504 THE TREATMENT OF DISEASES. 



tired and irritable. This particular form of sleeplessness is often induced by certain 

 articles of diet, or by some injudicious combination of them. An indiscretion that 

 will excite headache, giddiness, or palpitation in one, causes sleeplessness in another. 

 In these cases the rational treatment is obviously that of biliousness. A blue-pill or 

 two will often do more to effect a cure than a whole arsenal of opiates or soporifics. 



Yery often sleeplessness arises from the stomach, rather than from the liver. 

 This may be the case when there are no other obvious symptoms of indigestion ; the 

 appetite may be good, and there may be no pain, flatulence, or other discomfort 

 after meals. This form of sleeplessness has long been recognised. Thus an old 

 writer says, " Persons who labour under a weakness of the stomach, as I have for 

 a great number of years past, know that certain foods, without their being conscious 

 of it, prevent sleeping. So I have been awakened a hundred times at 

 two o'clock in the morning, when I did not feel any particular impression in 

 the stomach, but I knew that I had been awaked by an irregular operation of 

 that organ, and I have then recollected what I took at dinner, which was the 

 cause of it." In these forms of sleeplessness harm is often done by the adminis- 

 tration of opiates. Yery often relief may be obtained by careful attention 

 to diet, and particularly by strict moderation in the use of wine or beer. 

 In many cases a dose of carbonate of potash or carbonate of soda on going to bed, 

 ^r on first awaking in the morning, is of service. Many people who suffer from 

 this form of sleeplessness never do so well as after a dose of calomel, or a blue-pill. 



There are many other circumstances which have a tendency to produce 

 sleeplessness. Smoking strong tobacco late at night, especially after errors of 

 diet, is by no means an unfrequent cause. Strong odours, as of flowers, perfumes, 

 or even embrocations, may act in the same way. Excessive exercise as in 

 dancing, mental excitement, as in late entertainments, in amusements, or in 

 music, may be mentioned. Care, trouble, sorrow, mental anxiety, are all enemies 

 to sleep. Children are not unfrequently prevented from sleeping by bad dreams, 

 too often excited by the tales or threats of ignorant or injudicious nurses. The 

 practice of taking " forty winks " after dinner, though not in itself objectionable, 

 if the authorised number be not exceeded by undue indulgence, may forestall 

 the night's rest and make it difficult to get off to sleep. Often enough the 

 most relishing snatch of slumber out of bed is the one which a tired person 

 takes before he retires for the night, while lingering in his sitting-room. The 

 consciousness of being very sleepy, and of having the power to go to bed 

 immediately, gives great zest to the unwillingness to move. Some people, it 

 is to be feared, go to bed with a fixed idea that they cannot sleep, and they 

 dwell on that idea, and consequently do not sleep. And, lastly, women of a 

 nervous, excitable temperament are often annoyed by an inability to obtain 

 sound repose during pregnancy, or they may suffer from complete insomnia 

 after delivery. 



We will now consider the best mode of curing sleeplessness, and we wish to 

 state, in the first place, that the practice of resorting to a narcotic on every trivial 

 occasion is as bad as bad can be. There is a great deal to be done before we can 

 even think of taking medicine. To begin with, it is necessary to try and find out 



