Few things tend more to strengthen the nervous system than cold bathing. This practice, if duly persisted in, will produce very extraordinary effects; but when the liver or other _viscera_ are obstructed, or otherwise unsound, the cold bath is improper. It is therefore to be used with very great caution. The most proper seasons for it are summer and autumn. It will be sufficient, especially for persons of a spare habit, to go into the cold bath three or four times a-week. If the patient be weakened by it, or feels chilly for a long time after coming out, it is improper. In patients afflicted with wind, I have always observed the greatest benefit from the elixir of vitriol. It may be taken in the quantity of fifteen, twenty, or thirty drops, twice or thrice a-day in a glass of water. This both expels wind, strengthens the stomach, and promotes digestion. Opiates are generally extolled in these maladies; but as they only palliate the symptoms, and generally afterwards increase the disease, we would advise people to be extremely sparing in the use of them, lest habit render them at last absolutely necessary. It would be an easy matter to enumerate many medicines which have been extolled for relieving nervous disorders; but whoever wishes for a thorough cure must expect it from regimen alone; we shall therefore omit mentioning more medicines, and again recommend the strictest attention to DIET, AIR, EXERCISE, and AMUSEMENTS. OF MELANCHOLY. Melancholy is that state of alienation or weakness of mind which renders people incapable of enjoying the pleasures, or performing the duties of life. It is a degree of insanity, and often terminates in absolute madness. CAUSES.——It may proceed from an hereditary disposition; intense thinking, especially where the mind is long occupied about one object; violent passions or affections of the mind, as love, fear, joy, grief, over-weening pride, and such like. It may also be occasioned by excessive venery; narcotic or stupefactive poisons; a sedentary life; solitude; the suppression of customary evacuations; acute fevers, or other diseases. Violent anger will change melancholy into madness; and excessive cold, especially of the lower extremities, will force the blood into the brain, and produce all the symptoms of madness. It may likewise proceed from the use of aliment that is hard of digestion, or which cannot be easily assimilated; from a callous state of the integuments of the brain, or a dryness of the brain itself. To all which we may add gloomy or mistaken notions of religion.