788 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1. 



" But," said he. " you can raise your right 

 arm and your right foot, can you not?"' 



•' Oh, yes!" said I; "but still there is some- 

 thing the matter of my whole right side. My 

 right eye seems twisted, and 1 can not see 

 straight with it, and it is affecting ray brain, I 

 am sure." 



At this he began to laugh. 



" My good friend, let us start out in another 

 direction. How about the soothing-powders 

 which I left for you yesterday? Of course, you 

 have taken them according to directions?" 



I was reluctantly obliged to confess the triith. 

 He replied something like this: ' 



'• Look here, Mr. Root; if you have not been 

 pretty well punished already, I should be 

 tempted to give you a pretty sound lecture; 

 and I believe 1 will give you a short one, fol- 

 lowed by a practical demonstration, even as it 

 is. You are a pretty smart man, and know a 

 great deal; but, my dear sir, there are several 

 things you rZo 7iof know; and there are several 

 things, too, that we doctors know that you 

 have not yet discovered. This ' menagerie' you 

 have had during the night that is past, all 

 came by neglecting those little powders that 

 you decided were too 'nasty ' to take.'" 



I begged pardon, and promised full obedience 

 in future if he would forgive me. 



" Bttt, doctor, you do not mean to say that 

 just those powders, taken according to direc- 

 tion, would have spared me this terrible night 

 of anguish and suffering ?"" 



•' Yes, sir: that is just what I do mean. And 

 now if you are thoroughly convinced that your 

 doctor knows what he is'about, give us a proof 

 of your sincere penitence."' 



He had laughed me out of some of my trou- 

 bles, and I was considerably interested in what 

 he was going to do. But I ventured to tell him 

 some of my troubles about there not being any 

 such thing as a "one-sided medicine:" but I 

 was careful not to tell him who gaiie me the 

 idea. He laughed, and said in due time we 

 would take up that part of it also. I remember 

 that, at this time, my wife and Ernest were 

 standing by. full of anxiety. They had been 

 consulting together, so it seemed. Then the 

 doctor spoke: 



" Now, Mr. Root, you want to be real sure 

 that it is not a freak of the imagination that is 

 the matter with you. Look at the tigures on 

 the wall paper. Are they quiet and still?" 



I looked, and the whoh; of them seemed very 

 much disposed to dance a jig. Something like 

 a moss rose was near to my bed, on the gilded 

 wall paper. As I looked at it, the petals began 

 moving as if they were about to unfold, and 

 glimpses of a lurid light shot out from under 

 the petals, as if they inclosed glowing coals. 

 Some tigures, so near by that I could put my 

 finger on them, were so surely wriggling about 

 that I did touch them. When I touched them they 

 stood still, until my finger was removed. I told 

 the doctor what I saw. 



'' Very well," said he. " Now witness one of 

 the triumphs of medicine. Sit up a little. Now 

 take this glass, which contains the powder you 

 should have taken last night. Don't sip a little 

 and then stop, but pour it all right down ivWi- 

 oiit tasting." 



I do not know but they feared I was going to 

 say 1 couldn't; for Ernest, who stood by with a 

 dipper of pure water, added some exhortations. 

 But I began to be thoroughly ashamed of my- 

 self. I took the glass as dii'ected, and poured 

 down the whole of the bad-tasting stuff at a 

 single swallow. Then I grabbed for the dipper. 



" Well, what do you think about it now?" 

 said the doctor. . 



" Why, I think the water in that dipper is a 

 little the nicest I ever tasted in my life." 



'• Now," said the doctor, '' you can shut your 

 eyes and go to sleep. You can watch the hob- 

 goblins as they hunt their holes, if you choose. 

 But they won't trouble you very long. I will 

 be around about the time you wake up." 



Would you believe it, dear reader ? I dropped 

 to sleep at once, and did not wake up till to- 

 ward noon. When I opened my eyes every 

 thing was natural and straight. The figures 

 on the wall paper behaved themselves as all 

 such steady and staid tigures ought to do in a 

 Christian family. ^lore than all. I could not 

 remember that, during my sleep of several 

 hours, I had had a single dream of inii/ kind. 

 When the doctor came in I Avas full of (uithusi- 

 asm. wondei', and sui'prise in regard to the new 

 medicine. 



'■ Why, Mr. Root, it is not any thing nerv at 

 all. Bromide of potassium is as old as the hills, 

 and is in common use for quieting disordered 

 nerves. This remedy is what you need more 

 than any thing else; and vei'y likely it is at the 

 bottom of those chills that have been baffling 

 us. One thing is cei-tain, however — if you ever 

 get out of this nervjus state, you have got to 

 stop investigating and exploring and studying 

 into evei-y thing that comes along. Why, I 

 hardly dare to tell you the name of the medi- 

 cine you are taking, for fear you will ask so 

 many questions about it, and won't let the sub- 

 ject drop until you know all that the books 

 have to say in regard to it.'" 



•' But, look here, doctor. Do you mean to 

 say that this bromide of potassium will abso- 

 lutely stop all unpleasant dreams and nervous 

 v.akefulness ?"" 



" Well, 1 do not know that I have ever seen 

 it fail under such circumstances. But there 

 you go again with your questions." 



"But. doctor, if there is a medicine known 

 that will slop bad dreams, it certainly ought to 

 be made known to a suffering world. And you 

 say. too, that it is not an opiate, a narcotic, nor 

 any thing of that sort, and that it will not start 

 one in a bad habit?" 



" Yes. sir, I mean to say all this. If you take 

 it in the day time, when you are well, or com- 

 paratively well, it will not produce sleep at all. 

 It puts peoples to sleep only as it did you, when 

 they have been kept awake by disordered 

 nerves. Another thing: If you are put to 

 sleep with opium you can not be awakened 

 very easily; but with the bromide one can be 

 aroused just as easily as from any natural sleep. 

 Now. you really must stop talking; and I think 

 that, for the present, everybody had better stay 

 away." 



Somebody suggested that the various Jiimts- 

 ters of our town be allowed to see me; but the 

 doctor said that he preferred I should wait un- 

 til I got better, and then they might call: and I 

 tell you, my friends, the doctor icas rvjlit. 



Before I leave this subject, let me touch upon 

 one point. Wouldn't this harmless medicine 

 oftentimes save people from temporary insani- 

 ty ? I feel sure it would. Not many years ago 

 my o IV II mother's brother, under the influence 

 ofdelirum produced by typhoid fever, during 

 the temporary absence of his nurse found 

 means to take Ms own life. One dose of this- , 

 bromide of potassium would very likely have 

 saved him. I was so much interested that the 

 doctor mentioned, a few days later, he saw a 

 query in one of the medical journals where the 

 question was asked, " Is there a remedy for 

 dreaming?" The editor answered, " Why, to 

 be sure there is — bromide of potassium." 



I have now given you some illustrations of the 

 way in which people may make terrible mischief 

 by omitting to take the medicine just because 

 " it tastes bad." By the way, the doctor, a few 

 days after, brought me two other preparations 



