500 THE TREATMENT OF DISEASES. 



avoiding thought as much as possible, will do much to induce sleep. When we 

 isolate ourselves from the external world, we lessen the amount of blood supplied to 

 the brain, and in this way sleep results. It is not, however, always easy to do this. 

 The nervous system is excited, ideas follow each other in rapid succession, and 

 we lie awake for hours, vainly longing for happy oblivion. The more the will 

 is brought to bear upon the subject, the more it rebels, and the less willing it 

 appears to be forced into a state of quietude. In this case something 

 may be done by endeavouring to tire out the brain. Many ways of accomplish- 

 ing this object have been proposed and are employed by different people. The 

 great point about them all is that they are tiring and monotonous. Counting a 

 hundred many times, listening to the ticking of a clock, working sums, and 

 thinking of some disagreeable or tiresome subject have all their advocates. Some- 

 times sleep may be induced by placing a brass pan a sponge-bath will answer 

 admirably in such a position that water may fall into it drop by drop. Southey's 

 experience, as related in " The Doctor," is well worth quoting, more particularly 

 as he indicates several methods which may in some cases prove efficacious. " I 

 put my arms out of bed," he says, "I turned the pillow for the sake of apply- 

 ing a cold surface to my cheek. I stretched my feet into the cold corner; I 

 listened to the river and to the ticking of my watch; I thought of all sleepy 

 sounds, and of all soporific things the flow of water, the humming of bees, the 

 motion of a boat, the waving of a field of corn, the nodding of a mandarin's head 

 on the chimney-piece, a horse in a mill, the opera, Mr. Humdrum's l Conversa- 

 tions,' Mr. Proser's 'Poems,' Mr. Laxative's 'Speeches/ Mr. Lengthy's 'Sermons/ 

 I tried the device of my own childhood, and fancied that the bed rushed with me 

 round and round. At length Morpheus reminded me of Dr. Torpedo's ' Divinity 

 Lectures/ where the voice, the manner, the matter, even the very atmosphere and 

 the stream of candlelight were all alike somnific ; where he who, by strong effort, 

 lifted up his head and forced open the reluctant eyes, never failed to see all around 

 him asleep. Lettuces, cowslip wine, poppy syrup, mandragora, hop pillows, spider's- 

 web pills, and the whole tribe of narcotics, up to the bang and the black drop would 

 have failed ; but this was irresistible, and thus, twenty years after date, I found 

 benefit from having attended the course." 



Digestion favours the production of sleep, by inducing a flow of blood to the 

 stomach, so that the brain is left in a state of ansemia, or bloodlessness. Some 

 people always feel sleepy after a meal, although they may have partaken of food in 

 the strictest moderation. As a rule, persons who eat largely, and have good digestive 

 powers, sleep a great deal, and there are many who cannot sleep at all at night unless 

 they have partaken of a hearty supper. 



Debility is almost always accompanied by a disposition to inordinate sleep 

 People who are out of condition nearly afways feel drowsy and heavy, and disinclined 

 for active mental exertion. The fact is, the brain is one of the first organs to feel 

 the effects of a diminished amount of blood, or deterioration in quality, and hence in 

 old age, or under the influence of a deficient quantity of food, or through the action 

 of some exhausting disease, more sleep is usually taken than when the physical 

 health is in its normal condition. 



