The child is too clever to live long.
Præcocibus mors ingeniis est invida semper.
Le chant du cocq, le coucher du corbeau,
Préservent l’homme du tombeau.
Bitter to the mouth, sweet to the heart.
Paulò deterior, sed suavior potus est cibus; meliori quidem, sed ingrato, præferendus est.
Après la soupe, un coup d’excellent vin
Tire un écu de la poche du médecin.
THE NIGHT-MARE.
The Night-mare or Ephialtes, incubus, from εφαλλομαι, “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.