-lated ; from a callous state of the integuments of the brain, ora dryness of the brain itself. To all which we may addgloomy or mistaken notions of religion.

Svmptoms. — When persons begin to be melancholy, theyare timorous, watchful, fond of solitude, fretful, fickle, captiousand inquisitive, solicitous about trifles, sometimes niggardly,and at other times prodigal. The belly is generally bound,the urine thin and in small quantity, the stomach and bowelsinflated with wind, the complexion pale, the pulse slow andweak. The functions of the mind are also greatly perverted,insomuch that the patient often imagines himself dead orchanged into some other animal. Some have imagined theirbodies were made of glass or other brittle substances, andwere afraid to move lest they should be broken to pieces.The unhappy patient, in this case, unless carefully watched,is apt to put an end to his own miserable life.

When the disease is owing to an obstruction of customaryevacuations, or any bodily disorder, it is easier cured thanwhen it proceeds from affections of the mind or a hereditarytaint. A discharge of blood from the nose, looseness, scabbyeruptions, the bleeding piles, or the menses, sometimes carryoff this disease.

Regimen. — The diet ought to consist chiefly of vegetablesof a cooling and opening quality. Animal food, especiallysalted or smoke-dried fish or flesh, ought to be avoided. Allkinds of shell-fish are bad. Aliments prepared with onions,garlic, or any thing that generates thick blood, are likewiseimproper. All kind of fruits that are wholesome may be eatenwith advantage. Boerhaave gives an instance of a patientwho, by a long use of whey, water, and garden fruits, reco-vered, after having evacuated a great quantity of black-coloredmatter.