The Anatomy of Melancholy

Take the head of a ram that has never mated with a ewe, cut off with a single blow and with only the horns removed. Boil it thoroughly, skin and wool together. When it is well cooked, take out the brains and add these spices: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, mace and cloves, half a dram of each. Mix the powdered spices with the brains and heat them together in a platter over a chafing dish of coals, stirring them well so that they do not burn. Take care not to dry the mixture too much, or more than calf’s brains ready to be eaten.

Keep it prepared in this way, and for three days give it to the patient on an empty stomach, making him fast for two hours afterwards. It may be eaten with bread, in an egg or in broth, or in any way, provided it is taken. For fourteen days let him follow this diet and drink no wine, and so on.

Gesner, History of Animals, book 1, page 917; Caricterius, Practice, chapter 13, in Nich. de metri, page 129; and the Wittenberg physicians’ work, Tübingen edition, page 62, mention this medicine, though with some variation. Whoever wishes may try it, and many others like it.

Aromatic preparations to smell, made from rosewater, violet flowers, balm, rose cakes, vinegar and so on, greatly refresh the brain and spirits. According to Solomon, Proverbs 27:9, they gladden the heart; and some say they nourish it. “Whether smells nourish” is a question commonly debated in our schools: let Ficino, book 2, chapter 18, decide it, for he brings many arguments to prove that they do.

One is the case of Democritus, who lived for a few days solely by the smell of bread held to his nostrils, when old age prevented him from eating any food.

Ferrerius, Method, book 2, speaks of an excellent confection he made from wine, saffron and other ingredients, which he prescribed for dull, weak, feeble and dying people to smell, and with which he says he did much good: “it was almost as beneficial when smelled as when drunk,” as if he had given them a drink.

Our noble and learned Lord Verulam therefore recommends, in his book On Life and Death, all those cold scents that in any way help to cool the spirits. Montanus, consultation 31, prescribes a preparation that he would have his melancholic patient always keep in his hands. If you want them prepared by chemical methods, consult Oswald Croll’s Basilica Chymica.

The shaved head must be bathed for many mornings in succession with preparations of water lily flowers, lettuce, violets, camomile, wild mallows, a wether’s head and so on. Montanus, consultation 31, would have the head washed in this way once a week.