The Anatomy of Melancholy

Lupulus, the hop, is a sovereign remedy. Fuchs, chapter 58 of his History of Plants, praises it highly: “it purges all bile and purifies the blood.” Mattioli, chapter 140 of his commentary on Dioscorides, book 4, wonders why the physicians of his time made so little use of it, since it thins and cleanses. We use it for this purpose in our ordinary beer, which previously was thick and cloying.

Wormwood, centaury and pennyroyal are likewise praised and frequently prescribed, as I shall show later, especially for hypochondriac melancholy: they are to be used daily, boiled in whey. As Rufus of Ephesus and Aretaeus report, many melancholy patients have been cured by their frequent use alone, through dispersing wind and aiding digestion.

And because the spleen and blood are often disordered in melancholy, I must not omit endive, chicory, dandelion, fumitory and the like, which cleanse the blood; or scolopendria, dodder, ceterach, mugwort, liverwort, ash, tamarisk, broom, maidenhair and the like, which greatly help and relieve the spleen. To these I may add roses, violets, capers, feverfew, scordium, stoechas, rosemary, sundew, saffron, basil, sweet apples, wine, tobacco, sandalwood and so on.

That Peruvian chamico, “of prodigious power,” and so forth; Linshcosteus’s datera. And for those who are cold, the decoction or guaiacum, China root, sarsaparilla, sassafras, and the flowers of blessed thistle, which I find much used by Montanus in his consultations, Julius Alexandrinus, Lelius, Egubinus and others.

Bernardus Penottus prefers his herba solis, or Dutch sundew, to all the rest for this disease, “and allows no herb on earth to compare with it.” It surpasses Homer’s moly, cures this disorder, epilepsy and almost every other infirmity. The same Penottus, drawing on Aponensis, describes an excellent balm which, taken in the quantity of three drops in a cup of wine, “will bring a sudden change, drive away dejection and cheer the heart.”

Antonio Guaineri has many such remedies in his Antidotary. Jacobus de Dondis, the Compiler, includes ambergris, nutmegs and every kind of spice among the rest. But that cannot apply generally: amber and spice will drive a hot brain mad, though they are good for one that is cold and moist. Garcia da Orta lists many Indian plants whose powers he greatly praises against this disease.

Lemnius, Institutes, chapter 58, admires rue, praising its excellent power “to expel vain imaginings and devils, and relieve afflicted souls.” Writers also greatly praise other things: an old cock, a ram’s head, or a wolf’s heart carried on the person or eaten, which Mercurialis approves; the water of the Nile, praised by Prosper Altinus; all seawater, praised by Gomesius; and being seasick at suitable times; goats’ milk, whey and so on.