een
out, that he had difficulty in persuading himself to the contrary,
by carefully examining his clothes in the morning, to see if they
were not wet or dirty; and he looked inquiringly and anxiously to
his wife, asking if she was sure he had not been out last night,
and walking in this disturbed trance or dream. His pulse was quiet,
but tongue foul. The head was not hot, but he could not say it was
free from pain. But I need not enter into professional details.
Suffice it to say that we came to the conclusion that he was
suffering from an over-worked mind, disordering his digestive
organs, enervating his whole frame, and threatening serious head
affection. We told him this, and enjoined absolute discontinuance
of work, bed at eleven, light supper (he had all his life made that
a principal meal), thinning the hair of the head, a warm
sponging-bath at bed time, &c. To all our commands he readily
promised obedience, not forgetting the discontinuance of neck
rubbing, to which he had unfortunately been prevailed to submit
some days before. For fully an hour we talked together on these and
other subjects, and I left him with no apprehension of impending
evil, and little doubting but that a short time of rest and regimen
would restore him to his wonted vigor." It was a cheerful hour that
thus was passed, and his wife and family partook of the hopeful
feeling with which his kind friend, Professor Miller, had parted
with him. It was now near the dinner hour, and the servant entered
the room to spread the table. She found Mr. Miller in the room
alone. Another of the paroxysms was on him. His face was such a
picture of horror that she shrunk in terror from the sight. He
flung himself on the sofa, and buried his head, as if in agony,
upon the cushion. Again, however, the vision flitted by, and left
him in perfect health. The evening was spent quietly with his
family. During tea he employed himself in reading aloud Cowper's
"Castaway," the Sonnet on Mary Unwin, and one of his more playful
pieces, for the special pleasure of his children. Having corrected
some proofs of the forthcoming volume, he went up stairs to his
study. At the appointed hour he had taken the bath, but
unfortunately his natural and peculiar repugnance to physic had
induced him to leave