El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-11-04

for the pilgrims, just as he IS rushing
at them with a club.
Bunyan parenthetically remarks that
attacks of paresis came on when the sky
was bright: "he sometimes, in sunshiny
weather, fell into fits; very sage OBJ
servation, and one not likely to occur
to any but an actual sufferer. Hear with
Shakespeare's hypochondrisc: "I have Of
late (but wherefore know not), lost all
my mirth, fOregOne all custom of ex-
ercises; and indeed, it goes so heavily
with my disposition, that this goodly
frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile
promOntory; this most excellent canopy,
the air, look you-this brave o'erhanging
hrmament-this majestical roof fretted
with golden fire, why it appears no c.ne-
thing to me than a foul and pestilent
congregation. Of vapOrs," says Hamlet,
pointing out Of window TO a bright starry
sky. It does seem that the poet knew
well the condition
1t is very seldom that q hypochondriac
escapes without the general misery be-
ing localized in pain Of some port OF
another. either continuously or at irregu-
lar periods. Bunyan says, Il felt such a
clOgging and heat at my stomach, by
reason of this my terror, that I was,
especially at sometimes, as if my breast
bone would have split aSunder" This is
the pain in the hypOchOndria, whence the
disease gets its name. The "clogging and
and the heat" is very graphic of the
symptoIhatolOgy Of hypochOndriasis.
The loss of power which was described
in the muscles of certain parts, still
more infrequently affects the involuntary
fibres Of the intestinal tract. The peris-
talic movements become sluggish. The
bowels become filed with gas, distend-
ing them inconveniently and painfully.
Poor John Bunyan seems to have been
so blown up, that he says he feared he
was going to suffer the fate of Judas
Iscariot, and burst asunder in the
midst"
A feature which is almost universal in
long cases Of hypochondriasis is loss OF
weight during the attacks. Soon as the
patient comes to, and is again a normal
individual, the weight increases. In his
"Grace Astounding, 'Bunyan describes him
self several times as suffering from this
symptOm-as he words it, 'inclining to a
consumption, wherewith, about the
spring, I was suddenly and violently
seized with much weakness in my out
ward man." And q few pages after
wards he speaks Of being very i'll and
weak presumably from a similar cause.
when his spirits suddenly revived, and
he thought Of the angels carrying Lazarus
into Abraham's bosom. Then he mused
with comfort on 20 grave, where is thy
victOry2" AT this he goes on, 4 be-
came well both in body and mind at once,
for my sickness did presently vanish
He typifies this symptom in the person
of one of the prisoners in Doubling
Castle, ''AIr Dependency, who was al
most starved to death"
One usually pictures the male as the
sufferer from hypochOndriasis, but women
are not wholly exempt. L may be noted
that Bunyan places one, and only one,
woman in Despair's dungeons Her ne
does not describe; because, indeed he
knew nothing Of the other sex "but by
their apparel beyond his own family
circle. He says he was "shy Of women
THE common salutation Of women I
abhor; tbs odious to me in whOmsOever
/ see it Their company alone l cannot
away with" Thus, it is evident that
Bunyan did not receive the condolences
Of hypochondriacal females.
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