Hypochondriasis: A Practical Treatise (1766)

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Hypochondriasis, by John Hill

When I first dabbled in this art, the old distemper call'd Melancholy was exchang'd for Vapours , and afterwards for the Hypp , and at last took up the now current appellation of the Spleen , which it still retains, tho' a learned doctor of the west, in a little tract he hath written, divides the Spleen and Vapours , not only into the Hypp , the Hyppos , and the Hyppocons; but subdivides these divisions into the Markambles , the Moonpalls , the Strong-Fiacs , and the Hockogrokles .
Nicholas Robinson, A New System of the Spleen, Vapours, and Hypochondriack Melancholy (London, 1729)
But the majority of medical thinkers had been persuaded that the condition was psychosomatic, and this belief was supported by research on nerves by important physicians in the 1740's and 1750's: the Monro brothers in London, Robert Whytt in Edinburgh, Albrecht von Haller in Leipzig. By mid century the condition known as the hyp was believed to be a real, not an imaginary ailment, common, peculiar in its manifestations, and indefinable, almost impossible to cure, producing very real symptoms of physical illness, and said to originate sometimes in depression and idleness. It was summed up by Robert James in his Medicinal Dictionary (London, 1743-45):
If we thoroughly consider its Nature, it will be found to be a spasmodico-flatulent Disorder of the Primae Viae , that is, of the Stomach and Intestines, arising from an Inversion or Perversion of their peristaltic Motion, and, by the mutual consent of the Parts, throwing the whole nervous System into irregular Motions, and disturbing the whole Oeconomy of the Functions.... no part or Function of the Body escapes the Influence of this tedious and long protracted Disease, whose Symptoms are so violent and numerous, that it is no easy Task either to enumerate or account for them.... No disease is more troublesome, either to the Patient or Physician, than hypochondriac Disorders; and it often happens, that, thro' the Fault of both, the Cure is either unnecessarily protracted, or totally frustrated; for the Patients are so delighted, not only with a Variety of Medicines, but also of Physicians.... On the contrary, few physicians are sufficiently acquainted with the true Genius and Nature of this perplexing Disorder; for which Reason they boldly prescribe almost everything contained in the Shops, not without an irreparable Injury to the Patient (article on Hypochondriacus Morbis ).