43 DISEASES CLASS IV. 2. 4. 2 - 



nocturnal folar gravitation, that it can fcarcely be afcribcd to this 

 influence. At the fame time it is curious to obferve, that veget- 

 ables in refpect to tfieir times of fleeping more regularly obferve 

 the hour of the day, than the prefence or abfence of light, or of 

 heat, as may be feen by confuting the calendar of Flora. Bo- 

 tanic Garden, Part II. Canto 2. 1. 165. note. 



Some difeafes, which at firit fight might be fuppofed to be in- 

 fluenced by folar periods, feem to be induced by the increafing 

 fenfibility of the fyftem to pain during our fleeping hours ; as 

 explained in Sett. XVIII. 15. Of thefe are the fits of afthma, 

 of ibme epilepfies, and of fome hsemoptoes j all which difturb 

 the patient after fome hours fleep, and are therefore to be af~ 

 cribed to the increafe of our dormant fenfibility. There may 

 like wife be fome doubt, whether the commencement of the pain 

 of gout in the foot, as it generally makes its attack after fleep, 

 ihould be afcribed to the increafed fenfibility in fleep, or to fo- 

 lar influence ? 



M. M. When aflhmatic or epileptic fits or hsemoptoe occur 

 after a certain number of hours of fleep, the patient mould be 

 forcibly awakened before the expected time by an alarm clodc f 

 and drink a cup of chocolate or lemonade. Or a grain of opi* 

 um mould be given at going to bed.-*-In one cafe to prevent 

 the too great increafe of fenfibility by mortening the time of 

 fleep ; and in the other by increafing the irritative motions, and 

 expending by that means a part of the fenforial power. 



2. Studii inanis periodus. Clafs III. 1.2.2. The cataleptic 

 fpafm which preceded the reverie and fomnambulation in the 

 patient, whofe cafe is related in Seel, XIX. 2. occurred at ex- 

 atUy the fame hour, which was about eleven in the morning for 

 many weeks ; till thofe periods were difturbed by large dofes of 

 opium ; and muft therefore be referred to fome effect of folar 

 gravitation. In the cafe of Mafter A. Sect. XXXIV. 3. as the 

 reverie began early in the morning during fleep, there may be a 

 doubt, whether this commenced with torpor of fome organ 

 catenated with folar gravitation ; or was caufed by the exift- 

 ence of a previous torpid part, which only became fo painful as 

 to excite the exertions of reverie by the perpetual increafe of 

 fenfibility during the continuance of fleep, as in forae fits of epi- 

 jepfy, afthma, and hsemoptoe mentioned in the preceding article. 



3. Hemicranix periodits* Periods of Hemicrania. Clafs IV. 

 2. 2. 8. The torpor and confequent pain of fome membranes 

 on one fide of the head, as over one eye, are frequently occa- 

 fioned by a decaying tooth, and are liable to return every day, 

 or on alternate days at folar or lunar periods. In this cafe large 

 quantities of the 'bark will frequently cure the difeafe, and ef- 



pecially 



