acute to the least touch; he became highly irritable in his temper, but enjoyed company and his usual meals, and still retained an immoderate desire for venereal pleasures, and, says the report, "with the fullest ability of indulging it." Hectic fever now attacked him, then consumption, and he at last fell a sacrifice to such a host of evils.

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[347] A gentleman, aged 27, consulted me on the following case: He had resided for some years in the West Indies, and there led a life of debauchery with wine, women, and error; at length his health gave way and compelled him to return to England, for, said he my pluck was greater than my strength, and I should have rattled myself off in no time." On the passage home he first discovered an inability to control the movement of his legs; he could not place his foot on the exact spot he desired; this increased, and he then found a difficulty in ascending the companion-ladder; he was alarmed, but not knowing the real cause of his incipient paralysis, he candidly told me he pursued an old vicious practice whilst at sea. When I saw him he was worn-out, his constitution was twenty years in advance of his age; he entered my room by the aid of two stout sticks, and positively dragged one leg after the other. I examined the spine without detecting any cause for his symptoms, he had not been injured by a fall or blow, nor was he conscious of having had a fit. Having run over the usual category, I sought for the cause of his complaint in the urine, and then I found a decided evidence of Spermatorrhoea. My first aim was to renovate the general health, to lessen the Spermatorrhoeal discharge, and to direct a large amount of vital electricity to the extremities. By attention to the medicine

and rules for diet and regimen which I advised, the first indication was soon fulfilled; the use of suppository No. 1 induced a marked improvement in the Spermatorrhea; friction, I could almost say fierce friction, and gentle galvanic shocks increased the vigour of the circulation, and, probably, the nervous energy, in the lower part of the spine and extremities. Still he walked, or rather dragged along, with two sticks. He rapidly improved in health, the Spermatorrhoea was abated but not stopped, and there was little amendment in the paralysis. After a time he employed suppository No. 2, from which he obtained great benefit; I ordered him minute doses the twentieth part of a grain-of strichnia, and medium doses of the extract of conium with camphor. In a few weeks he visited me, assisted only by one stick. Thus he slowly progressed; he could place his foot where he wished, he could mount a staircase with confidence, and at the end of four months had regained his health and considerable power of locomotion.

THE "SPIRITS," MIND and MENTAL FACULTIES.— Attending all cases of Spermatorrhoea, even at the onset of the complaint, there is some depression of the animal spirits and loss of that mental energy without which we can neither cheerfully nor efficiently pursue our daily duties, nor enjoy life; as the disorder advances or becomes confirmed, "low spirits" is one of the most urgent and distressing effects by which the poor sufferer is harassed and made wretched.

The earliest symptoms which the patient experiences are anxiety, or dread of some impending evil without any adequate cause; the mind is clouded by the apprehension of a calamity which will mar either his worldly prospects or his health; the ordinary events of life assume

a gloomy character; business, which before was his delight, frequently becomes the greatest enemy to his peace; he dreads insolvency, yet has not the courage to arrest it; he cannot fix his attention upon any subject of importance, or engage in anything that demands vigour or courage; he has a distaste for all that previously added to his comfort; he loses all relish of life, and prays that his sufferings were terminated.

How admirably has Shakspere described this type of melancholy! Hamlet says: "I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth, foregone all custom of exercise; and, indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition, that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o’erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire; why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours."

Men who have in early life ran a career of dissipation, devoting themselves to sensual gratifications, by which the stock of enjoyment is exhausted, and the powers of the mind and body worn out before the midway of existence has been attained-men who are blasé, or "used up," whose constitutions are "shattered,"-soon feel a want of the habitual stimulus which, to them, is life itself; they consequently fall into low spirits, and become unhappy; without the taste or energy to engage in profitable or rational pursuits, they drag on a cheerless and miserable existence, mistrusting and envying those around them. To those who are on the threshold of such a life, I would tender the advice of Dr. Johnson : "Let us, therefore, stop, while to stop is in our power; let us live as men who are sometime to grow old, and to whom it will be the most dreadful of all evils to count

their past years by follies, and to be reminded of their former luxuriance of health only by the maladies which riot has produced.”

The direct influence of Spermatorrhoea, and its chief cause, on the animal spirits and mental powers, is well told in the following report :—

Pal

[853] "My disease is an unfortunate one,—the mind worn out. I wish to give you an account of the origin of it. In 1841, I was then only 11 years, I contracted the vile habit * * * * which I indulged in daily, for nearly nine months, near the end of which time, in the evenings a queer sort of melancholy used to hang over me; I never was cheerful till morning came again. In 1843 I was placed in an attorney's office, and one night in that year, after being in bed about an hour I suddenly got up, thinking I was dying. My parents were alarmed and could not account for my anxiety; I continued for some time weak and frightened; I was never easy. I was taken to several doctors, and they said I was going mad; one bled me in the arm, which made me weaker. pitation at the heart then ensued, with short dry cough, but my melancholy and nervousness was the worst. Another doctor ordered me shower-baths and some pills, which certainly did me some good; I have no doubt I should have got perfectly well had I abandoned the vile habit. Oh little did I think of the injury I was doing to myself. Well, sir, my mind at that time was in a continual state of uneasiness, and every month, regular, I used to get into a state of melancholy, stupified and sick, and used to remain in bed for a week together: then I would get better and remain so for another month. Still I indulged in this pernicious habit. Some time after this I told my uncle of the practice I had acquired;

he made me aware of the injury I was doing myself, counselled me, cautioned me. Still I persisted afterwards, for to be brief I indulged in it for a long time, when, after reading your book on the subject, it deterred me, and had more effect than all the counselling I had hitherto received. In my appearance I am healthy, but my digestion is bad, bowels irregular, heaviness and swimming in my head, melancholy, certainly not right in my mental faculties; my life is a burthen to me; I do every thing more mechanically than naturally. I imagine that I am remarked by every one; I cannot bear to enter society, I feel embarrassed when a person addresses me. I was intended for a different position to what I now hold; could my mind be restored, I could command a far different situation, &c."

[1051] Writes-"I have for some years, with more or less violence, been a martyr to nervousness, in all its changing and unaccountable aspects, caused, I fear, by what you mildly term a Disease of Error. The various sensations, ideas, fears, &c., would last me a very considerable time to relate; the chief, however, is a continual fear, of course groundless fear, for I am unable to say what should cause this fear. My occupation, unfortunately, is very sedentary, which, I am afraid, tells against me. I have daily to transact business in the presence of strangers, and, strange and ridiculous as it may appear, when I have to perform the simple act of giving a receipt or signing my name, I immediately become a prey to an extraordinary fear, with gloomy and desponding feelings that are unbearable. During this humiliating, and to me terrible affliction, I might, as regards my hand, have a stroke of the palsy-my hand shaking like a leaf. This sen