"care six months. I had one great advantage in this case, and that was, my endeavours were not interrupted, by the visits of her relations. No. 51.-Female, single. Age, 19. An unfortunate case of low nervous irritability; she had been treated in a vile manner at a parish work-house, by which what little bodily health she at first possessed, was destroyed. Great pains were taken, but she at last sunk under nervous atrophy; and though she had been phrenetic and illusive for more than twelve months, yet she was rational at her last moments. No. 59.-Male, married. Age, 29. A sedentary life, poor living, and gloomy prospects, no doubt, the cause; violent and illusive raving insanity. A better habit of body, under proper mental restraint, soon produced a state of convalescence; and he was discharged recovered, at the end of three months. No. 61.-Female, single. Age, 30. Daughter Jane, I had used to call her; a tall, strapping farmer's daughter; it was said she was consumptive, and she had been under the care of a great number of Medical Gentle. men; she had a little cough and hoarseness, but I did not think them of any great consequence; and she only took the common medicines of the House. She was for some time, violent, noisy. and restless; but in five months she appeared quite well, in mind and body. No doubt, our healthy situation and pure water, were, in this instance, particularly beneficial. On leav ing, I told her, she had my full consent to marry, if she could meet with any one that would take her for better or worse.N. B. She is since married, and is become a mother. No. 63.-Female, married. Age, 36. A confirmed case of what is termed sensitive insanity; she fancied that she had something alive in her stomach, that gave her the most intolerable pain; yet, at times, she would forget it, and be quite rational; but on any hint of her own state, she immediately screamed out, "it is alive!" I rather suppose that this particular fancy arose from the circumstance of her having no children, and that a bad habit of body did the rest; she had a fair trial, and was certainly much better when removed; and she remains, as I am told, in much the same state she was in at the time of removal. No. 65.-Male, married. Age, 60: A hale looking farmer, who had been very industrious and sober, and had become opulent'; raving despondency, with great nervous irritability; bowels in a very torpid state.Treatment obvious; got well in six months. I recollect a circumstance in this patient's treatment, from which it may be supposed that the proper association of ideas might frequently be of great service in the cure of insanity: I overheard him in one of his raving, desponding paroxysms, as follows:-"Ha, we're all ruin'd, quite ruin'd; this poor lad of mine, why I've ruin'd him too, by putting him apprentice to a surgeon. Why what in the name of God can he do? he has already cost me the Lord knows what, and they say he must go to the Hospitals, and that'll cost more than I'm able to pay; and if he gets complete, why he's ruin'd; there's so many medical men already, that there's no such thing as a place to be found for him, where he can get a living." At this moment, I tapped him on the shoulder, and said, I'll tell you what Sir, we'll set these Doctors to poisoning each other, instead of poisoning other folks; and then there will be plenty of vacancies soon. Upon this, he burst out into a loud laugh, and appeared quite cured of any fears for his son; the reason, no doubt, was, that when ever the boy's gloomy prospects crossed his thoughts, it would be associated with the ludicrous idea of the Doctors poisoning each other, which would counteract its effects. It is this association of ideas that renders it of so much con. sequence in obstinate cases of Lunacy, that the patient should leave home, and break off, as much as possible, all family intercourse. I have succeeded best with those who came from a distance; the sight of new objects, and the company of strangers, never failing to create new associations of ideas. No. 66.-Female, single. Age, 40. Had been more than a year a Lunatic previous to being brought, and had had the best medical advice. After being at Spring Vale a year, she was evidently better; but her relations. regarding the expense, she was removed. I cannot take upon me to say, that she would have recovered had she continued longer; but I have every reason to believe that she would have improved much; and cannot have any hesitation in believing, that she would have recovered, had she been brought upon the first attack. The great error was her remaining at home, under the irritations of family intercourse, and, perhaps, in her medical treatment, too much was attempted by medicine. Scurvy was a leading symptom, and she had plenty of Antiscorbutic and Anti-nervous medicines; but in scurvy, as well as nervous disorders, a dry, open, pure air, as well as diverting the thoughts by the sight of fresh objects, is of the first consequence: the air she lived in, was confined and damp, and the scene unvaried. Poor creature, she always called me Father; and under the impression that her not being restored, was owing to injudicious treatment, and that on leaving me, she was consigned to the horrid state of an incurable Lunatic, I felt much for her. No. 68.-Female, married. Age, 63. Brought in a high state of delirium, with a low, fluttering pulse, an emaciated look, and feeble frame. God help you, my poor old woman; what have they been doing at you! I exclaimed, on seeing her. She instantly answered---"Bleeding me, blistering me, purging me, and vomiting me, till I'm near dead." My first care, of course, was to raise up the old woman's bodily system; and it was more than twelve months before her insanity left her: but she got well, and remains so, as I am told. No. 71-Male, married. Age, 54. A broken-down soldier, that I should not have received had I seen him before he was brought; was evidently a venereal habit. After having a great deal of trouble, for he was extremely dangerous, he died in about ten weeks, paralytic. I have known several cases of insanity, that were evidently occasioned by exposure to cold, while under the effect of mercurial medicines: most likely, this was one of them. No. 75.-Female, married. Age, 39. was the cause of She had been ten An unfortunate case, indeed; she had been afflicted by a fistula in the eye, and had been with the Taylors of Lancashire. It was thought that the pain of the eye delirium. She returned home raging mad. days in this state when put under my care; I found that there had been a most dreadful excitement, and that she had taken little or no food; I was well aware that the system, though apparently kept up by the violence of the disease, must have been dreadfully exhausted, and my first object was to get nourishment into her, but I was too late. She kept sinking from the first day, and, in about a week, breathed her last; a fatal instance of the neglect of getting nourishment into the patient, before too much exhaustion had taken place. The excitement of Phrenetic Insanity, I am confident, exhausts the system most rapidly, and nothing can be done unless it is well supported by light nourishing food. M 1 No. 76.-Male, single. Age, 24. The me A most strange case of nervous or mental stupor, except in what related to the appetite for food; he appeared quite incapable of voluntary motion. If food was put into his mouth he eat it, but if left close to him he took no notice of it. If put in a chair, there he sat; his eyes fixed, and his body motionless, unless a kind of involuntary convulsive motion came on. If set on his legs it was the same: but if placed in a recumbent posture, he never attempted to recover his balance. He appeared entirely unconscious of every thing around him, never spoke, and was quite insensible to the common calls of nature. Of course, in a case like this, I took the opinion of my medical friends, and a number of things were done in medical treatment. thods that were found certainly useful were as follows: I gave him purges regularly, so as to keep up a very active state of the bowels. I used the warm, or, rather, hot bath freely, with the cold effusion upon his head. His food was light and nourishing; but, above all, we did all we possibly could to rouse him into voluntary action. We carried him into the walks, then urged him to step forward himself. The first time I heard him speak was when I was pouring cold water upon his head: he cried out, "Stop, sir; stop, sir." After a great deal of labour, and constant attention, we got a little ground; he would take We then put a a few steps; would sometimes say yes, or no. 'spade into his hand, and urged him to use it: we succeeded by little and little. At the end of six months he recovered. I shook hands with him in Stafford a short time since; a polite, sensible young man he promised to come and see me, but, I suppose, he feels reluctant. There is certainly great pleasure derived from such recoveries; and I may, without presumption, believe, that I was the humble means, under Providence, of restoring this young man, who appeared very likely, indeed, to remain à pitiable object for life. If there are those who are content to receive the profits of keeping a Mad House, without using their best endeavours to restore their patients, they must have |