First page of Chapter 8 of "An essay..."
Almost everyone has nightmares. A lucky few, perhaps, have very rare or mild bad dreams; others may have them in such vivid form as to invade the waking world and become a serious problem rather than an occasional disturbance. Still, having one serious nightmare is enough to make you want to avoid having another!
John Bond, the author of An essay on the Incubus, or Night-mare, suffered from nightmares so extensively according to his own statement that he began to study the phenomenon and put together his researches in this book, publishing it in England in 1753. Bond traces the history of the nightmare back to pre-Grecian times, beginning with an examination of the word itself and the progress of a nightmare:
The Night-mare generally seizes people sleeping on their backs, and often begins with frightful dreams, which are soon succeeded by a difficult respiration, a violent oppression on the breast, and a total privation of voluntary motion. In this agony they sigh, groan, utter indistinct sounds, and remain in the jaws of death, till, by the utmost efforts of nature, or some external assistance, they escape out of that dreadful torpid state. (2)
Bond’s evocation of nightmares is vivid and evocative. In developing his discussion, Bond refers to nightmares as a disease, arguing that the progress of a bad dream is similar to the progress of an illness. Equally, nightmares are susceptible to treatment and eventual cure just as some diseases are. His belief is that nightmares are caused by sleeping horizontally. He supports his argument with a lengthy discussion of the position of the heart in the body and its ability to pump blood which he thinks is retarded by lying flat. He includes several case studies of individuals suffering nightmares who have been cured by various means — including by getting married and having children.
An essay is larded with Greek and Latin phrases, with Bond even inserting long passages in Latin as he discusses and debunks other opinions on the cause and cure of bad dreams. As an example of mid-eighteenth century printing, it is a lovely volume to read with clear thick type and the period ‘f’ for ‘s’ usage. Bond’s work has long since been superseded, but his book is still a fascinating reference for those interested in the rise of scientific thought and the application of medical principles to a common, but perhaps not strictly medical, problem.
As always, for more from the Medical Heritage Library, please visit our full collection!
One might mention here the famous painting by Fuseli on the subject.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nightmare
A Pedant Writes:—
The Latin long s, generally used in print and manuscript until the early 19th century, is not crossed as an f is, although it sometimes has a nub on the left side in German black letter. This is easily seen in print, although not always so readily in rough handwriting. A familiar manuscript example is the US Bill of Rights.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights
For English-speakers, the main survivals of this form are in calculus, the phonetic alphetic, and the sign for shillings, as 2/6 for half a crown. It is also familiar from the German Eszett, ß, which began life as the two forms of s, joined with a ligature.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9F