The Anatomy of Melancholy · Chapter 55The Synopsis of the Second Partition
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Cure of melancholy is either
Sect 1. General to all, which contains
Unlawful means forbidden,
Memb. 1. From the devil, magicians, witches, &c., by charms, spells, incantations, &c.
Quest. 1. Whether they can cure this, or other such like diseases?
Quest. 2. Whether, if they can so cure, it be lawful to seek to them for help?
or Lawful means, which are
Memb. 2. Immediately from God, a Jove principium by prayer &c.
Memb. 3. Quest. 1. Whether saints and their relics can help this infirmity?
Quest. 2. Whether it be lawful to sue to them for aid.
or Memb. 4. Mediately by Nature which concerns and works by
Subsect. 1. Physician, in whom is required science, confidence, honesty, &c.
Subsect. 2. Patient, in whom is required obedience, constancy, willingness, patience, confidence, bounty, &c., not to practise on himself.
Subsect. 3. Physic, which consists of
Dietetical ♈
Pharmaceutical ♉
Chirurgical ♊
or Particular to the three distinct species, ♋ ♌ ♍
♈ Sect. 2. Dietetical, which consists in reforming those six non-natural things, as in
Diet rectified 1. Memb.
Matter and quality 1 Subs.
Such meats as are easy of digestion, well-dressed, hot, sod, &c., young, moist, of good nourishment, &c.
Bread of pure wheat, well-baked.
Water clear from the fountain.
Wine and drink not too strong, &c.
Flesh
Mountain birds, partridge, pheasant, quails, &c. Hen, capon, mutton, veal, kid, rabbit, &c.
Fish
That live in gravelly waters, as pike, perch, trout, sea-fish, solid, white, &c.
Herbs
Borage, bugloss, balm, succory, endive, violets, in broth, not raw, &c.
Fruits and roots.
Raisins of the sun, apples corrected for wind, oranges, &c., parsnips, potatoes, &c.
or Subs. 2. Quantity.
At seasonable and unusual times of repast, in good order, not before the first be concocted, sparing, not overmuch of one dish.
Memb. 2. Rectification of retention and evacuation, as costiveness, venery, bleeding at nose, months stopped, baths, &c.
Memb. 3. Air rectified, with a digression of the air
Naturally in the choice and site of our country, dwelling-place, to be hot and moist, light, wholesome, pleasant &c.
Artificially, by often change of air, avoiding winds, fogs, tempests, opening windows, perfumes, &c.
Memb. 4. Exercise
Of body and mind, but moderate, as hawking, hunting, riding, shooting, bowling, fishing, fowling, walking in fair fields, galleries, tennis, bar.
Of mind, as chess, cards, tables &c., to see plays, masks, &c., serious studies, business, all honest recreations.
Memb. 5. Rectification of waking and terrible dreams, &c.
Memb. 6. Rectification of passions and perturbations of the mind. ♎
Memb. 6. Passions and perturbations of the mind rectified.
From himself
Subsect. 1. By using all good means of help, confessing to a friend, &c.
Avoiding all occasions of his infirmity.
Not giving way to passions, but resisting to his utmost.
or from his friends.
Subsect. 2. By fair and foul means, counsel, comfort, good persuasion, witty devices, fictions, and, if it be possible, to satisfy his mind.
Subsect. 3. Music of all sorts aptly applied.
Subsect. 4. Mirth and merry company.
Sect. 3. A consolatory digression, containing remedies to all discontents and passions of the mind.
Memb. 1. General discontents and grievances satisfied.
Memb. 2. Particular discontents, as deformity of body, sickness, baseness of birth, &c.
Memb. 3. Poverty and want, such calamites and adversities.
Memb. 4. Against servitude, loss of liberty, imprisonment, banishment, &c.
Memb. 5. Against vain fears, sorrows for death of friends, or otherwise.
Memb. 6. Against envy, livor, hatred, malice, emulation, ambition, and self-love, &c.
Memb. 7. Against repulses, abuses, injuries, contempts, disgraces, contumelies, slanders, and scoffs, &c.
