At the suggestion of the Rev. Elwood Worcester, Ph.D., D.D., two magazine editors, and two publishing houses, the pamphlet is now enlarged into a book with the earnest hope that the suggestions it contains may be of service to many whom the pamphlet, privately printed and gratuitously distributed, could not reach at all.

There are books enough, perhaps, on the theory of sleep. The volume by Marie de Manaceïne on Sleep—Its Physiology, Pathology, Hygiene, and Psychology will surely long remain the standard work. Dr. Upson’s Insomnia and Nerve Strain is based on the author’s discovery of the vaso-neural circuit and will not be neglected by those who wish to understand certain physical obstacles to sleep which have hitherto been largely overlooked. Religion and Medicine, the official book of the Emmanuel Movement, is indispensable to any knowledge of the drugless cure of sleeplessness and other nervous functional disorders. And the writings of Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, Dr. Woods Hutchinson, and Dr. J. Madison Taylor are, of course, of lasting value on this subject.

The purpose of this little book is very simple. It is designed to help physicians, Emmanuel workers, and others who believe in the art of natural sleep to aid those committed to their care. It is designed, also, to be of service to the thousands who never go to anyone for aid in learning how to sleep, and to this end is kept as free as possible from all technical terms and all theoretical discussions.

To Dr. Worcester I owe the title of the book; to Rev. H. L. Taylor of the Emmanuel Church staff certain of the illustrative cases from the Emmanuel Clinic in Boston; to Mr. W. P. Cutter, Librarian of the Forbes Library in Northampton, many special courtesies; and to Dr. Francis S. Wilson, expert diagnostician and experienced practitioner, goodly counsel in the preparation of the book.

Trusting that directly or indirectly this little book may set many an unhappy victim of insomnia free from his hard bondage, I send it forth in faith.

L. P. P.

St. John’s Rectory,
Northampton, Mass.
September 15, 1908.

CONTENTS

PAGE
Our National Disease[1]
Theories of Sleep[5]
What Sleep Really Is[8]
The Necessity of Sleep[12]
Insomnia and its Causes[15]
The Value of Drugs[18]
The Removal of All Physical Causes[25]
General Directions[29]
Secondary Aids to Sleep[33]
Dr. Learned’s Plan[35]
Relaxation and Rhythmic Breathing[38]
The Emmanuel Method[43]
Faith Required in God and Man[47]
The Specific Treatment[53]
Some Immediate Results[64]
The Co-operation of the Patient[67]
The Ultimate Effect[72]
Illustrative Cases[74]