Those labouring under lycanthropia go out during the night imitating
wolves in all things, and lingering about sepulchres until morning.
You may recognize such persons by these marks: they are pale, their
vision feeble, their eyes dry, tongue very dry, and the flow of the
saliva stopped; but they are thirsty, and their legs have incurable
ulcerations from frequent falls. Such are the marks of the disease. You
must know that lycanthropia is a species of melancholy which you may
cure at the time of the attack, by opening a vein and abstracting blood
to fainting, and giving the patient a diet of wholesome food. Let him
use baths of sweet water, and then milk-whey for three days, and purging
with the hiera from colocynth twice or thrice. After the purgings, use
the theriac of vipers, and administer those things mentioned for the
cure of melancholy. When the disease is already formed, use soporific
embrocations, and rub the nostrils with opium when going to rest.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. See Aëtius (vi, 11); Oribasius (Synops. viii, 10); Actuarius
(Meth. Med. i, 16); Anonymus (de Lycanth. ap. Phys. et Med. Min.);
Psellus (Carm. de Re Med. ibid.); Avicenna (iii, i, 5, 22); Haly Abbas
(Theor. ix, 7, Pract. v, 24); Alsaharavius (Pract. i, 2, 28); Rhases
(Divis. 10, Cont. i.)
All the other authorities give much the same account of this species
of melancholy as Paulus. If we adopt Dr. Mead’s theory respecting the
dæmoniacs mentioned in Scripture, we may conclude that the man, whose
state is described in Luke (viii, 27), was affected with this disease.
Dr. Mead is farther of opinion that Nebuchadnezzar was seized with
lycanthropia. The reader will find much curious information on this head
in Burton’s ‘Anatomy of Melancholy,’ from which all Mead’s opinions are
borrowed.
The Arabian term is _cutubut_.
Avicenna recommends the application of the actual cautery to the
sinciput, when the other remedies fail. Haly Abbas describes the disease
by the name of _melancholia canina_. He says the patient delights to
wander among tombs, imitating the cries of dogs; that his colour is
pale; his eyes misty (tenebricosi), dry, and hollow; his mouth parched;
and that he has marks on his limbs of injuries which he has sustained
from falls. He recommends the same treatment as our author: indeed he
evidently merely translates this section of Paulus. Alsaharavius seems
also to allude to this disease by the name of _melancholia canina_.
Rhases’ account of it is quite similar to our author’s.
Schneider has given some interesting critical remarks upon this section
of Paulus at the end of his edition of Nicander’s ‘Theriacs.’