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know of a college student whose thoughts were most active while “listen- 
ing to a sermen.” Such stimulation is known to but few, while the op- 
posite, drowsiness, is known to nearly everybody. Perhaps the “constitu- 
tion” has something to do with it. I have notes on a preacher who gets 
his ideas for his next sermon a week ahead. If he fails to get them on 
Sunday night, he probably gets them at the time of the midweek prayer 
meeting. Local option meetings also seem to excite some—is it the en- 
thusiasm ? 
Srorms. Among my case reports are some of individuals whose 
minds were set agoing during the prevalence of a storm; if at night, there 
was much restlessness and sleeplessness with a rush of thoughts. An in- 
quiry into details often leads to curious results. 
WEATHER CHANGES should also be mentioned. The state of the 
weather is by many supposed to have an influence. I should especially 
like to hear from those who have made any observations along this line. 
Books. Books, as a source of thought stimulation or of inspiration, 
are generally Classified as good or bad, ancient or modern, new or old. 
To the average reader a book is simply a book, but those who utilize 
their thoughts or bright ideas may be able to make distinctions. Read- 
ing between the lines, an individual with a vivid imagination may get 
all sorts of new ideas, he may get more out of them than the author 
put in. 
Lectures differ greatly in their stimulating influence. To some an 
occasional lecture may be helpful, while repeated lectures may fail to 
stimulate, or one may say there is overstimulation and the mind fails 
to retain the impressions. We all know how the lectures of instructors 
vary; some stimulate the students, others do not. 
BARBER-SHOP INFLUENCES. One of my old patients, who lived at home 
all the time, went once a week to the barber shop, and then complained 
of insomnia with much dreaming at night. (But to make the story more 
complete it should be added that he was a chronic consumptive and that 
much coughing accompanied the insomnia and dreaming—some might re- 
gard this as a relationship of cause and effect.) 
I recall a statement in a French reader, “Nothing refreshes the mind 
like having the hair dressed.” A man is supposed to have made the re- 
mark—I mention this here as a possible factor in mental stimulation in 
