![]() ![]() Once inside the walls of Morningside, his case notes tell of repeated attempts by the patient to take his own life. Moses was what today might be referred to as a ‘textbook case’ of melancholia in the late-Victorian period: profound depression of mind, delusions of a religious nature, and persistent suicidal tendencies. He was given the diagnosis melancholia, with a special reference made to his persistent suicidal tendencies. The patient’s recent mental symptoms were listed as ‘delusions such as that his soul is lost, that he ought to die, and thinks he is committing great sins’. Upon admission, the attending physician determined that his ‘depression’ was ‘considerable’, and made a note of his ‘suicidal tendencies’, which consisted in ‘taking belladonna, refusing food, &c’. He was reported as having taken ‘a poisonous dose of Belladonna’, and his father and brother had seen it necessary to have him sent to the asylum since they felt that he could not ‘be left alone’ for the fear ‘that he would seek to destroy himself’. The two certifying physicians testified that the patient had communicated to them a belief that his soul was lost. ![]() On the medical certificate and reception order that accompanied his arrival it was stated that the patient, Moses B., was ‘suicidal’. On 15 August 1874, a young doctor was admitted as a private patient into the Royal Edinburgh Asylum at Morningside. ![]()
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