It is evident, that in these cases, a state of direct debility prevails, attended with a morbidly accumulated excitability; hence, those remedies afford relief, which produce a quick exhaustion of this principle, and thus blunt the feelings, and lull the mind into some degree of forgetfulness of its woes. Hence opium, tobacco, and the fetid gums are often resorted to; and in the hands of a judicious practitioner, they will afford great relief, provided he carefully watch the patient, and prevent their abuse; for, if left to the discretion of the patient, he finds that kind of relief which he has long wished for; his moderation knows no bounds, and he is apt to take them in such a manner, as to add indirect debility, to direct, and thus bring on a state of exhausted excitability, while there is still a diminished state of mental stimulants. This will cause his spirits to be more depressed than ever; he will therefore increase the dose, whether it be of opium, tobacco, or spirituous liquors, and thus he will be hurried on, adding fuel to the flame, till his exhausted excitability becomes irrecoverable, and he ends his days in a miserable state of imbecility, if not by suicide. Hence, though some of these narcotic stimulants, which exhaust the excitability, and blunt the feelings, may be employed with advantage, in order to prepare the mind for those changes, which the physician wishes to produce, they should be used with the greatest caution, and never left in any degree to the discretion of the patient. The cure, however, depends chiefly on regulating the state of the mind, or interrupting the attention of the patient; and diverting it, if possible, to other objects than his own feeling. Whatever aversion to application of any kind we may meet with in patients of this class, we may be assured that nothing is more pernicious to them than absolute idleness, or a vacancy from all earnest pursuit. The occupations of business suitable to their circumstances, and situations in life, if neither attended with emotion, anxiety, nor fatigue, are always to be advised to such patients; but occupations which are objects of anxiety, and more particularly such as are exposed to accidental interruptions, disappointments, and failures, are very improper for patients of this class.