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THE LECTURER.

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MENTAL DERANGEMENT.

The term _melancholia_ is applied to _insanity_, when attended with
depression of spirits, arising commonly from some supposed impending
evil; but sometimes it takes place without any such error of judgment,
and is altogether unaccountable. As far as I have seen, this depression
of spirits is in no wise essentially connected with, far less dependent
upon, bodily weakness, as its cause. On the contrary, you will often
find such patients to be of full habit, and complaining of throbbing
headach, with flushing of the face, a full and strong pulse, though
sometimes the pulse is preternaturally slow; the tongue is often white
and dry, as in inflammation in general. These symptoms, considered in
themselves, would call for _antiphlogistic_ measures, such as
_bleeding_ and _purging_; and these are not at all the less
necessary because the patient is in a low and desponding state of mind.
In short, I know of no difference in the medical treatment of _mania_
and _melancholia_, merely as such; you must look to the state of
vascular action, both local and general, in order to lay down a proper
plan of cure.

_Hypochondriasis_ is a still slighter form of _mental derangement_,