Show afi aang MOODY MINDS mea M SLA A HOLIA holba attracting I 1 toay PH physicians YS Yc rs slid p 71 action action may be avoided aroldo C cac h C of scene good medical treatment proper food and careful watching cure worst wont cases case AVE you yon ever felt as if life were not worth living have you ever thought that hope had been crushed out and that existence 1 I f was merely a proc val I 1 longed 0 n g e d torment 9 did you ou ever give up all ambition gal all idea of attaining earthly happiness and set yourself grimly to bear the burden of weariness and despair despairs 9 and then in the very midst of black hopelessness has the thought ever flashed suddenly on your mind that you might put an end to it all by committing suicide 9 if so BO you have very probably been the victim of a disease which is at present attracting the attention of some of the most noted physicians in the world says the nl new ew york world the disease Is known technically as suicidal melancholia melancholia is a compound of two greek words meaning black bile it was supposed originally to have been caused by b an overabundance of black bile in the system the effect of which was to cause the patient to be in constant dread drea d of some approaching evil according to the degree of mental depression cases of suicidal melancholia lia have been artificially grouped as 1 simple melancholia 2 melancholia and 3 delusional melancholia but these divisions are purely arbitrary all cases begin as simple de depression dipressi on and delusions are gradually gradual evolved is as the dis disease earse progresses the delusions at first are slight blight and floating but bu gradually become more fixed and unchanging langing the delusions vary greatly in cb character ar the patient fancies sometimes th that at all hi his relatives nd ind neighbors are in league against him or that he has in some way incurred the enmity of the whole world in such cases his disease will probably probable end in some form of mental derangement unless he seeks a speedy cure SOT so rt ro rez he imagines that he is is being robbed of 1 s property or that his food is poisoned in other eases cases some unseen agency is suspected to be at work such for example as electricity very frequently frequent the delusions refer to the spiritual welfare the patient asserts that he has been very wicked and that he is lost for time and eternity these it will be observed come under the head of delusional melancholia but it ic must be remembered that the delusions are not the cause but the result of the malady in many cases the patients whole attention is concentrated on the state of his bodily bodil health these cases casas form the group of h al melancholia such persons frequently exhibit an intense craving for sympathy and are constantly pouring forth lengthy statements of their imaginary maladies they complain that their throats are blocked up or their jeom achs gone or so on in addition to other delusions hallucinations of special senses are frequent in melancholia these affect mostly the hearing and then the sight and taste the close relation of suicide to this diseased condition of the mind is well indicated by bv the records of cases at hospitals out of cases treat treated ed in garlands garland s asylum england the suicidal impulse was present in 65 per cent more than half of this percentage had made actual attempts at self destruction while the rest had contented themselves with making threats the proportion of suicidal cases was 11 per cent higher among the males than among the females the bodily symptoms of suicidal melancholia are characteristic there is a condition of lowered vitality and anaemia or scarcity of blood the complexion is muddy the appetite poor digestion impaired and the bowels torpid the muscles are flabby and there is a lack of vigor neuralgic pains and sleeplessness are also features it will be borne in mind that the statements in this article are not founded on the opinion of any one physician no matter how skilled he may be but are the result of a careful examination of records and a comparison of cases in this way it has been found that the most important factor in the causation of suicidal melancholia Is hereditary predisposition the tendency to the mental disease is inborn and only lies dormant till at some critical period of life it is called nto into active existence some bodily alli ailment or menial shock which would produce no mental disease in a person with a healthily constituted brain is sufficient in those with hereditary mental taint to induce an attack of depression of a severity out of all proportion to the strength of the existing cause these immediate or exciting causes are most frequently of a physical nature intemperance in drink affording a large percentage of patients in about one third of the cases the mental depression is found to have been preceded by some trouble of a moral or a mental character business anxieties constitute the most common moral cause in men and domestic affliction in women drunkenness is a fertile source of race degeneration victims of melancholia and suicide often have an alcoholic faz family zilly history though there may inay hare bim be been no previous lus insanity aulty in the curtly alcoholism has ha 1111 in troth Mth to answer for as it exerts it ita baneful effects not only on the drunkards themselves but equally it if not more on their descendants if every victim of suicidal melancholia should at once submit h himself to a proper treatment the chances would greatly favor a recovery As a rule recovery takes place gradually and along with the improvement in the mental state there is a corresponding improvement of the bodily hea health ith it Is a favorite sign when the patient begins to put on fat the duration of the attack in cases that recover varies greatly some last only three months and others continue for two years and over |