Blue Mass

[RJNorton]

Lincoln described himself as having "the hypo" - short for hypochondriasis. Oxford scholar Robert Burton (1577-1640) described hypochondriasis as "Beside fear and sorrow, sharpe belchings, fulsome crudities, heat in the bowels, winde and rumblings in the guts, vehement gripings,...cold joynts, indigestion..."

IN 1835 American physician Benjamin Rush wrote in his textbook that, "It is true (hypochondriasis) is seated in the mind; but it is as much the effect of corporeal causes as a pleurisy or a bilious fever." Dr. Rush went on to recommend mercury as a stimulant to purge "morbid excitement" from the brain. The mercury would also remove "visceral obstructions."

Eva, I believe the correspondent who heard Mary talk about the "blue pills" was a friend of Mary's named Jane Grey Swisshelm. The information from her interview was also carried by the New York Times, and the interview apparently occurred the day Mary left Washington for Chicago.