Use of hot Liquors, and a perfect Disuse of all Bodily Exercise; by Passions of the Mind, and other Irregularities, is brought into the very worst of Hysterick Symptomes, with a Flaccidity and Relaxation of the whole Nervous System; How ridiculous is it, for such a Person to expect to be perfectly restor’d to a firm Habit of Body by internal Alteratives, and Methods little different from those things which occasion’d the Distemper; which tho’ they may give wonderful Relief in the Paroxysm, yet can never restore the Tone of the Solids, which must be treated in a manner proper to themselves, by Frictions, Exercise of the Body, the Cold Bath, and the like; which are very likely to be able to succeed to a perfect Cure? For why ought we not to suppose, that as all Fluids have more or less a Tendency to purifie and exalt themselves by Fermentation, the Solids should otherwise have a Propensity proper to their Make, to recover themselves by a due Tension? And what can be more reasonable and natural, than to conclude, that if a Supine and Luxurious Course of Life has enervated the Body, an Active and Vigorous one should restore it? If it be objected, That gentle Emeticks have gone a great way towards procuring a perfect Recovery from some Hysterick Cases; I have premis’d already, that they act upon the Fibres, and put ’em upon frequent Contractions, much after the same manner as a total Exercise of the Body; and therefore in this last Case, where the first Passages are not in Fault, their way of acting illustrates what I assert, that the Solids must be made to strengthen themselves, and recover their Spring by frequent Endeavours. But for Alteratives, strictly taken, I think it may be justly a Question, Whether there is that Medicine in Nature, that can remove this Distemper, when it has been of long continuance, tho’ the World has been taught above an Age ago by _Paracelsus_ and his Followers, to expect what I fear is not within the Extent of Nature; and the Impudence of Empiricks is so great, as to promise every thing that is absurd and Romantick; which keeps People up with hopes, that they may be so happy as to meet with that mighty Secret, which even in the quantity of a few drops, shall as it were charm away the most troublesome and riveted Distemper, and so instead of being Cur’d, they are Kill’d by Expectation; when the Power of Recovering their Health was in their own hands, if they had resolutely set about the proper means; like the Country-Fellow in the Fable, who when his Cart stuck fast in the Mire, must needs be calling upon _Hercules_ to come and help him, when with setting his own Shoulders to the Wheels, he might easily have got clear.