Impostume

Use in the book

The image belongs to Burton’s explanation of why he began the book. He has already presented writing as exercise and as a way of turning idle time into useful activity, while admitting that fame may be another motive. He now says that he aimed to ease his mind by writing: a burdened heart, pregnant head and abscess each express a pressure that asks for an outlet. The successive images do not form a literal medical case history. Nor does the final word evacuation establish that he describes a specific surgical procedure.

The continuation makes the self-remedy argument explicit. Unable easily to refrain, he represents himself as soothing one sorrow with another and making an antidote from the chief cause of his disease. He then compares his reading of medical authors with the reported patient whose imagined frogs led him to study medicine. The impostume is therefore one exact image within a larger account of study, expression and relief. The book’s medical subject helps him describe its production, without proving that writing has removed a physical abscess.

Related entries

Chirurgery

Evacuation and retention

Places to read

1. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 5–9Writing as exercise and relief; the burdened heart, pregnant head, impostume and evacuation at Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraph 7; the continuation’s self-remedy and medical reading.

In this edition

“a kind of impostume in my head” becomes “a kind of abscess in my head”. Abscess supplies the recognizable bodily noun while retaining the qualifying “a kind of.” “gravidum cor, fætum caput” is rendered “a burdened heart, a pregnant head”: the two nouns remain distinct and the English supplies their articles. “no fitter evacuation then this” becomes “no better way to empty it than this,” retaining the release image while replacing the technical-looking noun with a verbal construction. The printed fætum is preserved rather than silently replaced by a different Latin spelling.

evacuation

Printed “evacuation” (English; lemma).

An emptying or discharge, here figuratively through writing.

Here: The book becomes the outlet for what burdens the speaker’s head and mind.

Context: Burton says he could imagine no fitter relief for this accumulated burden; it is a comparison of writing’s purpose, not a clinical recommendation.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: no fitter evacuation then this

Modern rendering: no better way to empty it than this

Word and construction: Evacuation is expanded into way to empty it; it refers back to the imagined abscess rather than introducing a separate bodily substance.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

fætum caput

Printed “fætum caput” (Latin; phrase).

A pregnant or laden head.

Here: The image gives mental material a fullness that seeks expression.

Context: Burton’s figurative self-description follows the burdened heart and precedes the abscess.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: fætum caput

Modern rendering: a pregnant head

Word and construction: Fætum contributes pregnant; caput contributes head; the English article is supplied.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

gravidum cor

Printed “gravidum cor” (Latin; phrase).

A laden or burdened heart.

Here: The phrase precedes the pregnant head and abscess images in the explanation of pressure to write.

Context: Burton uses a bodily metaphor of emotional or intellectual burden, not a report of pregnancy in the heart.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: gravidum cor

Modern rendering: a burdened heart

Word and construction: Gravidum contributes burdened; cor contributes heart; the English article is supplied.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

impostume

Printed “impostume” (English; lemma).

An abscess, here used figuratively for an accumulation pressing to be discharged.

Here: The head’s imagined abscess makes writing a release of accumulated thought and distress.

Context: Burton describes his motive for writing through a succession of bodily images; it is not a literal clinical case.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: a kind of impostume in my head

Modern rendering: a kind of abscess in my head

Word and construction: Impostume contributes abscess; a kind of preserves the openly comparative formulation.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.