A practical manual of mental medicine.

  • Régis, E. (Emmanuel), 1855-1918.
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A practical manual of mental medicine. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

    25/722 (page 3)
    referred to celestial intervention, and insanity itself was considered by them as the possession of the in- dividual by a benevolent or avenging divinity. It was thus with the Jews, as is evidenced by the episodes of the maniacal behavior of king Saul and the attack of lycanthropy of Nebuchadnezzar. We find analogous beliefs and practices among the Egyptians.* There is in the Bibliotheque of Paris, an Egyptian stele dating from the third century B.C., the inscription on which gives the account of an Asiatic princess possessed by a spirit, who was cured by the intercession of the god Khons. We know also that there existed in Egypt temples dedicated to Saturn where they purified the insane with the purpose of restoring them. In ancient Greece the condition was the same, and the names daiiwv&XrjnTOi, deoXrjnTot,, EVEpyovjievoL, demoniacs, possessed of the gods, energurnenes, which were given to those deprived of reason, show plainly enough to what origin was attributed their insanity. Everyone is acquainted with the history of the * The restricted size of this book forbids us from citing on each page all the authors, French and foreign, to whom we are indebted for ideas or expressions, and we can only refer, for the bibliography of each chapter, to special treat- ises and articles in the Dictionnaires. We cannot refrain, however, from saying how much we have been aided in the preparation of this history, by the publication of the works of Trelat, Lasegue and Morel, Marce, Ball, and especially the excellent work of Semelaigne,