Page:The American improved family physician, or home doctor.djvu/48

42 INSANITY or MENTAL DERANGEMENT. — Insanity or Mania may be termed a false perception of things, in a want of due connexion of the train of thoughts marked by an incoherence or raving; and in resistance of the passion to the command of the will, accompanied, for the most part, with a violence of action and furious resentment at restraint; every species of madness, whether it has originated in the mind or the body, becomes the same by continuance. In madness the body as well as the mind must ultimately be affected; the mind being diseased, soon produces a disease of the body.

Symptoms.—The most common form of insanity is the intermitting, or that in which the paroxysms of the disease are divided by clear intervals. Sometimes it continues during life without any intermission. Exciting Causes: There are various causes of mental derangement; we may enumerate certain local diseases, such as enlargement of the bones, tumors, gout, dropsy, pregnancy, febrile diseases, dropsy of the brain, and other diseases of this organ, as palsy, epilepsy, apoplexy, headache, &c; also profuse evacuations from bleeding, mercury or other causes. Perhaps the most common of all causes is the use of ardent spirits. Inordinate sexual desire is a fruitful source of insanity; and probably one of the most frequent causes of dyspepsia. Onanism, Self-pollution or Masturbation is a very prevalent cause, which is practised very frequently by young men and women. Gluttony, self-abuse, powerful stimulants, religious excitement, grief, fear, disappointment in objects of love, ambition or property, reverse of fortune, &c, are named by authors among the ordinary causes.

Treatment.—The cure of mental as well as physical diseases is to be effected, first, by reducing the system by suitable evacuations; secondly, by creating revulsive actions, by tonics and stimulating remedies; thirdly, by the influence of proper moral treatment. It is not necessary to give much medicine in general; if the bowels are habitually costive, close attention must be paid to the diet of the patient. Injections or the Hepatic Pill must be made use of, which is made as follows: Take extract of Dandelion, 1 ounce; Mandrake or May-apple root, pulv. 1 ounce; Bloodroot, pulv. 1 ounce; add a few drops of Oil of Peppermint or Spearmint, and form into pills of a common size. Dose: Three, night and morning. This pill is an excellent remedy. Bathing is extremely useful, and great pains must be taken to keep the feet always warm, and the head cool; and to avoid all sudden shocks or strong impressions which produces cerebral or excitement of the brain. The tepid, shallow, hip and foot-baths are the leading processes says Dr. Trall, in which I think he is correct. He further saith, if the patient is manageable the wet sheet-pack,

