An Essay on Diseases Incidental to Literary and
Tissot's essay is an inaugural lecture on the diseases of scholars, delivered on taking a new chair. He opens by saying the post differs from his former way of life. He reviews how medicine connects to theology, morals, jurisprudence, natural philosophy, history and languages. He then chooses to speak as a physician on the health of studious men, and cites Celsus and Plutarch on the need for scholars to guard their health. He names two chief sources of their suffering: constant exertion of the mind and continual rest of the body. Intense thought strains the brain and nerves, and he supports this with Plato, Ramazzini and many cases. Malebranche had palpitations while reading Descartes. Other scholars suffered vertigo, fainting, colic, epilepsy, catalepsy or hair loss. He explains that incessant nervous action drains the nervous fluid and brings weakness and excessive nervous sensitivity. Fixed ideas lead to delusion and madness, as with Blaise Paschal, Barlæus, Jurieu and a woman devoted to her "sweet Lamb". Study also drives blood into the head, causing sleeplessness, apoplexy and sudden death in preachers and professors. Over time the brain hardens, and dotage follows. Inaction brings its own ills. Circulation slows, humours stagnate and digestion fails, and obstructions, hypochondria, gallstones, lung disease, the stone, piles and poor perspiration follow. Swammerdam, Triglandus and Justus Lipsius are among his examples. He adds the harm of sitting, night study, candle fumes, uncleanliness, neglect of natural needs, solitude, sadness and anxiety. Public officials escape some of this because their duties force them to move about. Anatomists, chemists, botanists, orators, preachers and lawyers have particular dangers. Constitution, age and strength alter the pattern. Children forced into early learning decline young, and late beginners and the aged risk their brains. Turning to remedies, he says the only sure preservative is to rest the mind and work the body. Great thinkers such as Descartes, Newton and Montesquieu are exceptions. He recommends daily walking, riding, sailing, ball games and friction. His diet follows Hippocrates, with food proportioned to labour. The weak digestion of scholars needs light, simple food, careful chewing, three meals and a light supper. Ripe fruit, milk and chocolate in moderation help. Cold water is the best drink. He condemns warm beverages, tea above all, and treats coffee, wine and tobacco as remedies or vices, not daily habits. He also advises pure, dry air, warm feet, a cool head, early sleep, and cold bathing. For the sick he prescribes giving up study, then gentle purges, Peruvian bark, chalybeate waters and travel. Convalescent scholars should not return to books too soon. He ends with his "grand arcanum": cheerfulness, virtue and a good conscience are the source of health. He thanks the president, the prince who recalled him and founded his chair, his colleagues and the students. He urges the youth to follow the middle path between excessive study and neglect of learning.
By S.A.D. Tissot · First published 1768 · Genre: Medical treatise, Medical essay, Health and regimen literature · 27,474 words
First lines
When I consider with myself how many and how great men have formerly ascended this chair, with how general an applause they apply'd to the education of youth, and how every branch of erudition has been cultivated to such advantage by the present set of teachers, into whose learned order I am this day admitted by the great favour and indulgence of our senate; whilst I at the same time reflect how much this new situation differs from my former manner of living, in which as I had willingly pass'd a considerable part of my life, I had determin'd to continue to my old age; when I reflect upon all these circumstances, a tremor seizes my limbs, and my voice falters. But because from the very foundation of this respectable academy, custom, which governs all things, and your expectation requires it of me, embolden'd by your kindness, I will make trial of my abilities.
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Genres
- Medical treatise — Written by a physician to diagnose and treat disorders of the nerves, stomach, brain and lungs in scholars, covering causes, symptoms and remedies throughout.
- Medical essay — A sustained, discursive argument about one medical topic (the health of studious men), organized as an extended essay rather than a case book.
- Health and regimen literature — Prescribes exercise, diet, sleep, cleanliness and daily habits as preventive and curative regimens, in the tradition of the regimen sanitatis.
- Psychosomatic medicine — Its central thesis is the reciprocal influence of mind and body, tracing how mental exertion produces nervous, digestive and circulatory disease.
Tags
health of scholars · diseases of the learned · sedentary life · mental exertion · nervous disorders · hypochondria · inaugural lecture · eighteenth century medicine · Enlightenment · medicine and religion · mind and body · madness
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An Essay on Diseases Incidental to Literary and Sedentary Persons is listed on Textopian as a speech by S.A.D. Tissot, dated 1768 CE.
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- Work type: Speech
- Author: S.A.D. Tissot
- Date: 1768 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Medical treatise, Medical essay, Health and regimen literature, Psychosomatic medicine, Academic oration
- Length: 27,474 words
- Structure: 1 section, 222 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Difficult (College Level)
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