The National tribune., 1892-05-19
HEALTH HINTS
For Old and Young.
~ FELIX L. OSWALD. n. D.
CHAPTER CXLI.
MENTAL DISTURBANCES

MENTAL DISTURBANCES
Between insanity and transient mental dis
turbance there are az many intermediate grades
as between total blindness and temporary
dimness of vision. Affections Of the aliment-
airy organs nearly always react on the brain;
indeed, there is no more striking proof of the
miraculous nteraction of body and mind than
the mental effects of certain drugs
Opium stimulates the imaginative faculties,
but at the same time paralyses the power of
volition. s. seldom could prevail on myself
to write a letter" says the morphium- eater De
Quincy; IAN answer of few words to any
that | received was the utmost that could
accomplish, and often that not till the letter
had lain weeks, or even months. on my writing
table. often felt like man confined to his
bed by the languor of relaxing disease, and
compelled to witness outrages offered to some
object of his tenderest lovo: he curses the
spells which chain him down from motion, he
would lay down his life if he might but get up
and walk, but he is poweress infant and
cannot even attempt to RISE"
Alcohol with all the apparent diversity of
its effects, always tends to exaggerate the sense
Of sef-esteem. Under the spell of that delu-
sion topper boasts his ability to meet all
corners in single combat, another engages in
abstruse controversies another feels himself
called upon to stem the tide of wickedness and
favors his audience with moral lectures.
Gus effect of turning discords into harmony.
On certain night" says DR.. Laycock, when
a sufferer from severe pain" | took drop OF
Flemings tncture Of aconite and went to
sleep. About midnight became sensible of
novel state of perception, obscure ut first, but
shaped at last into strains of grand aerial
music in cadences of exquisite harmony, now
dying away round mountains In infinite per-
spective, now pealing among ocean-like valleys.
Knowing by previous studies that it was
halucination of perception, | at last tried to
ascertain the cause, and found that it was the
rattle Of mdnight-train, entering an adjoin-
ing railway station. Thus, under the changes
induced in the brain by drop of a narcotic
tincture the harsh rattle Of the iron, vibrating
on the air in the silence of the Summer night.
was changed into harp-like aerial music, such
not only as ear had not heard but no con-
ceivabe art of man could initiate. Associated
Herewith was also suggested terrestrial vision
of infinite extent and grandeur"
Qunine produces humming in the ears and
dull headaches, and in large doses Is very apt
to bewiider the mind with visions of terror.
The patient will clutch his bed and stare about
with an expression of specter- hanted dread, or
may even rush out of his sickroom and try to
escape from imaginary pursners. Long after
the crisis of the disease is past the aftere fleets
of the drug occasionally manifest themselves
in a tendency to what might be described as
any appreciable change in his external circum
stances, suddenly begins to take gloomy views
of his prospects, borrOws trouble, and fancies
his neighbors TO be in conspiracy against his
happiness After a week or 30 that spenetie
humor will pass away and the misanthropst
will laugh at his own misgiving5.
Hashish, the Persian substitute for opium,
has strangely opposite effect, and without
producing the iiatous merriment Of an alcohol |
debauch fills the mind with visions of beati-
tude. at is really happiness which Is pro- |
duced by dose of hashish," says Or. Moreau, |
and by this l imply an enjoyment entirely |
moral, and by no means sensual, as We might |
be induced to suppose. This is merely very
curious circumstance and some remark able in-
ferences might be drawn from it; this. for
instance among others: that every feeling of
joy and gadness, even il the cause Of it is
eminently moral-enj which are least
with the material objects, emotions
the most spiritual, the most ideal, may be
nothing else than sensations purely physical,
developed in the interior OF the system, are
those induced by the bashish. The hashish
eater is happy, not like the gournand or the
famished man when satisfying his appetite, but
like one who hears tidings of great Joy, like
the gambler who is successful at play, or the
man intoxicated with success" In
overdoses, the same drug produces a complete
confusion Of ideas, till the patient at last be.
comes incapable OF coherent thought. |
A similar effect is often induced by the In
fuence of heat. Travellers in the deserts Of the
tropics become conscious Of strange halucina-
tons; they walk as in dream, or stop short
in sudden dread of pending insanity. After
q sunstroke the brain seems i'm patient OF severe
mental labor, the mind wanders ftfully from
thought to thought or loses itself In reveries,
fading away into feeling of dull drowsiness.
Mental overwork, especially In overheated,
MT latp 6 hrin on IL. 4
lion resembling tho incpient symptoms of the
disorder known az softening of the brain. The
sufferer complains of sick headaches, and be-
comes subject to fits of lstless somnolence an
'wering inquiries only by vacant STARE In
short, not only disinclined, but unable to rouse
The dormant energies of the brain, Is if nature
wanted to enforce the rest of that organ at any
cost.
The best remedy in such cases Is a weeks
otal abstinence from mental drudgery. The
PATIENTS exhausted energies should be braced
~ the influence of cool, pure air and outdoor
exercise, rather than by moral stimulants.
Removal to scenes of rural peace may restore
he equilibrium of the mind without the aid of
.rugs, and | have known cases where patients
covered upon their removal from hospitals
where their complaint, after long course of
medication, had been pronounced incurable.
Typhoid fever, too, often produces mental
disturbances that are apt to occur after the
physical symptoms Of the disorder have appar-
ntly subsidized. Moral and physical rest is the {
'est remedy, the patients whims, like those Of
sick child should be treated with indulgence,
ince disappointment or an untmely strain /
lpon the mental energies may lead to very {
erious consequences. Patients have been
,nown to commit suicide under the influence
# momentary irritation, and the strangest case
# emotional insanity known to the medical
ecords of this country may be explained on I
heory of that sort Six years ago, young
ady of Newport, KY, was seized with typhoid
ever week before the day appointed for her /
Wedding For nearly month her recovery ]
eemed doubtful, but during spell Of cool
Weather she improved rapidly, and might soon
AVE been restored to her former health If she {
lad not been worried by complication Of work
Incident to the preparations for her marriage.
The then had severe relapse, and in her inter {
-als of consciousness used to urge her parents
o have the ceremony performed at once,
nd became almost frantic at the expostulations '
+ her friends, who advised delay for few
weeks. At last the dispute was compromised
y the agreement to celebrate the wedding on
he 1st Of January, 1885. The patient at the
pproach of that day began to bustle about the q
o1se, and refused to return to her sick-room, | J
nd as active exercise seemed to do her good, !
was not thought advisable to restrain her. ,
The wedding took place on the app0nted day !