SLEEPLESSNESS FROM THOUGHT.

INABILITY to stop the rush or flow of thoughts often seems to be the cause of wakefulness; but it may be the inability to sleep that throws the brain into a state of worrying excitement. This last explanation is the more probable, because the thoughts that engross or distress the mind as the head lies sleepless and unresting on its pillow are more forcible, vivid, and, generally, painful, than those which engross the attention by day. In part, this intensifying of thought by night is due, no doubt, to the exclusion of external objects and impressions. The mind is, as it were, thrown in on itself, and left a prey to its own reflections. There is, however, more in the exaggerated and distorted state of thought, when the brain will not or cannot sleep, than mere isolation explains. If the mind is absorbed or engrossed within itself by

day, when there is no question of sleep or sleeplessness, however oppressive or torturing thought may prove, it does not lose the faculty of estimating sorrows and losses, pains and gains, by comparing them with other experiences; whereas, it is one of the disagreeable features of sleepless thought, that the most trifling evils and causes of anxiety assume unnaturally vast proportions, so that what would occasion no distress by day is the source of acute suffering or annoyance at night.

From these and other circumstances and experiences it may be concluded, that what is called "sleeplessness from thought" is, in fact, a state considerably more complicated and unnatural than the phrase implies. It is a condition in which the brain, so to say, stops short on the way to sleep, and the mind, being adrift from its moorings to firm fact, is tossed up and down, and to and fro ; while, ignorant of its position, it still busies itself with the objects on shore, until their bearings and proportions are lost or confounded. This is why those who are habitually sleepless find it good policy to get up and read when the fit of wake

fulness comes on. Not only does the act of reading produce drowsiness, but the mind is prevented from passing into a state of turmoil so distressing and injurious, as that which too commonly occurs in sleeplessness from thought.

The loss of power to cast off the burden of the day, and find rest in unconsciousness or forgetfulness at night, is one of the greatest of personal afflictions. Only those who have endured it know how terrible this experience, in its worst form, may prove. There is no escape anywhere, no respite, no lessening—even momentary of the strain on the mind, when sleep is impossible; and the worry is increased when the mind, instead of finding ease, falls into a state in which every source of disquietude seems exaggerated. Sleeplessness of this sort is often the prelude-and it may be either the first indication, or itself the causeof insanity. The condition into which the mind is. thrown when endeavoring to sleep is essentially unsound and tends to disease.

Physicians, realizing the peril of the position, give their patients a drug of some sort to procure sleep.

They do this with the double purpose of breaking the habit of wakefulness when this has been formed, and of rescuing the mind from a condition in which it is unsafe. The method of treatment would be more satisfactory if we could only believe that what is called "sleep" would put an end to mental activity. Unfortunately there is little ground for such hope. "To sleep--perchance to dream!" The gain will be small if the mental disquietude and disturbance are not relieved by the poisoned and mimic sleep produced by drugs. The danger will be only masked, not removed. Those who adopt this treatment point to cases in which, after a few doses of a sleep-potion, the sufferer has regained the power of falling asleep naturally. Such patients have undoubtedly been benefited by something, but it is still an open question whether the relief may not be due to mental influence rather than the medicine. However this may be, the point in which we are chiefly interested is the state which precedes and seems to bar sleep. We recognize its perils; in what way or by what means may they be avoided?

Examined closely, the condition of thought-worry preventing sleep will be found to be one in which the thinking faculty is beyond control. We may start a subject, but we either cannot keep the attention fixed, or compel thought to take rational and comparative views of the objects presented to it. There is a tendency to exaggeration, which the judgment is powerless to restrain or correct. There is at the same time another peculiarity, which throws more light on the nature of the condition, namely, an impulse to repeat; the mind goes over the same ground again and again. The explanation of this phenomenon is simple and suggestive; there is a perpetual endeavor to sleep, and although the circumstance may not be recognized, each train of thoughts breaks off at the precise moment when it ought to become a dream, and every recommencement is a new departure after a fresh act of wakefulness.

It requires careful notice of the subjective symptoms to perceive the real nature of this experience. The faculties appear to be fully awake and in great activity, but their highly sensitive state is the effect