The Anatomy of Melancholy

Necessary causes: the six non-natural things. Section 2, Member 2.

Sections: 1.2.2.

Diet harmful in its: Subsection 1. Substance: Bread: coarse and dark, etc. Drink: thick, thin, sour, etc. Unclean water, milk, oil, vinegar, wine, spices, etc.

Sections: 1.2.2.1.

Meat: Parts: heads, feet, entrails, fat, bacon, blood, etc. Kinds: beef, pork, venison, hares, goats, pigeons, peacocks, marsh birds, etc.

Sections: 1.2.2.1.

Vegetables, fish, etc. Fish: all shellfish; tough and slimy fish, etc. Vegetables: pulses, cabbage, melons, garlic, onions, etc. All roots, raw fruits, indigestible foods and foods that produce wind.

Sections: 1.2.2.1.

Quality, as in: Preparation and cooking; sharp sauces; salted, hardened, pickled, fried, or broiled foods; elaborate mixed dishes, etc.

Sections: 1.2.2.1.

Quantity: Irregular or excessive eating, or eating at unsuitable times, etc. Subsection 2. Changes in habit, enjoyment, appetite, etc. Subsection 3.

Sections: 1.2.2.2; 1.2.2.3.

Retention and evacuation. Subsection 4. Constipation, hot baths, sweating, blocked discharges, excessive or insufficient sexual activity, bloodletting, purging, etc.

Sections: 1.2.2.4.

Air: hot, cold, stormy, dark, thick, foggy, marshy, etc. Subsection 5. Exercise. Subsection 6. Ill-timed, excessive or insufficient exercise of body or mind; solitude, idleness, an inactive life, etc. Sleep and wakefulness: ill-timed, irregular, too much, too little, etc. Subsection 7.

Sections: 1.2.2.5; 1.2.2.6; 1.2.2.7.

Section 2, Member 3. Passions and disturbances of the mind. Subsection 1. With a digression on the power of imagination, Subsection 2, and a division of the passions into the following kinds, Subsection 3.

Sections: 1.2.3.1; 1.2.3.2; 1.2.3.3.

Irascible passions: Sorrow, as cause and symptom. Subsection 4. Fear, as cause and symptom. Subsection 5. Shame, rejection, disgrace, etc. Subsection 6. Envy and malice. Subsection 7. Rivalry, hatred, faction, desire for revenge. Subsection 8. Anger as a cause. Subsection 9. Discontents, cares, miseries, etc. Subsection 10.

Sections: 1.2.3.4; 1.2.3.5; 1.2.3.6; 1.2.3.7; 1.2.3.8; 1.2.3.9; 1.2.3.10.

Or concupiscible passions: Violent desires, ambition. Subsection 11. Covetousness, the love of money. Subsection 12. Love of pleasure, excessive gambling, etc. Subsection 13. Desire for praise, pride, vainglory, etc. Subsection 14. Love of learning, excessive study, with a digression on the misery of scholars and why the Muses are melancholy. Subsection 15.

Sections: 1.2.3.11; 1.2.3.12; 1.2.3.13; 1.2.3.14; 1.2.3.15.

B. Symptoms of melancholy. Section 3. Either general. Member 1. Bodily symptoms: poor digestion, undigested matter, wind, dryness of the brain, constipation, thick blood, excessive wakefulness, heaviness and palpitation of the heart, twitching in various places, etc. Subsection 1.

Sections: 1.3.1.1.

Or mental symptoms: Common to all or most: Fear and sorrow without sufficient cause, suspicion, jealousy, discontent, solitude, weariness, incessant thinking, restless thoughts, groundless imaginings, etc. Subsection 2.

Sections: 1.3.1.2.

Or peculiar to individuals, varying according to the following factors. Subsections 3 and 4.

Sections: 1.3.1.3; 1.3.1.4.

Celestial influences, such as Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, etc.; parts of the body: heart, brain, liver, spleen, stomach, etc.

Sections: 1.3.1.3.

Humours: The sanguine are always merry, laughing and cheerful, thinking of plays, women, music, etc. The phlegmatic are idle, dull, sluggish, etc. The choleric are furious, impatient, liable to hear and see strange apparitions, etc. Those with black bile are solitary and sad; they think they are bewitched, dead, etc. Or mixtures of these four humours, scorched or unscorched, in endless variations.

Sections: 1.3.1.3.