Memb. 8. Against all other grievous and ordinary symptoms of this disease of melancholy.
♉ Sect. 4. Pharmaceutics, or Physic which cureth with medicines, with a digression of this kind of physic, is either Memb. 1. Subsect. 1.
General to all
Alterative
Simples altering melancholy, with a digression of exotic simples 2. Subs.
Herbs. 3. Subs.
To the heart; borage, bugloss, scorzonera, &c.
To the head; balm, hops, nenuphar, &c.
Liver; eupatory, artemisia, &c.
Stomach; wormwood, centaury, pennyroyal.
Spleen; ceterache, ash, tamarisk.
To Purify the blood; endive, succory, &c.
Against wind; origan, fennel, aniseed, &c.
4. Subs Precious stones; as smaragdes, chelidonies, &c. Minerals;
or compounds altering melancholy, with a digression of compounds. 5. Subs.
Inwardly taken
Liquid
fluid
Wines; as of hellebore, bugloss, tamarisk, &c.
Syrups of borage, bugloss, hops, epithyme, endive, succory, &c.
or consisting.
Conserves of violets, maidenhair, borage, bugloss, roses, &c.
Confections; treacle, mithridate, eclegms or linctures.
or solid, as those aromatical confections.
hot
Diambra, dianthos.
Diamargaritum calidum.
Diamoscum dulce.
Electuarium de gemmis.
Laetificans Galeni et Rhasis.
or cold
Diamargaritum frigidum.
Diarrhodon abbatis.
Diacorolli, diacodium with their tables.
Condites of all sorts, &c.
or Outwardly used, as
Oils of camomile, violets, roses, &c.
Ointments, alablastritum, populeum, &c.
Liniments, plasters, cerotes, cataplasms, frontals, fomentations, epithymes, sacks, bags, odoraments, posies, &c.
or Purging ☾
or Particular to three distinct species, ♋ ♌ ♍.
Medicines purging melancholy are either Memb. 2.
Simples purging melancholy
1. Subs. Upward, as vomits
Asrabecca, laurel, white hellebore, scilla, or sea-onion, antimony, tobacco
or Downward. 2. Subs.
More gentle; as senna, epithyme, polypody, mirobalanes, fumitory, &c.
Stronger; aloes, lapis Armenus, lapis lazuli, black hellebore.
or 3. Subs. Compounds purging melancholy
Superior parts
Mouth
swallowed
Liquid, as potions, juleps, syrups, wine of hellebore, bugloss, &c.
Solid, as lapis Armenus, and lazuli, pills of Indie, pills of fumitory, &c.
Electuaries, diasena, confection of hamech, hierologladium, &c.
or Not swallowed, as gargarisms, masticatories, &c.
or Nostrils, sneezing powders, odoraments, perfumes, &c.
or Inferior parts, as clysters strong and weak, and suppositories of Castilian soap, honey boiled, &c.
♊ Chirurgical physic, which consists of Memb. 3.
Phlebotomy, to all parts almost, and all the distinct species.
With knife, horseleeches.
Cupping-glasses.
Cauteries, and searing with hot irons, boring.
Dropax and sinapismus.
Issues to several parts, and upon several occasions.
♋ Sect. 5. Cure of head-melancholy. Memb. 1.
1. Subsect. Moderate diet, meat of good juice, moistening, easy of digestion.
Good air.
Sleep more than ordinary.
Excrements daily to be voided by art or nature.
Exercise of body and mind not too violent, or too remiss, passions of the mind, and perturbations to be avoided.
Subsect. 2. Bloodletting, if there be need, or that the blood be corrupt, in the arm, forehead, &c., or with cupping-glasses.
Subsect. 3. Preparatives and purgers.
Preparatives; as syrup of borage, bugloss, epithyme, hops, with their distilled waters, &c.
Purgers; as Montanus, and Matthiolus helleborismus, Quercetanus, syrup of hellebore, extract of hellebore, pulvis Hali, antimony prepared, Rulandi aqua mirabilis; which are used, if gentler medicines will not take place, with Arnoldus, vinum buglossatum, senna, cassia, mirobalanes, aurum potabile, or before Hamech, Pil. Indae, Hiera, Pil. de lap. Armeno, lazuli.
