Nor should we hesitate to
insist upon this change, for not only shall we then act in the true
interests of the patient, but we shall also confer on those near to her
an inestimable benefit. An hysterical girl is, as Wendell Holmes has
said in his decisive phrase, a vampire who sucks the blood of the
healthy people about her; and I may add that pretty surely where there
is one hysterical girl there will be soon or late two sick women. If
circumstances oblige us to treat such a person in her own home, let us
at least change her room, and also have it well understood how far we
are to control her surroundings and to govern as to visitors and the
company of her own family. Do as we may, we shall always lessen thus our
chances of success, but we shall certainly not altogether destroy them.
I should add here a few words of caution as to the time of year best
fitted for treatment. In the summer seclusion is often undesirable when
the patient is well enough to gain help by change of air; moreover, at
this season massage is less agreeable than in winter, and, as a rule, I
find it harder to feed and to fatten persons at rest during our summer
heats.
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