An essay, or tract, on the vitality of the warm blood and air / by James Morison ; edited and republished by Elisha North.

  • Morison, James, 1770-1840.
Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay, or tract, on the vitality of the warm blood and air / by James Morison ; edited and republished by Elisha North. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    ment too) reason so absurdly on the mind and body as to suppose them distinct substances? Will nothing teach them to abjure their old errors ? Do not they see from infancy up to old age, that our minds depend on the state of our bodies, and not our bodies on the state of our mind ; for in such case, it would be every one's mind, inclina- tion or wish to be well, and in good health, but this we know has little or no effect on the body. But, on the other hand, we know well that a pro- per treatment of the body has an all-powerful in- fluence on the mind, so much so as to convert the insane and irritated man, or the desponding de- jected man, into a reasonable one. Both these states, so opposite to one another, will be brought to a proper standard, by purifying the blood, &c. Have they not the living example of my Lord Li- verpool before them, of him who eighteen months ago governed the empire, and who has not now, perhaps, the strength of mind or consistency of a baby? What invisible demon or spirit came to destroy the mind of Lord Liverpool'] None. But I will tell you, reader, what in a physical way has been the cause of his calamity,—what has destroy- ed his mind and faculty of thinking, by injuring his brain. It was this:—Twelve or eighteen months before this great calamity bef'cl him, my Lord Liverpool was copiously bled for an inflam- matory complaint, instead of which he should have been briskly purged : This bleeding which he underwent did not remove the obstructions that were then forming in the vessels and glands of the neck and on the brain itself; and the blood and juices have ever since been moving improperly. This is the reason why my Lord Liverpool is an apoplectic palsied man, deprived of his faculties of thought : he has not the power ol his mind, because the brain, glands and blood-vessels lead- ing to the brain are not properly supplied with good vital blood. * * *