Page:Essay on the mineral waters of Carlsbad (1835).pdf/81



hypocondriacal patients are inclined to believe, when they see the Sprudel-stones, and various incrustated toys exposed for sale, that such incrustations might equally be formed in their inside. That old fancy was already refuted, in the beginning of the eighteenth century, by Frederick Hoffmann, and later by Springsfeld, Becher and others. Such patients have in general a singular propensity to spread erroneous notions, and to impart to others their own anxiety; so that every one is to be pitied, who, listening to his fellow sufferers, is not guided by an enlightened and steady adviser. The anxiety caused by the apprehension of intestinal incrustations, should yield to the following observations: