Medica Sacra Part 6

[104] _See Matthew, Ch. viii. v. 28. Mark, Ch. v. v. 2. and Luke, Chap. viii. v. 27._

[105] _Mark, Chap. i. v. 23-26._

[106] _Luke, Chap. iv. v. 33-35._

These are all actions of madmen; but the dispute is, whether they were wrought by devils, or by the violence of the disease. Thus much is certain, that in those times it was a common opinion among the jews, that evil spirits frequently took possession of people, and tortured them in so surprizing a manner, as if they were agitated by furies.

For in the whole catalogue of diseases, which afflict mankind, there is no other, that seems so much to surpa.s.s the force of nature, as this, in wretchedly tormenting the patient by fierce distractions of the mind, and excessively strong, tho' involuntary, motions of the body. But most certainly we find nothing sacred in all this, nothing but what may arise from a natural indisposition of body. And in order to place this my opinion in the stronger light, it may not be improper to give a short discourse on madness; not indeed on that species, which comes on in an acute fever, and goes off with it, which is called a phrenzy, and is always of short duration; but that other sort, which is rivetted in the body, and const.i.tutes a chronical disease.

Wherefore all madness is a disease of an injured imagination, which derives its origin from the mind, having been too long a time fixed on any one object. Hence proceed uneasiness and anxieties of mind concerning the event. And by how much the things, whose images incessantly occur to the imagination, are of greater moment in life, the more violently they disturb the person; examples of which we see particularly in love and religion, wherein hope, fear, despair, and other contrary pa.s.sions, succeeding each other by turns, drag the person different ways. That this is the case, will not be doubted by any one, who recollects, that a madman often has a good memory; manages his affairs, except when some vain ideas come across his mind, with tolerable prudence, nay sometimes with more than ordinary cunning; and that he ofttimes recovers the intire and permanent use of his reason, by a course of proper medicines. Therefore in this disorder the person is first over-whelmed by terrifying ideas, which are followed by wrath and fury, as attendants on anxiety: whence he threatens and attempts to do acts of the utmost cruelty to those who approach him, and thro' excess of anguish, frequently lays violent hands even on himself: then he grows again melancholic; and thus rage and dejection of spirits affect him alternately: moreover it is no uncommon thing to see a person under these circ.u.mstances, especially when the disease has taken deep root by length of time, seeking unfrequented and solitary places, in order to avoid the conversation of his fellow creatures,

_Ipse suum cor edens, hominum vestigia vitans._[107]

Gnawing his heart, shunning the steps of men.

[107] _Cicero, Tuscul. Disp. Lib. iii. 26. who has turn'd into Latin this verse of Homer:_ "?? ???? ?at?d??, p?t??

?????p?? ??ee????." _Il. Z. v. 202._

Now, people afflicted with this disorder, often live a long time. For all mad folks in general bear hunger, cold, and any other inclemency of the weather; in short, all bodily inconveniencies, with surprizing ease; as they enjoy a strength of const.i.tution superior to what might be easily imagined. Likewise it frequently happens, that an epilepsy comes on madness of a long standing. For these diseases are nearly related; and in this case, we know by experience, that there remain not the least hopes of recovery. Lastly it is to be observed, that the patient is either frantic or melancholic, according as his habit of body is disposed to receive this or that injury.

But that the casting out of devils, is nothing more than the removal of madness, many do not believe, upon this account, that those things which happen to persons thus affected, seem to them impossible to be done by the force of nature. But certainly these gentlemen are too much strangers to physic, and have not sufficiently attended to phnomena no less surprizing, which daily occur in other diseases. Do we not often see that violent affections of the mind are the cause of death? A sudden fright has destroyed many, and even excessive joy has been fatal. A dangerous distemper sometimes pa.s.ses from one part of the body to another, in the twinkling of an eye. The venom thrown into the ma.s.s of blood by the bite of a mad dog, generally lies still a good while; and at the end of some weeks, sometimes months, exerting its strength, it produces symptoms not inferior to those, which are said to be produced by devils. What is more surprizing than some things which fall out in pregnancies? If a pregnant woman happens to have an eager desire for any thing, and is disappointed, she sometimes marks the ftus with the figure or likeness of the object longed for, on this or that part of the body. And, what is still more, and approaches to a prodigy, upon the mother being terrified by a sudden injury done to any one part, that very part in the child suffers the same evil, and decays for want of nourishment. I know that the truth of stories of this kind, is called in doubt by some physicians; because they cannot conceive, how such things can happen. But many examples, of which I have been an eye-witness, have freed my mind of all scruples on this head. Now, the power of the imaginative faculty is so stupendous, that the mind is not less affected by false, than by true images, when daily subjected to them. This we find by experience in those women, who are called witches, who, being under the influence of such an error of the mind, frequently imagine that they not only converse with devils, but also have enter'd into compacts with them; and persist in these notions with such obstinacy, that, when they are brought to a trial, they confess themselves guilty of wickednesses, which they never perpetrated, though they know that they must suffer death for their confession. Moreover, every body knows how wonderfully the mind is disturbed in melancholies. One of them thinks his head is made of gla.s.s, and is afraid of stirring abroad, for fear of having it broken: another believes himself to be actually dead, and refuses food, because the dead ought not to eat. There are a thousand stories of this kind. I remember, a man of letters, with whom I was well acquainted, who positively a.s.serted that he was big with child, and was vastly anxious for a happy delivery. I saw two others, who, when alone, fancied they heard the words of people whispering them in the ear. Nor is their case different, in my opinion, who persuade themselves that they see ghosts and hobgoblins. For deliriums are a kind of dreams of people awake; and the mind in both cases affects the body differently, according to the nature of its objects.

From what we have said, it manifestly appears, how many different ways the lessons of imagination, when they are confirm'd by long habit, are capable of affecting a man, and entirely ruining his whole frame. But every body knows, that the human mind is disturbed by nothing more than by fear; the cause of which is self-love ingrafted in all men.

Whereas then, as Cicero very justly observes, _there is no nation so savage, no man so rude, as not to have some notion of the G.o.ds_;[108]

it is no wonder, that men conscious of wicked deeds, should be struck with the fear of G.o.d, whose empire over all created things they acknowledged. For, as they attributed every good thing, every benefit of this life, to the G.o.ds; so they were of opinion, that evils and calamities were sent down by them in punishment of crimes. Now, idolatry, as I said above,[109] had its origin among the Chaldeans; and at first it consisted in the worship of the sun and moon, but afterwards it was extended to the adoration of daemons.[110] But these were believed to be divine ministers; and that they were originally the souls of heroes and great men, who were worshipped for services done to mankind in general, or to their native country in particular.

And this daemoniac religion being propagated from the Chaldaeans to the Phnicians, then to the Egyptians, came afterwards to the Greeks, thence to the Romans, and in progress of time to the other nations.

[108] _Tusc. quaest. Lib. i. 13._

[109] _Cap. i. p. 5._

[110] _See Sir Isaac Newton's Chronology, p. 160._

But the jews, accustomed to ascribe every uncommon or wonderful work of nature to the agency of angels, as ministers of the supreme deity, could easily work up their minds to believe, that some dreadful diseases, which injured the mind and body together, the causes whereof they could not investigate, arose from the operation of evil angels.

For we learn from Philo Judaeus,[111] with whom Josephus also agrees in opinion, _that they believed there were bad as well as good angels; that the good executed the commands of G.o.d on men, that they were irreprehensible and beneficent; but the bad execrable, and every way mischievous_.[112] But a more ill.u.s.trious example of this matter cannot be given, than in the narrative of Saul's disease,[113] of which I have already treated.[114] Nor were madness and the epilepsy the only diseases, which they imputed to devils. When Jesus had restored speech to the _furious dumb man_, he is said to have done it by _casting out a devil_.[115] And when he had cured another furious person, who was _blind and dumb_, the pharisees reproached him _with casting out devils by beelzebub the prince of the devils_.[116] In fine, Christ himself uses this common way of expression, on occasion of the _woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, whom he freed from that infirmity_; by saying, that _satan had held her bound these eighteen years_.[117]

[111] _Lib. de gigantibus._

[112] _De bello judaico, Lib. vii. Cap. 6._

[113] _See Samuel (or Kings) Book i. Chap. xvi._

[114] _Chap. iii. page 28, &c._

[115] _Matthew, Chap. ix. Verse 32._

[116] _Ib. Chap. xii. Verse 22._

[117] _Luke, Ch. xiii. v. 16._

And this custom of taking madmen for demoniacs, was not so peculiar to the jews, but that it prevailed in other nations also. Hence in Herodotus king Cleomenes is said to be driven into madness, not by any daemon, but by a habit of drunkenness, which he had contracted among the Scythians, whereby he became frantic.[118] And whereas da?????

signifies the same thing as da?????? ??e??, Xenophon uses this word for _furere_, to be raging mad or furious.[119] Moreover Aristophanes, intending to express a high degree of the same disease, employs the word ?a??da?????, and calls the highest degree of madness, not a??a?, but ?a??da????a?[120]. Hence also, as Aretaeus observes, this disease was called _morbus sacer_, or the sacred disease, _because it was imagined that some daemon had entered into the man_.[121] Wherefore the physicians found it absolutely necessary to oppose this false notion with all their might. Because the people were generally persuaded, that diseases, which they believed to be caused by evil spirits, were to be expelled, not by medical skill, but by religious rites and ceremonies. Upon this account the prince of physicians Hippocrates, or at least some one of his scholars, wrote a very useful piece,[122] wherein he a.s.serts that no diseases are inflicted on man, immediately, by any divine power; and that those persons ought to be accounted magicians and jugglers, who cover their ignorance with a veil of sanct.i.ty, by infusing such notions into the minds of the people.

[118] _Lib. vi. Cap. 84._

[119] _Memorabil. Lib. i._

[120] _Vid. Plutum, Act. ii. Scen. 3. v. 38. & Act. ii. Scen.

5. v. 15._

[121] ??? t?? d???? da????? ?? t?? a????p?? ??s?d?. _De causis morbo diuturn. Lib. i. Cap. 4._

[122] _De morbo sacro._

But with regard to this power of the devils over human bodies, believed equally by the jews and other nations, I have already said, that the divinity ought not to be made a party concerned in imposing diseases, which may possibly have natural causes; unless it be expresly declared, that they were inflicted immediately by the hand of G.o.d.[123] For of all the diseases, with which miserable mortals are tormented, there are none so wonderful and dreadful to appearance, but may be the natural consequences of bodily indispositions. Wherefore G.o.d himself, if he thinks proper, can employ either natural causes, or the ministry of good angels, to inflict all sorts of diseases on mankind. And I hope n.o.body will believe, that the devils have had the power granted them of torturing men at their wanton pleasure. But to say more on this subject seems the less necessary; because two very learned divines of our nation have already treated it in a full and ample manner.[124]

[123] _Chap. iii. page 30._

[124] _See the works of Jos. Mede 1677 fol. discourse vi. and enquiry into the meaning of demoniacs, &c._

Therefore in order to put an end to these demoniacal diseases, I will now briefly shew, how they are to be treated. And first of all, particular care should be taken, to keep the patient's mind employed in thoughts directly contrary to those, which possessed it before: for one set of ideas gives place to another, and by effecting this change, the mind is brought out of the state in which it was: a circ.u.mstance, to which the generality of physicians do not give sufficient attention. When this can be brought about, the disease is sometimes speedily cured. But when either the long standing of the distemper, or some other cause, renders this total change impracticable; at least the strength of the present set of ideas ought to be diminished and destroyed by all possible means. The vain fears of some are to be diverted, and their dismal thoughts dispelled. The daring ferocity of others is to be curb'd; for which end it is often necessary, to use hard words and threats. Likewise sudden frights, which may give the mind a different commotion, from that which before disturbed it, have been found to afford a temporary relief at least.

