“It is too much to claim that the use of tea and coffee is altogether to be condemned.  Many people, nevertheless, are better without them.  For all who find themselves strongly stimulated it is the part of wisdom to limit the enjoyment of these decoctions to real emergencies when uncommon demands are made upon the endurance and when for a time hygienic considerations have to be ignored.  If young people will postpone the formation of the habit they will have one more resource when the pressure of mature life becomes severe.”

Before concluding this discussion a word might be added concerning the relation between fasting and mental activity.  Prolonged abstinence from food frequently results in highly sharpened intellectual powers.  Numerous examples of this are found in the literature of history and biography; many actors, speakers and singers habitually fast before public performances.  There are some disadvantages to fasting, especially loss of weight and weakness, but when done under the direction of a physician, fasting has been known to produce very beneficial effects.  It is mentioned here because it has such marked effects in speeding up the mental processes and clearing the mind; and the well-nourished student may find the practice a source of mental strength during times of stress such as examinations.

SLEEP.—­“About one-third of an average human life is passed in the familiar and yet mysterious state which we call sleep.  From one point of view this seems a large inroad upon the period in which our consciousness has its exercise; a subtraction of twenty-five years from the life of one who lives to be seventy-five.  Yet we know that the efficiency and comfort of the individual demand the surrender of all this precious time.  It has often been said that sleep is a more imperative necessity than food, and the claim seems to be well founded.”  It is quite likely that some students indulge in too much sleep.  This may sometimes be due to laziness, but frequently it is due to actual intoxication, from an excess of food which results in the presence of poisonous “narcotizing substances absorbed from the burdened intestine”.  This theory is rendered tenable by the fact that when the diet is reduced the hours of sleep may be reduced.  If one is in good health, it seems right to expect that one should be able to arise gladly and briskly upon awaking.  By all means do not indulge yourself in long periods of lying in bed after a good night’s rest.  If we examine the physical and physiological conditions of sleep we shall better understand its hygiene.  Sleep is a state in which the tissues of the body which have been used up may be restored.  Of course some restoration of broken-down tissue takes place as soon as it begins to wear out, but so long as the body keeps working, the one process can never quite compensate for the other, so there must be a periodic cessation of activity so that the energies of the body may be devoted to restoration.  Viewing