The Anatomy of Melancholy

by Robert Burton

A thousand Heraclitus', a thousand Democritus' are required.

Now (so much does madness prevail), all the world must be

Sent to Anticyra, to graze on Hellebore.

THE SYNOPSIS OF THE FIRST PARTITION.

• Their Causes. [Subs. 1.]
  • Impulsive;
    • Sin, concupiscence, &c.
  • Instrumental;
    • Intemperance, all second causes, &c.
• Or Definition, Member, Division. [Subs. 2.]
  • Of the body 300, which are
    • Epidemical, as Plague, Plica, &c.
    • Or Particular as Gout, Dropsy, &c.
  • Or Of the head or mind. [Subs. 3.]
    • In disposition; as all perturbations, evil affection, &c.
    • Or Habits, as [Subs. 4.]
      • Dotage
      • Frenzy.
      • Madness.
      • Ecstasy.
      • Lycanthropia.
      • Chorus sancti Viti.
      • Hydrophobia.
      • Possession or obsession of Devils.
      • Melancholy. [See ♈].

• Its Equivocations, in Disposition, Improper, &c. [Subsect. 5.]
• [Memb. 2.]
• To its explication, a digression of anatomy, in which observe parts of [Subs. 1.]
  • Body hath parts [Subs. 2.]
    • contained as
      • Humours, 4. Blood, Phlegm, &c.
      • Spirits; vital, natural, animal.
    • or containing
      • Similar; spermatical, or flesh, bones, nerves, &c. [Subs. 3.]
      • Dissimilar; brain, heart, liver, &c. [Subs. 4]
  • Soul and its faculties, as
    • Vegetal. [Subs. 5.]
    • Sensible. [Subs. 6, 7, 8.]
    • Rational. [Subsect. 9, 10, 11.]
• [Memb. 3.]
• Its definition, name, difference, [Subs. 1.]
• The part and parties affected, affection, &c. [Subs. 2.]
• The matter of melancholy, natural, &c. [Subs. 3.]
• Species, or kinds [[Subs. 4.]], which are
  • Proper to parts, as
    • Of the head alone, hypochondriacal, or windy melancholy. Of the whole body.
      • with their several causes, symptoms, prognostics, cures
  • Or Indefinite; as Love-melancholy, the subject of the third Partition.
• Its Causes in general. [Sect. 2.] A.
• Its Symptoms or signs. [Sect. 3.] B.
• Its Prognostics or indications. [Sect. 4.] C.
• Its Cures; the subject of the second Partition.

[A.] [Sect. 2.] Causes of Melancholy are either

• General, as [Memb. 1.]
  • Supernatural
    • As from God immediately, or by second causes. [Subs. 1.]
    • Or from the devil immediately, with a digression of the nature of spirits and devils. [Subs. 2.]
    • Or mediately, by magicians, witches. [Subs. 3.]
  • Or Natural
    • Primary, as stars, proved by aphorisms, signs from physiognomy, metoposcopy, chiromancy. [Subs. 4.]
    • Or Secondary, as
      • Congenite, inward from
      • Or Outward or adventitious, which are
• Particular to the three species. See ♊.

• Of head Melancholy are [Subs. 3.]
  • Inward
    • Innate humour, or from temperature adjust.
    • A hot brain, corrupted blood in the brain
    • Excess of venery, or defect
    • Agues, or some precedent disease
    • Fumes arising from the stomach, &c.
  • Or Outward
    • Heat of the sun, immoderate
    • A blow on the head
    • Overmuch use of hot wines, spices, garlic, onions, hot baths, overmuch waking, &c.
    • Idleness, solitariness, or overmuch study, vehement labour, &c.
    • Passions, perturbations, &c.
• Of hypochondriacal or windy melancholy are, [[Subs. 4.]]
  • Inward
    • Default of spleen, belly, bowels, stomach, mesentery, miseraic veins, liver, &c.
    • Months or hemorrhoids stopped, or any other ordinary evacuation
  • or Outward
    • Those six non-natural things abused.
• Over all the body are, [Subs. 5.]
  • Inward
    • Liver distempered, stopped, over-hot, apt to engender melancholy, temperature innate.
  • or Outward
    • Bad diet, suppression of hemorrhoids &c. and such evacuations, passions, cares, &c. those six non-natural things abused.

• Diet offending in [Subs. 1.]
  • Substance
    • Bread; course and black, &c.
    • Drink; thick, thin, sour, &c.
    • Water unclean, milk, oil, vinegar, wine, spices &c.
    • Flesh
      • Parts: heads, feet, entrails, fat, bacon, blood, &c.
      • Kinds:
    • Herbs, Fish, &c.
      • Of fish; all shellfish, hard and slimy fish, &c.
      • Of herbs; pulse, cabbage, melons, garlic, onions, &c.
      • All roots, raw fruits, hard and windy meats
  • Quality, as in
    • Preparing, dressing, sharp sauces, salt meats, indurate, soused, fried, broiled or made-dishes, &c.
  • Quantity
    • Disorder in eating, immoderate eating, or at unseasonable times, &c. [Subs. 2]
    • Custom; delight, appetite, altered, &c. [Subs. 3]
• Retention and evacuation, [Subs. 4.]
  • Costiveness, hot baths, sweating, issues stopped, Venus in excess, or in defect, phlebotomy, purging, &c.
• Air; hot, cold, tempestuous, dark, thick, foggy, moorish, &c. [Subs. 5.]
• Exercise, [Subs. 6.]
  • Unseasonable, excessive, or defective, of body or mind, solitariness, idleness, a life out of action, &c.
• Sleep and waking, unseasonable, inordinate, overmuch, overlittle, &c. [Subs. 7.]
• [Memb. 3. Sect. 2.]
• Passions and perturbations of the mind, [Subs. 1.] With a digression of the force of imagination. [Subs. 2.] and division of passions into [Subs. 3.]
  • Irascible,
    • Sorrow, cause and symptom, [Subs. 4.]
    • Fear, cause and symptom, [Subs. 5.]
    • Shame, repulse, disgrace, &c. [Subs. 6.]
    • Envy and malice, [Subs. 7.]
    • Emulation, hatred, faction, desire of revenge, [Subs. 8.]
    • Anger a cause, [Subs. 9.]
    • Discontents, cares, miseries, &c. [Subs. 10.]
  • or concupiscible.
    • Vehement desires, ambition, [Subs. 11.]
    • Covetousness, φιλαργυρίαν, [Subs. 12.]
    • Love of pleasures, gaming in excess, &c. [Subs. 13.]
    • Desire of praise, pride, vainglory, &c. [Subs. 14.]
    • Love of learning, study in excess, with a digression, of the misery of scholars, and why the Muses are melancholy, [Subs. 15.]