The manual for invalids / by a physician.

Date:
1829
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The manual for invalids / by a physician. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    Glasgow, Dublin, Amsterdam, St. Petersburg, Constan- tinople, and others, the great proportion of invalids are among those whose circumstances have been reduced by the casualties incident to mercantile life, and amongst in- dividuals accustomed to the society of persons well edu- cated, and whose habits and feelings are analogous to their condition. It is a very great mental infliction to be compelled to retire from such society, and to form a part with others whose feelings, habits, and sympathies are altogether alien to their own ; yet, in the various turns of the wheel of Fortune, this is very often the case. I have frequently seen individuals, such as I now describe, first seek solitude, grow silent and pensive, become captious, irritable, and ill-tempered : their mode of acting and thinking has undergone a change, and if hectic fever have supervened, the patient has become emaciated, and, at length, has died of what, in common language, may very properly be termed a broken heart;— yet there is no uncommon symptom observed to mark the course of the malady. The power of the brain and nervous system upon the function of thought, as decisive of the character of individuals, must be admitted. In metaphorical lan- guage we often employ the head (meaning the brain) as the source of the operations of the intellect, and the heart as the source of the affections and sympathies. It is well known, that the internal organs, in proportion to their importance, as subservient to the purposes of health and life, are supplied with a greater or lesser quantity of blood. There is a much larger proportion of blood sent to the head in the human subject, than is necessary for the nourishment of that part. The brain, even for the healthy exertion of its function, requires a very large supply of blood. There is a much greater quantity of