There is no way of curing this state of nervous torpor, but by leaving off the stimuli which caused the exhaustion; and if the patient have resolution to do this for a few weeks, though, at first, he will, no doubt, find his spirits a little depressed, he will ultimately overcome the habit, and will be rewarded by alacrity of spirits, such as he never experiences under the most powerful action of artificial stimulants.
I must not, however, forget to notice, that there is a nervous state, or ennui, originating from a wrong direction of mental exertion, which exhausts the excitability to a great degree, and brings on a state of depression scarcely to be born.
When a person has by habit made his mind constantly dependent on dissipation, on gaming, and on frivolous, but not inactive pursuits, in order to produce pleasurable sensations, and at the same time neglected that culture of the understanding which will enable him to retire into himself with pleasure, and receive more enjoyment from the exercise of this cultivated understanding than he does in the most noisy, or fashionable circle of dissipation: I say, when there is this vacancy of mind, whenever it is not engaged in such pursuits as I have mentioned, a languor and weariness is experienced, which is intolerable, and which prompts the person so circumstanced, to fly continually to the only scenes which interest his mind. Hence, the passion for gaming, in which the anxiety attending it causes an interest in the mind, which takes off the dreadful languor experienced, when it is not thus employed.
It is owing to wealth, admitting of indolence, and yielding to the pursuit of transitory and unsatisfying amusements, or to that of exhausting pleasures only, that the present times exhibit to us so many instances of persons suffering under this state: it is a state totally unknown to the poor, who labour for their daily bread, and to those whose minds are actively employed in study or business. It can only be cured by cultivating the understanding, and applying to some art or science, which will engage and interest the attention. I have received the thanks of many for recommending the study of philosophy, and particularly of chemistry, to their attention. This affords a rational and interesting pursuit, which, if entered into with ardour, and if the person actually works, or makes experiments himself, he will soon experience an enjoyment and an interest, such as he never experienced at the gaming table, or at any other place of fashionable amusement. Nay, I will venture to say, that all elegant amusements will be enjoyed with much greater relish by one who employs himself in some rational pursuit, and only resorts to such amusements as a relaxation, than by one who makes these amusements a business.
From the view we have taken of these complaints, it is evident, that they are like other general diseases of the sthenic, or asthenic kind; they seem to constitute a state of the body between predisposition and disease; and they differ from most diseases in this, that in most complaints the increase, or diminution of the excitement is unequal in different parts of the body, and this gives rise to the different forms of disease; but in nervous complaints the excitement seems much more equably affected in different parts. These complaints, as we have seen, may be divided into three classes; sthenic; those of accumulated excitability; and those of exhausted excitability: but though they are evidently distinguishable in this manner, and require different modes of cure, I have never seen any account of more than one kind in any medical writer: the same remedies were prescribed for all, however different they might be.
Though medicines may relieve complaints of this kind, and particularly those of the second class, yet from what has been said, it must be evident, that much more may be done by regulating the action of the common exciting powers. Indeed, this is the case in most chronic diseases. Exercise and temperance will do infinitely more than medicine. By their means, most diseases may be overcome; but without them we may administer drugs as long as we please.
Voltaire sets this advice, which I have frequently inculcated, in so strong a light, that it may perhaps carry more conviction than any thing I can say. Ogul was a voluptuary, ambitious of nothing but good living: he thought that God had sent him into the world for no other purpose than to eat and drink: his physician, who had but little credit with him, when he had a good digestion, governed him with despotic sway, when he had eaten too much.
On feeling himself much and seriously indisposed by indolence and intemperance, he requested to know what he was to do, and the doctor ordered him to eat a basilisk, stewed in rose water, which he asserted would effect a complete cure. His slaves searched in vain for a basilisk; at last they met with Zadig, who was introduced to this mighty lord, and spoke to him in the following terms.
"May immortal health descend from Heaven to bless all thy days! I am a physician: at the report of thy indisposition, I flew to thy castle, and have now brought thee a basilisk, stewed in rose water. But, my lord, the basilisk is not to be eaten; all its virtue must enter through thy pores. I have enclosed it in a little ball, blown up and covered with a fine skin. Thou must strike this ball, with all thy might, and I must strike it back for a considerable time: and by observing this regimen for a few days, thou wilt see the effects of my art." The first day Ogul was out of breath, and thought he should have died with fatigue; the second he was less fatigued, and slept better. In eight days he recovered all the strength, all the health, all the agility and cheerfulness of his most agreeable years. Zadig then said unto him, "there is no such thing in nature as a basilisk; but thou hast taken exercise, and been temperate, and hast recovered thy health." In the same manner I say, that temperance and exercise are the two great preservers of health, and restorers of it when it is lost; and that the art of reconciling intemperance and health is as chimerical, as washing the Ethiopian white.
It will easily be perceived that the system of animal life which I have investigated, may be applied to all other general diseases, as well as the gout and those called nervous: I have merely given a view of these by way of specimen of its application.