Chronic diseases best fitted for treatment by the Harrogate Mineral Springs / by A.S. Myrtle.

  • Myrtle, Andrew Scott
Date:
1876
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Chronic diseases best fitted for treatment by the Harrogate Mineral Springs / by A.S. Myrtle. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    months have been frequently followed by this kind of physical collapse. Sometimes it has come on in- sidiously ; day by day the patients have found them- selves less and ]ess equal to the calls made upon their strength, and very often after trying to do something or other, although feeling unequal to it, they shut up, and remain in this exhausted state for long periods. I have seldom found that it was conduced by any blamable conduct on the part of the indi- vidual. In young men I have seen it develop itself repeatedly after an arduous, protracted, and some- times successful course of study; and in girls most generally after some heavy grief. However induced, the patients are most anxious to get well, and often injure themselves and retard their progress by at- tempting to hasten their cure ; this is also a frequent mistake with their medical attendant. Nothing but the greatest patience and the gentlest treatment will do here. Kindness and encouragement will meet with more success than harshness and indifference. In all cases what are called hysterical symptoms are more or less prominent, and men show the same emotional tendencies as women. I even think I have found them more apt to give way specially to bursts of weeping : they feel their uselessness acutely, and this makes them very apt to break down, especially when they meet with the indiscreet sympathy of friends. One of the most common features is the