On hypochondriasis, and other forms of nervous disease / by H. Hunt.

  • Hunt, Henry, -1877.
Date:
[between 1850 and 1859]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On hypochondriasis, and other forms of nervous disease / by H. Hunt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    having been suffering severely from the neuralgic pain in the cheek and lip for several months, which almost prevented mastication and articulation. He had some slight sensa- tions of gout in his toe, but his principal cause of com- plaint was a dreadful depression of spirits; he declared he was so wretched and miserable from this cause, that he would gladly bear the acute pain in the cheek for ever, if he could only be relieved of his mental malady. His tongue was much furred; his skin dry and harsh ; his bowels rather confined; and his urine high-coloured, and loaded with the lithate of ammonia. He had little appetite, and was unable to masticate from the pain in the lip and cheek, which was much increased towards night; his pulse beat slowly and feebly. His complexion exhibited the dirty, dingy appearance I have attempted to depict, but without any tinge of yellow in the conjunctiva. He had been treated for the neuralgia by steel, quinine, and arsenic, (persevering in the last medicine for a very considerable time,) his me- dical attendant believing that all his ailments arose from debility. I directed him to take the following medicine: Pil. hydrarg., gr. iv. ; ext. acet. eolchici, gr. ij.; ext. colocynth. comp., gr. iv. Ft. pil ij., quaque nocte sumend. Magnesias sulphatis, 3ij.; inf. caryophillorum, Jvi.; potassse bicarb., 3ss.; vin. sem. colchici 5ss. Ft. mist. capt. dimid quaque mane et meridie superbibendo. Aquas tepid®, lbss. The use of wine, sugar, potatoes, and food containing starch, was forbidden; but I allowed him a generous diet in other respects, and gave him permission to drink a limited quantity of weak brandy-and-water, and strictly enjoined the necessity of active exercise. The medicine acted briskly on his bowels, and soon freed his urine from the sediment. In three days all sensations of g»ut had disappeared ;• the neuralgic affection of the lip had so far diminished as to allow of his speaking and masticating his food carefully without any increase of pain, and the com- plexion had become much more clear; but the most striking change, was the disappearance of his mental depression—he was now as full of hope as he had previously been despond- ing- I now slightly altered the medicinal part of his treatment, directing him to take the pills every week for three nights in succession, and the following powder every morning, dis- solved in a large tumbler of tepid or cold water : Magnesi® sulphatis, 5ij.; potass® nitratis, gr. v. ; potass® bicarb., 9i. Ft. pulv. still urging upon him the necessity of active walking exer- cise in the open air for an hour before breakfast, immediately after taking the medicine. He steadily persevered in this plan of treatment, with some trifling modification, for six weeks; at the expiration
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