This excess food, under the influence of fermentative processes, breaks down into various poisonous products. This is especially true of the albuminous elements of the food. For these, in the heat and moisture of the small intestine, rapidly undergo a process of rotting--this is exactly what it is--and develop some of the most virulent organic poisons known to man. They exercise a profound depression upon all the physiological functions, and cause an actual toxic degeneration of the nervous protoplasm. This, in turn, causes nerve irritability, insomnia, and many of those protean symptoms roughly grouped under the head of neurasthenia. To completely relieve the condition means that a thorough reform in habits,--and particularly in dietetic habits--must be undertaken. Excesses of every kind--even of play or work--must be stopped. All possible sources of worry must be removed. Rest and recreation should be made quite as important--in fact more so, than house-work or business. Sleep, and plenty of it, should be secured at all costs. Eight hours are none too many--although ten would be better. Needless to say, the question of diet is of prime importance. The use of tea, coffee, tobacco, alcohol, and all stimulant beverages, as well as condiments, should be discontinued. Plain, wholesome food--with an ample supply of lecithin (or nerve fat) such as eggs, milk, olive oil, etc., should be taken liberally. All sources of fermentation--especially those forms due to an excess of starch, sugars, and acids, should be avoided. Careful attention should be given to securing free bowel movement. And, above all, an equable frame of mind should be cultivated; the way to defeat this purpose is to overwork and worry in order to accumulate the thing called property. [Sidenote: Working for wealth alone defeats its purpose] The desire to accumulate property has for its excuse immunity from work at some future time so that we can enjoy life, but experience teaches us that the physical cost of this effort defeats the very purpose for which we are striving. THE REMEDY The victim of nervousness should first seek a complete change of environment, and engage in pleasant, and, if possible, profitable occupation. [Sidenote: Therapeutic value of working for the public good] Thousands of people become nervous wrecks by pursuing work for which they have no natural taste or ability, and many become nervous from the monotony of environment. This is especially true with women, and while it is exceedingly difficult for countless housewives and mothers to escape from this monotony, yet they can secure relief by becoming interested in some work of a public or quasi-public nature, or by taking up a "hobby" that has for its purpose some form of public good.