What's Inside
Democritus Junior dissects the anatomy of melancholy, treating the ailment as a physical and moral state to be opened and cut up for inspection. The work is divided into three vast partitions, tracing the disease from its medical roots in the spleen and liver to its expressions in love and religious fervor. It gathers centuries of classical anecdotes and physician reports to explain why a soldier might believe he is made of glass or why a sultan's wife might stare at a traveler for two hours. The collection shifts between analytical observations on black bile and satirical commentary on human folly, offering a rigorous, encyclopedic framework to categorize every variety of sadness, fear, and madness recorded in history.
Works & figures
- Democritus Junior
The narrator who claims to anatomize beasts to find the seat of melancholy. (in “A Satirical Preface, Conducing to the Following Discourse”)
- Hippocrates
The ancient physician who commends the study of the body's internal humours. (in “A Satirical Preface, Conducing to the Following Discourse”)
- Melancholy
A cold, dry, black humour purged from the spleen that bridles other fluids. (in “The First Partition”)
- Montanus
A consultant who diagnoses a soldier's malady as a failure of six non-natural things. (in “MEMB. II. Subsect. I. — Bad Diet a cause”)
- Montezuma
An Indian prince who would rather remain on earth than face death's terrors. (in “MEMB. V. Against Sorrow for Death of Friends”)
What it's really about
- Humoral Balance
- The interaction of blood, choler, and phlegm governs mental health.
- The Six Non-Naturals
- Diet, sleep, and environment are the primary drivers of psychological distress.
- Divine Intervention
- Cures must combine medical herbs with prayer to be effective.
Why it's memorable
- A nobleman in Savoy finds relief only after his skull is bored open for a month.
- A man is so convinced he is made of cork that he fears floating away.
Where to start
Start with 'Democritus Junior to the Reader' to understand the satirical impulse behind this massive inventory of human suffering.
For your book club
- Can a person truly separate the soul's ailments from the stomach's digestion according to this logic?
- Why does the author use a pseudonym to describe the 'carcases of many several beasts'?