An e-spleen-ation of Dr. Jekyll's Madness by 18th century medicine.

          The full-titled novel, by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, introduced to the world an iconic symbol of the mad, Dr. Jekyll. Dr. Jekyll is a name known to many, and I am not here to beat a dead horse by talking about him within the book directly. Rather, I recently began taking a class on the History of Madness, and within that class we learned about 18th Century physicians and their outlook on Madness. Two in particular were Sir Richard Blackmore and Dr. William Battie.

            It was interesting reading the two's descriptions of what they believed caused and defined madness. Their works weren't seen as anything outlandish at the time, but with the medical knowledge that we have now, neither would be seen as very close to the mark. In particular would be the work of Sir Richard Blackmore, who stated that he believed it was the spleen that created a gas that when re-inhaled would cause the ingester to become mad. This however, would not be something observable, and so it would not be how Dr. Jekyll could be diagnosed. 

            As for Blackmore, he would diagnose Dr. Jekyll as having Hysterical Affectations, and Battie would diagnose Dr. Jekyll as having "too much sensation." How would I know what these two dead men would think? Well in their writings, both went into detail about the symptoms of madness, and the two I've attributed to Dr. Jekyll hold very similar to his actions within Stevenson's novel: convulsions and spasms, confusion, and especially violence (Remember, Dr. Jekyll killed a man). Even further, has Dr. Jekyll's madness was sudden and a result of his experimenting, we can use Battie's work to classify him further. Sudden Consequential Madness would be the specific description of Dr. Jekyll's pathology. As for treating him, however, the two split. Blackmore would give Dr. Jekyll a serum to induce vomiting, and while Battie also induced vomiting, he might have also attempted cutting into his skull due to the sudden onset of his symptoms. Neither of which would be particularly used in treatment today.

           Are these completely accurate diagnoses and treatments? No, but this is only 18th century that we're talking about here. With two more centuries to go before the present, we still have a ways to go, and next time I'll bring a glimpse of what 19th century medicine would bring the diagnosing field. Maybe they'll know what's wrong how to fix Jekyll. See you in 100 years. 
                                                                                                                                        ~B.M