_Optimum condimentum fames._ _Plures occidit gula quam gladius._ _Qui a bu, boira._ Ever drunk ever dry. _Vinum potens, vinum nocens._ The child is too clever to live long. _Praecocibus mors ingeniis est invida semper._ Le chant du cocq, le coucher du corbeau, Preservent l'homme du tombeau. Bitter to the mouth, sweet to the heart. _Paulo deterior, sed suavior potus est cibus; meliori quidem, sed ingrato, praeferendus est._ Apres la soupe, un coup d'excellent vin Tire un ecu de la poche du medecin. THE NIGHT-MARE. The Night-mare or Ephialtes, _incubus_, from [Greek: ephallomai], "to leap upon," and _incubo_, "to lie upon," may be considered a sympathetic affection of the brain during our sleep, generally arising from a derangement in the digestive functions. We therefore observe it after a heavy supper, or the use of any article of food of difficult digestion. It is to these circumstances more than to the "unusual loss of volition," which some physiologists consider as its cause, that we are to attribute this unpleasant perturbation of our repose, which impresses the sleeper with the idea of some living being pressing upon the chest, inspiring terror, impeding respiration, and subduing all voluntary action that might endeavour to remove the unwelcome visiter. It has been observed that persons of a melancholy and contemplative disposition are more subject to it than the gay and the vivacious. Sedentary employment and anxiety of mind often bring it on; and it has been noticed in _nostalgia_, or regret of home, in soldiers and sailors. The sense of apprehension remains after the sufferer is awakened, and the fluttering of the heart and quick pulse are observed for some time after, while drops of cold perspiration frequently trickle down his brow. When the night-mare is the result of too much repletion, it is possible that its symptoms denote a pressure of the loaded stomach on the solar plexus. It is said that the _night-mare_ derives its name from _Mara_, an evil spirit of the Scandinavians, which, according to the Runic theology, seized men in their sleep, and deprived them of the powers of volition. Our old Anglo-Saxon name for the disease was _Elf-Sidenne_, or elf-squatting; hence the popular term "hag-ridden." There is a variety of the malady which makes its attack by day, and when waking: it has been called the day-mare, or _ephialtes vigilantium_. This affection, although uncommon, has been noticed by Forestus, Rhodius, Sauvages, and Good. Forestus has known it to return periodically like an intermittent fever.