On the reciprocal agencies of mind and matter, and on insanity : being the Lumleian lectures, delivered at the Royal College of Physicians, A.D. 1851 / by J.C. Badeley.

  • Badeley, John Carr, 1794-1851.
Date:
1851
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the reciprocal agencies of mind and matter, and on insanity : being the Lumleian lectures, delivered at the Royal College of Physicians, A.D. 1851 / by J.C. Badeley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    ON THE RECIPROCAL AGENCIES OF ; MIND AND MATTER. LECTURE I. Preliminary observations—Exposition of . the theories of philosophers—Explana- tion of the agency of the mind—Close analogy of the nervous and electric fluids—Effects of atmospheric electricity on the human system—Distress of mind the cause of cancer—Opinions of Sir Astley Cooper and Sir B. Brodie—Ner- vous affections—Illustration of their action — Hysteria — Gout — Theory of gout — Temperament —Influence of the sanguine temperament—Anecdotes illus- trative of the fatal power of the mind— Hope — its action—Hypochondriasis — Theory of dyspepsia, and its operations on the temper and disposition—Instances of uncontrolled anger—JohnHunter— Sleep —theory of—operation of—Dreaming— Nightmare—Delirium — Somnambulism —Suicide—Epilepsy—Apoplexy—Para- lysis—Instances of the power of the mind —Fear — Grief— Joy— Chloroform- Narcotics— Opium—their agency—Alco- hol—Fainting. He. PRESIDEIfT AND aENTLEMEN, —In otering on tho office of Lumleian lecturer, which I have the honour of holding, and in offering the product of my humble ex- perience to so learned a body, some little allowance will, I trust, be made for the many imperfections which I am but too well aware are inseparable from my posi- tion. The science of medicine has, within the last few years, advanced with strides so rapid, and improvements so unquestionable —wlulst treatises so Ivuninous and volumi- nous, in every depaa-tment of science, have been launched so Hberally from the press— that the selection of a subject for a lecture is as difficult as the prospect of throwing new light upon it is comparatively hope- less. An expansive veil of obscurity, nevertheless, still shrouds the arcana of nature and of disease ; and many are the objects which neither the mental acumen of man, nor the telescope of time, will pro- bably be ever able to explain. We witness disease in myriad forms and varieties, and are hourly invoked to obviate its ravages; and we succeed : we employ the remedies which science has supplied, and experience has attuned to their comphcated opera- tions : we snatch, in nimiberless in- B