Essays on hypochondriacal and other nervous affections / [John Reid].

  • Reid, John, 1776-1822.
Date:
1816
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Essays on hypochondriacal and other nervous affections / [John Reid]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    culiar species of dotage,this fondness, as it were, for the mere function of respiration, can be explained only by that incurable obstinacy of hope which yields to no ex- perience. We persist in looking for the sweetest part of the draught at the bottom of the cup. That felicity which the “ first sprightly runnings” of life could not give, we fondly expect may be ex- tracted from the feculence of age. Such an infatuation with regard to the future, may be considered, as in some respects, a desirable ingredient in the composition of our frame. ‘It is a delusion which mercifully supplies what would otherwise bea dreadful want in the realities of life. On'the other hand, an almost unceasing and fearful lookmg forward to the end of our journey, prevents our seeing many of the flowers by which the path is strewed, and induces a distaste for nearly every cordial which might otherwise have inno-