s, no; but who knows if to-night I
shall be able to dream at all?"

"You will sleep all the sounder if you don't. Dreams always come when
the sleep is disturbed," said I.

"Doctor, would you rob me of all I have to live for by your drugs?" he
exclaimed.

"I should be sorry," I replied, "if my drugs have the unfortunate effect
of robbing you of pleasant dreams; but it is my first duty as a medical
man to remedy the physical ills of my patients."

"Well, no more drugs for me, that's all," he said, positively. "The next
article of food I take that tastes in the slightest degree of physic I
shall certainly throw away."

"In that case," I replied, "if there is no way of administering
medicine to you, this must be my last visit. It is useless calling on a
patient who refuses to be cured."

"Well, doctor," he said, "I shall be sorry to lose you, as your
conversation serves to cheer my waking death. Of course, I can't expect
you to put yourself out of the way to come here for nothing; but if at
any time you are not better employed, just drop in as a friend."

"Well," I said, "I should not like to drop an acquaintance so
interesting. But, the subject of medicine apart, you really must take a
little more nutriment than you do."

This was what was really the matter with him. The body was worn away
through insufficient diet, till the patient was in a state bordering on
starvation; and this had been for a long time persisted in, as the
invalid found a morbid delight in those vivid dreams peculiar to all
people who practise long fasting; and so loth was he to give up his
beloved dreamland, that he was ready to sacrifice life itself.

We chatted together for some time longer, and he related to me many of
his dreams, which were all of a most extraordinary character. At length
I got up to go, saying I would call on the morrow, and entered the
parlour where the parents of the young man were seated. They asked me
how my patient progressed. I told them he wanted plenty of nutriment,
and, without ordering further medicine, I told them to give him plenty
of mutton broth, beef tea, and other nutritious things, and to put them
as close to his bed as possible, that the smell of the savoury food
might awaken his appetite.

They promised to comply with my request, and I quitted the house. I had
one or two other cases to attend to after that, which interested me in a
much less degree, after which I returned home, and committed to paper