Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1885-02-27
MELANCHOLY PEOPLE.

The tendency to melancholy, accord
ing to the Medical Times of London,
becomes more and more prevalent among
cultivated people. Morbid depression
of the spirits and utter WEAKNESS with
life it declares to be frequent among men
Of the finest abilities and tho most con-
scientious activity.
Here are some typical cases of the
disease as presented by this medical
writer:
Gould We thus pursue the Judge
who has won our admiration in court by
the logical precision and ethical pro-
priety with which he has distinguished
the offences Of the criminals brought
before him, we should perhaps find him
pacing the floor Of his bedroom and
wrngng his hands under the horrible,
if fictitious, conviction that he is him
self more guilty and stepped in sin than
the wretches he has sent to penal servi-
tude. Could VIC keep watch over that
popular preacher who has stirred US by
his fervid words. and strengthened the
foundations of our faith by bis confident
dogmatism, VIC should observe him per-
haps tossing, sleeplcss and distressed,
throughout the livelong night, haunted
by doubts and perplexities, and by the
incessant whispering of voice which
asks.
"Were II not better not TO be
Than live so full of Misery"
Gould we in disembodimcnt remain
little with that good physician who has
just given us such sound advice and
urged us to fight against tho despon-
dency for which We have consulted him,
We should perceive him, perhaps. MS soon
as he has dismissed his patients, hurry
off to the house of brother practitioner
and pour forth in his ear with anxiety
description of the hopeless diseases
from which he conceives himself TO be
suffering, and which exist only in his
hypochondriac fancy"
OF course in such cases us these the
sufferers are in very morbid mental
condition. which may be brought on by
various causes-by loss Of sleep, by the
immoderate or injudicious use of stimu-
lants. by working too long and too hard
in one rut, or by encouraging the bad
habit Of self-introspection and self.con-
sciousnoss. But their disease is not at
all new one, and we question whether
it is 80 much more prevalent than former
ly as this medical journal supposes. Read
the diaries and confessions Of the holy
men who have left to US accounts Of
their various religious experiences, and
you will find its symptoms more or less
unmistakablc in nearly all of them.
Schools of theology have even taught
that the state Of establishment is the
only state thoroughly acceptable to God.
and nameless men and women without
number have gone about burdened with
the conviction that they were utterly
vile and proper subjects for Divine con-
domination.
We find also in general literature
many instances Of the same morbid con-
dition of the mind and prostration Of the
nerves. But only Of recent years has
the trouble been regarded as one with
which medicine could pro6tably and
legitimately deal Only lately have
sufferers of this sort gone to their ply.
sicians TO describe their symptoms and
ask for scientific advice. Formerly,
when they made confession at all, they
carried their tales Of despair 10 ghostly
counsclors, who we're likely to treat de-
preston as hopeful sign of spiritual
improvement rather than as an indica-
ton Of mental or nervous irritation.
Many hypochondriacs were to be en-
countercd, but they were looked upon
as eccentric characters merely, and only
downright lunatics were regarded as the
victims Of serious mental disorder.
Now that the treatment Of diseases Of
the mind and nerves is a specially, and
there is so much discussion as 10 the de-
pendencc of the mind upon the body, of
course the number Of people who 20 to
with every variety Of mental
or nervous trouble has become very
great. Doctors hear Of no end Of such
sufferers, and hypochondriaos who had
previously kept to themselves imagi-
nary maladies or the dismal results Of
self-introspcction are ready to pour into
their ears the story Of their woes.
Even the pessimism Of our day, where
II is not assumed as a fashionable pre-
tence, is simply another manifestation
Of hypochondria, for the men who are
unable to look Oh any except the dark
side of life can never DO thoroughly
healthy in mind and body. But they