296 THE FARMER AT HOME 



sore throats, coughs, consumptions, rheumatisms, asthmas, fevers and 

 dysenteries. In warm climates, the night-air and night-dews, with 

 their tainted impregnations, act with much malignancy on the unwary, 

 who too often, after an imprudent debauch, still more absurdly lays 

 himself down in the woods or verandahs, to receive the full attacks of 

 the morbific powers then unusually active. 



In civilized life, and in crowded towns, how many fall victims to 

 their own imprudence, in exposing themselves to the cold, the damp, 

 and the frostiness of the night-air. Issuing from warm apartments 

 with blazing fires, or from crowded churches, theatres, or ball-rooms, 

 with exhausted strength, profuse perspiration, thin dresses, and much 

 of the person uncovered, how many are arrested with the benumbing 

 cold and the universal shivering, which prove the forerunner of dan- 

 gerous inflammation of the brain, of the lungs, or of the bowels, which 

 either cut them ofF in a few days, or lay the foundation of consump- 

 tion or other lingering illnesses. Such being the dangers of exposure 

 to the night-air, it ought to be inculcated on all, both young and old, 

 to guard against them, by avoiding all rash and hasty changes of 

 place and temperature, by hardening the frame by due exercise and 

 walking in the open air in the daytime ; and on occasions when the 

 night-air must be braved, taking care to be sufficiently clothed ; and 

 to avoid drawing in the cold air too strong or hastily with the mouth 

 open. 



NIGHTMARE. Nervous or indisposed persons are oppressed 

 during sleep with a heavy pressing sensation on the chest, by which 

 respiration is impeded, or the circulation of blood intercepted, to such 

 a degree as to threaten suffocation. Frightful ideas are recollected on 

 waking, which occupied the dreaming mind. Frequent attempts are 

 made to cry out, but often without effect, and the horrors and agita- 

 tions felt by the patient are inexpressibly frightful. The sensations 

 generally originate in a large quantity of wind or indigestible matter 

 in the stomach of supper-eaters, which pressing the stomach against 

 the diaphragm, impede respiration, or render it short and convulsed. 

 Inflated intestines may likewise produce similar effects, or mental 

 perturbations. 



There is another species of nightmare mentioned by authors, which 

 has a more dangerous tendency ; and this arises from an impeded 

 circulation of blood in the lungs, when lying down, or too great relax- 

 ation of the heart and its impelling powers. Epilepsy, apoplexy, or 

 sudden death, are sometimes among the consequences of this species 

 of disturbed sleeep. 



NIGHT-SOIL. Human excrements are usually known under this 

 name, which is one of the best fertilisers. The history of the use of 

 the night-soil, as a manure, is attended with difficulties ; ibr the very 

 nature of it predisposes every experimentalist in our country as well 

 as England, to be silent as to his knowledge of its powers. Many 



