Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children Part 35

The time of life when hysterics occur is generally from the age of fifteen to fifty. Hysterics come on by paroxysms--hence they are called hysterical fits. A patient, just before an attack, is low-spirited; crying without a cause; she is "nervous," as it is called; she has flushings of the face; she is at other times very pale; she has shortness of breath and occasional palpitations of the heart; her appet.i.te is usually bad; she pa.s.ses quant.i.ties of colourless limpid urine, having the appearance of pump water; she is much troubled with flatulence in her bowels, and, in consequence, she feels bloated and uncomfortable. The "wind" at length rises upwards towards the stomach, and still upwards to the throat, giving her the sensation of a ball stopping her breathing, and producing a feeling of suffocation. The sensation of a ball in the throat (_globus hystericus_) is the commencement of the fit.

She now becomes _partially_ insensible, although she seldom loses _complete_ consciousness. Her face becomes flushed, her nostrils dilated, her head thrown back, and her stomach and bowels enormously distended with "wind." After a short time she throws her arms and her legs about convulsively, she beats her breast, tears her hair and clothes, laughs boisterously and screams violently; at other times she makes a peculiar noise; sometimes she sobs and her face is much distorted. At length she brings up enormous quant.i.ties of wind; after a time she bursts into a violent flood of tears, and then gradually comes to herself.

As soon as the fit is at an end she generally pa.s.ses enormous quant.i.ties of colourless limpid urine. She might, in a short time, fall into another attack similar to the above. When she comes to herself she feels exhausted and tired, and usually complains of a slight headache, and of great soreness of the body and limbs. She seldom remembers what has occurred during the fit. Hysterics are sometimes frightful to witness, but, in themselves, are not at all dangerous.

Hysterics--an hysterical fit--is sometimes styled hysterical pa.s.sion. Shakspeare, in one of his plays, calls it _hysterica pa.s.sio_--

"Oh how this, mother, swells up toward my Heart! _Hysterica pa.s.sio!_"

Sir Walter Scott graphically describes an attack--"The hysterical pa.s.sion that impels tears is a terrible violence--a sort of throttling sensation--then succeeded by a state of dreaming stupidity"

392. _What are the causes of Hysterics_?

Delicate health, chlorosis, improper and not sufficiently nourishing food, grief, anxiety, excitement of the mind, closely confined rooms, want of exercise, indigestion, flatulence and tight-lacing, are the causes which usually produce hysterics. Hysterics are frequently feigned, indeed, oftener than any other complaint, and even a genuine case is usually much aggravated by a patient herself giving way to them.

393. _What do you recommend an hysterical lady to do_?

To improve her health by proper management, to rise early and to take a walk, that she may breathe pure and wholesome air,--indeed, she ought to live nearly half her time in the open air, exercising herself with walking, skipping, etc., to employ her mind with botany, croquet, archery, or with any out-door amus.e.m.e.nt, to confine herself to plain, wholesome, nourishing food, to avoid tight lacing; to eschew fashionable amus.e.m.e.nts; and, above all, not to give way to her feelings, but, if she feel an attack approaching, to rouse herself.

_If the fit be upon her_, the better plan is, to banish all the _male_ s.e.x from the room, and not even to have many women about her, and for those around to loosen her dress; to lay her in the centre of the room, flat upon the ground, with a pillow under her head, to remove combs and pins and brooches from her person; to dash cold water upon her face; to apply cloths, or a large sponge wetted in cold water, to her head; to throw open the window, and then to leave her to herself; or, at all events, to leave her with only one _female_ friend or attendant. If such be done, she will soon come round; but what is the usual practice? If a girl be in hysterics, the whole house, and perhaps the neighbourhood, is roused; the room is crowded to suffocation; fears are openly expressed by those around that she is in a dangerous state; she hears what they say, and her hysterics are increased ten-fold.

394. _Have you any remarks to make on a patient recovering from a severe illness_?

There is something charming and delightful in the feelings of a patient recovering from a severe illness: it is like a new birth: it is almost worth the pain and anguish of having been ill to feel quite well again: everything around and about him wears a charming aspect--a roseate hue: the appet.i.te for food returns with pristine vigour; the viands, be they ever so homely, never tasted before so deliciously sweet; and a draught of water from the spring has the flavour of ambrosial nectar: the convalescent treads the ground as though he were on the ambient air; and the earth to him for a while is Paradise: the very act of living is a joy and gladness:--

"See the wretch that long has tost On the th.o.r.n.y bed of pain Again repair his vigour lost And walk and run again.

The meanest flow'ret of the vale, The amplest note that swells the gale, The common air, the earth, the skies, To him are opening Paradise."--_Grey_

CONCLUDING REMARKS

If this book is to be of use to mothers and to the rising generation, as I humbly hope and trust that it has been, and that it will be still more abundantly, it ought not to be listlessly read, merely as a novel or as any other piece of fiction; but it must be thoughtfully and carefully studied, until its contents, in all its bearings, be completely mastered and understood.

In conclusion: I beg to thank you for the courtesy, confidence, and attention I have received at your hands; and to express a hope that my advice, through G.o.d's blessing, may not have been given in vain; but that it may be--one among many--an humble instrument for improving the race of our children--England's priceless treasures! O, that the time may come, and may not be far distant, "That our sons may grow up as the young plants, and that our daughters may be as the polished corners of the temple!"