nt plan, that I was
convinced of my mistake. This plan always caused an aggravation of
every symptom, and if I persevered in it, an inflammatory disease was
sure to be the consequence. Indeed, I might have suspected this, from
considering, that these symptoms had been brought on by full living,
and preceded by good spirits; but my mind had received such a
prejudice from the writings of medical men, who had uniformly
described these as a train of nervous symptoms, as they called them,
depending on a debilitated state of the nervous system, that I was
blind to conviction, till repeated disappointment from the
stimulating plan, convinced me I must be wrong. The only alternative
therefore, was a contrary plan, and the immediate relief I
experienced, was a proof that I had detected the real nature of the
complaint. Since that time, I can at any time prevent these
unpleasant symptoms, by an abstemious course of life, and remove
them, when they have come on, by the debilitating plan; which,
instead of weakening, gives additional elasticity and strength to the
fibres, and alacrity to the spirits. I have described the symptoms in
one case, as this will serve as a general description. We may add,
that persons labouring under this kind of predisposition, are
particularly attentive to the state of their own health, and to every
change of feeling in their bodies; and from every uneasy sensation,
perhaps of the slightest kind, they apprehend great danger, and even
death itself. In cases of this kind, the bowels are generally
costive, and the spirits of the patient are very apt to be affected
by changes in the weather, particularly by a fall of the barometer.
How the diminution of atmospheric pressure acts in increasing the
symptoms, we perhaps do not know; but its effects are experienced
almost universally.

It is evident, that the only mode of cure in cases of this kind is
extreme temperance: animal food should be taken sparingly, and wine
and spirits in general totally abstained from. The bowels should be
kept open by any mild neutral salt. I have generally found magnesia
and lemonade to agree remarkably well in such cases. Exercise on
horseback, is also particularly useful; bark, bitters, and the fetid
and antispasmodic medicines, which are generally prescribed in such
cases, are extremely hurtful.

This view of nervous complaints is, I may venture to say, as new as
it is just. It has never been imagined, that any of them depen