Ask the Past: despondence

I'm feeling really depressed about the election result. Is there anything you can recommend?

Are you sure that you're depressed about the election result? According to Harmsworth's Household Encyclopedia's (1922) entry on depression:

... it may be due to toxaemia from chronic constipation, insufficient fresh air or exercise, improper or insufficient diet...

If you're sure that a laxative isn't actually what you need, then this remedy for despondence from Domestic Medical Practice (1913) might be helpful:

Black extract of salicylate, two ounces; Simple Elixir, two ounces. Mix. Dose: teaspoonful three times a day.

If you prefer to treat yourself with dietary changes rather than mystery potions, then Domestic Medical Practice suggests you try a special diet for nervous prostration. The full list of foods is quite long, but here are some samples from the list of foods that may be eaten:

Mutton broth; Beef juice; Eels; Butter (plenty); Stale bread; Brains; Bone marrow; Raw eggs (beaten with milk and sherry); Iron and sulphur water; Chocolate cake.

And from the list of foods that can't be eaten:

Chowder; Lobsters; All fried meats; Lard; Hard boiled eggs; Rolls; Cake; Boiled potatoes; Cucumbers; Parsnips; Melons; Cake; Pie; Wines; Ale; Gin; Cider.

It's not altogether clear why chocolate cake is in a different category from all the other kinds of cake, but when the alternatives are eel sandwiches on stale bread with a beef juice and raw egg chaser, at least that's something to be grateful for. And if all else fails, Domestic Medical Practice has one final piece of advice to consider:

In Germany, many nerve specialists are having their patients spend four to five hours a day knitting in bed.

If all of this is making you look at Harmsworth's advice on laxatives altogether more favourably, here's a recipe for Little Giant Liver Pills from Fenner's Complete Formulary (1888) that only has two poisonous ingredients in it:

Aloin, 10 grams. Podophyllin, 20 grains. Capsicum, 10 grains. Extract of Nux Vomica, 20 grains. Hyoscyamine, 2 grains.

Mix, and make 100 pills.

These are generally sold under the title of Little Liver Pills, but are mostly used as a laxative or cathartic, the dose as a cathartic being 3 to 4 pills at night or morning.

I'm sure that will help.