The Anatomy of Melancholy

SECTION 5 MEMBER 1 SUBSECTION 1 Specific treatment of the three distinct kinds Head melancholy

Having thus briefly examined and discussed the general treatments, I must now apply these medicines to the three particular species or kinds, so that, according to the parts affected, each person may know to some extent how to help or relieve himself. I shall treat head melancholy first. Here, as in every other sound treatment, we must begin with diet: a matter of the greatest importance, often able to bring about the desired effect by itself.

“I have read,” says Laurentius in chapter 8, On Melancholy, “that in longstanding diseases which have gained the upper hand or become established, one’s manner of living does more good than anything that can be taken from the apothecaries’ most precious boxes.”

This regimen, as I have said, concerns not only the choice of food and drink but all the other “non-natural” things. Let the air be clear and generally moist; the food moistening, nourishing, easily digested and not productive of wind; the drink clear and well brewed, neither too strong nor too weak. “Make a melancholic man fat,” as Rhazes says, “and you have completed the cure.”

Exercise should be neither too slack nor too strenuous. Sleep a little longer than usual. The bowels should be emptied daily, naturally or with assistance; and, above all, as Fernel directs his patient in consultation 44, avoid every passion and disturbance of the mind.

Let him be neither alone nor idle, whatever kind of melancholy he has, but always in the company of the friends and intimates he likes best. Let him be neatly dressed, washed and combed, at least as far as his means allow, in clean, fresh linen and smart, presentable, decent, good clothing. Nothing casts a person down sooner than poverty, squalor and filth, or dirty, old, unfashionable clothes.

As for medicinal treatment, anyone who wants a full account—including the preceding discussion of regimen—and a view of the entire treatment and its method for each distinct species should consult Gordonius and Valescus; Prosper Calenius, On Black Bile, addressed to Cardinal Caesius; Laurentius, On Melancholy, chapters 8 and 9; Ælian Montaltus, On Melancholy, chapters 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30; Donatus ab Altomari, The Art of Medicine, chapter 7; Hercules de Saxonia, Pantheum, chapter 7, and his separate Treatise on Melancholy, edited by Bolzeta, Venice, 1620, chapters 17, 18 and 19;

Savonarola, rubric 82, treatise 8, chapter 1; Skenkius, Practice of Italian Medical Treatments; Heurnius, On Diseases, chapter 12; Victorius Faventinus, Great Practice and Empirical Practice; Hildesheim, Gleanings, book 2, On Mania and Melancholy; Felix Platter, Stokerus, Bruel, P. Bayerus, Foreest, Fuchs, Capivaccius, Rondelet, Jason Pratensis; Sallust Salvian, On Medicine, book 2, chapter 1; Jacchinus on the ninth book of Rhazes; Lodovicus Mercatus, On the Treatment of Internal Diseases, book 1, chapter 17; Alexander Massaria, Medical Practice, book 1, chapter 21, On Melancholy; Piso, Hollerius and others. They have selected from the ancient Greeks, Arabians and Latins whatever deserves notice or is suitable for use.