The ancients prescribed some corrections, such as bindings and stripes.[125] And indeed it is sometimes necessary to bind those, who are too unruly; to prevent their doing mischief to themselves or others. But there is the less necessity for torments and stripes, because all mad men are of such a cowardly disposition; that even the most frantic and mischievous, after being once or twice tied, surrender at discretion, and thence forward refrain from committing any outrage, thro' fear of the punishment.

[125] _Vid. Celsus, Lib. iii. Cap. xviii._

As to the medical part, the gross humors of the body are to be thinned, and the disorderly motion of the animal spirits is to be calmed. For which end blood-lettings, emetics, cathartics, blisters, and setons, also sometimes coolings of the head are to be employed. To these the ftid gums are to be added, especially _a.s.sa ftida_, _myrrh_, and _galbanum_. And _camphire_ has been frequently found serviceable in excessive ferocity and want of sleep. But when the disease is accompanied by a fever, nothing is more proper than nitre, given in as large quant.i.ties as the stomach will bear. Lastly, the patient is to be kept to a slender diet, and compelled to use exercise. But in all evacuations, a certain degree of moderation ought to be used, lest the madness be changed into a contrary disease, which the ancients termed _morbus cardaicus_,[126] that is, an excessive weakness of body. In which case, the patient is so far exhausted, that medicines are of no avail; but the miserable dejected man drags the remains of life, ala.s.s! generally too long.

[126] _Idem, Lib. iii. Cap. xix._

CHAPTER X.

_Of Lunatics._

As some ancient physicians attributed the falling sickness to some divine power, so they ascribed madness to the influence of the moon.

Yet the lunatic, se????a??e???, whose disease is described in the gospels, was affected with the falling sickness.[127] Wherefore this patient (for there is but one of this kind expresly recorded there) was either mad and epileptic at the same time, which is not uncommon; or he laboured under a periodical epilepsy, returning with the changes of the moon, which is a very common case. For the account given of him is very short, that _he ofttimes fell into the fire and oft into the water_. Now in this distemper a person falls down suddenly, and lies for some time as dead; or by a general convulsion of his nerves, his body is agitated, with distorted eyes, and he foams at the mouth. But at length he recovers out of the fit, and has no more knowledge or remembrance of it, than if nothing had happened to him. Yet _Jesus_ is said to have _rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him, and the child was cured_. That this child's case was epileptic, appears more manifestly from the account given of it by the evangelist, who was also a physician: for he says, _that as soon as the spirit has seized the patient, he cries out, foams at the mouth, and is torn and worried by him_.[128]

[127] _Matthew, Chap. xvii. v. 15 and 18._

[128] _Luke, Chap. ix. v. 39, &c._

Now, as to these se????a??????, who are subjoined to the demoniacs, as if their diseases were different, and whom Jesus is said to have cured;[129] they were either mad, or mad and epileptic together, which is not an uncommon case, as we have just now said. And as to devils, we have treated of them sufficiently. But with relation to the moon, there is not the least reason to doubt, but that the regular returns of the paroxysms at certain times of the month, gave occasion to men to believe, that this disease was lunar. For that planet has such a real influence on this disease, that it frequently happens to some patients, never to be seized with the fit but about the new and full moon; which seems to join its energy to those causes, that are adapted to produce this evil. But the manner of accounting for this I have delivered in another place; where I have plainly shewn that our atmosphere has its tides as well as the sea.[130]

[129] _Matthew, Chap. iv. v. 24._

[130] _De morbo sacro._