It remains, after having treated of everything connected with diet, to say something of sleep, which is generally taken after every other thing. Sleep, then, may be briefly defined to be a relaxation of the vital powers, occasioned by a suitable moisture irrigating the brain. When properly taken it may produce many good effects. It digests the food, concocts the humours, soothes pain, alleviates lassitude, and relaxes that which is contracted. It is also calculated to produce oblivion of mental sufferings, and to rectify the distracted powers of reason. The most suitable season for sleep is after a meal. But that during the day does not agree with all, because the time spent in sleep is not sufficient for the complete digestion of the food; and, when the digestion is interrupted unseasonably, those who rise from sleep at noon are often troubled with acidity and flatulence, and sometimes even with a gurgling noise in their bowels, unless from habit or sufficient rest these bad effects be obviated. The best season for sleep is the night, for the humidity and drowsy stillness of night contribute to perfect digestion. Wherefore after these nocturnal slumbers we feel the most desire for evacuation. The proper limit to sleep should be the complete digestion of the food, as may be ascertained by the eructations, and by tapping over the stomach; after which it may be not unuseful to awake in order to evacuate the excrementitious remains of the digestion. * * * * *