Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 3, 1802).djvu/208

188] when they begin in a manner to undergo the putrefactive fermentation, so as to become soft and mellow.—All the species of this fruit ripen about the latter end of October, or beginning of November; when they should be gathered; partly placed in moist bran, in several layers, to facilitate their maturation; partly deposited on straw, in the fruitery. After a fortnight, or three weeks, those kept in the bran will be eatable; and the others will gradually ripen.

In their medicinal effects, medlars are very astringent, and have therefore been used with advantage in diarrhœas: on the contrary, those who are of a costive habit, ought carefully to abstain from this enticing fruit.

According to and, the leaves, branches, ard unripe fruit of the medlar-tree, have been successfully employed in tanning.—The wood, being hard and tough, resembling that of the pear-tree, is useful for various domestic vessels, as well as for the smaller implements of husbandry.  MELANCHOLY, or partial insanity without any affection of the stomach, is one of those humiliating diseases which are peculiar to mankind.

Innumerable are the causes, which may induce this most dreadful of human maladies; but there is one material circumstance, which, independently of the mental state, always cccurs, and evidently operates in all melancholic patients; namely, an accumulation of impurities in the alimentary canal, consisting chiefly of black bile. Hence originate, want of appetite; a disturbed sleep; obstructions of the intestines; hemorrhoidal and gouty symptoms; irregular circulation of the blood; dulneas and gloom of mind, without any apparent cause; at length, stupefaction and insensibility, terminatiug in madness.—Indeed, the melancholic and are so nearly allied, that it is not always easy to discriminate between the two diseases; a distinction which is the more important, as the proper method of curing the former would inevitably be attended with fatal ellects to the latter: hence we shall point out the essential difference subsisting between them. In hypochondriac persons, the nerves are primarily affected, and contribute to generate all those spasmodic and other concomitant symptoms which disorder the organs of the lower belly: whereas, in the melancholic, there already exists in the same organs a material and local cause that produces similar effects, of which the nervous system of the hypochondriac partakes only so far as he is susceptible of such impressions, in the debilitated slate of his mind.

Cure.—If the patient be young, robust, and of a full habit, blood-letting will first be necessary. Next, he ought to take resolvent emetics and purgatives, consisting of neutral salts, especially tartarized kali, in doses of from two to three drams every morning and evening, for several days.—Acidulated drinks, and a vegetable diet, will be of essential service, if combined with exercise and cheerful company. Among the most proper articles of the table are, ripe fruit in a fresh or dried state, honey, bulbous roots, salad, and well baked bread; but animal food should be carefully avoided. For common drink, the patient may use sweet whey, decoctions of barley acidulated with mead-vinegar, or  rant-