Subsect. 4. Averters.
Cardan's nettles, frictions, clysters, suppositories, sneezings, masticatories, nasals, cupping-glasses.
To open the haemorrhoids with horseleeches, to apply horseleeches to the forehead without scarification, to the shoulders, thighs.
Issues, boring, cauteries, hot irons in the suture of the crown.
Subsect. 5. Cordials, resolvers, hinderers.
A cup of wine or strong drink.
Bezars stone, amber, spice.
Conserves of borage, bugloss, roses, fumitory.
Confection of Alchermes.
Electuarium laetificans Galeni et Rhasis, &c.
Diamargaritum frig. diaboraginatum, &c.
Subsect. 6. Correctors of accidents, as,
Odoraments of roses, violets.
Irrigations of the head, with the decoctions of nymphea, lettuce, mallows, &c.
Epithymes, ointments, bags to the heart.
Fomentations of oil for the belly.
Baths of sweet water, in which were sod mallows, violets, roses, water-lilies, borage flowers, ramsheads, &c.
To procure sleep, and are
Inwardly taken,
Simples
Poppy, nymphea, lettuce, roses, purslane, henbane, mandrake, nightshade, opium, &c.
or Compounds.
Liquid, as syrups of poppy, verbasco, violets, roses.
Solid, as requies Nicholai, Philonium, Romanum, Laudanum Paracelsi.
or Outwardly used, as
Oil of nymphea, poppy, violets, roses, mandrake, nutmegs.
Odoraments of vinegar, rosewater, opium.
Frontals of rose-cake, rose-vinegar, nutmeg.
Ointments, alablastritum, unguentum populeum, simple or mixed with opium.
Irrigations of the head, feet, sponges, music, murmur and noise of waters.
Frictions of the head and outward parts, sacculi of henbane, wormwood at his pillow, &c.
Against terrible dreams; not to sup late, or eat peas, cabbage, venison, meats heavy of digestion, use balm, hart's-tongue, &c.
Against ruddiness and blushing, inward and outward remedies.
♌ 2. Memb. Cure of melancholy over the body.
Diet, preparatives, purges, averters, cordials, correctors, as before.
Phlebotomy in this kind more necessary, and more frequent.
To correct and cleanse the blood with fumitory, senna, succory, dandelion, endive, &c.
♍ Cure of hypochondriacal or windy melancholy. 3. Memb.
Subsect. 1 Phlebotomy, if need require.
Diet, preparatives, averters, cordials, purgers, as before, saving that they must not be so vehement.
Use of pennyroyal, wormwood, centaury sod, which alone hath cured many.
To provoke urine with aniseed, daucus, asarum, &c., and stools, if need be, by clysters and suppositories.
To respect the spleen, stomach, liver, hypochondries.
To use treacle now and then in winter.
To vomit after meals sometimes, if it be inveterate.
Subsect. 2. To expel wind.
Inwardly Taken,
Simples,
Roots,
Galanga, gentian, enula, angelica, calamus aromaticus, zedoary, china, condite ginger, &c.
Herbs,
Pennyroyal, rue, calamint, bay leaves, and berries, scordium, bethany, lavender, camomile, centaury, wormwood, cumin, broom, orange pills.
Spices,
Saffron, cinnamon, mace, nutmeg, pepper, musk, zedoary with wine, &c.
Seeds,
Aniseed, fennel-seed, ammi, cary, cumin, nettle, bays, parsley, grana paradisi.
or Compounds, as
Dianisum, diagalanga, diaciminum, diacalaminthes, electuarium de baccis lauri, benedicta laxativa, &c. pulvia carminativus, and pulvis descrip. Antidotario Florentine, aromaticum, rosatum, Mithridate.
or Outwardly used, as cupping-glasses to the hypochonries without scarification, oil of camomile, rue, aniseed, their decoctions, &c.