THE REMEDIES OF NATURE. 459 



nervous disorders, can frequently be traced to the influence of after- 

 dinner work — work, perhaps, requiring severe mental application, 

 though the brain aches for rest — while about a million of American 

 school-teachers and counting-house drudges still aggravate their 

 misery by the use of tonic bitters in the United States, and of ginger- 

 drops and chile Colorado in South America. Narcotic drinks are an 

 equally fruitful source of nervous affections, and tea^ the chief culprit, 

 is too often mistaken for a liberator. A cup of " good, strong tea " 

 relieves a nervous headache in exactly the same manner that medi- 

 cated whiskey relieves the distress of a torpid liver, and the fact that 

 the abnormal excitement is regularly followed by a depressing reaction 

 would not undeceive the victim of the stimulant-delusion, if the repe- 

 tition of the stimulation-process were not sure to impair the efficacy 

 of the tonic, unless the dose is steadily increased. Only after that in- 

 crease has in vain been carried to an alarming extent, the patient is 

 apt to look for a less delusive remedy. And yet the sudden discon- 

 tinuance of a long-wonted tonic will at first aggravate the distress to 

 a degree that would overtax the endurance of most persons, and the 

 trials of the transition period should therefore be mitigated by the in- 

 fluence of some healthy stimulus — the diversion of a journey, or of 

 an exciting and very pleasant occupation. Indigestible made dishes 

 should also be carefully avoided, and the gratitude of suffering thou- 

 sands — both nurses and patients — awaits the philanthropist who shall 

 give us a treatise on the art of preparing an appetizing dinner without 

 the use of the frying-pan. Nervous people are extremely fastidious, 

 especially in the choice of their solid food, and doubly so after the 

 interdict of their favorite liquids, yet a single plateful of fried and 

 spiced viands may bring on a relapse of the unhappiest symptoms, 

 with the attendant mental affections of the poor followers of Epicurus 

 who " would be perfect gentlemen if it were not for their tantrums." 

 Spleen is a disorder of the nerves, rather than of the brain, and a 

 large complexus of nerve-organs is situated in the close proximity of 

 the stomach. The eel-stews of Mohammed II kept the whole empire 

 in a state of nervous excitement, and one of the meat-pies which King 

 Philip failed to digest caused the revolt of the Netherlands. If hired 

 girls had a vote in the matter, ladies of a certain temper would be re- 

 stricted to a diet of attractive vegetables. 



Everything that tends to exhaust the vital resources of the body 

 disposes it to nervous disorders. Sexual excesses, therefore, contribute 

 a large share to the debilitating influences of civilized life. Hysterical 

 affections may sometimes result from the unsatisfied cravings of the 

 sexual passion, but chiefly because the suppression of that instinct 

 often leads to its perversion. There is such a thing as mental incon-; 

 tinenee ; the writings of hysterical nuns, for instance, abound with 

 erotic effusions. And, while spinsters and widows are often strong- 

 minded to an unsexing degree, the most pitifully nervous women are 



